1 Corinthians: If Christ is Not Raised - 1 Cor 15
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In Chapter 15, we have what is considered the most in depth theological teaching on the resurrection. Obviously, you have the actual testimony within the Gospels, but here you see the largest passage that gives us an explanation of the importance of the resurrection to the Gospel message and why it is a teaching that cannot be rejected.
One may ask why Paul had to deal with this topic to the Corinthians. Well, it seems to be the case that within the letter that they sent Paul, they alerted him to a problem within the church where some were teaching that there is no such thing as resurrection…
For instance, look at . This is probably the clearest verse that shows this is the case:
“Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?”
It may strike you as being pretty odd that such a thing would be rejected among the Corinthians. But this should not surprise us: Corinth as a city was filled with Greek influence, from which came a lot of gnostic doctrines… One thing that the greeks believed was that matter is evil. This being the case, they believe that the soul is liberated at death when it is removed from the body, so believing the idea that the body would be raised again and the soul would be put back within it seemed ludicrous to many. Putting your soul back within an evil body made little to no sense to them. Of course, this shows a misunderstanding of what the body will be like that is resurrected, as Paul will talk about later on in the chapter, but this is why some of the Corinthians didn’t believe in the resurrection…
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As Paul begins his argument against the false doctrines creeping up in Corinth, he doesn’t go straight to the resurrection… He works up to it masterfully! He begins with the message that they trusted and received in order to become Christians.
He doesn’t begin this section like he did the others, “Now concerning the…” He wanted them to read these first 11 verses about the content of the Gospel they believed and agreed with before He brought up the false doctrine that was being taught…
He begins with the Gospel… He begins with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, how these events were foretold in the scriptures and how these events were witnessed before he even brings up that he is going to talk about the resurrection. Seeing these things will help them see the sobering consequences that come if you deny the resurrection.
He alludes to the consequences of denying the Gospel in verse 2. Regarding this Gospel, Paul says in verse 1-2, "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain." ()
It is this Gospel that has given them hope. It is this Gospel that they believed. And Paul tells them that if they do not hold fast to this Gospel, then their previous faith is in vain… There is a big word in verse 2: IF… You are saved by this Gospel IF you hold fast to the message.
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You can just picture them as this part of the epistle is being read to them, they are nodding in agreement as they hear the content of the Gospel read to them, and then you get verse 12… The faces of those who believed this doctrine hopefully sobered up at this point… Paul doesn’t beat around the bush here… He shows them to deny the resurrection is a big deal in verses 12-13…
"Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised." ()
Here is Paul’s response: “If there is no resurrection, then Jesus Himself was not raised!”
To deny the resurrection is to deny one of the primary parts of the Gospel… Whoa! That’s a big deal… That really puts this false doctrine into perspective. NO resurrection means Jesus did not defeat sin and death…
Then in verse 14, Paul says, that their preaching of the Gospel is rendered useless and vain if there is no resurrection. The Gospel is nothing but hot air… It has no benefit to those who believed it if there is no resurrection.
Verse 15: Paul says that if they are preaching that there is a resurrection when there actually is not one, then they are being a bunch of liars and are deceiving people. They are being false witnesses when they said Jesus was risen from His tomb. They are blaspheming God by saying that He did something that He did not do… To lie is one thing, but then to bring the God of heaven into the lie… wow! This is what they would be doing if there is not a resurrection…
Then in 17 and 18, if all of this is not bad enough, if there is no resurrection, then the conclusion will be that they are without hope. They are still lost. They still have every single sin against God on their account… and everyone who had died as a Christian up to that point have died and were condemned…
If there is no resurrection, then they are not saved…
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Paul gives a strong argument here for our resurrection based on the truth of Jesus’ resurrection if we are able to understand it. Let’s read verses 20-28:
"But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For "God has put all things in subjection under his feet." But when it says, "all things are put in subjection," it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all." ()
BUT NOW CHRIST IS RAISED FORM THE DEAD. Paul gives the contrast here to all the gloom of the previous section. Jesus is raised, and He is the first fruits of those who are fallen asleep, or are dead. And here is His argument to show this to be true: You have a man (Adam) who was the source of physical death for man, and you have this man (Jesus) who is the source of life and resurrection for man. Just as Adam brought death to mankind on the earth, Jesus brought life. Paul's argument here is that if you believe that Jesus has come to reverse the curse that Adam brought upon this earth - here the physical death because of His sin - then Jesus would need to come to reverse this so every enemy of God and His people would be defeated. (There were other consequences to Adam’s sin that came, but physical death is the main focus of this section, for instance talks about the spiritual effects of Adam’s sin).
When Jesus comes again, He will resurrect all men, gaining victory over this enemy that has been plaguing mankind from the beginning. The end cannot come until there is victory over all of the enemies of God and His people. God must show HIs supremacy and power over this final enemy, and He will do so by raising all mankind from their graves. Jesus will call all men out of their tombs, and then He will hand over the reigns of government and and rule over to the Father. When the text says, “He delivers the kingdom to God the Father,” Paul is not saying that Jesus is giving the church to the Father. The context is talking about rule and reign and authority and power. God gave Jesus authority over all Heaven and earth, here Jesus is handing the authority back over to the Father.
So if the Corinthians were going to agree that Jesus was resurrected, they need to be willing to say that all mankind will also. If you deny that all mankind will be resurrected, you are saying that death will not be defeated by God, and God will not reverse the curse that was given at the beginning… God’s plan will not be completed and accomplished without the resurrection. The last enemy must be conquered for all authority and reign to be given back to the Father. How can you say God won the war if He didn’t destroy all of His enemies?
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Some practical consequences of saying there is no resurrection in 29-34
“baptized for the dead”
v29 is in 3rd person. He is talking about what some are doing, more than likely the false teachers. WE don’t know for sure what Paul is referring to here when he talks about being baptized “for the dead”, but either way Paul’s point remains the same: Why get baptized if there is no resurrection? Baptism means nothing without the resurrection
Paul was in danger almost always because of the resurrection he preached… Why is He and others suffering for the preaching of the resurrection if it is not going to happen? Why endure so much for a lie?
And if God is unable to defeat death, the enemy of mankind, then how can we even know that he has the power to fulfill His other promises that were given by the Apostles? If He will not do one thing He has promised, how can we know He will do anything? If the dead are not raised, what reason do we have for living morally in our bodies? Paul says, “If the dead do not rise, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
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“Do not be deceived: "Bad company ruins good morals."" ()
What is Paul talking about here in the context… The false teachers they are hanging around… The Corinthians had allowed themselves be persuaded by these men they were keeping company with - these men who may have been Christians who had been persuaded by Greek philosophy and thinking to teach things contrary to the Gospel… If you keep the wrong company - company that is constantly contradicting the message of the Gospel and the teachings of the Apostles - do not be surprised when you begin believing what they are saying…
Paul is not saying here, “Don’t have nonChristian friends,” as many use this passage to try to prove. There may be an application here regarding friendships, but that is not the point Paul is making here. He is saying, don’t keep company with those who contradict the Gospel. Don’t keep company with false teachers who can corrupt your faith and tear you away from Christ. If that is one of your friends - if one of your friends are saying things that contradict scripture and are trying to teach you worldly philosophies that lead to immorality, be careful, they can be a stumbling block in your walk with the Lord… These kind of people can destroy your faith and the morality that follows from it… Do not be deceived!
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Then in verses 35-49, Paul deals with a possible objection to the things he has been saying up to this point. This may have been the main reason that many of them had come to reject the resurrection. They were assuming something that was incorrect - that the body, when it is raised, will be just like the bodies we currently have that are corruptible and affected by sin. This is not the case, which Paul attempts to show in this section…
I won’t go into great detail about this section, but Paul’s point is this:
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Our bodies will be changed. They will be made incorruptible and made in the image of Jesus, not Adam. The way John puts it in , “We shall be like Him.” Our bodies will be raised and then made to be like Jesus’ body. Our bodies that are breaking down and dying are not going to be this way when they are raised… They will be different.
With this being the case, we need to live with a desire to be clothed with our heavenly habitation - our resurrection bodies… and don’t corrupt these bodies more than they already are because of Adam’s sin. Remember, as Paul said in ch6, that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit… Don’t defile it by sin. Treat it like it is a possession of God that He will in the future raise and glorify…
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"I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in 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. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 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." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." ()
Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom! These bodies will not be the ones that go to be with the Lord… God will raise us up and glorify us and bring us our final victory over this world. And since this is the case, here is the proper response:
"Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." ()
Don’t be moved away from the truth of the Gospel, and get to work!