1 Corinthians 15
15
1 And so I make known to you, brothers, the Gospel that I preached to you, which you also received, and on which you stand.
2 By the Gospel, too, you are being saved, if you hold to the understanding that I preached to you, lest you believe in vain.
3 For I handed on to you, first of all, what I also received: that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures;
4 and that he was buried; and that he rose again on the third day, according to the Scriptures;
5 and that he was seen by Cephas, and after that by the eleven.
6 Next he was seen by more than five hundred brothers at one time, many of whom remain, even to the present time, although some have fallen asleep.
7 Next, he was seen by James, then by all the Apostles.
8 And last of all, he was seen also by me, as if I were someone born at the wrong time.
9 For I am the least of the Apostles. I am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God.
10 But, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace in me has not been empty, since I have labored more abundantly than all of them. Yet it is not I, but the grace of God within me.
11 For whether it is I or they: so we preach, and so you have believed.
12 Now if Christ is preached, that he rose again from the dead, how is it that some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not risen.
14 And if Christ has not risen, then our preaching is useless, and your faith is also useless.
15 Then, too, we would be found to be false witnesses of God, because we would have given testimony against God, saying that he had raised up Christ, when he had not raised him up, if, indeed, the dead do not rise again.
16 For if the dead do not rise again, then neither has Christ risen again.
17 But if Christ has not risen, then your faith is vain; for you would still be in your sins.
18 Then, too, those who have fallen asleep in Christ would have perished.
19 If we have hope in Christ for this life only, then we are more miserable than all men.
20 But now Christ has risen again from the dead, as the first-fruits of those who sleep.
21 For certainly, death came through a man. And so, the resurrection of the dead came through a man
22 And just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be brought to life,
23 but each one in his proper order: Christ, as the first-fruits, and next, those who are of Christ, who have believed in his advent.
24 Afterwards is the end, when he will have handed over the kingdom to God the Father, when he will have emptied all principality, and authority, and power.
25 For it is necessary for him to reign, until he has set all his enemies under his feet.
26 Lastly, the enemy called death shall be destroyed. For he has subjected all things under his feet. And although he says,
27 "All things have been subjected to him," without doubt he does not include the One who has subjected all things to him.
28 And when all things will have been subjected to him, then even the Son himself will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all.
29 Otherwise, what will those who are being baptized for the dead do, if the dead do not rise again at all? Why then are they being baptized for them?
30 Why also do we endure trials every hour?
31 Daily I die, by means of your boasting, brothers: you whom I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.
32 If, according to man, I fought with the beasts at Ephesus, how would that benefit me, if the dead do not rise again? "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die."
33 Do not be led astray. Evil communication corrupts good morals.
34 Be vigilant, you just ones, and do not be willing to sin. For certain persons have an ignorance of God. I say this to you with respect.
35 But someone may say, "How do the dead rise again?" or, "What type of body do they return with?"
36 How foolish! What you sow cannot be brought back to life, unless it first dies.
37 And what you sow is not the body that will be in the future, but a bare grain, such as of wheat, or of some other grain.
38 For God gives it a body according to his will, and according to each seed's proper body.
39 Not all flesh is the same flesh. But one is indeed of men, another truly is of beasts, another is of birds, and another is of fish.
40 Also, there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But while the one, certainly, has the glory of heaven, the other has the glory of earth.
41 One has the brightness of the sun, another the brightness of the moon, and another the brightness of the stars. For even star differs from star in brightness.
42 So it is also with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown in corruption shall rise to incorruption.
43 What is sown in dishonor shall rise to glory. What is sown in weakness shall rise to power.
44 What is sown with an animal body shall rise with a spiritual body. If there is an animal body, there is also a spiritual one.
45 Just as it was written that the first man, Adam, was made with a living soul, so shall the last Adam be made with a spirit brought back to life.
46 So what is, at first, not spiritual, but animal, next becomes spiritual.
47 The first man, being earthly, was of the earth; the second man, being heavenly, will be of heaven.
48 Such things as are like the earth are earthly; and such things as are like the heavens are heavenly.
49 And so, just as we have carried the image of what is earthly, let us also carry the image of what is heavenly.
50 Now I say this, brothers, because flesh and blood is not able to possess the kingdom of God; neither will what is corrupt possess what is incorrupt.
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery. Certainly, we shall all rise again, but we shall not all be transformed:
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise up, incorruptible. And we shall be transformed.
53 Thus, it is necessary for this corruptibility to be clothed with incorruptibility, and for this mortality to be clothed with immortality.
54 And when this mortality has been clothed with immortality, then the word that was written shall occur: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
55 "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
56 Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who has given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 And so, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and unmovable, abounding always in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not useless in the Lord.
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1 Corinthians 15
15
The Question About Rising From the Dead
1Brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the good news that I preached to you. You received it, you belong to it, 2and you’re being saved by it. But you must hold firmly to the message I preached to you. Otherwise, you’ll have believed it for nothing.
3When I passed on to you what I received, I told you that the most important thing was that Christ died for our sins, just as Scripture said he would; 4that he was buried; and that he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as Scripture said he would be. 5He appeared to Peter, then he appeared to the 12 apostles, 6and after that, he appeared to more than 500 brothers and sisters at the same time. (Most of them are still living, although some have died.) 7He appeared to James, then he appeared to all the apostles, 8and last of all he also appeared to me, as if I’d been born almost too late to see him.
9I’m the least important of the apostles, and I’m not even fit to be called an apostle, because I tried to destroy God’s church. 10But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace wasn’t wasted on me. No, I worked harder than all the other apostles—though it wasn’t me doing the work. God’s grace was with me. 11But whether it’s me or the other apostles, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
Believers Will Rise From the Dead
12But since we do preach that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that no one rises from the dead? 13If no one rises from the dead, then Christ hasn’t been raised. 14And if Christ hasn’t been raised, then what we preach doesn’t mean anything, and your faith doesn’t mean anything either. 15Even worse, that would make us false witnesses about God, because we testified that God raised Christ from the dead. But God didn’t do that if the dead aren’t really raised. 16If the dead aren’t raised, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. 17And if Christ hasn’t been raised, then your faith doesn’t mean anything. Your sins haven’t been forgiven, 18and those who have died believing in Christ are lost. 19If we have hope in Christ only for this life, then people should pity us more than anyone else.
20But Christ truly has been raised from the dead. He is the first of all those who will rise from the dead. 21Since death came because of what one man did, rising from the dead also comes because of what one man did. 22Because of Adam, all people die, and because of Christ, all will be made alive. 23But this will happen in a particular order. Christ is the first of those who rise from the dead. When he comes back, those who belong to him will be raised. 24And then the end will come, when he will hand the kingdom over to God the Father, after he has destroyed all other rulers, authorities, and powers. 25Christ must rule until he has put all his enemies under his control. 26The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. 27Scripture says that God “has put everything under his control.” (When it says that “everything” has been put under him, it’s clear that this doesn’t include God himself, who put everything under Christ.) 28When he has put everything under his control, the Son will then put himself under the rule of God, who put everything under him. In that way, God will be all in all.
29If no one rises from the dead, where does that leave people who are baptized for the dead? If the dead aren’t raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30And why would we put ourselves in danger every hour? 31I face death every day, just as surely as I take pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done for you through my work. 32If I fought wild animals in Ephesus with nothing more than human hopes, then what did I gain by that? If the dead aren’t raised,
“Let us eat and drink,
because tomorrow we’ll die.”
33Don’t let anyone fool you. “Having bad friends turns a good person into a bad one.” 34Come back to your senses and stop sinning. Some of you don’t know anything about God. You should be ashamed of that!
The Body That Rises From the Dead
35But someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have?” 36How foolish! What you plant doesn’t come to life unless it dies. 37When you plant something, you don’t put a completely grown plant into the ground. You plant only a seed, maybe of wheat or something else. 38But God gives the seed a body just as he has planned, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39Not all earthly creatures are the same. People have one kind of body, animals have another kind, birds another, and fish still another. 40There are also heavenly bodies as well as earthly bodies. Heavenly bodies have one kind of glory, and earthly bodies have a different kind. 41The sun has one kind of brightness, the moon has another kind, and stars have still another. And one star’s brightness is different from that of another star.
42It will be like that with bodies that are raised from the dead. The body that is planted doesn’t last forever; the body that is raised from the dead does. 43It is planted without honor, but it is raised in glory. It is planted in weakness, but it is raised in power. 44It is planted as a body made alive in the natural way, but it is raised as a body made alive by spirit.
Just as there is a naturally living body, there is also a spiritually living body. 45It is written, “The first man Adam became a living person.” But the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46What is animated by spirit didn’t come first; the natural came first. What is spiritual came after that. 47The first man came from the dust of the earth, but the second man came from heaven. 48Those who belong to the earth are like the one who came from the earth, and those who are spiritual are like the one who came from heaven. 49Right now we’re like the earthly man, but one day we’ll be like the heavenly man.
50Brothers and sisters, here’s what I’m telling you. Bodies made of flesh and blood can’t inherit the kingdom of God. Things that perish can’t share in what never perishes. 51Listen! I’m telling you a mystery. We’re not all going to die, but we will all be changed. 52That will happen in a flash, as quickly as you can blink an eye. It will happen at the blast of the last trumpet. Then the dead will be raised to live forever, and we will be changed. 53Our bodies that don’t last forever must be dressed with what does last forever. These bodies that perish must be dressed with what doesn’t perish, and these bodies that don’t last must be dressed with what lasts forever. 54And when our bodies that die are dressed with what doesn’t die, then the saying that is written will come true, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55“Death, where is your victory?
Death, where is your sting?”
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.
58My dear brothers and sisters, remain strong in the faith. Don’t let anything move you. Always give yourselves completely to the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord, your work isn’t for nothing.
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