1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Butler's Comments

SECTION 2

Its Holiness (1 Corinthians 15:12-34)

12 Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; 14if 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 of God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. 17If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied.

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall we be made alive. 23But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom of God the Father after destroying every rule and every 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 all things in subjection under his feet. But when it says, All things are put in subjection under him, it is plain that he is excepted who put all things under him. 28When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be everything to every one.

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? 30Why am I in peril every hour? 31I protest, brethren, by my pride in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 32What 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. 33Do not be deceived: Bad company ruins good morals. 34Come to your right mind, and sin no more. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

1 Corinthians 15:12-19 Cleanses From Defilement: Paul asks, If I am preaching Christ as raised from the dead, what do some of you expect to gain by saying there is no resurrection for believers? He proceeds to answer his own rhetorical question by saying, in essence, You can-'t have the hope if you don-'t have the history! If Christ was not raised from the dead, then hoping in him for anything else is vain. If Christ is not raised, and if there is no resurrection for those who trust in Christ, then the whole Christian religion is in vain.

First, apostolic preaching would be vain if there is no resurrection. All Christian preaching for two hundred centuries would be vain if Christ is not historically, actually, factually raised from the dead. Why, then, do men who do not believe the historical resurrection of Christ preach the Christian religion? For money (Jesus predicted there would be hirelings, John 10:10-13; Paul predicted there would be some from among the Christian religion who would exploit it, Acts 20:29-30); for position or famethere are those who love the praise of men more than the praise of God. There are some who do not want the moral implications which the historical resurrection of Jesus would force upon them, but they want the Christian religion to try to soften by euphemistic (but useless) verbiage the cruel, stark, reality of injustices never to be righted, of tribulations and sacrifices never to be repaid or vindicated, to soften the utter defeat of human death. An existential philosopher said, and without the resurrection he is correct, Life is never more absurd than at the grave. But, hallelujah, because of the fact of the resurrection life is never absurd!

Second, all faith would be void without the resurrection. Faith in God, Christ, the Bible, faith that truth is better than falsehood, faith that goodness and love is to be preferred over evil and hate, faith in today and tomorrow, faith that life is worth livingall is useless if there is no life beyond the grave, no heaven, no eternity, no truth, no God. The apostles were false witnesses, the most despicable charlatans or ignorant dupes who ever lived, if the resurrection of Christ is not historically valid. But are we to believe they have gotten by with such a monstrous hoax, having duped millions of the best minds for almost two millenniums? Could what their testimony produced for all these centuries have been produced by the cruelest, most preposterous lie ever perpetrated upon the human race?
Third, and most crucial, if Christ has not been raised, those who have believed in him are not forgiventhey are still in their sins. The cross, the vicarious, substitutionary atonement of Christ's death, is invalid without the resurrection. The only hope we have that Christ did what he promised to do by the cross is his resurrection (see 2 Corinthians 1:20; 1 Peter 1:3-5; Luke 24:44-48). If Christ's promise of atonement for man's sin is not validated by his resurrection from the dead, he is simply another crucified Jew, and his death has not as much efficacy to atone for my sins as an animal sacrifice. Study the sermons of the apostles and evangelists in the book of Acts. They did not wait until the annual Easter services to proclaim the resurrection. They never preached the death of Christ without preaching his resurrection! Too much modern preaching is depending upon the sentimentalism aroused by portraying the shocking violence of Jesus-' death. The mental decisiveness brought about by the persuading evidence of the resurrection, without which there is no true conversion, is seldom made the focus of either edificatory or evangelistic proclamation. If we are going to restore the church of the New Testament, we must restore the gospel of the New Testament!

If Christ is not raised, then those who have fallen asleep (died) have perished. Are we to believe that all the millions of Christians who have poured out their lives upon the altars of love, usefulness and goodness have perished and will not be raised from the dead? That includes some of my very dear ones, and yours! Will faith, and love, and goodness perish, and wickedness, falsehood and dissolution win, after all? Is there no wiping out of defilement? No forgiveness of sin? No vindication of faith? Without the resurrection there is none!

If a man's hope in Christ and his teachings is to be restricted to this life on earth only, he is, of all men, most pitiful. The word eleeinoteroi, from the Greek word eleos (mercy, pity), is translated in the KJV as miserable. It means, to be pitied. If this life is all there is, Christians are pitiful fools to be hoping in Christ. They would be better off to abandon the teachings of Jesus which insist on counting others better than self, or turning the other cheek, or not pleasing oneself, but pleasing one's neighbor, for his good, or giving up one's liberty and rights for the sake of others. If this life is all there is, people would be better off following Buddha or Mohammed, or Darwin or Marx, or no one! Certainly, if there is no resurrection, and Christ is not who he claims he is, and this is all the life there is, those who still maintain allegiance to the Christian faith are either putting us on or self-deceived, living in a dream world of their own creation; see Special Study entitled, On Cloud Nine.

1 Corinthians 15:20-28 Conquers Dissolution: This is not the only life there is! Christ has, in fact, been raised from the dead. He is the firstfruit of resurrection from the dead. The Bible record documents the fact that there were persons resurrected from death, chronologically, before Jesus. In fact, Jesus raised three people (Jairus-' daughter; the widow's son at Nain; and Lazarus) before his own resurrection took place. But Paul is not speaking chronologically here, unless he is denoting the uniqueness of Christ's resurrection over those preceding his. All others resurrected from death died again. Their bodies have suffered the same decay and dissolution all other human bodies suffer. But when Jesus rose from the grave, he did not die again. He ascended, after forty days, to heaven in the body which came out of the tomb. The apostles were eye witnesses to this ascension (Acts 1:9-11). From heaven Jesus has appeared to some (Paul, John). But Paul's figure of speech firstfruit (Gr. aparche, akin to aparchomai which means, to make a beginning) is from Old Testament times. In the Law of Moses the first portion of the harvest was to be given to the Lord as an indication the worshiper understood that all the harvest was, in reality, the Lord's (Deuteronomy 26:2-11). Whatever firstfruit was, the rest of the harvest was. Christ's resurrection was firstfruit of all the dead. Adam was, because of his sin, firstfruit of the death of humanity; Christ was, because of his sinlessness, firstfruit of the resurrection of humanity. All mankind dies bodily because of Adam's sin; all mankind is to be resurrected bodily because of Christ's victory over sin. That is all Paul is saying here. He is not teaching original sin and total depravity, and he is not teaching universal salvation. All creation, man and matter, belongs to God. He will resurrect it all. Temporarily, God has subjected all his creation to futility, hoping it will hope, and one day be set free from its bondage to decay (Romans 8:18-25). But only those who trust Christ as their firstfruit will be adopted as sons. All of dead humanity will be resurrected, but only those who have trusted Christ will be given eternal life; those who have not trusted Christ will be imprisoned forever in torment (see John 5:25-28; Luke 16:19-31; Revelation 14:9-13; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:1-27; Revelation 22:1-5).

Each in his own order does not mean there are going to be two or three increments to the resurrection of humanity, separated by time. Paul clears up any misunderstanding about that in his epistle to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3). When Jesus comes again to resurrect humanity, it will be one complete, final resurrection. No segment of humanity, physically alive or dead, will precede the other. Paul uses the Greek word tagmati in 1 Corinthians 15:23 and it is translated order. Tagma is a Greek military term meaning a rank, a company, a group. Paul explains what he means by order in the last half of 1 Corinthians 15:23. Christ's resurrection ranks first and is firstfruitthen, at his second coming, the second ranking resurrection of the whole harvest of humanity, including those who belong to him. It is rank of resurrection emphasized, not chronology, to prove there will be a second rank because there was a first.

At Christ's coming is the end. The KJV italicizes the word cometh in 1 Corinthians 15:24, indicating it is a supplied word. And that is more to be desired than the RSV translation which is: Then comes the end.. The Greek text is: eita to telos, literally, then, the end. Christ's second coming and the end are simultaneous. God's redemptive program will find its telos, its goal, its completion, when Jesus comes to resurrect all the dead. Then will come to an end this world and all its powers. There will be no more pretending powers, no more powers temporarily granted by God to human beings. God alone will exercise sovereignty. All others will be willing servants, or banished, incarcerated enemies. In the meantime the Son reigns until he has established all that God has spoken by the mouths of his prophets (see Acts 3:17-26), both Old and New Testament prophets. The Bible clearly teaches that no human being is going to know when Christ is coming back (see our comments, The Gospel of Luke, College Press Publishing Company, pp. 467-519). How long Christ will take to put all his enemies under his feet, and who those enemies are, we do not know. But the fact of his resurrection makes it certain that day will come (see Acts 17:30-31). The last enemy is death (cf. Revelation 20:9-15). Death will be abolished (Gr. katargeitai, destroyed)it will not exist anymore.

God has subjected this world and all creation to the Son (Christ) (John 5:19-29) in order that the Son might carry out his redemptive and mediatorial work. This work began with his incarnation and continues through his high priesthood (cf. the book of Hebrews). But when the Son finishes this work and returns to consummate redemption and judgment, there will be no more need for mediation. The person of Son will be the person of eternal Father, that God may be everything to every one.

1 Corinthians 15:29-34 Conserves Decency: Only by the power of faith in the resurrection will man be able to preserve moral goodness. Only those who hope to be welcomed to heaven and become as Jesus is will have the power to desire holiness (1 John 3:1-3).

The discussion of the purifying power of the hope of resurrection is begun by questioning the Corinthians on their reason for having been baptized. The RSV translates: Otherwise what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? The Greek preposition, huper, may be translated either on behalf of or with reference to. In the light of the context, and the following evidence, we believe the second translation is the correct one. The Corinthian Christians were being asked, If the dead are not actually raised, why are people still becoming Christians and being baptized with reference to the resurrection from the dead?

Some commentators think this verse (1 Corinthians 15:29) is a reference to an ancient practice among Christians where the living is baptized as a proxy on behalf of someone who has already died. Such a ritual is practiced in modern times by a large religious sect. The context is clear that Paul is focusing on the foolishness of engaging in any rite or activity that pretends faith in a bodily resurrection which the pretender disbelieved. Second, there is no documented practice such as this among Christians of the first century. It would be unlikely that only Paul would mention, in only this one place, such a radical practice if it were settled doctrine. Third, the most natural understanding of Paul's question would be to associate it with the initial baptism of a Christian believer. A fundamental rule of hermeneutics is to always interpret a passage according to its most natural meaning. Baptism is the action of a believer which confirms his trust in the vicarious death of Christ and the vicarious resurrection of Christ to new life (see Romans 6:3-5; Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 2:12-13). In faithfulness to Christ's command to be baptized, the believer receives the forgiveness of sins (cf. Acts 22:16; Acts 2:38; 1 Peter 3:21). If Christ is not raised, and there is no resurrection for those who believe in Christ, baptism as to form and purpose is meaningless. What is the point in being baptized (immersed) in reference to being dead in sin if there is no resurrection? Fourth, the Bible teaches that each man is responsible for his own faith and obedience to Christ (cf. Ezekiel 18:1-24; Ezekiel 33:1-20; Luke 16:19-31; 2 Kings 14:6; Deuteronomy 24:16; Jeremiah 31:30; Matthew 16:27; Romans 2:6; Revelation 20:12). The Roman Catholic Church teaches that works of proxy may be done by the living for the dead (masses for the dead, prayers for the dead, etc.), but such teaching has no basis in scripture and is rejected by all evangelical Christendom. It is absurd to think that the spiritual, moral choices of one human being would be accepted by God as willingly made by another human being when the second person made no such choices. Fifth, there is only one mediator between God and man, and that mediator is Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5). Only he could accomplish a redemptive deed vicariously (for someone else). To think that this passage teaches the possibility of one human being baptized by proxy for another human being, dead or alive, is to fly in the face of the exclusive mediatorship of Jesus Christ. Sixth, to take 1 Corinthians 15:29 to refer to vicarious baptism being practiced at Corinth but stating that Paul would not have approved of it, is dodging the issue of all five propositions above. To think the practice was going on and that Paul would not renounce such a crucial contradiction of apostolic revelation is naive. Baptism by proxy strikes at the very heart of the gospel: ... you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he (John 8:24); ... but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. (Luke 13:3-4). Had proxy-baptism been a practice at Corinth, Paul would have devoted more than two questions to the issue! If proxy-baptism was widely practiced in the first century church, why is there total silence about it in the writings of the apostle John (John's Gospel, his epistles, and Revelation, were all written near the end of the first century, circa. 95-100 A.D.)?

Already in Paul's day, Christians were being arrested for sedition against the Roman empire and thrown into arenas to be slaughtered by wild beasts. The fourth seal opened in the Revelation written by the apostle John predicts the fact that great numbers of human beings would be killed by wild beasts of the earth in the struggle between Christ's church and the Roman empire (Revelation 6:7-8). Paul now says (1 Corinthians 15:30-32), If there is no resurrection from death, why do I allow myself to be imperiled almost every hour of my life? Some circumstances of life Paul could not control, of course, but those threats, persecutions and murderous attacks upon his person because he was a Christian missionary (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:8-10; 2 Corinthians 4:11; 2 Corinthians 11:23-29) he could have foregone by simply renouncing Christ and the resurrection. Did Paul fight with beasts? This may be simply a figurative expression describing his struggles with beastly human beings when he was at Ephesus (cf. Acts 19:23-30). Had Paul literally fought with beasts in the Roman arena it is probable that he would have listed the experience in 2 Corinthians 11:23-29. It would not be unusual to speak of the enemies of God as beasts. The prophet Daniel did; John the apostle did (Revelation). John even categorizes all idolatrous heathen who worshiped the Roman emperor as those with the mark of the beast.

The only logical alternative to believing the bodily resurrection and practicing Biblical Christianity is hedonism. The religious person who repudiates the historicity of Christ's bodily resurrection but advocates (and is even willing to endure suffering for) trying to practice the teachings of Jesus is a fool! He is either a gullible moron or a masochist! Paul is scrupulously honest in saying, If the dead are not raised, -Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die-' (1 Corinthians 15:32).

The bodily resurrection from death is the absolutely crucial doctrine of Christian faith. Christian theology, Christian evangelism, and Christian ethics are vain without it. Liberal Christian theology repudiates the bodily resurrection. As a result liberalism is insipid, powerless and useless (see Special Studies, On Cloud Nine, and The Existential/Neo-Orthodox Philosophy of History). Frighteningly, even some evangelical Christianity (the existential-feelings-first kind) dismisses the critical necessity of the bodily resurrection in its proclamation and practice. One of the new Christian songs is a classic example. In a popular song by Andrae Crouch, entitled, If Heaven Never Was Promised to Me, these are the lyrics:

You may ask me why I serve the Lord, Is it just for heaven's gain, Or to walk those mighty streets of gold and to hear the angels sing? Is it just to drink from the fountain That never shall run dry, Or just to live forever and ever In that sweet old by and by?
But if heaven never was promised to me, Neither God's promise to live eternally, It's been worth just having the Lord in my life, Livin-' in a world of darkness, He brought me the light.
If there were never any streets of gold, Neither a land where we-'ll never grow old; It's been worth just having the Lord in my life, Livin-' in a world of darkness, He brought me the light.

Dear reader, this may have a lovely tune, it may have soul, it may have the beat, and pragmatically, it may draw crowds of people to a religious concert, but its lyrics deny the very cardinal, focal, fundamental issue Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 15:1-58! If heaven never was promised to you, neither God's promise to live eternally, then you are, of all men, most to be pitied if you are practicing the Christian gospel. You should eat and drink, for tomorrow you will die and perish, if there is no resurrection and no heaven. If my hope is just having the Lord in my life here, in this existence, I am a fool for thinking I walk in light!

If there is no bodily resurrection and heaven, we should be writing Christian songs with lyrics like these:

a.

Brief and powerless is man's life; on him and on his race the slow sure doom falls pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its rentless way; for man condemned today to lose his dearest, tomorrow himself to pass through the gate of darkness, it remains only to cherish, ere the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that enoble his little days..

Bertrand Russell

b.

Life has become in that total perspective which is philosophy, a fitful pullulation of human insects on the earth, a planetary eczema that may soon be cured; nothing is certain in it except defeat and deatha sleep from which, it seems, there is no awakening..

Will Durant

c.

In spite of all my desperation to a brave looking optimism, I perceive that now the universe is bored with him (man), is turning a hard face to him, and I see him being carried less and less intelligently and more and more rapidly, suffering as every ill-adapted creature must suffer in gross and detail, along the stream of fate to degradation, suffering and death.

H.G. Wells

1 Corinthians 15:33-34 confirm our comments on 1 Corinthians 15:12-19. The moral muscle of the gospel rests ultimately in the preaching of the historicity of the bodily resurrection. Paul quotes the Greek poet, Meander. The KJV translates it, ... evil communications corrupt good manners. The RSV translates it, ... Bad company ruins good morals. The Greek word homiliai, is the word from which the English words homiletics and homily come. The word is most often used to mean, communication, conversation, discourse, talk. Certainly in this context Paul is talking about some of the Corinthian Christians who were saying that there is no resurrection. Evil preaching and teaching corrupts good morals. And teaching that there is no bodily resurrection is evil teaching. The entire second epistle of Peter is a treatise on the fact that false teaching about the Lord Jesus and his deity is the source of the corruption of morality. When Paul wrote good morals, he did not use the most common Greek word for good which is agathos; he used the word chresta. Chresta means good in the sense of that which is right because it produces goodpractical or useful goodness. The word chresta is used by Matthew in recording Jesus-' great invitation, ... for my yoke is easy (chresta, usefully-good) (Matthew 11:30). Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:33, evil, anti-resurrection, preaching is morally impractical. Liberalism is not only philosophically dishonest, it is ethically useless. It is worse than that, it is ethically corrupting! The fundamental cause of human immorality is the repudiation of the gospel factsspecifically, the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is the essence of Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 15:33-34. Anyone who aspires to search for, defend, and lead mankind to the truth must surrender to this! Philosophers, scientists, educators, preachers, lawyers, politicians and artists are under obligation to learn, believe and proclaim the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ as the source of all morality and goodness. Paul called the philosophers at Athens to moral conversion and repentance by the power of the resurrection of Jesus (see Acts 17:30-31).

To sin, in light of the historicity of the resurrection, is insane. Essentially that is what Paul meant by his statement, Come to your right mind, and sin no more. The Greek word Paul uses is eknepsate, is literally, sober up. He is using it here to exhort the Corinthians to shake off the seductive moral stupor into which they have fallen by believing those who are saying there is no resurrection. False teaching about the resurrection has confounded their mental abilities like drunkenness confounds the brain. They are not thinking right (Gr. dikaios, rightly, correctly, truly). First, they are philosophic schizoprenics. They are not facing reality. They are repudiating the resurrection and at the same time pretending the Christian faith is valuable. Second, since the resurrection is true, as Paul has logically demonstrated, no matter how much they deny it they are going to face the judgment of God in the next life and to sin in light of this is insanity! Paul has appealed to incontrovertible evidence and irrefutable logic throughout this treatise on the resurrection. Now he commands (Gr. eknepsate is in the imperative mood) the Corinthians to start thinking as they should. Faulty thinking is a sin! Christians are not permitted the insanity of deliberately ignoring facts (see John 8:31-32; John 8:43; John 8:45-47; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12; 2 Peter 3:5). Christians must constantly guard against the tendency to subvert clear, logical thinking by the selfish desire to follow feelings and urges of the flesh. Christians are continually urged by the scriptures to set their minds on God's word (Romans 8:5-8; Colossians 3:1-4; and Peter urges Christians to gird up or put-to-work their minds 1 Peter 1:13). To choose to be a Christian is to choose to apply one's mental processes in conformity to the sovereign word of God. To choose to be a Christian is to allow one's every thought to be brought into captivity to obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-4). To choose to be a Christian is to choose to see nothing any more from a human point of view but through the perspective of Christ's constraining love (2 Corinthians 5:14-21). There is only one hope for changing men's morals into that classified good (useful) by God, and that is to persuade them to believe the bodily resurrection. For shame to you I am speaking says Paul (literally, in Greek). They were listening to some of those within the congregation who were saying there is no resurrection. Paul is apparently pointing to the anti-resurrectionists when he says, some are ignorant of God. Denial of the resurrection, especially by those posing to be Christians, is worse than a shame, it is a tragedy, a spiritual catastrophe!

Applebury's Comments

The Resurrection of the Dead (12-34)

Text

1 Corinthians 15:12-34. Now if Christ is preached that he hath been raised from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised: 14 and if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your faith also is vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we witnessed of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, neither hath Christ been raised: 17 and if Christ hath not been raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable.

20 But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by man came 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 they that are Christ'S, at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be abolished is death. 27 For, He put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he saith, All things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is excepted who did subject all things unto him. 28 And when all things have been subjected unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to him that did subject all things unto him, that God may be all in all.
29 Else what shall they do that are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? 30 why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour? 31 I protest by that glorying in you, brethren, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 32 If after the manner of men I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what doth it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. 33 Be not deceived: Evil companionships corrupt good morals. 34 Awake to soberness righteously, and sin not; for some have no knowledge of God: I speak this to move you to shame.

Commentary

How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?The glaring inconsistency of the Corinthians was too much for the logical mind of the apostle Paul! He had preached Christ crucified and raised from the dead. He had accepted this basic proposition of Christianity on his way to Damascus. The Corinthians had accepted it when they became Christians. How could they deny it now? Greek philosophers had long held the view that escape from the body at death was the goal of life, the escape from slavery. The resurrection of the body was foreign to their thinking. But the Corinthians had believed the evidence of Christ's resurrection as Paul preached it. Were they carelessly slipping back into their former views of the matter or had they just failed to really think through to the logical conclusion of Paul's proposition? Except ye believed in vain seems to suggest the latter.

The Sadducees said that there is no resurrection, but it is doubtful that their influence had reached to the Corinthians. See Acts 23:8 and Matthew 22:23-33.

If there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised.There is no escaping Paul's logic; but were the Corinthians prepared to accept the consequences of denying the resurrection of Christ? That meant that the glorious gospel of salvation and hope was without foundation in fact, and there was no basis for their faith. More than that, the apostles were found to be false witnesses of God, saying that He raised Christ from the dead, which, if there is no resurrection, is not true. To put it another way, if dead people are not raised, neither has Christ been raised (16). That means that your faith is without foundation and you are still in your sins. Were they willing to accept the consequences of denying the gospel which Paul preached? The thoughtChrist is not raisedwas completely unacceptable to Paul, for he had seen the risen Lord on the Damascus road. Repetition at this point in the argument shows how important this issue was in establishing the fact of the resurrection of the dead. If the Corinthians were right and the apostles were wrong, then those who died believing in Christ had perished.

we are of all men most pitiable.This is the last in the list of tragic results of denying that Christ has been raised. What is the antecedent of we? Is Paul saying that Christians, assuming there is no resurrection, are more pitiable than others? Are not Christians in this life blessed beyond others? They have, if they are willing to accept it, the peace that passeth understanding to guard their hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7). They may not, in some cases, have as much in material possession as some others, but they know that life does not consist in the abundance of things which man possesses (Luke 12:15).

It is possible that Paul is speaking of the apostles. But why would they be more pitiable than all if there is no resurrection? The answer may be found in Paul's own words in 1 Corinthians 4:9-13. The apostles were men doomed to die; they were a spectacle to the world and to angels. They were fools for Christ's sake; they were weak; they were held in disrepute. They suffered hunger and thirst; they were poorly clad; they were buffeted and without homes; they labored with their hands rather than being supported with the dignity accorded other teachers. They were reviled, persecuted, and slandered; they became the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things.

All this, they suffered because they believed that God had raised Christ from the dead, and they looked in hope to the coming of the Lord.

the firstfruits of them that are asleep.The fact of Christ's resurrection guarantees the resurrection of the dead. In Old Testament times the first portion of the harvest was given to the Lord as an indication that all the harvest was in reality His. Whatever firstfruits was the rest was. Christ who died was raised from the dead; His resurrection was like firstfruits in that all the dead must be raised.

For since by man came death.Physical death is the penalty for the transgression of God's law in the Garden by Adam. The resurrection which cancels the penalty of death comes through man also, that is, Christ, for as in Adam all die, all shall be made alive in Christ. What happens after the resurrection is another matter. Jesus said, Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment (John 5:28-29).

they that are Christ's at his coming.For Paul's own comment, see 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

deliver up the kingdom of God.Those who have accepted the rule of Christ by faith and obedience to His gospel and have remained faithful to Him until death are all to be presented to the Father in the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:11). The apostle was anticipating this when he wrote in the beginning of the epistle that they were to wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall confirm you unto the end, that ye may be unreprovable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:7-8). In that eternal kingdom there will be the throne of God and of the Lamb (Revelation 22:1).

For he must reign.The angel promised that He was to reign on the throne of His father David (Luke 1:32). The writer of Hebrews declares that, when He had made purification for sins He assumed the seat of authority as King at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:3). Peter declared that the promise to David was fulfilled when Christ arose and ascended to the right hand of the Father, for David ascended not into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet (Acts 2:29-35). Now Paul declares that the last enemy to be abolished is death. In it all, the Son is subject to God.

Else what shall they do who are baptized for the dead?The problem in this text is: What is meant by for the dead? It cannot mean that Christians were getting themselves baptized on behalf of some friend or relative who had died without being baptized into Christ. Although such a thing was done much later, there is no good evidence that it was being done in the time of the apostles. Paul wrote this epistle to correct errors that had crept into the thinking and conduct of the church. It is strange that he would not label this an error if the Corinthians were actually practicing vicarious baptism. Baptism was a personal act for the one who believed and repented of his sins (Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:38). One might go through a form of immersion and pretend that it was for some dead friend, but that one could in no way fulfill the requirements of faith and repentance for another.

The preposition which is translated for in this verse is also translated for in verse three where it evidently means concerning or because of. In Romans 9:27 it is translated concerning and in John 1:30 of. John the Baptist had spoken about Jesus who he said was the Lamb of God. The basic meaning of the preposition is over and its resultant meaning is concerning or with reference to. There are other meanings also, but our problem is to determine which fits the context, being careful not to read into obscure passages such as this one meanings that are contrary to what is taught on the subject of baptism in the plain passages.

This text suggests that there was something in the act of baptism that had to do with the resurrection of the dead, for baptism is both a burial and a resurrection (Romans 6:4). But if there is no resurrection, it is meaningless to go through a burial and a resurrection in the act of being baptized into Christ. Some object that this is reading too much into the text, but the whole chapter concerns the resurrection of the dead, and in the next verse Paul asks, If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? If there is no resurrection, baptism as to form and purpose is meaningless.

Some think that the verse means baptism for the purpose of pleasing some friend or relative who had died. While such a motive would not necessarily invalidate one's baptism, it is not likely that the language of the text has this meaning.

why do we stand in jeopardy every hour?Why should Paul and others face the constant danger of losing their lives if there is no resurrection? The act of baptism suggests that there is a resurrection; but if there isn-'t, there is no point in suffering needlessly in this life. Why suffer here if there is no hope of life beyond the grave where there will be no pain nor death nor suffering? Paul said, I die daily, but it was a needless risk if there is no resurrection.

I fought with beasts at Ephesus.This is another reference to the jeopardy which he faced. There was no point to it if there is no resurrection. Some assume that the fighting with wild beasts is to be regarded as figurative for the struggle he had with the vicious men who opposed him at Ephesus. It is true that men can be like wild beasts when they decided to destroy someone who disturbs their conscience. There is no record in Acts of any literal battle with beasts in which Paul was engaged. But this does not prove that he didn-'t have such an experience. It is argued also that since he was a Roman he could not have been subjected to such treatment, but authorities didn-'t always ask about such issues. See Acts 16:37. But whether he did or did not face real beasts, his life was in real danger and there was no point to it if there is no such thing as a resurrection from the dead. Therefore he says, If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

Evil companionships.The Corinthians were being deceived by associates who did not hold the truth of the gospel. Paul urges them to wake up and stop being deceived by those who have no knowledge of God. Intelligent people should be ashamed of being deceived when the facts of the gospel had been so clearly presented to them with the evidence that definitely established the resurrection of Christ.