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
15
The Resurrection of Christ
1Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand firm. 2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that He appeared to Cephas #15:5 That is, Peter and then to the Twelve. 6After that, He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8And last of all He appeared to me also, as to one of untimely birth.
9For I am the least of the apostles and am unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not in vain. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
The Resurrection of the Dead
12But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is worthless, and so is your faith. 15In that case, we are also exposed as false witnesses about God. For we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead, but He did not raise Him if in fact the dead are not raised.
16For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19If our hope in Christ is for this life alone, we are to be pitied more than all men.
The Order of Resurrection
20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ the firstfruits; then at His coming, those who belong to Him.
24Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power. 25For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27For “God has put everything under His feet.”#15:27 Psalms 8:6 Now when it says that everything has been put under Him, this clearly does not include the One who put everything under Him. 28And when all things have been subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put all things under Him, so that God may be all in all.
29If these things are not so, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30And why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31I face death every day, brothers, as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised,
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”#15:32 Isaiah 22:13
33Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”#15:33 Probably a quote from the Greek comedy Thais by Menander 34Sober up as you ought, and stop sinning; for some of you are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.
The Resurrection Body
35But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37And what you sow is not the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else. 38But God gives it a body as He has designed, and to each kind of seed He gives its own body.
39Not all flesh is the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another, and fish another. 40There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the splendor of the heavenly bodies is of one degree, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is of another. 41The sun has one degree of splendor, the moon another, and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
42So will it be with the resurrection of the dead: What is sown is perishable; it is raised imperishable. 43It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being;”#15:45 Genesis 2:7 the last Adam a life-giving spirit.
46The spiritual, however, was not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48As was the earthly man, so also are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so also shall we bear the likeness of the heavenly man.
Where, O Death, Is Your Victory?
(Hosea 13:9–14)
50Now I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For the perishable must be clothed #15:53 Or clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality,#15:54 WH does not include and the mortal with immortality. then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”#15:54 Isaiah 25:8
55“Where, O Death, is your victory?
Where, O Death, is your sting?”#15:55 Hosea 13:14 (see also LXX); BYZ and TR “Where, O Death, is your sting? Where, O Hades, is your victory?”
56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
58Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and immovable. Always excel in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
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The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain.