1 Corinthians 15: CSB
Paul , in a first letter to the Corinthians, addresses the logic (Promethean though it be to some skeptics of the Gospel), and presents a body of evidence about the resurrection body.
Resurrection is Certain
The Apostle begins with Christ’s resurrection. Then Paul argues (logically to these wisdom-seeking Achaeans) to the nature of death and resurrection of the dead in general. The Apostle’s closing arguments of this logic-based epistle calls the question of the nature of our resurrection body.
OUTLINE
- The Fact of Christ’s Resurrection
- 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
- Resurrection Essential to the Gospel (CSB)
- The Risen Christ, Faith’s Reality (NKJV)
- The Resurrection of the Dead
- 1 Corinthians 15:12-34 KJV
Our Look at the Resurrection Body on TalkofJESUS.com will also separate these topics more fully.
- Resurrection Essential to the Faith (CSB)
- 1 Corinthians 15:12-19
- Christ’s Resurrection Guarantees Ours
- 1 Corinthians 15:20-28
- The Risen Christ, Our Hope (NKJV)
- 1 Corinthians 15:12-19
- The Last Enemy Destroyed
- 1 Corinthians 15:20-28
..that God may be all in all.
A LOGICAL ARGUMENT — a COURT CASE — a testimony, a closing argument. Call the Apostle’s defense of the Gospel GOOD NEWS of the resurrection of the body what you will.
Paul concludes his letter with an authoritative approach to separating the heretical hopes of life and death (as our end) from the foundational NEW Testament of the glory of the resurrection and ascension of Christ Jesus as the first-fruits of our GOOD NEWS!
The last enemy to be abolished is death.
IF the Resurrection Body Perishes
Remember, Paul writes to defend Christ, who he has seen!
And now the Apostle takes the stand opposing the prosecutorial case of the Promethean philosophers accusing the saints of Corinth of worshiping a 'dead Jesus.'
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?
Great question, right?
Rhetorical, certainly; but Paul may have been responding to an actual case and question presented to him by the leadership of the Corinthian church.
WHY REPENT, for Christ’s sake— if our Savior is now dead?
(Baptism, of course, is a public witness that you have permanently changed your lifestyle – fruit of your beliefs — having given up your former sins in order to follow the living Lord, Christ Jesus of the Cross.)
Paul then testifies(as I included previously) that he had been willing to die in Ephesus (which, of course, most the the Corinthians would have already heard the Apostle proclaim in person).
His prosecution of those who doubt the resurrection is direct:
Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”
ARE SOME in Corinth deceiving the saints who have heard and proclaimed Paul’s Gospel?
No doubt.
And the Apostle gently reminds the faithful of how they remain ignorant concerning the gospel, after which he will answer some questions of their ignorance.
Come to your senses [lit. sober up] and stop sinning; for some people are ignorant about God.
I say this to your shame.
1 Corinthians 15:34
The Nature of the Resurrection Body
The example of Christ
- Christ died.
- After three days Christ rises from the grave.
- He appears for forty days to many, (as Paul has already witnessed) with a resurrection body
- DIFFERENT from His incarnate body;
- DIFFERENT than simply a spirit;
- and actually different in appearance to several witnesses — JESUS had a resurrection body
- and THEN ASCENDS into the clouds of HEAVEN!
Will OUR resurrection body be like HIS?
Paul assures those in Corinth who receive such questions
(as if WE must explain HOW God does such things).
But someone will ask,
“How are the dead raised?
What kind of body will they have when they come? ”
'Would you rather be dead?' I might quickly reply to the Promethean prosecutor with the cunning to take CHRIST out of my personal witness.
Paul responds:
You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
And as for what you sow — you are not sowing the body that will be, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain. But God gives it a body as he wants, and to each of the seeds its own body.
1 Corinthians 15:37-38 CSB
A Perishable Body and our Resurrection Body
For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans,
another for animals,
another for birds,
and another for fish.
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.
1 Corinthians 15:(39),40 ESV
Paul points to the sun and moon and stars all being different in nature, as well as distinct from each other.
What is sown is perishable
THEN the Apostle compares DEATH to the seed planted —
- It is sown in dishonor;
- It is sown in weakness;
- It is sown a natural body;
ζῳοποιέω – zōopoieō
- it is raised in glory.
- it is raised in power.
- it is raised a spiritual body.
Then Paul proceeds logically from mortal death to the spiritual body, with a comparison of ADAM (the first man) to CHRIST (the first fruits from death).
- If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
So it is written,
1 Corinthians 15:45 CSB
The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
The Apostle refers to JESUS as ‘the last adam,’ in Greek: eschatos — a superlative for the last or extreme [adam] — Ἀδάμ.
THEN the Spirit adds through Paul:
πνεῦμα ζῳοποιοῦν –
[became] a life-giving spirit.
CHRIST [the quintessential adam in the image of GOD — born, buried and risen in a resurrection body — ζῳοποιέω – zōopoieō [quicken (9x), give life (2x), make alive (1x)] pneuma [spirit].
Christ + the LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT
Paul THEN compares the adam from the dust of the earth to the second adam from heaven — HE IS the very perfect incarnate IMAGE of God the Father — Creator and Authority over all creation and creatures.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, let us also bear the image of the heavenly.
ἰδού – Behold..
ἰδού, a demonstrative particle (in Greek writings from Sophocles down)
Beloved saint of Christ, you have heard this before — hundreds of times in the preaching of the Gospel. And the apostle to the gentiles uses it here — ‘idou‘ or in English, behold.
Behold, G2400 a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Gospel of Matthew 1:23 KJV
And, behold, G2400 one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
Gospel of Matthew 19:16 KJV
And, behold, G2400 there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
Gospel of Matthew 28:2 KJV
And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, G2400 Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.
Gospel of Matthew 28:9 –
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
(Beloved saint, you know the rest — and Paul reminds of our hope in the Gospel and of our commission by Christ.)
mystērion
Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption. Listen, I am telling you a mystery:
We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
1 Corinthians 15:50b-52a
Don’t we want that? CHANGED immediately? SLEEPERS AWAKE!
For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality.
When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place:
Paul quotes the Prophet Isaiah
He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.
O death, where is thy sting?
1 Corinthians 15:55 KJV
O grave, where is thy victory?
a Closing Call for Repentance
Surely Paul's letter will be received by all the saints of Corinth with thanksgiving and a renewed faith in the resurrection body because of Christ.
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:56-57 KJV
And the Apostle's plea to all saints in every time and each temporal place:
So then, dear brothers and sisters,
be firm.
Do not be moved!
Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:58 New English Translation
P.S.
As is his custom, Paul will close his epistle with some personal greetings and instructions [Chapter 16]
Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
God-willing, perhaps you and I should add our own personal applications of the Apostle’s great instructions to the church concerning issues of the resurrection body, death, resurrection, ascension and time of the last judgment and eternal life.
