The resurrection of the dead

1Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preached to you the gospel, which you received, in which you stand, 2by which you are saved, if you hold it fast — unless you believed in vain.

315.3: 1 Cor 11.23; 1 Pet 2.24; Is 53.5-12.For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 415.4: Mt 16.21; Ps 16.8-9.that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 515.5: Lk 24.34; Mt 28.17.and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 815.8: 1 Cor 9.1; Gal 1.16; Acts 9.3-6.Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 915.9: Acts 8.3.For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me. 11Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

12Now 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; 1415.14: 1 Thess 4.14.if 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. 1815.18: 1 Thess 4.16.Then 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.

20But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 2115.21: Rom 5.12.For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 2215.22: Rom 5.14-18.For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 2315.23: 1 Thess 2.19.But 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 to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 2515.25: Ps 110.1.For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 2715.27: Ps 8.6; Eph 1.22.“For God15.27 Greek he 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. 2815.28: Phil 3.21.When 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.

29Otherwise, 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? 3015.30: 2 Esd 7.89.Why am I in peril every hour? 3115.31: Rom 8.36.I protest, brethren, by my pride in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 3215.32: 2 Cor 1.8, 9; Is 22.13.What 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.” 3315.33: Menander, Thais.Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” 3415.34: Rom 13.11.Come to your right mind, and sin no more. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

35But some one will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 3615.36: Jn 12.24.You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 3815.38: Gen 1.11.But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39For not all flesh is alike, but there is one kind for men, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

4215.42: Dan 12.3.So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. 4515.45: Gen 2.7.Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall15.49 Other ancient authorities read let us also bear the image of the man of heaven. 50I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

5115.51-52: 1 Thess 4.15-17.Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52in 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 shall be changed. 53For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. 5415.54: Is 25.8.When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

5515.55: Hos 13.14.“O death, where is thy victory?

O death, where is thy sting?”

56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.