# 1 Corinthians 15 đź“–: The Resurrection of the Dead
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> [!info] Table of Contents
> [[#đź“ś Scripture Text (NET)]]
> [[#đź“– Verse-by-Verse Commentary]]
> [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]]
> [[#🧠Chapter Summary]]
> [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]]
> [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]]
> [[#đź’¬ Discussion Questions]]
> [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]]
> [[#đź”— Related Passages]]
> [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]]
> [[#đź“‚ Internal Notes]]
## đź“ś Scripture Text (NET)
(The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005)
#### Christ’s Resurrection
**Principle**: Resurrection is the POWER of the Gospel.
[[#Verse 01.]] Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand,Â
[[#Verse 02.]] and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.Â
[[#Verse 03.]] For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received—that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,Â
[[#Verse 04.]] and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures,Â
[[#Verse 05.]] and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.Â
[[#Verse 06.]] Then he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.Â
[[#Verse 07.]]Â Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.Â
[[#Verse 08.]] Last of all, as though to one born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.Â
[[#Verse 09.]]Â For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.Â
[[#Verse 10.]] But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God with me.Â
[[#Verse 11.]]Â Whether then it was I or they, this is the way we preach and this is the way you believed.
### No Resurrection?
**Principle**: Because Jesus is alive, we have eternal life. (This means He fulfilled His promise, therefore we can trust His promises to us.)
[[#Verse 12.]] Now if Christ is being preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?Â
[[#Verse 13.]]Â But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.Â
[[#Verse 14.]]Â And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty.Â
[[#Verse 15.]]Â Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified against God that he raised Christ from the dead, when in reality he did not raise him, if indeed the dead are not raised.Â
[[#Verse 16.]]Â For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised.Â
[[#Verse 17.]]Â And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still in your sins.Â
[[#Verse 18.]] Furthermore, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.Â
[[#Verse 19.]]Â For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone.
## Christ's Resurrection Guarantees Ours
**Principle**: Jesus has secured our future hope.
[[#Verse 20.]]Â But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.Â
[[#Verse 21.]] For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man.Â
[[#Verse 22.]]Â For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
[[#Verse 23.]]Â But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him.Â
[[#Verse 24.]] Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has brought to an end all rule and all authority and power.Â
[[#Verse 25.]]Â For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.Â
[[#Verse 26.]]Â The last enemy to be eliminated is death.Â
[[#Verse 27.]] For **_he has put everything in subjection under his feet_**. But when it says “everything” has been put in subjection, it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection to him. [[Psalm 06]]
[[#Verse 28.]]Â And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.
## Resurrection Supported by Christian Experience
**Principle**: Resurrection = Hope of Christianity.
[[#Verse 29.]] Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they baptized for them?Â
[[#Verse 30.]]Â Why too are we in danger every hour?Â
[[#Verse 31.]] Every day I am in danger of death! This is as sure as my boasting in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.Â
[[#Verse 32.]] If from a human point of view I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what did it benefit me? If the dead are not raised, **_let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die_**.Â
[[Isaiah 22]]
[[#Verse 33.]] Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”Â
[[#Verse 34.]] Sober up as you should, and stop sinning! For some have no knowledge of God—I say this to your shame!
### The Resurrection Body
**Principle**: Spirit-Bodies for a Spirit-Life.
[[#Verse 35.]] But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”Â
[[#Verse 36.]]Â Fool! What you sow will not come to life unless it dies.Â
[[#Verse 37.]] And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare seed—perhaps of wheat or something else.Â
[[#Verse 38.]]Â But God gives it a body just as he planned, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.Â
[[#Verse 39.]]Â All flesh is not the same: People have one flesh, animals have another, birds and fish another.Â
[[#Verse 40.]]Â And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. The glory of the heavenly body is one sort and the earthly another.Â
[[#Verse 41.]]Â There 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.
[[#Verse 42.]]Â It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.Â
[[#Verse 43.]]Â It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;Â
[[#Verse 44.]]Â it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.Â
[[#Verse 45.]] So also it is written, “**_The first man, Adam, became a living person_**”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. [[Genesis 02]]
[[#Verse 46.]]Â However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual.Â
[[#Verse 47.]]Â The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven.Â
[[#Verse 48.]]Â Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are heavenly.Â
[[#Verse 49.]] And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven.
## Victorious Resurrection
**Principle**: Jesus wins.
[[#Verse 50.]]Â Now this is what I am saying, brothers and sisters:Â Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.Â
[[#Verse 51.]] Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—Â
[[#Verse 52.]] in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.Â
[[#Verse 53.]]Â For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.Â
[[#Verse 54.]]Â Now when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will happen,
“**_Death has been swallowed up in victory_**.”
[[#Verse 55.]] “**_Where, O death, is your victory?_**
**_Where, O death, is your sting?_**” [[Hebrews 13]]
[[#Verse 56.]]Â The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.Â
[[#Verse 57.]]Â But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!Â
[[#Verse 58.]] So then, (therefore) 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.
## đź“– Verse-by-Verse Commentary
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## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights
1. Most scholars regard 15:3-7 as an early creed that Paul received, and many date it to within a few years of the resurrection.
2. Paul says more than five hundred people saw the risen Jesus at one time, most of them still alive when he wrote (15:6), which invited readers to check.
3. James, the brother of Jesus (15:7), did not believe during Jesus' ministry (John 7:5) but became a leader of the Jerusalem church.
4. Many Greeks viewed the body as a prison for the soul, so bodily resurrection sounded foolish to them (Acts 17:32).
5. "Firstfruits" (15:20) refers to the first sheaf of the harvest offered to God (Leviticus 23:10-11), a pledge of the full harvest to come.
6. "Baptized for the dead" (15:29) is one of the most debated verses in the Bible, with dozens of proposed interpretations.
7. "Fought with wild beasts at Ephesus" (15:32) is probably a figure of speech for fierce opposition (Acts 19).
8. "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" (15:32) quotes Isaiah 22:13.
9. In 15:33 Paul quotes the Greek playwright Menander: "Bad company corrupts good morals."
10. In 15:54-55 Paul combines Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:14.
## 🧠Chapter Summary
> [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way.
## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter
Christ is the risen Lord, the firstfruits of those who have died (15:20). Because He died for our sins and was raised on the third day (15:3-4), death is swallowed up in victory (15:54; Revelation 1:18).
## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application
> [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way.
## đź’¬ Discussion Questions
1. Paul says if Christ has not been raised, our faith is useless (15:14, 17). Why is the resurrection essential to the gospel?
2. Paul lists many eyewitnesses of the risen Jesus (15:5-8). How does that strengthen your confidence in the resurrection?
3. Paul ends by saying our labor is not in vain in the Lord (15:58). How does the resurrection give meaning to your work?
## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember
- đź“– verses 3-4: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
- đź“– verse 17: If Christ has not been raised, our faith is useless and we are still in our sins.
- đź“– verse 20: Christ has been raised, the firstfruits of those who have died.
- đź“– verses 55-57: Death has lost its sting, and God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- đź“– verse 58: Be steadfast and immovable, knowing your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
## đź”— Related Passages
- đź”— [[Isaiah 53#Verse 05.|Isaiah 53:5-12]] - The Servant pierced for our transgressions (15:3).
- đź”— [[Psalm 16#Verse 10.|Psalm 16:10]] - Not abandoned to the grave; the sign of Jonah (15:4).
- đź”— [[Matthew 12#Verse 40.|Matthew 12:40]] - Not abandoned to the grave; the sign of Jonah (15:4).
- đź”— [[Luke 24#Verse 34.|Luke 24:34]] - Appearances to Peter and to Paul (15:5-8).
- đź”— [[Acts 09#Verse 03.|Acts 9:3-6]] - Appearances to Peter and to Paul (15:5-8).
- đź”— [[Leviticus 23#Verse 10.|Leviticus 23:10-11]] - The firstfruits offering (15:20).
- đź”— [[Genesis 03#Verse 17.|Genesis 3:17-19]] - Death through Adam, life through Christ (15:21-22).
- đź”— [[Romans 05#Verse 12.|Romans 5:12-19]] - Death through Adam, life through Christ (15:21-22).
- đź”— [[Psalm 110#Verse 01.|Psalm 110:1]] - Until His enemies are His footstool (15:25).
- đź”— [[Psalm 08#Verse 06.|Psalm 8:6]] - All things under His feet (15:27).
- đź”— [[Isaiah 22#Verse 13.|Isaiah 22:13]] - Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die (15:32).
- đź”— [[Genesis 02#Verse 07.|Genesis 2:7]] - Adam became a living being (15:45).
- đź”— [[1 Thessalonians 04#Verse 16.|1 Thessalonians 4:16-17]] - The trumpet and the resurrection (15:51-52).
- đź”— [[Isaiah 25#Verse 08.|Isaiah 25:8]] - Death swallowed up in victory (15:54).
- đź”— [[Hosea 13#Verse 14.|Hosea 13:14]] - O death, where are your plagues? (15:55)
## 🙏 Devotional Reflection
đź“ť SOAP: [[1 Corinthians 15 - SOAP|Pass It On]]
## đź“‚ Internal Notes