1 Corinthians 15
15
Chapter 15
Christ became alive again after he died
1My Christian friends, I want you to remember the good news that I taught to you. You received it from me and you continue to believe it as a true message. 2Because of the message that I spoke to you, God will save you. He will save you if you continue to trust that same good news. If you do not, you have believed it for nothing.
3I received the good news from Christ, and I told that message to you. I told you the most important things:
Christ died as a sacrifice for our sins. The Bible already said how that would happen. 4People buried his dead body. On the third day after that God raised him up to live again. The Bible already spoke about that too.
5After that, Christ appeared to Peter. Later, he appeared to his 12 disciples. 6And after that, he appeared to more than 500 believers at the same time. Most of those 500 people are still alive, but some of them have died. 7Then Christ appeared to James. Later he appeared to all the apostles.
8After all these people had seen him, Christ also appeared to me. I was like someone who was born at the wrong time. 9Among all the apostles, I am the least important. I caused so much trouble for God's church that people should not really call me an apostle. 10But God was very kind to me. He helped me to become a different person. And because God has been so kind to me, the result has been great. I have worked more than all the other apostles. But it was not really I myself who could do that work. No, I could do it because God was so kind to me. 11So then, all of us apostles teach the same good news about Christ. That is the message that you have believed. It does not matter which of us told it to you, whether it was me or someone else.
People do live again after death
12We all speak this message: God raised Christ up after his death. But some of you say that dead people do not live again. 13Anyone who says that is wrong. If dead people do not live again, then Christ did not rise up after his death. He would still be dead. 14And if God did not raise Christ up, it does no good for us to tell God's good news to people. There would be nothing for you to believe. 15We would have been telling lies about God, because we told you that God raised Christ up after his death. But if dead people do not live again, that would not be true.
16So, if dead people never rise to a new life, then Christ himself did not rise after his death. 17And if Christ did not rise, then you have believed a false message. God would still say that you are guilty, because of your sins.
18Also, think about those people who believed in Christ but they have already died. If dead people do not rise to a new life, those people would have no life with God. 19As believers, we trust Christ to lead us into a new life after death. But if we only trust him to help us in this life, we should be very sad. Everybody should be very sorry for us, more than for anyone else.
20But it is really true that God raised Christ up after his death. He rose up to go to God in heaven. He was the first, so we know that believers who die will also rise up.
21All people die because of what one man did. That was Adam. #15:21 Adam was the first person that God made in the beginning. See Genesis 1:26-27. And it is because of another man that people can rise up after death to a new life. That is Christ. 22As people, all of us belong to Adam's family. So all of us must die. But all people who belong to Christ will live again after death. 23It is like this: First of all, Christ died and then he became alive again. Then, when Christ returns, his people will live again too. 24After that, the end of everything will happen. Christ will win against every ruler and power and authority. He will give the kingdom to God, the Father. God will rule over everything.
25Christ himself must rule as king until he has won against all his enemies. 26The last enemy that he must destroy is death. 27It says in the Bible, ‘God has put all things under his authority.’ #15:27 See Psalms 8:6.
But it is clear that the words ‘all things’ do not include God himself. No, because it is God who put all things under Christ's authority. 28When God has put all things under Christ's authority, then God's Son, Jesus Christ, will put himself under his Father's authority. Then God will have complete authority over all things, everywhere.
29Think about this. Some of you have let people baptize you on behalf of believers who have already died. But if dead people do not rise up to a new life, there is no reason to baptize anyone on their behalf. #15:29 It seems that some people in the church at Corinth did this. If a believer died before anyone baptized him, they might baptize another believer on behalf of the dead person. Paul does not say that this was a good thing to do. But it shows that they expected dead believers to rise to a new life.
30Also, think about us! All the time we are in great danger. 31Yes, every day I come near to death! Why do I tell you this? It is because I am proud of you. I am proud because we all belong to Christ Jesus our Lord. 32At Ephesus city, people attacked me like wild animals and I fought against them. #15:32 Ephesus was a city in the country that we call Turkey now. But that would be worth nothing to me if dead people do not rise to a new life. If dead people do not live again, then we could say:
‘Tomorrow we will probably die.
So we should just eat and drink as much as we like.’ #15:32 See Isaiah 22:13; 56:12.
33Do not let anyone deceive you. Remember this:
‘If you become a friend of bad people, you also will live in a bad way.’
34So start thinking properly! Stop doing wrong things! Some of you do not really know God. I am saying this to make you feel ashamed.
New bodies
35One of you may ask, ‘How does God raise dead people, to make them alive again? What kind of body will they have?’ 36Do not think like a fool! When you plant a seed in the ground, it has to die first. Then it can become alive again and grow into a new plant. 37You put just a seed into the ground. It might be wheat or it might be another kind of seed. You do not put into the ground the whole plant that the seed will become. 38But God makes that seed become a plant. Each plant has its own special body that God has chosen for it.
39Also, things that are alive do not have the same kind of body. People have one kind of body. Animals have a different kind of body. Birds and fish also have a different kind of body. 40Also, there are things up in the sky that are different from the things here on the earth. They have different bodies. Also, the things in the sky are beautiful in a different way from the things on the earth. 41The sun is beautiful in a special way. The moon is also beautiful in a special way, but it is different from the sun. The stars are beautiful too, and each star is beautiful in its own special way.
42It is like that when God raises a dead person to a new life. We bury the dead person's body in the ground and it becomes spoiled. But when God raises it up, it will live for ever. 43When we bury the body, it is not beautiful. But when God raises it up, it is very beautiful. When we bury the body, it is weak. But when God raises it, it is strong. 44What we bury in the ground is a human body. But the body that God raises up is a spiritual body. There is a human body that belongs to this earth. So there also has to be a spiritual body that belongs to heaven.
45It says in the Bible, ‘The first man, Adam, became a person who received life.’ #15:45 See Genesis 2:7. But Christ is like the last Adam. He is a spirit who gives life to people.
46The spiritual body does not come first. No, what is human comes first. Then, after that, what is spiritual comes. 47God used soil from the ground to make the first man, Adam. But the second man came from heaven. 48People who live on the earth have bodies like the first man. That is the man that God made from the soil of the earth. People in heaven have bodies like the man who came from heaven. 49Now God has given us bodies that look like the first man. One day we will have bodies that look like the man who belongs in heaven.
50I tell you this, my Christian friends. Our weak human bodies cannot go to heaven, to join God in his kingdom there. Our human bodies will die. They cannot share in something that will continue for ever.
51Listen to me. I will explain a great secret to you. Not all of us will die, but God will change all of us. 52It will happen in a short moment, when the last trumpet makes a sound. When that trumpet makes its sound, God will raise up the believers who have died. He will give them bodies that can never die. In that way, he will change all of us.
53That has to happen. Our bodies that are becoming spoiled must change. They must change into bodies that never become spoiled. Our bodies that are dying must change into bodies that will never die. 54God will give us new bodies like that. When that happens, what is written in the Bible will become true. It says:
‘God has won against death. He has destroyed it completely!’ #15:54 See Isaiah 25:8.
55‘Death, you can no longer win!
Death, you no longer have any power to hurt us!’ #15:55 See Hosea 13:14.
56Death only has power to hurt us because of our sins. And it is the authority of God's Law that gives power to sins. 57But now we thank God! Because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we win against death and its power.
58So you must continue to be strong in your spirits, my Christian friends that I love. Do not let anything move you away from your faith. Continue to work hard as you serve the Lord. You know that whatever you do for him will not be useless.
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1 Corinthians 15: EASY
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1 Corinthians 15
15
The Resurrection of Christ
1Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters,#15:1 Greek brothers; also in 15:31, 50, 58. of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. 2It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.#15:2 Or unless you never believed it in the first place.
3I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5He was seen by Peter#15:5 Greek Cephas. and then by the Twelve. 6After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers#15:6 Greek the brothers. at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. 9For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.
10But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. 11So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed.
The Resurrection of the Dead
12But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? 13For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
20But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.
21So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.
24After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. 25For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. 26And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27For the Scriptures say, “God has put all things under his authority.”#15:27 Ps 8:6. (Of course, when it says “all things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.) 28Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.
29If the dead will not be raised, what point is there in people being baptized for those who are dead? Why do it unless the dead will someday rise again?
30And why should we ourselves risk our lives hour by hour? 31For I swear, dear brothers and sisters, that I face death daily. This is as certain as my pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done in you. 32And what value was there in fighting wild beasts—those people of Ephesus#15:32a Greek fighting wild beasts in Ephesus.—if there will be no resurrection from the dead? And if there is no resurrection, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!”#15:32b Isa 22:13. 33Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.” 34Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all.
The Resurrection Body
35But someone may ask, “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?” 36What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. 37And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting. 38Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed. 39Similarly there are different kinds of flesh—one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
40There are also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the glory of the earthly bodies. 41The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory.
42It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. 43Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. 44They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.
45The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.”#15:45 Gen 2:7. But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. 46What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. 47Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. 48Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. 49Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like#15:49 Some manuscripts read let us be like. the heavenly man.
50What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.
51But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
54Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die,#15:54a Some manuscripts add and our mortal bodies have been transformed into immortal bodies. this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.#15:54b Isa 25:8.
55O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?#15:55 Hos 13:14 (Greek version).”
56For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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