1 Corinthians 15
15
The Resurrection of Christ
1Now I would remind you, brothers,#15:1 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 6, 31, 50, 58 of the gospel #[2 Tim. 2:8]; See ch. 3:6 I preached to you, which you received, #Rom. 5:2; [2 Cor. 1:24; 1 Pet. 5:12]in which you stand, 2and by which #ch. 1:18 you are being saved, if you #ch. 11:2; [Heb. 3:6, 14] hold fast to the word I preached to you—#Gal. 3:4unless you believed in vain.
3For #ch. 11:23; Gal. 1:12 I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died #John 1:29; Gal. 1:4; Heb. 5:1, 3; 1 Pet. 2:24 for our sins #Isa. 53; Dan. 9:26; Zech. 13:7; [1 Pet. 1:11]in accordance with the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised #[Hos. 6:2; Matt. 12:40; John 2:22] on the third day #Ps. 16:10; Isa. 53:10; [Acts 2:25-32; 13:33-35; 26:22, 23]in accordance with the Scriptures, 5and that #Luke 24:34 he appeared to Cephas, then #Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36; John 20:19, 26; Acts 10:41to the twelve. 6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to #See Acts 12:17 James, then #Luke 24:50; Acts 1:3, 4to all the apostles. 8Last of all, as to one untimely born, #See ch. 9:1he appeared also to me. 9For #2 Cor. 12:11; Eph. 3:7, 8; 1 Tim. 1:13-16 I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because #See Acts 8:3I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, #2 Cor. 11:23; 12:11; Col. 1:29 I worked harder than any of them, #[ch. 3:6; 2 Cor. 3:5; Phil. 2:13]; See Matt. 10:20though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
The Resurrection of the Dead
12Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, #[Acts 23:8; 2 Tim. 2:18]how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13But if there is no resurrection of the dead, #1 Thess. 4:14then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that #See Acts 2:24he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and #See Rom. 4:25you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who #1 Thess. 4:16; Rev. 14:13have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19If in Christ we have hope#15:19 Or we have hoped in this life only, #[ch. 4:9; 2 Tim. 3:12]we are of all people most to be pitied.
20But in fact #2 Tim. 2:8; 1 Pet. 1:3 Christ has been raised from the dead, #ver. 23; See Acts 26:23the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For as #See Rom. 5:12 by a man came death, #John 11:25; Rom. 6:23by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22For #[Rom. 5:14-18]as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then #See 1 Thess. 2:19 at his coming #ver. 52; 1 Thess. 4:16; See Luke 14:14those who belong to Christ. 24Then comes the end, when he delivers #[Dan. 7:14, 27] the kingdom to God the Father after destroying #Eph. 1:21every rule and every authority and power. 25For he must reign #See Ps. 110:1until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be #2 Tim. 1:10; [Rev. 20:14; 21:4]destroyed is death. 27For #Eph. 1:22; Cited from Ps. 8:6; See Matt. 11:27; 28:18“God#15:27 Greek he has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28When #Phil. 3:21 all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that #[ch. 3:23; 11:3]God may be all in all.
29Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? 30Why are we #2 Cor. 11:26in danger every hour? 31I protest, brothers, by #1 Thess. 2:19 my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, #Luke 9:23; See Rom. 8:36I die every day! 32What do I gain if, humanly speaking, #[2 Cor. 1:8] I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, #Cited from Isa. 22:13; [Isa. 56:12; Luke 12:19]“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33#James 1:16 Do not be deceived: #[ch. 5:6]“Bad company ruins good morals.”#15:33 Probably from Menander’s comedy Thais 34#See Rom. 13:11 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For #1 Thess. 4:5 some have no knowledge of God. #ch. 6:5; [ch. 4:14]I say this to your shame.
The Resurrection Body
35But someone will ask, #[Ezek. 37:3]“How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36You foolish person! #John 12:24What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
42 #
Dan. 12:3; [Matt. 13:43] So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43It is sown in dishonor; #Phil. 3:21; Col. 3:4it 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. 45Thus it is written, #Cited from Gen. 2:7 “The first man Adam became a living being”;#15:45 Greek a living soul #Rom. 5:14 the last Adam became a #John 5:21; [John 6:33, 39, 40, 54, 57; Rom. 8:2, 10]life-giving spirit. 46But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47#John 3:31 The first man was from the earth, #[Gen. 2:7; 3:19] a man of dust; #John 3:13, 31the second man is from heaven. 48As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, #[Phil. 3:20]so also are those who are of heaven. 49Just #Gen. 5:3 as we have borne the image of the man of dust, #See Rom. 8:29we shall#15:49 Some manuscripts let us also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Mystery and Victory
50I tell you this, brothers: #See Matt. 16:17 flesh and blood #[John 3:3, 5]cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Behold! I tell you a mystery. #1 Thess. 4:15, 17 We shall not all sleep, #Phil. 3:21but we shall all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For #Matt. 24:31; 1 Thess. 4:16; [Isa. 27:13; Zech. 9:14] the trumpet will sound, and #John 5:25, 28; [Luke 20:36]the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and #[2 Cor. 5:2-4]this mortal body must put on immortality. 54When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
# Cited from Isa. 25:8; [Heb. 2:14, 15; Rev. 20:14; 21:4] “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 #
Hos. 13:14
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56The sting of death is sin, and #Rom. 4:15; 5:13; 7:5, 8, 13the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, #[Rom. 8:37; 1 John 5:4]who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 #
2 Pet. 3:14 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in #ch. 16:10; Jer. 48:10; John 6:28 the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord #[Gal. 6:9]; See ch. 3:8your labor is not in vain.
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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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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