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Our Imperishable Resurrection Body Raised in Glory and Power
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.
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OUTLINE
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- The Fact of Christ’s Resurrection
  - 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
- Resurrection Essential to the Gospel (CSB)
- The Risen Christ, Faith’s Reality (NKJV)
And Now the News – Just the Facts
- The Resurrection of the Dead
  - 1 Corinthians 15:12-34 KJV
And Now the News – Resurrection of the Dead
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Our Look at the Resurrection Body on TalkofJESUS.com will also separate these topics more fully. 
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- 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
Death Put Under the Authority of God —Resurrection — in Order

..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.

1 Corinthians 15:26 CSB

IF the Resurrection Body Perishes
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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.' 
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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?

1 Corinthians 15:29 ESV

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.”

1 Corinthians 15:33 CSB

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? ”

1 Corinthians 15:35 CSB
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'Would you rather be dead?' I might quickly reply to the Promethean prosecutor with the cunning to take CHRIST out of my personal witness.
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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.
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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).
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- If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
So it is written,
The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:45 CSB

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.

1 Corinthians 15:49

ἰδού – Behold..
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ἰδού, a demonstrative particle (in Greek writings from Sophocles down) 
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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.

(‘lo’ and ‘behold’ are the same Greek word drawing forth our attention)
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(Beloved saint, you know the rest — and Paul reminds of our hope in the Gospel and of our commission by Christ.)
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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:
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Paul quotes the Prophet Isaiah 
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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.

Isaiah 25:8 KJV

O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory?
1 Corinthians 15:55 KJV

a Closing Call for Repentance
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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. 
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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
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And the Apostle's plea to all saints in every time and each temporal place: 
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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.

Talk of JESUS . com
May 29, 2025
1 Corinthians 3 Meat for Ministers
and Milk for New Babes

In his letter to the Corinthians the Apostle typically begins with encouragement.

I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in him in every way, in all speech and all knowledge.
Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians 1:4-5 CSB

And Paul will, as is his custom, close this epistle written in Greek with the same personalness of the Lord Jesus.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus.
I Corinthians 16:23-24 CSB

However HERE in the meat of his message Paul addresses the Corinthian church most pointedly, especially its ministers and leaders.

AND the Apostle also will close with a CURSE of those who would divide Christ by their own means.

If anyone does not love the Lord [does not obey and respect and believe in Jesus Christ and His message], he is to be accursed. Maranatha (O our Lord, come)!
1 Corinthians 16:22 AMP

1 Corinthians 3:
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Lest we take a more common casual contemporary approach let us begin with the King James Version.
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And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1 Corinthians 3:1-2 KJV

for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
1 Corinthians 3:3 NKJV
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There it is: the Apostle's initial summary of the problem reported to him of the Corinthian church. 

NOTE a few of the HEADINGS various Bibles use for their serious doctrinal issues:
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- The Church and Its Leaders
- Divisions in the Church
- Sectarianism Is Carnal
- Jesus Christ, Our Foundation
- But I cannot yet call you spiritual
Are you Spiritual? OR Carnal?

Christian, (brother, as Paul addresses the Corinthian readers, who would also read the Apostle’s letter to the whole church, including women) — Dear MINISTER to your Corinthian community — HAVE YOU RECEIVED CHRIST?

or DO you just lift up the preaching of one minister over the teaching of another?

For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?
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HEAR in your heart Paul's CONTRAST of those gathered together as the Corinthian church.
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πνευματικός – pneumatikos

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit
1 Corinthians 3:1a NIV

AND the Apostle has already brought our consequent condition IN CHRIST to the forefront.

ANNOUNCEMENT of the Testimony of GOD

1 Corinthians 2

These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual…

But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
1 Corinthians 2:15 NKJV
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Judge ALL things, 
 yet judge NO ONE.

Are you and your church doing any better than the Corinthians?
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Fleshy Carnal ‘christians‘

Paul points to those unbelievers from the world who join us to worship God.

WE ought to influence those who are BABES in their FLESH and FAITH without including their carnality so as to be like them.

CARNAL iS NOT a nice enough word to describe someone sitting next to you on Sunday in your evangelical 21st century C.E. ‘church‘ is it?
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Never-the-less, WE all know what WE are by NATURE 
and what we were before confessing Christ.
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Some translations of the BIBLE describe our carnal ‘worldliness‘ as IN THE FLESH.

The KJV translates Strong’s G4559 in the following manner: carnal (9x), fleshly (2x).
- having the nature of flesh, i.e. under the control of the animal appetites
  - governed by mere human nature not by the Spirit of God
  - having its seat in the animal nature or aroused by the animal nature
  - human: with the included idea of depravity
The Humanist by embracing ALL humanity denies our demonstrable depravity as godless creatures of desire.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

PAUL had nurtured the Corinthians with SPIRITUAL MILK as babes at the breast. The Corinthians, a NEW church of Hellenists, naturally admired oratory and great emotional appeals. Christ through Paul adopted these children (though they were adults) drawn even as Greeks to this JESUS of the JEWS.

Powerful Preaching to powerless Christians

Luke describes Apollos’ preaching as eloquent

I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal.
1 Corinthians 3:2-3a NKJV
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IS IT STILL THE MILK YOU REQUIRE, BELOVED EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN OF THIS COMMON ERA TIME AND PLACE?
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What makes US Carnal?

Paul tells the Corinthian believers what to judge — how to identify in others MINISTERS claiming Christ.
- ζῆλος – zēlos – ENVYING
- ἔρις – eris – STRIFE
- διχοστασία – dichostasia – DIVISIONS among you
After sending a second letter to the Corinthians next year, Paul will write to the Romans in A.D. 57:

Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.
Romans 16:17 NKJV
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In essence, give them back to the world and the enemy of Christ.
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Mere Men, Mere Ministers
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NKJV 3:4 
For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?

The rhetorical QUESTION of personal accountability in Greek reads:

οὐκ ἄνθρωποί ἐστε

(I imagine that you will recognize the word.)
more literally:
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eimi [are you] ou [not] anthrōpos
- LSB v.3 for you are still fleshly [sarkikos]
- .. are you not fleshly [sarkikos]
- are you not walking like mere men? [anthrōpos]?
- are you not carnal [sarkikos] and behaving like mere men [anthrōpos]?
- v.4 .. ARE YOU NOT anthrōpos?
The Apostle goes on to point out through his apologia that PERSONALITIES do not matter OR who it was that BAPTIZED you (where you publically confessed to ALL that JESUS CHRIST is LORD!)

Ministers of Christ

5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?
1 Corinthians 3:5 NKJV

The Apostle had pointed to their divisions by minister and he will mention Peter [Cephas] even more in his rebuke of their schisms.
- Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” – 1 Cor. 1:12
- whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, – 1 Corinthians 3:22 LSB
Paul uses imagery of sowing [planting a new church in various places] and watering [the very symbol of baptism, cleansing and in a sense the milk of pure nourishment required for growth].

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one..
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one? (as opposed to divided?)

What does the Apostle mean by this?
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Paul will later emphasize the ONENESS of spirit in ministers of the church writing later in this letter:

But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

For even as the body is one^G1520 and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one^G1520 body, so also is Christ.
1 Corinthians 6:17; 12:12 LSB

3:8b ..and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

9a For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field..

the Reward of your Labor
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The Apostle now changes the metaphor and picture of faith for the Corinthian church to visualize in his Epistle.

For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building. - 1 Cor. 3:9 NLT 
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..and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

θεοῦ γάρ ἐσμεν συνεργοί θεοῦ γεώργιον θεοῦ οἰκοδομή ἐστε
1 Cor. 3:9 TEXTUS RECEPTUS
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For those of us who do not understand Paul's eloquent GREEK text, rather than leaning on a single ENGLISH translation let's observe some of what we know from Paul's Greek words in this verse.
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For we are laborers together

synergos – συνεργός
Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers^G4904 in Christ Jesus – Romans 16:3

Timotheus my workfellow, G4904 – Romans 16:23a
with God [THEOS], you are God’s

geōrgion – γεώργιον
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I didn't know this one. a (presumed) derivative of γεωργός (G1092) husbandman
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husbandry – a cultivated field, husbandry (as in the animal husbandry of tending sheep), tillage (tilling soil for planting and growth)

It is the WORK -early work – BEFORE the harvest.

You are God’s farming, translates the HNV and in most English translations: you are God’s field.

SO Paul has been preaching that it does not matter to YOU THE SOIL in Corinth (or in your home church) the names of the MINISTERS who labored in you.

EACH will have their separate reward.

The Apostle then builds on this:

You are God’s [Theos]

oikodomē – οἰκοδομή

metaph. edifying, edification

the act of one who promotes another’s growth in Christian wisdom, piety, happiness, holiness
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..and each shall receive his wages according to his labor. 1 Cor. 3:8b RSV
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What wage have you earned for edifying other Christians?

(Paul will speak more to this later.)

NEXT: Christ’s Contractor

According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation..
1 Corinthians 3:10a NKJV – Paulos klētos apostolos iēsous christos

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
July 8, 2024