Chapter 15

¹Now I want to remind you, brothers, of the form in which I presented to you the good news I brought, which you accepted and have stood by, ²and through which you are to be saved, if you hold on, unless your faith has been all for nothing. ³For I passed on to you, as of first importance, the account I had received, that Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures foretold, ⁴that he was buried, that on the third day he was raised from the dead, as the Scriptures foretold, ⁵and that he was seen by Cephas, and then by the Twelve. ⁶After that he was seen by more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, although some of them have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he was seen by James, then by all the apostles, ⁸and finally he was seen by me also, as though I were born at the wrong time. ⁹For I am the least important of the apostles, and am not fit to be called an apostle, because I once persecuted God’s church. ¹⁰But by God’s favor I have become what I am, and the favor he showed me has not gone for nothing, but I have worked harder than any of them, although it was not really I but the favor God showed me. ¹¹But whether it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

¹²Now if what we preach about Christ is that he was raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead? ¹³If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ was not raised, ¹⁴and if Christ was not raised, there is nothing in our message; there is nothing in our faith either, ¹⁵and we are found guilty of misrepresenting God, for we have testified that he raised Christ, when he did not do it, if it is true that the dead are never raised. ¹⁶For if the dead are never raised, Christ was not raised; ¹⁷and if Christ was not raised, your faith is a delusion; you are still under the control of your sins. ¹⁸Yes, and those who have fallen asleep in trust in Christ have perished. ¹⁹If we have centered our hopes on Christ in this life, and that is all, we are the most pitiable people in the world.

²⁰But the truth is, Christ was raised from the dead, the first to be raised of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹For since it was through a man that we have death, it is through a man also that we have the raising of the dead. ²²For just as because of their relation to Adam all men die, so because of their relation to Christ they will all be brought to life again. ²³But each in his own turn; Christ first, and then at Christ’s coming those who belong to him. ²⁴After that will come the end, when he will turn over the kingdom to God his Father, bringing to an end all other government, authority, and power, ²⁵for he must retain the kingdom until he puts all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶The last enemy to be overthrown will be death, ²⁷for everything is to be reduced to subjection and put under Christ’s feet. But when it says that everything is subject to him, he is evidently excepted who reduced it all to subjection to him. ²⁸And when everything is reduced to subjection to him, then the Son himself will also become subject to him who has reduced everything to subjection to him, so that God may be everything to everyone.

²⁹Otherwise, what do people mean by having themselves baptized on behalf of their dead? If the dead do not rise at all, why do they have themselves baptized on their behalf? ³⁰Why do we ourselves run such risks every hour? ³¹By the very pride I take in you, brothers, through our union with Christ Jesus our Lord, I face death every day. ³²From the human point of view, what good is it to me that I have fought wild animals here in Ephesus? If the dead do not rise at all, “Let us eat and drink, for we will be dead tomorrow!” ³³Do not be misled. Bad company ruins character. ³⁴Return to your sober sense as you ought, and stop sinning, for some of you are utterly ignorant about God. To your shame I say so.

³⁵But someone will say, “How can the dead rise? What kind of a body will they have when they come back?” ³⁶You foolish man, the very seed you sow never comes to life without dying first; ³⁷and when you sow it, it has not the form it is going to have, but is a naked kernel, perhaps of wheat or something else; ³⁸and God gives it just such a form as he pleases, so that each kind of seed has a form of its own. ³⁹Flesh is not all alike; men have one kind, animals another, birds another, and fish another. ⁴⁰There are heavenly bodies, and there are earthly bodies, but the beauty of the heavenly bodies is of one kind, and the beauty of the earthly bodies is of another. ⁴¹The sun has one kind of beauty, and the moon another, and the stars another; why, one star differs from another in beauty. ⁴²It is so with the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in decay, it is raised free from decay. ⁴³It is sown in humiliation, it is raised in splendor. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in strength. ⁴⁴It is a physical body that is sown, it is a spiritual body that is raised. If there is a physical body, there is a spiritual body also. ⁴⁵This is also what the Scripture says: “The first man Adam became a living creature.” The last Adam has become a life-giving Spirit. ⁴⁶It is not the spiritual that comes first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. ⁴⁷The first man is of the dust of the earth; the second man is from heaven. ⁴⁸Those who are of the earth are like him who was of the earth, and those who are of heaven are like him who is from heaven, ⁴⁹and as we have been like the man of the earth, let us also try to be like the man from heaven. ⁵⁰But I can tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot share in the Kingdom of God, and decay will not share in what is imperishable. ⁵¹I will tell you a secret. We shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised free from decay, and we shall be changed. ⁵³For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. ⁵⁴And when this mortal nature puts on immortality, then what the Scripture says will come true—“Death has been triumphantly destroyed. ⁵⁵Where, Death, is your victory? Where, Death, is your sting?” ⁵⁶Sin is the sting of death, and it is the Law that gives sin its power. ⁵⁷But thank God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵⁸So my dear brothers, be firm and unmoved, and always devote yourselves to the Lord’s work, for you know that through the Lord your labor is not thrown away.