1 Corinthians 15:1–58
15 Now I would remind you, brothers,1 of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy 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 toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope2 in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God3 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. 28 When 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 God may be all in all.
29 Otherwise, 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? 30 Why are we in danger every hour? 31 I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”4 34 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There 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. 41 There 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 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”;5 the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall6 also bear the image of the man of heaven.
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
1 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 6, 31, 50, 58 2 Or we have hoped 3 Greek he 4 Probably from Menander’s comedy Thais 5 Greek a living soul 6 Some manuscripts let us
Section Overview
This section addresses the tenth of ten major issues in the letter: denying that God will resurrect the corpses of believers. Paul aims to prove not primarily that God raised the corpse of Jesus but that God will raise the corpses of believers. “How can some of you say,” Paul asks the Corinthians, “that there is no resurrection of the dead?” (1 Cor. 15:12). The Corinthians believe that God raised Christ from the dead (vv. 1–2, 11), but some of them deny that God will resurrect the corpses of Christians.
- “Resurrection” (vv. 12, 13, 21, 42) translates anastasis, which does not ambiguously refer to “life after death,” as if it could be a nonbodily existence. It specifically refers to bodily life after a person has died.
- “Dead” (vv. 12 [2x], 13, 15, 16, 20, 21, 29 [2x], 32, 35, 42, 52) translates nekros, which means “one who is no longer physically alive, dead person, a dead body, a corpse.”
The idea that God would resurrect a human corpse revolted Greco-Roman pagans (cf. Acts 17:32). They believed that the material body has no future beyond the grave and that only the immaterial soul is immortal. They valued the soul over the physical body. Consequently, some applied that philosophy to ethics, namely, that what we do now in our physical bodies does not matter (cf. 1 Cor. 15:32–34 and comment on 6:13–14). This is yet another area in which some Corinthians have adopted the worldly values of their pagan culture.
Section Outline
II.J. Denying that God will resurrect the corpses of believers (15:1–58)
1. Foundation: Christ’s resurrection is essential to the gospel (15:1–11)
2. Fact: God will certainly resurrect the corpses of believers (15:12–34)
a. If God does not raise the dead, then Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, then horrible consequences follow (15:12–19)
b. But since Christ has been raised, God will raise those who belong to Christ and thus destroy death (15:20–28)
c. If God does not raise the dead, then what some people are doing is absurd, but since God does raise the dead, what some Corinthians are claiming is absurd (15:29–34)
3. Nature: the heavenly body is reasonable, certain, and necessary (15:35–58)
a. Two analogies from nature (seeds and different kinds of bodies) prove that resurrecting the corpses of believers is reasonable (15:35–44)
b. The analogy of Adam and Christ proves that resurrecting the corpses of believers is certain (15:45–49)
c. God must transform the perishable, mortal bodies of dead and living believers into imperishable, immortal bodies to triumphantly defeat death (15:50–58)
Response
1. Affirm and celebrate the gospel (15:1–11).
Here is one way to define the gospel narrowly in a single sentence: Jesus lived, died, and rose again for sinners, and God will save anyone who turns from his sins and trusts Jesus. That is good news for unbelievers, and it continues to be good news for believers.
2. Affirm and celebrate that God will resurrect and transform the corpses of believers (15:12–58).
If we deny this truth, we deny that which the gospel necessarily entails: God created a material universe. He created humans with physical bodies. Jesus took on flesh and will keep his resurrected (physical) heavenly body forever. God will transform the current physical earth into a new and better one. And God will transform our natural, earthly bodies into supernatural, heavenly ones.
This is wonderful news for believers in earthly bodies, for our bodies are deteriorating and groaning (cf. vv. 42–44; Rom. 8:18–25). We can look forward to enjoying a supernatural body similar to Christ’s resurrected body. This is also wonderful news for the family and friends of a dead believer. “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart” (Eccles. 7:2). Funerals are sobering events that should put life in perspective. People read 1 Corinthians 15:50–58 at Christian funerals for good reasons. Believers may feel a complex of emotions when a fellow brother or sister in the Lord dies: sorrow and joy, despair and hope, fear and courage, doubt and faith. This passage is exhilarating. It helps believers not to “grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). It enables believers to be “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Cor. 6:10). It inspires weary believers to endure, knowing that we do not serve the Lord in vain (1 Cor. 15:58).
Life in our earthly bodies is short—we could think of graveyards, natural disasters, mortal accidents and tragedies, lethal violence, sickness and disease, natural death, and more. But our heavenly bodies will be “imperishable” (vv. 42, 50, 52, 53, 54). Christ’s resurrection guarantees that death will die.
3. Behave now in light of the future.
What we believe about the future affects what we do now. What we do with our bodies matters (cf. 6:12–20 and comments). Christ’s resurrection and the transformed heavenly body he will give us should encourage us that what we do in our earthly bodies has meaning. Doing what God has called us to do is not meaningless. It is valuable. So we must “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (15:58). “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9).
Or brothers and sisters; also verses 6, 31, 50, 58
Or we have hoped
Greek he
Probably from Menander’s comedy Thais
Greek a living soul
Some manuscripts let us
15:1–2 Paul describes the gospel with four clauses:
(1) “[Which] I preached to you.” The gospel is what Paul “preached” (Gk. euangelizō; vv. 1, 2), “delivered” (paradidōmi; v. 3), “preach[ed]” or “proclaimed” (kēryssō; vv. 11, 12), and “testified about” (martyreō; v. 15). It is the content of his “preaching” (kērygma; v. 14).
(2) “Which you received.” The gospel is what the Corinthians accept as true. “Received” translates a word that here means accept.
(3) “In which you stand.” The gospel is that on which the Corinthians continue to take their firm stand (cf. comments on 15:58; 16:13–14).
(4) “By which you are being saved.” The gospel is the means for saving the Corinthians. To this clause Paul adds a condition: the gospel is the means for saving the Corinthians if they continue to hold firmly to what Paul has preached to them. If they do not persevere (cf. Matt. 13:20–22; Col. 1:23), then they “believed in vain.” “Vain” translates eikē, which here probably refers to being both “without purpose, to no purpose” and “without careful thought, without due consideration, in a haphazard manner.” There are at least two viable ways to interpret this final clause in 1 Corinthians 15:2: (1) that which they believed was vain in that it was untrue, or (2) their belief was in vain because it was not genuine belief. The first option is unlikely because it does not fit the literary context; Paul does not argue hypothetically in this way until verses 12–19. The second option is more likely because it fits the immediate and broader literary context. This is another example in the letter of Paul both assuring and warning the Corinthians (cf. comments on 3:17; 6:9–10; 10:1–5, 13; 11:32 and Response section on 8:1–11:1: [5]).
15:3 “Of first importance” implies that although everything in the Bible is important, not everything is equally important. Some doctrines are more important than others. The gospel is most important. Jesus the Messiah died “for our sins,” that is, on our behalf and in our place. He atoned as a penal substitute (cf. Rom. 4:25; 5:6; 8:32; 2 Cor. 5:14, 21; 1 Pet. 3:18). His sacrificial and substitutionary death is “in accordance with the Scriptures” (plural) because it fulfills the OT as a whole—not just one specific passage. (Paul repeats this phrase in 1 Cor. 15:4 regarding Christ’s resurrection.) Paul may be thinking of specific passages (e.g., Isa. 52:13–53:12; Zech. 13:7), but “it is difficult to make sense of such claims unless some form of typology is recognized: the old covenant sacrifices, notions of atonement, explication of suffering and vindication, and the like, constitute a pattern that points forward.” (On typology, cf. comment on 1 Cor. 10:1–22.)
15:4 Jesus’ burial was proof that he died (v. 3b). Humans bury corpses; we do not bury someone who is alive (unless one intends to murder them). “He was buried, . . . he was raised” emphasizes that God raised Jesus’ corpse (cf. Section Overview of 15:1–58). Paul builds on that in verses 12–58.
Jesus the Messiah “was raised on the third day”—just as he had predicted (Matt. 16:21). His resurrection was “in accordance with the Scriptures” because it fulfilled the OT (cf. John 20:9; Acts 17:2–3; 26:22–23). More specifically, Jesus’ resurrection on the third day fulfilled the OT (cf. Luke 24:45–46). The passages with which Jesus’ third-day rising may be in accord include Genesis 1:9–13; Leviticus 23:10–11; and especially Hosea 6:1–3 (cf. Gen. 22:4–5 and Heb. 11:19; Jonah 1:15–2:10 and Matt. 12:40).
15:5–8 As proof that Jesus rose from the dead, Paul cites a sampling of six individuals or groups to whom Jesus appeared (in chronological order—though the NT mentions other appearances and may not inform us elsewhere about appearances 3, 4, and 5):
(1) Cephas, that is, Peter (Luke 24:34).
(2) The Twelve (Luke 24:36–43; John 20:19–23). This excludes Judas Iscariot, but Matthias may have been there (cf. Acts 1:21–23, 26).
(3) More than five hundred brothers (possibly on the occasion of Matt. 28:16–20). Paul adds “most of whom are still alive” to imply, “Check it out. Go ask them for yourself.” To be “asleep” is a metaphor for believers’ dying and waiting for their bodies to “wake up” when God resurrects them (cf. Acts 7:60; 13:36; 1 Cor. 15:18, 20, 51; 1 Thess. 4:13–15).
(4) James—presumably Jesus’ brother who pastored the church in Jerusalem (cf. Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18).
(5) All the apostles. This might refer to John 20:24–29; 21:14; or Acts 1:3–11. Or this group may be larger than the Twelve (1 Cor. 15:5) and include at least James (Gal. 1:19).
(6) Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3–8; 22:6–11; 26:12–18; 1 Cor. 9:1). Paul compares himself to one born “untimely,” that is, prematurely or as an aborted fetus. Paul’s point is that his call to be an apostle is unexpected and abnormal, with the result that he “confesses himself to be unworthy of being called a full-fledged apostle” (cf. 15:9).
15:9 To explain verse 8, Paul deems himself the least important apostle and unworthy to be an apostle because he persecuted God’s church before God saved him and called him to be an apostle (Acts 7:58; 8:1–3; 9:1–5, 13, 21; 22:4, 19; 26:9–11; Gal. 1:13; Phil. 3:6; 1 Tim. 1:13). Paul does not think highly of himself (cf. Rom. 12:3; Eph. 3:8; 1 Tim. 1:15).
15:10 In contrast to his statement in verse 9, Paul is what he is by God’s grace (cf. Rom. 15:15–16; 2 Cor. 3:5; Gal. 1:15; Eph. 3:7–8; Phil. 2:13; 1 Tim. 1:14), which has enabled him to “[work] harder than any of” the other apostles (cf. 2 Cor. 11:23; Col. 1:29).
When John Newton, a former slave-trader who wrote the song “Amazing Grace,” preached on this sentence, the way he assessed himself may be the pithiest way to summarize the Christian life: “I am not what I ought to be. . . . Not what I might be. . . . Not what I wish to be. . . . I am not what I hope to be. . . . [But] I am not what I once was, a child of sin, and slave of the devil. . . . I think I can truly say with the apostle, ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’”
15:11 What follows is an inference from verse 10: it is not important whether Paul or other apostles are the ones preaching (cf. 3:6–7). What matters is that they are preaching the gospel and that, consequently, the Corinthians believe.
15:12 “Now” could also read “But” (NIV, NLT) to contrast with verses 1–11. The “if” clause states what Paul has just established in verses 1–11: “Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead.” And this is what the Corinthians believe (vv. 1–2, 11). But, if this is the case, then it is completely illogical for some Corinthians to deny that God will resurrect the corpses of believers. Paul may be directly quoting them.
15:13 This statement supports verse 12: if God does not resurrect the corpses of dead people, “then not even Christ has been raised.”
15:14–19 Now the apostle offers further support for verse 12: if Christ has not been raised (vv. 13b, 14a), then seven horrible consequences follow:
(1) The apostles preached in vain (v. 14a). “Vain” (both times in v. 14) translates kenos, which refers to being “devoid of intellectual, moral, or spiritual value, empty.”
(2) The Corinthians believe in vain (v. 14b). (On “vain,” cf. comment on 15:1–2.)
(3) The apostles are “misrepresenting God” (vv. 15–16). The apostles testified that God raised Christ (e.g., Acts 2:24), but that is false if God does not resurrect the bodies of dead people (1 Cor. 15:16 basically repeats v. 13).
(4) The Corinthians are believing futilely (v. 17a). “Futile” translates a word that means “of no use, idle, empty, fruitless, useless, powerless, lacking truth.”
(5) The Corinthians are “still in [their] sins” (v. 17b; cf. Rom. 4:25).
(6) Believers who have died have perished (1 Cor. 15:18). Perishing is the opposite of “being saved” (1:18; 2 Cor. 2:15–16; cf. 2 Thess. 2:10). On “fallen asleep,” cf. comment on 1 Corinthians 15:5–8.
(7) Believers are of all people most to be pitied if their hope in Christ is limited to this life only (v. 19). What they believe and how they live would be based on a lie. “Pitied” translates a word that means “deserving of sympathy for one’s pathetic condition, miserable, pitiable.”
15:20 Now Paul draws the contrast to verses 12–19: Christ really has been raised from the dead.
The next phrase describes Christ as “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (i.e., “fallen asleep in Christ”—v. 18). Firstfruits are the season’s first agricultural produce, signaling that a full harvest is yet to come. For example:
(1) If someone planted a garden full of tomato plants, the first ripe tomato would be the firstfruits, signaling that more ripe tomatoes were coming.
(2) When God’s people under the old covenant dedicated to God the firstfruits of their barley (Lev. 23:9–14) or wheat (Lev. 23:15–17), they trusted God to provide the rest of the harvest.
(3) When Paul was evangelizing southern Greece, his “firstfruits” (CSB) were the household of Stephanas (1 Cor. 16:15); that is, they were “the first converts” (ESV).
(4) God’s children “have the firstfruits of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:23); that is, the Spirit is a down payment to God’s children who guarantees they will receive many other blessings (cf. Rom. 8:17; 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:14). Those blessings include a transformed body in the future (Rom. 8:11).
Similarly, Christ is the firstfruits of dead believers in that he is the first in a long train of those who have died but will be resurrected (cf. 1 Cor. 6:14; Acts 26:23; Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5). God resurrected Christ first, and later God will resurrect dead believers—those “who have fallen asleep” (cf. comment on 1 Cor. 15:5–8).
Paul contrasts the dead and Christ in verses 20–23 (cf. table 2.17).
TABLE 2.17: The Dead vs. Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:20–23
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The Dead
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Christ
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v. 20
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those who have fallen asleep [i.e., believers]
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Christ . . . the firstfruits
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v. 21
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as by a man came death [i.e., for all humans]
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by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead
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v. 22
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as in Adam all die
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so also in Christ shall all be made alive
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v. 23
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those who belong to Christ [i.e., believers]
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Christ the firstfruits
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15:21 This verse supports verse 20b: Christ is the firstfruits of dead believers because death came by a man (i.e., Adam) and the resurrection of the dead also comes by a man (i.e., Christ).
15:22 To explain verse 21: as all die who are in Adam, so all will be made alive who are in Christ. The grammatical kernel of the sentence is “As all die, so all will be made alive.” There are two grammatically viable ways to interpret the prepositional phrases “in Adam” and “in Christ”:
(1) “In Adam” modifies “die,” and “in Christ” modifies “will be made alive”—that is, all die in Adam, and all will be made alive in Christ. Does “all” refer to the same group of people in each clause?
(2) “In Adam” modifies the first “all,” while “in Christ” modifies the second “all,” that is, all (who are) in Adam die, and all (who are) in Christ will be made alive.
Views 1b and 2 are both viable, and it is not critical to choose between them because they make the same basic point: just as all die because all belong to Adam, so all who belong to Christ will live again. Adam is the covenantal head of the old humanity, and Christ is the covenantal head of the new humanity. Every human without exception begins under Adam, and those who believe the gospel (vv. 1–4, 12) “belong to Christ” (v. 23). Adam disobeyed God, with the result that those in him die; Christ obeyed God, with the result that those in him live.
View 1a is not viable, for at least three reasons:
(1) It does not fit the literary context, which is about God’s raising dead believers. The entire literary unit is about whether God will resurrect the corpses of believers. The Bible teaches elsewhere that God will also resurrect the corpses of unbelievers before judging them (John 5:29; Acts 24:15), but Paul is not discussing that here. Paul is discussing those “who have fallen asleep in Christ” (1 Cor. 15:18). After the assertion that Christ is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (v. 20), the following contrasts support and explain this assertion (vv. 21–22), and then the following statement qualifies verse 22b and explicitly names the resurrected people as “those who belong to Christ” (v. 23).
(2) It contradicts what Paul writes in this letter (e.g., 1:18; 6:9–11) and in his other God-breathed letters (e.g., Rom. 2:5, 8–9; Gal. 5:19–21; Eph. 5:3–6; 2 Thess. 1:5–10).
(3) It contradicts the rest of the Bible.
15:23 Paul offers a qualification of verse 22b: there is a gap between the resurrections. “Christ the firstfruits” rose first, and “those who belong to Christ” will rise when Christ returns (cf. comment on 15:20).
15:24 This statement continues the sequence in verse 23: “the end” (cf. Matt. 24:6) comes after Christ’s return (1 Cor. 15:23). He will destroy every rule, authority, and power and will deliver “the kingdom to God the Father” (cf. Dan. 7:14, 27; Rom. 8:35–39).
15:25 Here Paul explains verse 24: Christ must rule over the kingdom “until” a certain point—“until he [Christ or God the Father?] has put all his enemies under his feet.”
(1) The “he” could refer to Christ, for at least two reasons:
(2) The “he” more likely refers to God the Father, for at least two reasons:
15:26 This verse qualifies the “enemies” of verse 25: death is the last enemy God will destroy or eliminate (see vv. 54–55; cf. 2 Cor. 5:4; 2 Tim. 1:10; Rev. 20:14; 21:4). God will destroy death by raising believers.
15:27b Paul qualifies “all things” (v. 27a): they exclude God the Father. “It is plain that he [i.e., God the Father] is excepted who put all things in subjection under him [i.e., Christ].”
15:28 Now the apostle explains verses 24 and 27b: “When all things are subjected to him [Christ], then the Son himself will also be subjected to him [God the Father] who put all things in subjection under him [Christ], that God [the Father] may be all in all.” In other words, the Son will submit himself to the Father in order that the Father may be supreme over all (see note 36; cf. Phil. 2:9–11).
15:29 If God does not resurrect believers, then what is the point of people “being baptized on behalf of” dead people? It is easy to trace this logic in the flow of what Paul argues, but it seems impossible for us to know with certainty to what “being baptized on behalf of the dead” refers. There are over two hundred different ways to interpret this phrase! I am not sure what baptism for the dead means, but I am sure what it does not mean. Based on Paul’s other writings and the rest of the NT, this cannot mean that a living Christian can be baptized on behalf of a dead non-Christian and somehow change that dead person’s status from non-Christian to Christian.
We can only guess at what the phrase means. Two plausible interpretations are noteworthy:
(1) The baptism is believed to be vicarious. Perhaps, a very small number of Christians were baptized on behalf of believers—probably friends or family—who had died without being baptized themselves. Paul does not commend or condemn the practice, which suggests that, while it may be misguided, it is not gospel-denying. His point is that such an action is meaningless if God will not resurrect the corpses of believers.
(2) The baptism is Christian water baptism. There are at least two ways to support this view:
15:30–32 If God does not resurrect believers, then what is the point of enduring constant physical danger? We might as well live it up, because we will soon cease to exist. Paul has endured extreme physical hardships for the sake of the gospel (cf. 4:11–13; 2 Cor. 1:8–10; 4:8–12; 6:4–10; 11:23–27; 12:10). When he says, “I die every day!” (1 Cor. 15:31), he does not mean that he metaphorically “dies to self.” He means that his life is constantly in danger (cf. Rom. 8:36).
“Beasts at Ephesus” probably refers metaphorically to people in Ephesus who opposed Paul and contributed to his physical hardships (see previous paragraph). At least four reasons support this conclusion: (1) The “beasts” cannot be literal because Paul was a Roman citizen, which made him exempt from facing beasts in the arena (not to mention that such beasts would have killed him!). (2) Paul is writing this letter from Ephesus and later mentions that “there are many adversaries” there (1 Cor. 16:8–9; cf. Acts 19:23–41). (3) It was common to refer to adversaries as wild beasts (e.g., Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans 5:1). (4) Paul uses similar language metaphorically in 2 Timothy 4:17: “I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.”
If God does not resurrect believers, then God did not resurrect Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 15:12–19). And, if this is the case, then Paul has foolishly wasted his life by enduring extreme physical hardship for no reason. It would make more sense to party like a (non-Christian) hedonist (cf. Isa. 22:13; 56:12; Luke 12:19).
15:33–34 Here Paul offers three commands and a final rebuke: (1) Do not let resurrection-deniers fool you. (2) Sober up and come back to your senses regarding the resurrection. (3) Stop sinning by denying that God will resurrect the corpses of believers. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Command 1: Do not be fooled by those who deny the resurrection. Paul proverbially quotes a line that may come from a lost comedy by the Greek poet Menander. “Bad company ruins good morals” (cf. 5:6; Prov. 13:20; 22:24–25). Since those who say there is no resurrection of the dead are bad companions who corrupt one’s character, the Corinthians must not let such people negatively influence them.
Command 2: “Wake up from your drunken stupor.” This translates a single Greek word that means “become sober” in the sense of “recovering from a drunken revel”; it figuratively means “come to one’s senses.” Paul directs this command to those who say that there is no resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15:12) and to those who are listening to such people and considering their argument as a valid possibility.
Command 3: Stop sinning by propagating or tolerating false teaching about the resurrection or by pursuing any related immoral behavior (cf. 6:13–14 and comment). Paul supports this command with a reason: “Some have no knowledge of God.” The “some” likely refers to the same “some” in verse 12: “How can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” The Corinthians prize their knowledge (e.g., ch. 8), but the resurrection-deniers lack basic knowledge about God’s power to raise the corpses of believers.
15:35 Paul transitions to the nature of the resurrected body God will give to believers. A person who insists that there is no resurrection of the dead (v. 12) might scoff, “So, how exactly are corpses raised? What kind of physical body will corpses supposedly have?”
15:36b–37 Paul explains verses 35–36a with an analogy: seed : body :: earthly body : heavenly body. Two statements illustrate that transformation is common in nature.
(1) “What you sow” (i.e., a seed) must die before it comes to life. Paul does not mean that all believers must die before they experience a transformed body (cf. vv. 51–52). He is merely illustrating that God can raise dead things to life—whether a seed or a body. The life-through-death principle is common for seeds in nature (cf. John 12:24), so it is reasonable for the corpses of believers.
(2) What you sow in the ground is not the final product. You do not sow an apple tree; you sow an apple seed that God later transforms into an apple tree. Such transformation is common in nature, so it is reasonable for the corpses of believers. A believer does not start out with a heavenly body; a believer starts out with an earthly body that God will later transform into a heavenly body.
15:38 God gives “what you sow” (vv. 36–37)—that is, “each kind of seed”—its own type of body according to his plan.
15:39 Now Paul explains his previous statement (v. 38): there are different kinds of bodies, for example, for humans, domesticated animals, birds, and fish.
15:40b Not only are heavenly and earthly bodies not the same; “the glory” of each is not the same. The glory of something refers to its unique excellence—its magnificence or grandeur.
15:41 The first three phrases of this verse explain verse 40b. The glories or radiances of the sun, moon, and stars differ from each other. More specifically, there is not simply one radiance of the stars; there is a different kind of radiance for each star, because each is different.
15:42–44 These verses specify that verses 36b–41 illustrate “the resurrection of the dead,” explaining it with four contrasts (cf. table 2.18).
TABLE 2.18: Sown vs. Raised in 1 Corinthians 15:42–44
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Sown
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Raised
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v. 42
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perishable
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imperishable
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v. 43a
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in dishonor
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in glory
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v. 43b
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in weakness
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in power
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v. 44
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a natural body
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a spiritual body
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The body that “is sown” is the earthly body, whereas the body that “is raised” is the heavenly body (cf. v. 40). The earthly body and heavenly body contrast in four ways:
(1) Perishable vs. imperishable. The earthly body will die; it will not last forever. The heavenly body will never die; it will last forever. Paul repeats this contrast in verses 50–54.
(2) Dishonor vs. glory. The earthly body is “lowly” (Phil. 3:21). The heavenly body is gloriously attractive.
(3) Weakness vs. power. The earthly body is weak; it suffers from injuries, illnesses, fatigue, and eventually death. The heavenly body is strong.
(4) Natural body vs. spiritual body. The earthly body is natural (Gk. psychikos). The heavenly body is spiritual (pneumatikos). The main way English speakers use the word spiritual contrasts with physical or material things, but that is not what Paul means by pneumatikos. Here spiritual means not nonphysical but supernatural or Spirit-empowered; that is, the Spirit supernaturally empowers and characterizes the heavenly body. Both bodies are physical. Paul is using the same adjectives he previously used to contrast unbelievers as people without the Spirit versus believers as people with the Spirit (cf. comment on 1 Cor. 2:13). Here he uses those adjectives to contrast the natural, earthly body with the supernatural, heavenly body. The Spirit significantly enhances the heavenly body so that it is superior to the earthly one.
The final sentence (15:44b) logically follows from what Paul has written in verses 36b–44a. If a sown natural body exists, there must be a better body that corresponds to it.
15:45 This verse is an inference of the previous one (v. 44). Paul’s play on words here in the context of verses 44–46 is easier to see in the Greek (cf. table 2.20 and comment on 15:42–44). The natural body is the earthly body, while the spiritual (i.e., supernatural) body is the heavenly body (cf. v. 40).
Paul quotes Genesis 2:7: “Man became a living creature.” He uses the wording from the LXX (i.e., the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the OT), which includes the word psychē and lines up with psychikos in 1 Corinthians 15:44–46 (cf. table 2.20). When God raised Christ—“the last Adam”—from the dead, Christ “became a life-giving spirit [pneuma]” (cf. v. 22), which lines up with pneumatikos and alludes to Ezekiel 37. Adam was merely “living,” but Christ is “life-giving” because he will raise all those who belong to him (1 Cor. 15:21–23). Adam imparted his image to his son Seth (Gen. 5:3), and Christ imparts his image to those who belong to him (1 Cor. 15:49). Thus Adam was a living psychē with the first psychikos human body and is the archetype for all subsequent earthly bodies, while Christ is a life-giving pneuma with the first pneumatikos human body and is the archetype for all subsequent heavenly bodies.
TABLE 2.20: Natural vs. Spiritual Wordplay in 1 Corinthians 15:44–46
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Natural Body
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Spiritual (i.e., Supernatural) Body
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v. 44a
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It is sown a natural [psychikos] body;
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it is raised a spiritual [pneumatikos] body.
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v. 44b
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If there is a natural [psychikos] body,
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there is also a spiritual [pneumatikos] body.
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v. 45
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“The first man Adam became a living being [psychē]”;
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the last Adam became a life-giving spirit [pneuma].
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v. 46
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But it is not the spiritual [pneumatikos] that is first
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but the natural [psychikos],
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and then the spiritual [pneumatikos].
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15:46 This statement clarifies the order of verse 45 (which corresponds to the seed analogy in vv. 36–44). The natural body of Adam came first; the supernatural body of the resurrected Christ came later. (And the supernatural bodies of those who belong to Christ will come still later.)
15:47 These clauses describe verses 45–46 by specifying not the origins but the nature of these bodies. Adam’s natural body is “of the earth” (NIV) which makes it earthy—“a man of dust.” Christ’s spiritual body is “of heaven” (NIV), which makes it heavenly.
15:48 Now Paul compares his statements in verses 45–47 to other humans. Earthy people are like Adam, the “man of dust”; heavenly people are like Christ, the “man of heaven.”
15:49 The second half of this sentence could read either “we shall . . . bear” (ESV, translating the future-tense-form phoresomen) or “let us . . . bear” (ESV mg., translating the exhortation phoresōmen). The difference is one Greek letter—an omicron (ο = o) or an omega (ω = ō). Both readings make sense in Paul’s argument, but the second reading is superior because it appears in more and better manuscripts. So there are two main ways to interpret this sentence:
(1) If Paul wrote “we shall bear,” he is specifying the comparison in verse 48 between the nonresurrected and resurrected bodies of believers. We believers who have not yet died have bodies like Adam’s earthy body. But after Christ returns (v. 23) our bodies will be like Christ’s heavenly body (Rom. 8:29).
(2) If Paul wrote “let us bear,” he is exhorting believers who are still living in their earthy bodies to “bear the image of the man of heaven.” He does not mean that believers should try to attain a heavenly body now, for they will receive such bodies only in the future (1 Cor. 15:23–28, 50–57). Rather the apostle means that believers must live in the present in light of the future. The future should determine how believers live now. Specifically, because we know that we will receive heavenly bodies in the future, we should be and behave like Jesus now while we are in our earthly bodies (cf. 2 Cor. 4:16–5:9). (On the already and not yet, cf. comment on 1 Cor. 4:8.)
15:50 This verse transitions to this literary unit’s climax (vv. 50–58). Its two main statements are synonymously parallel:
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• flesh and blood
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cannot
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inherit the kingdom of God
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• the perishable
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[does not]
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inherit the imperishable
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Our earthy bodies—whether dead or alive—deteriorate. Similar to how “the unrighteous” are not fit to “inherit the kingdom of God” (6:9–10; cf. Gal. 5:19–21; Eph. 5:5–6), our earthly bodies are not fit to “inherit the kingdom of God.” So God will transform the earthly bodies of believers into heavenly ones.
15:51b Not every believer will physically die. This is not the mystery (v. 51a), since Paul has already revealed this in a letter he wrote before this one (1 Thess. 4:15–17). But God will suddenly (1 Cor. 15:52a) transform the earthly body of every believer—dead and alive—into a heavenly body when Christ returns. This is the mystery.
15:52b Paul explains this change (vv. 51b–52a). When the last trumpet sounds, God will transform the earthly bodies of two groups:
(1) Dead believers. God will resurrect dead believers and transform their earthly bodies into heavenly bodies.
(2) Living believers. God will transform the earthly bodies of believers who have not died into heavenly bodies.
15:53 Now Paul explains these two transformations (v. 52b). His two main statements are synonymously parallel:
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• this perishable
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body
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must put on
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the imperishable
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• this mortal
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body
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must put on
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immortality
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God has planned to transform our perishable, mortal bodies—whether dead or alive—into imperishable, immortal bodies. “Must put on” (and “puts on” in v. 54) translates endyō, which means “to put any kind of thing on oneself, clothe oneself in, put on, wear” and here metaphorically refers to “the taking on of characteristics, virtues, intentions, etc.” Our perishable, mortal bodies must take on the characteristics of Christ’s resurrected body (cf. vv. 20–23, 45–49).
15:54–55 Now the apostle describes what happens next (after the transformation described in v. 53). Christ decisively defeated death at the cross (Heb. 2:14), and, after God transforms the bodies of believers, Christ will finally, completely, and permanently defeat death (cf. 1 Cor. 15:57). Death itself will be dead! “Death shall be no more” (Rev. 21:4). This will climactically fulfill two OT passages:
(1) Isaiah 25:8: “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces [cf. Rev. 7:17; 21:4], and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.” “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor. 15:54) loosely quotes Isaiah 25:8. “In victory” translates a Greek phrase that is an idiom for the Hebrew term that reads “forever” in Isaiah 25:8.
(2) Hosea 13:14: “I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol [the realm of the dead]; I shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting?” Paul reads this passage about God’s judging Israel in light of Christ’s sting-absorbing death and adapts Hosea 13:14 to personify and mock death. Death will die because Christ died and rose again.
15:56b Now Paul explains “The sting of death is sin” (v. 56a). Sin could not seduce Eve and Adam until God issued his first law for them: “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat” (Gen. 2:17). That law energized sin by giving it death-dealing power (Gen. 3:1–6). The law-sin-death triad began in the garden of Eden.
What Paul wrote after 1 Corinthians (and was almost certainly already teaching churches prior to writing 1 Corinthians) further clarifies what he means here. “Through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20). “Sin is not counted where there is no law” (Rom. 5:13). The law enables sin to abound (Rom. 5:20; 7:5, 13). Moreover, “the law brings wrath” (Rom. 4:15); “the letter kills” (2 Cor. 3:6); the law is “the ministry of death” and “the ministry of condemnation” (2 Cor. 3:7, 9); and “apart from the law, sin lies dead” (Rom. 7:8). Thus, by defeating sin permanently, Christ also permanently ensures that God’s law is only life-giving for his people, not sin-empowering.
15:57 In contrast to the sting of death and the power of sin (v. 56), we thank God for finally, completely, and permanently defeating death for us by means of Christ’s dying for our sins and rising from the dead (vv. 1–4; cf. Rom. 8:35–39).
15:58 As inferred from verses 50–57 (and vv. 1–57), believers can endure, for they know that in the Lord their work is valuable. Paul affectionately addresses the Corinthians as his dear brothers and sisters.
The three commands are different ways of exhorting believers to persevere:
(1) “Be steadfast” translates a word that means to be “firmly or solidly in place.” The Corinthians “stand” in the gospel (v. 1), and they must stand firm. As Paul commands later, “stand firm in the faith” (16:13). Standing firm entails affirming that God will resurrect the bodies of dead believers.
(2) “Be . . . immovable.” Nothing must move the Corinthians—including those who “say that there is no resurrection of the dead” (15:12).
(3) “Be . . . abounding” translates a word that here means to “be outstanding, be prominent, excel.” Believers must always excel in their “labor,” which translates a word meaning “that which one does as regular activity, work, occupation, task.” Every task God calls a believer to do should be “in the Lord.” Of course, this includes evangelizing unbelievers and building up the church (cf. “the work of the Lord” in 16:10). It also includes fulfilling the vocational responsibilities of a spouse, parent, child, sibling, church member, employee, volunteer, citizen, neighbor, etc.
God graciously gives believers a reason for those three commands: “in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” “Vain” translates kenos (cf. comment on 15:14–19), which refers to being useless, devoid of any value. After repeatedly referring to vain activities (vv. 2, 10, 14, 17), Paul encourages the Corinthians that, because God raised Christ and will raise believers, their work is never worthless.