The Gospel as Present History
1 Corinthians 15Now, siblings, I declare to y’all the gospel which I preached to y’all, which also y’all received, and on which y’all stand, by which also y’all are saved if y’all hold firmly the word which I preached to y’all, unless y’all believed in vain.
For I delivered to y’all of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to over five hundred siblings at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy of being called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not futile. No, I worked more than all of them–yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Whether then it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what y’all believed.
The Gospel of Coming Resurrection
Now if Christ has been preached as raised from the dead, how do some among y’all say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and y’all’s faith also is in vain. Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ. But he didn’t raise him if indeed the dead are not raised. For if the dead aren’t raised, then even has Christ not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, y’all’s faith is vain, and y’all are still in y’all’s sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all humans.
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruit of those who are asleep. For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead also came through a human. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s at his coming. Then the end comes, when he will deliver the empire to God the Father, when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be abolished is death. For, he “put all things in subjection under his feet.”+Psa 8:6 But when he says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that this excludes the one who subjected all things to him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to ʜɪᴍ who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.
Or else what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead aren’t raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? Also, why are we in danger every hour? Every day I face death, as surely as I boast about y’all in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought with animals at Ephesus for human purposes, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, then “let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”+Isa 22:13 Don’t y’all be deceived! “Bad company corrupts good morals.” Y’all need to sober up and stop sinning, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to y’all’s shame.
The Resurrection Body
But someone will say, “How are the dead raised?” and, “With what kind of body do they come?” How foolish. What you sow does not come alive unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that it will become, but a bare grain, maybe of wheat, or of some other kind. But God gives it a body even as he purposed, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. All flesh is not the same flesh. Humans have one flesh, animals another flesh, birds another flesh, and fish another. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial differs from that of the terrestrial. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars. For one star carries different glory from another.
So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable; it is raised as imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is also a spiritual body.
So also it is written, “The first human Adam became a living soul.” +Gen 2:7 The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual isn’t first, but the natural, then the spiritual. The first human is of the earth, made of dust. The second human is from heaven. As is the one made from earth, so are those who are made of earth. And as is the heavenly one, so are the heavenly ones. As just as we have borne the image of those made of earth, so we will also bear the image of the heavenly one. Now I say this, siblings, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Empire of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Listen, I tell y’all a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 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 will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”+Isa 25:8
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”+See Hosea 13:14The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved siblings, y’all must stand firm, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because y’all know that y’all’s labor in the Lord is not in vain.