The Greek verb that is translated as put on
can refer either to clothing oneself or to being clothed. The second meaning is to be preferred in this context, since it is God who will clothe our mortal bodies with immortality (compare 2 Corinthians 5:4–5).
Like the metaphor of a seed, so the metaphor of clothing shows that there is both continuity and discontinuity between our present bodies and our resurrected bodies. After all, it is the perishable, mortal body that will be clothed with the imperishable, immortal body. Although much of this is still a mystery to us, it can help us to think of Jesus’ resurrected body (see 1 Corinthians 15:45).
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.