Key words/phrases: “I”, “me”, “my”, “but”, “if”,
“all”, “so” (therefore), “raised”, “just as the Scriptures said”.
Key verses: 1 Corinthians 15:3-6, 22, 58:
I passed on to you what was most important and what
had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just
as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and
he was raised from the dead on the third day, just
as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the
Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one
time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. … Just as
everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who
belongs to Christ will be given new life. … SO, my dear
brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work
enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do
for the Lord is ever useless.
Paul also addresses another group of problem children
in the Corinthian church - those who, like the Sadducees, deny
the resurrection and, therefore, the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. Plus, some were attacking Paul’s apostleship,
which he strongly counters with his own testimony. Notice the frequency of
the words I, me, my,
most of which I’ve enlarged for emphasis.
Outline chapter 15 - the resurrection of believers (W.
E. Vine):
- 15:1-11: The Resurrection of Christ, an essential truth of apostolic
testimony.
- 15:12-34: The Resurrection of Christ a guarantee of that of believers
who die, and all an essential part of God’s plan.
- 15:35-50: The nature of the resurrection of believers.
- 15:50-58: The effects, future and present; the assurance of victory
over death.
This chapter makes the most complete treatise on the
resurrection of the dead in all of Scripture. Of course, we’ve
already covered a lot of this in our previous studies in 1
Thessalonians, 2
Thessalonians and Revelation.
Since the bulk of this chapter is about the resurrection of believers,
here a few relevant verses from other parts of the Scripture:
- Job 19:25-27: “But as for me, I know that my
Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth
at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my
body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I
will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the
thought!
- Daniel 12:2: Many of those whose bodies lie dead
and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some
to shame and everlasting disgrace.
- Matthew 22:29-32: Jesus replied, “Your mistake
is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t
know the power of God. For when the dead rise, they
will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will
be like the angels in heaven. “But now, as to whether there will be a
resurrection of the dead—haven’t you ever read about
this in the Scriptures? Long after Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob had died, God said, ‘I am the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ So he is
the God of the living, not the dead.”
- John 5:28-29: Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the
time is coming when all the dead in their graves
will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again.
Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life,
and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment.
- John 11:23-26: Jesus told her, “Your
brother will rise again.” “Yes,” Martha said, “he
will rise when everyone else rises, at the last
day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and
the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.
Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever
die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
- John 12:24: I tell you the truth, unless a
kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But
its death will produce many new kernels - a plentiful
harvest of new lives.
- John 14:3: When everything is ready, I
will come and get you, so that you will always be
with me where I am.
- Acts 17:18, 31-32: He also had a debate with
some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about
Jesus and his resurrection, they said, “What’s this
babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he’s picked up?” Others
said, “He seems to be preaching about some foreign gods.” …
For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man
he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising
him from the dead.” When they heard Paul speak
about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed in
contempt, but others said, “We want to hear more about this later.”
- Acts 26:8: Why does it seem incredible to any of
you that God can raise the dead?
- Romans 6:5: Since we have been united with him
in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.
- Romans 8:10-11: And Christ lives within you, so
even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit
gives you life because you have been made right with God.
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in
you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he
will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit
living within you.
- 2 Corinthians 4:14: We know that God, who raised
the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and
present us to himself together with you
- 2 Corinthians 5:1-2: For we know that when
this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and
leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal
body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We
grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our
heavenly bodies like new clothing … So we are always
confident, even though we know that as long as we live in
these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live
by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we
would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be
at home with the Lord. So whether we are here in this body
or away from this body, our goal is to please him.
- Philippians 3:20-21: But we are citizens of
heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting
for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal
bodies and change them into glorious bodies like
his own, using the same power with which he will bring
everything under his control.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18: And now, dear brothers
and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the
believers who have died so you will not grieve like people
who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and
was raised to life again, we also believe that when
Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have
died. We tell you this directly from the Lord: We
who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead
of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down
from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who
have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we
who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord
forever. So encourage each other with these words.
- 2 Timothy 2:17-18: This kind of talk spreads
like cancer, as in the case of Hymenaeus and Philetus. They have left
the path of truth, claiming that the resurrection of the dead
has already occurred; in this way, they have
turned some people away from the faith.
- 1 John 3:2: Dear friends, we are already God’s
children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ
appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will
see him as he really is.
(1) Let ME now
remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before.
You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it.
- Amplified Version: AND NOW let me remind you [since
it seems to have escaped you], brethren, of the Gospel (the
glad tidings of salvation) which I proclaimed to you, which you
welcomed and accepted and upon which your faith rests,
- BUT:
- Left out of the New Living Translation is the fact that the
first word in this chapter in the Greek is de
- to indicate a change of subject.
- Good News I preached:
- In verses 1-11 we have the restatement of the gospel
and the witnesses of the resurrection.
- Acts 13:32-33: “And now we are here to bring
you this Good News. The promise was made
to our ancestors, and God has now fulfilled it for us,
their descendants, by raising Jesus. This is what
the second psalm says about Jesus: ‘You are my Son. Today I have
become your Father.’
- Romans 1:1-4: This letter is from Paul, a
slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out
to preach his Good News. God promised this Good News long
ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. The
Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was
born into King David’s family line, and he was shown to be
the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of
the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.
(2) It is this Good News that saves you if you
continue to believe the message I
told you - unless, of course, you believed something
that was never true in the first place.
- If you continue:
- Dr.
Constable’s
Expository (Bible Study) Notes: “Paul did not entertain
the possibility that his readers could lose their salvation by
abandoning the gospel he had preached to them. The NIV translation
captures his thought well. “If they “held (hold) fast” to the
gospel that they had received (“the word which I preached to you”),
they would continue to experience God’s
deliverance as they lived day by day. Their denial of the
Resurrection, a major aspect of the gospel message they had heard,
might indicate that some of them had not really believed the gospel.”
(3) I passed
on to you what was most important and what had also
been passed on to ME. Christ
died for our sins, JUST AS THE
SCRIPTURES SAID.
- Passed on to you:
- Acts 18:1, 11: Then Paul left Athens
and went to Corinth … So Paul stayed
there for the next year and a half, teaching the word of God.
- Most important:
- Among these “most important” things was
the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
Certainly, the virgin birth of Jesus, salvation by grace through faith
and many other great truths of salvation could have been included, but
Paul was reminding them of these facts to establish the truth of the
resurrection.
- Passed on to ME:
- When and where did Paul receive the gospel?:
- From the believers in Damascus (Acts 9:19 - Afterward
he ate some food and regained his strength. Saul stayed with the believers
in Damascus for a few days.)
- Directly from the risen Christ (Galatians 1:12 -
I received my message from no human source, and no one taught
me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from
Jesus Christ.)
- In Arabia (Galatians 1:17 - Nor did I go up
to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was.
Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I
returned to the city of Damascus.)
- From Peter in Jerusalem (Galatians 1:18 - Then
three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter,
and I stayed with him for fifteen days.)
- Christ died:
Shroud of Turin- That is an undeniable fact of history. Pilate
checked with one of his Roman officers to be sure Jesus was dead
before handing his body over for burial. What is so often denied, even
by many Christian leaders, is that He rose from the dead and ascended
to heaven.
- John 10:17-18: “The Father loves me because I
sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. No one can
take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily.
For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and
also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has
commanded.”
- For our sins:
- “For our sins” is a definite doctrinal statement and
explains the reason for his death. “He gave
himself a ransom for all.” He took
the sinner’s place and bore the sinner’s judgment.
- Haddon Robinson, “Empty Proof - Our Daily Bread”
(8/8/1997): When Jesus cried, “It is finished!” (John 19:30),
He uttered the Greek word tetelestai, which
means, “Paid in full.” The payment for sin that God
demanded has been paid, and the empty tomb is proof that the
payment was received and the debt satisfied.
- Jesus did not die as a good example; He did
not die because He was a nice martyr; Jesus Christ died
for our sins. We hear about illnesses, addictions and
disorders, but we don’t hear much about sin. Yet, the truth is that
Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of every man,
woman and child that has ever lived. Sin is the reason Jesus went to
the cross.
- Isaiah 53:10-12: But it was the
Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet
when his life is made an offering for sin, he will
have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s
good plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is
accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of
his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible
or many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.
I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he
exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He
bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
- Matthew 20:28: For even the Son of Man came
not to be served but to serve others and to give his life
as a ransom for many.”
- Romans 4:24-25: for our benefit, too, assuring
us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him,
the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
He was handed over to die because of our sins, and
he was raised to life to make us right with God.
- 2 Corinthians 5:15: He died for
everyone so that those who receive his new life will no
longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who
died and was raised for them.
- 1 Timothy 2:5-6: For, there is one God and one
Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity - the man Christ Jesus.
He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.
This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.
- 1 Peter 2:24: He personally carried
our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead
to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are
healed.
- 1 Peter 3:18: Christ suffered for our
sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for
sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered
physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.
- AS THE SCRIPTURES SAID:
- Throughout the Old Testament, we find the sacrificial, atoning death
of Christ. The prophets looked forward to that great event as the
supreme fact of revelation. God had declared in Leviticus
17:11, “for the life of the body is in its
blood. I have given you the blood on the altar
to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the
blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification
possible.” Yet, we know that it was not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should put away sin. Only through
the propitiatory death of Christ could this be accomplished, and,
thank God, it has indeed taken place, and all in accordance
with the Scriptures.
- David Lipscomb: “The double appeal to the Scriptures
(1 Corinthians 15:3,4) in so brief a statement is deliberate and
important. The magnificent prophecies of the Old Testament which so
accurately foretold the death of the Son of God are
so important that they deserved and received mention even ahead of the
apostolic testimony about to be cited. As to what Scriptures were
meant, Psalms 16:10; Isaiah 53:10; Hosea 6:2; Jonah 2:10 (see Matthew
12:40), Zechariah 12:10,13:7 are among them, besides all of the
typical things such as the sin offering and the Passover sacrifices.”
- Genesis 3:15: And I (God) will cause
hostility between you (Serpent) and the woman (Eve),
and between your offspring (see John 8:44) and her
offspring. He (Messiah) will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel
(exactly what crucifixion did to one’s
heel!).”
- Isaiah 53:9: He had done no wrong and had
never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal;
he was put in a rich man’s grave.
- Luke 24:25-27: Then Jesus said to them, “You
foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets
wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that
the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before
entering his glory?” Then Jesus took them
through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining
from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
- John 19:24, 28, 36-37: So they said, “Rather
than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice for it.” This fulfilled
the Scripture that says, “They divided my garments among
themselves and threw dice for my clothing.”So that is what they did.
… Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to
fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” …
These things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures
that say, “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and
“They will look on the one they pierced.”
- Acts 8:31-34: The man replied, “How can I,
unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into
the carriage and sit with him. The passage of Scripture he
had been reading was this: “He was led like a
sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before
the shearers, he did not open his mouth. He was humiliated and
received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his
life was taken from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip,
“Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” So
beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good
News about Jesus.
(4) He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day,
JUST AS THE SCRIPTURES SAID.
- Buried:
- We often say, “dead and buried” to emphasize that the person is beyond
a shadow of a doubt dead.
- S. Lewis Johnson, Jr. - Wycliffe Bible Commentary: “It
blasts the swoon theory; he really died; and it leads
naturally to the empty tomb, a witness for the resurrection which has
never been effectively denied.”
- Matthew 27:57-60: As evening approached,
Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea who had become a follower of
Jesus, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.
And Pilate issued an order to release it to him. Joseph took the
body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth. He placed
it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the
rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left.
- Mark 15:44-45: Pilate couldn’t believe that
Jesus was already dead, so he called for the Roman officer and asked
if he had died yet. The officer confirmed that Jesus was
dead, so Pilate told Joseph he could have the body.
- Raised from the dead:
- Peter Larson said, “The life of Jesus is bracketed by two
impossibilities: a virgin’s womb and an empty tomb. Jesus entered our
world through a door marked ‘No Entrance’ and left through a door
marked ‘No Exit.’ ”
- The physical resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is the
very foundation of Christianity. His risen body still bore
the print of the nails and the wound in the side (John 20:27). Long
years afterward, John saw in the midst of the throne “a Lamb that
looked as if it had been slaughtered.”
(Revelation 5:6) - The marks of His death will be upon His
body forever.
- Many “professional” Christians deny the bodily resurrection of
Christ. Some teach that the disciples simply lied and created a
fabrication in order to bolster the faith of those they preached to.
Others say that they were confused, or simply saw a vision of what
they ‘thought’ was the resurrected Christ. Still others say that
Christ didn’t really die at all, but simply swooned and recovered in
the dampness of the tomb. And others “spiritualize” the matter; and
say that it was His spirit and not His body that rose, or that He
simply symbolically rose “in our hearts”. All of these different
alternatives constitute a denial of the preaching of the
apostles of a literal, bodily resurrection. Paul faces this denial
head-on; and in methodical point-by-point manner, shows what is
truly at stake in a denial of the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
- Charles T. Russell, founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization,
in denial of the bodily resurrection of Christ states, “Our Lord’s
human body was, however, supernaturally removed from the tomb …
whether it was dissolved into gases or whether it is still preserved
somewhere as a grand memorial of God’s love … no one knows” (Millennial
Dawn: The Time Is at Hand, p. 129). If, according to the
Watchtower organization, the body of the Lord Jesus was not raised
from the dead, then what part of Jesus was raised? Jesus corrected
this false view by saying, “Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You
can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make
sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts
don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” ” (Luke
24:39)?
- Ray Stedman: “Everyone here who is a Christian knows that the
fundamental question upon which Christianity ultimately rests is,
“Did Jesus Christ actually, literally, and physically, rise from the
dead?” Everything hangs on that question. Well, that is the
theme of this chapter, and this section of First
Corinthians is one of the most significant passages in the Word of God
that states that question most profoundly. As you read it, you see
that there is a whole chorus of voices from the 1st century that say
loudly and clearly, “Yes, he did rise from the dead. We saw him; we
talked with him; we handled him.” (John says that in his letter {cf, 1
John 1:1}.) “We ate and drank with him, {cf, Acts 10:41}. It was
unmistakably Jesus. We recognized him by the marks of
crucifixion still in his body, in his hands and in his
feet. Our encounters with him were so frequent, so full and so
satisfying that we have never been the same since. When he rose from
the dead it completely changed our lives.” Christianity has always
rested, therefore, on that powerful evidence of eye witnesses
who saw him alive from the dead. (1 Corinthians 15:5-11
They Saw Him Alive)”
- In 1965, Dr. Hugh Schonfield wrote a book entitled The Passover
Plot. In this book, he theorized that Jesus did not really rise
from the dead, but that His disciples came and stole the body - while
an entire company of Roman guards slept!
- Luke 24:39: Look at my hands. Look at my feet.
You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am
not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see
that I do.”
- Acts 4:10: Let me clearly state to all of you
and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful
name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God
raised from the dead.
- Acts 5:30: The God of our ancestors
raised Jesus from the dead after you killed him by
hanging him on a cross.
- Acts 17:31: For he has set a day for judging
the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he
proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”
- Romans 4:25: He was handed over to die because
of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right
with God.
- Romans 6:4, 9: For we died and were buried
with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from
the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also
may live new lives … We are sure of
this because Christ was raised from the dead, and
he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him.
- 2 Corinthians 4:14: We know that God,
who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus
and present us to himself together with you
- 2 Corinthians 5:15: He died for everyone so
that those who receive his new life will no longer live for
themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised
for them.
- Galatians 1:1: This letter is from Paul, an
apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human
authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the
Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.
- Ephesians 1:19-20: I also pray that you will
understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who
believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised
Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of
honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.
- 1 Peter 1:3-4: All praise to God, the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been
born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless
inheritance - an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure
and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
- 1 Peter 1:21: Through Christ you have come to
trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because
he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great
glory.
- 1 Peter 3:18: Christ suffered for our sins
once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring
you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised
to life in the Spirit.
- On the third day:
Above image from
https://gracethrufaith.com/topical-studies/holidays-and-holy-days/solving-the-three-day-three-night-mystery/
- Luke 24:5-7: The women were terrified and
bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are
you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here!
He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told
you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the
hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would
rise again on the third day.”
- John 2:18-21: But the Jewish leaders demanded,
“What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show
us a miraculous sign to prove it.” “All right,” Jesus
replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it up.” “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken
forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in
three days?” But when Jesus said “this temple,” he
meant his own body.
- Acts 10:40-41: but God raised him to
life on the third day. Then God allowed him to appear,
not to the general public, but to us whom God had chosen in advance
to be his witnesses. We were those who ate and
drank with him after he rose from the dead.
- AS THE SCRIPTURES SAID:
- Psalm 16:10: For you will not leave
my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.
- Isaiah 53:10: But it was the Lord’s good plan
to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made
an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He
will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan
will prosper in his hands.
- John 20:8-9: Then the disciple who had reached
the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed — for until
then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said
Jesus must rise from the dead.
- Acts 17:2-3: As was Paul’s custom, he went to
the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the
Scriptures to reason with the people. He explained the
prophecies and proved that the Messiah must
suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I’m
telling you about is the Messiah.”
- Acts 26:22-23: But God has protected me right
up to this present time so I can testify to everyone, from the least
to the greatest. I teach nothing except what the prophets
and Moses said would happen— that the Messiah would suffer and be
the first to rise from the dead, and in this way announce
God’s light to Jews and Gentiles alike.”
(5) He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve.
- Seen:
- Paul did not mention the women who came to the tomb - the testimony
of women was not accepted in court.
- Peter:
- Luke 24:31-34: Suddenly, their eyes were
opened, and they recognized him. And at that
moment he disappeared! They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts
burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the
Scriptures to us?” And within the hour they were on their way back
to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others
who had gathered with them, who said, “The Lord has really risen! He
appeared to Peter.”
- The Twelve:
- They were still called “the twelve,” though Judas was not
one of them. It was common to call the apostles “the twelve.”
- Mark 16:14: Still later he appeared
to the eleven disciples as they were eating together. He
rebuked them for their stubborn unbelief because they refused to
believe those who had seen him after he had been raised from the
dead.
- John 20:19-20, 26-28: That Sunday evening the
disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid
of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there
among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he
showed them the wounds in his hands and his side.
They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!
… Eight days later the disciples were together again, and
this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked;
but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them.
“Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your
finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the
wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer.
Believe!” “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
(6) After that, he was seen by more than 500 of
his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive,
though some have died.
- 500:
- Eyewitnesses to the resurrection were living at the time he was
writing this first letter to the Corinthians.
- Ray Stedman: “I think this occurred up on a mountainside in
Galilee, for even before his crucifixion the Lord had said
that he would meet his disciples in Galilee after the resurrection.
The first message he sent by the women at the tomb was, “go and tell
my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me,” {cf,
Matthew 28:10}. Now you can imagine that word of that spread rapidly
throughout the whole believing community and everybody who could get
away headed for Galilee. Who would have wanted to miss that most
exciting of all Christian meetings? So it is no wonder there were five
hundred or more waiting for him on the mountainside, and to them he
appeared.”
- James:
- This refers to the Lord’s step-brother who did not believe in Him
until after the resurrection - not James the Apostle who was killed
very early (Acts 12).
- All the apostles:
- This is the occasion recorded in Acts when He led his disciples to
the Mount of Olives. While he was speaking, they
noticed his body rising from the ground. To their amazement, he
ascended into the heavens until a cloud received him, and he
disappeared out of sight. They stood there gazing into the sky, and
two strange men, whom they afterwards realized were angels, said to
them, “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here
staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into
heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the
same way you saw him go!” (Acts 1:11).
(8) Last of all, as though I
had been born at the wrong time, I
also saw him.
- Last of all:
- This does not mean that Jesus appeared to no one else afterward,
because he also appeared to John at a much later time (Revelation 1).
It has the meaning of “last in this list which I am giving.”
- Born at the wrong time:
- The Greek term here is used of an abortion or miscarriage. Even
though he had been commissioned by the risen Christ, Paul felt
unworthy having persecuted the church.
- I also saw him:
- Acts 9:4-6: He fell to the ground and heard
a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you
persecuting me?” “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked. And the voice
replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting!
Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must
do.”
- Galatians 1:12: I received my message from no
human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it
by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.
(9) For I am
the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy
to be called an apostle after the way I
persecuted God’s church.
- Amplified version: For I am the least [worthy]
of the apostles, who am not fit or deserving to be called an apostle,
because I once wronged and pursued and molested the church of God
[oppressing it with cruelty and violence].
- Least of all the apostles:
- Ephesians 3:8: Though I am the least
deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the
privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures
available to them in Christ.
- 1 Timothy 1:15: This is a trustworthy saying,
and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners”—and I am the worst of them
all.
- Persecuted the church:
- Acts 9:2-5: He requested letters addressed to
the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest
of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to
bring them - both men and women - back to Jerusalem in
chains. As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a
light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the
ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why
are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.
And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are
persecuting!
- Galatians 1:13: You know what I was like when
I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted
God’s church. I did my best to destroy it.
(10-11) But whatever I
am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on ME - and not without
results. For I
have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not
I but God who was
working through ME
by his grace. SO it makes no difference
whether I preach
or THEY preach, for WE all preach
the same message you have already believed.
- I … THEY … WE
- Notice how he is now including himself with the other apostles by
using the word “WE”, further defending his
apostleship.
(12) BUT tell me this - since we preach that Christ
rose from the dead, why are some of you
saying there will be no resurrection of the dead?
- Some of you are saying:
- Greek philosophy accepted the immortality of the soul, but rejected
the resurrection of the body. In Corinth, many of the Christians
believed in Christ’s resurrection, but they rejected the idea
of their own resurrection.
- In Paul’s day, there were three Greek philosophies:
- Stoicism - soul merged into Deity at death; destruction of
personality.
- Epicureanism - no existence beyond death; materialistic.
- Platonism - immortality of the soul; denied bodily resurrection.
- Acts 17:18-21, 32: He also had a debate with
some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When
he told them about Jesus and his resurrection,
they said, “What’s this babbler trying to say with these strange
ideas he’s picked up?” Others said, “He seems to be
preaching about some foreign gods.” Then they took him to the high
council of the city. “Come and tell us about this new teaching,”
they said. “You are saying some rather strange things,
and we want to know what it’s all about.” (It should be explained
that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to
spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.) … When
they heard Paul speak about the resurrection of the dead,
some laughed in contempt, but others said, “We want to
hear more about this later.”
(13) For IF there is no resurrection of the dead,
THEN Christ has not been raised either.
- IF … THEN:
- Craig S. Keener, 1—2 Corinthians: “Paul uses reductio
ad absurdum: if there is no resurrection (i.e., of believers in
the future), then Jesus did not rise (15:12-13), a point on which he
dwells at length (15:12-19, where Paul provides rhetorical emphasis
through a series of seven if-then statements).”
(14) And IF Christ has not been raised, THEN
all OUR preaching is useless, and your faith is
useless.
- IF:
- We can follow Paul’s logic point-by-point (https://enduringword.com/commentary/1-corinthians-15/):
- IF there is no principle of resurrection, then
Jesus did not rise from the dead.
- IF Jesus did not rise from the dead, then death
has power over Him and defeated Him.
- IF death has power over Jesus, He is not God.
- IF Jesus is not God, He cannot offer a complete
sacrifice for sins.
- IF Jesus cannot offer a complete sacrifice for
sins, our sins are not completely paid for before God.
- IF my sins are not completely paid for before
God, then I am still in my sins.
- Therefore, IF Jesus is not risen, He is unable
to save.
- Worse still, IF Christ is not risen, then those
who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. IF
there is no principle of resurrection, then the dead in Christ are
gone forever.
- Worst of all, IF Christ is not risen, then in
this life only we have hope in Christ, and we are of all men the
most pitiable. IF there is no principle of
resurrection, then the whole Christian life is a pitiful joke! IF
we don’t have something beyond this life to look forward to, why
hassle with the problems in being a Christian?
- Our preaching is useless:
- So-called “modernists” who pretend to be Christians while denying
the resurrection are not Christian at all in any New Testament sense.
(15-19) And we apostles would all be lying about
God - for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that
can’t be true IF there is no resurrection of the dead.
And IF there is no resurrection of the dead,
THEN Christ has not been raised. And IF
Christ has not been raised, THEN
your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In
that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And
IF our hope in Christ is only for this life, (THEN)
we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
(20) BUT IN FACT, Christ has been raised from the
dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who
have died.
- BUT:
- Paul has been reviewing all the negative consequences if Christ were
not risen, but now he switches to the positive consequences of the
fact that Christ did in fact rise from the dead.
- IN FACT:
- The only historical fact that could have produced Christianity was
the resurrection of Christ. If you deny the bodily
resurrection, you deny the very heart and foundation of Christianity.
- First of a great harvest (first fruits in
the KJV):
- Repeated in verse 23 for emphasis.
- Then Comes the End by Ray C. Stedman:
“Paul is referring here to the ritual that was given to Israel in the
23rd chapter of the book of Leviticus, where on the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, which followed the Passover, on the morrow after
the Sabbath, there would be the offering of the first fruits of the
barley harvest. The Jews were commanded to bring a sheaf of
grain, the first of the harvest, to the priest, who
would wave it before the Lord. That was the exact morning of
our Lord’s resurrection. There, in the
feasts of Israel, you have a prediction that the resurrection of Jesus
would be the first fruits of the harvest. Paul’s argument is that not
only did Jesus rise from the dead on the exact day predicted by the
ritual, but, furthermore, his resurrection is a sample and a
guarantee of the entire “harvest” of resurrection, which
would include ours as well.”
(21) SO you see, just as death came into
the world through a man, now the resurrection from
the dead has begun through another man.
- Death came… through a man:
- If it had not been for Adam’s sin, death would never have come to
mankind. Notice that it's not Eve’s sin!
- Resurrection:
- Resurrection refers only to the body (verse 44). In Greek, it is anastasis
nekron, “standing up of the body”. The “soul” cannot stand up.
The soul is the life-force. Animals have a “soul”.
(22-23) Just as everyone dies because we all
belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new
life. BUT there is an order to this resurrection:
Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then
all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.
- An order:
- Christ will rise first, then Christian bodies will rise at Christ’s
coming (the Rapture), then Jewish believers of the Old Testament and
believers of the Tribulation will rise at the Second Coming just
before the Millennium (Daniel 12:2).
- The word “order” here comes from tagma, a
military term. Christ was the first to rise leading the way for us
(verse 20).
- First of the harvest: Repeated from verse 20 for
emphasis.
- When he comes back:
- Then Comes the End by Ray C. Stedman: “Many
have felt that people who die before the coming of the Lord either lie
asleep in the grave until he comes, or they drift around in a
disembodied state. (Some have even suggested that perhaps God gives
them a kind of a temporary body, a sort of a “heavenly bathrobe” to
wait for until their good clothes get back from the cleaners.) But I
think this is to misread what the Scriptures are saying. It is my
understanding that there is a difference between time, in
which we now live, and eternity, which is a different kind of
existence. Eternity has no past or no future as time does.
If we understand that difference, then we can see from many Scriptures
that when a believer lays down his life here and STEPS OUT OF
TIME INTO ETERNITY, the first event to await him is the coming of
the Lord for his own, and, therefore, the resurrection of his own
body. So there is no waiting for those who go to be with the Lord
… If you want a little more explanation of that, I would suggest the
chapter, “Time and Eternity,” in the book I have
written, Authentic Christianity, which goes into
that more at length. I believe that it is the explanation of many
baffling and difficult passages in the Scriptures. It has given great
hope and anticipation to my own life to see, in those terms, that when
we step out of time into eternity, the first event which we
face is that wonderful moment when “the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout.” ”
- Then:
- 2 Corinthians 5:8: Yes, we are fully
confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly
bodies, for then we will be at
home with the Lord.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: For the Lord
himself will come down from heaven with a commanding
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of
God. First, the believers who have died will rise
from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are
still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in
the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the
Lord forever.
(24) AFTER THAT the end will come, when he will turn
the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every
ruler and authority and power.
- The end:
- Then Comes the End by Ray C. Stedman:
“Beginning in Verse 24, the apostle moves on to that final scene, to
the time when Christ has returned into time and reigned
already for 1,000 years of millennial peace and
righteousness on the earth. He will have completed his work,
subdued his enemies, cast the devil and death and Hades into the lake
of fire (as we read in the book of Revelation), and then delivered the
kingdom back to the Father.”
(25) For Christ must reign until he humbles all
his enemies beneath his feet.
- Reign:
- Paul here refers to the one-thousand-year reign of Jesus described
in Revelation 20:1-6. After that time, there will be a final, Satan
inspired rebellion (Revelation 20:7-10), which Jesus will crush and
finally and forever put all enemies under His feet.
- Ephesians 1:22-23: God has put all
things under the authority of Christ and has made him
head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church
is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all
things everywhere with himself.
- Revelation 20:1-6: Then I saw an angel coming
down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy
chain in his hand. He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the
devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years.
The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and
locked so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore until
the thousand years were finished. Afterward he must be
released for a little while. Then I saw thrones, and the people
sitting on them had been given the authority to judge. And I saw the
souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus
and for proclaiming the word of God. They had not worshiped the
beast or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their foreheads or
their hands. They all came to life again, and they reigned
with Christ for a thousand years. This is the first resurrection.
(The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand
years had ended.) Blessed and holy are those who share in the first
resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but they
will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a
thousand years.
- Humble his enemies:
- Psalm 110:1: The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit in
the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your
enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”
(26) And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.
- Death:
- Revelation 21:4: He will wipe every tear from
their eyes, and there will be no more death or
sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
(27) For THE SCRIPTURES SAY, “God has put all
things under his authority.” (Of course, when it says “all
things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who
gave Christ his authority.)
- SCRIPTURES SAY:
- Psalm 8:6: You gave them charge of everything
you made, putting all things under their authority.
(28) THEN, when all things are under his authority,
the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that
God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly
supreme over everything everywhere.
- Under God’s authority:
- Then Comes the End by Ray C. Stedman:
“During this present time, our Lord Jesus is singled out, as it were,
from the persons of the Godhead as the supreme object of worship, and
we are invited to worship him and give honor to him. … But there is
coming a time, Paul says, when the work of the Son in
subduing a lost creation will be finished. When the full
results of the atonement of the cross have been completed and all the
harvest of the earth is gathered, then, according to this account, the
Lord Jesus returns the kingdom to the Father in order that “God [the
three-fold God, Father, Son and Spirit] may be everything
to every one.” ”
Above image from: www.generationword.com/diagrams_and_charts.html
(29) IF the dead will not be raised, what point is
there in people being baptized for those who are dead?
Why do it unless the dead will someday rise again?
- Baptized for the dead:
- Then Comes the End by Ray C. Stedman: “It
evidently refers to some form of proxy baptism, but it is noteworthy
that the apostle does not refer to it as though it was something that
the Christians in Corinth practiced, because he puts it in
the third person: “Otherwise what do ‘people’ mean” (not
what do “we” mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead), but what
do “they” mean, that is literally what he says. “If the dead are not
raised at all, why are ‘they’ baptized on their behalf?” He
returns to the first person in the next verse, so that it
is clear it is some practice that some people were engaged in
that he does not necessarily approve of or disapprove of.
He simply refers to it as a practice. It would be a shame to miss the
significance of the point he is making because we do not understand
what that practice he refers to was.”
- Paul does not approve of the practice; he merely says that if there
were no resurrection, why would the custom exist? The Mormon practice
of proxy baptism for the dead – erroneously based on this passage – is
neither Scriptural nor sensible.
- Richard W. DeHaan gives this brief summary of the meaning of this
passage:
“Inasmuch as the Bible makes it clear that baptism in itself
has no saving efficacy, it is obvious that these words
cannot be construed as an endorsement of proxy baptism for people who
have died. Baptism has no part in obtaining salvation, and nowhere do
the Scriptures even hint that people can be baptized in behalf of
someone else. In the light of the verses that immediately follow, it
is not difficult to arrive at the true meaning of this verse. Paul is
affirming that if there is no resurrection, it is folly for
people to receive Jesus Christ, be baptized, and thus take their
place among Christ s people, filling the ranks of those who have
died. Why should a person open himself up to the ridicule,
hatred, persecution, and many sacrifices involved in the Christian
life if there be no resurrection? It is perfectly valid to translate
the preposition hyper (for) as “instead of.” As saints died,
the Church was not being depleted, for new people were constantly
receiving Christ, expressing their faith in baptism, thus filling the
places left vacant by those who had died” [from his booklet, Christian
Baptism, published by the Radio Bible Class].
(30-32) And why should we ourselves risk our lives
hour by hour? For I
swear, dear brothers and sisters, that I
face death daily. This is as certain as MY
pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done in you. And what value was
there in fighting wild beasts - those people of Ephesus
- IF there will be no resurrection from the dead? And
IF there is no resurrection, “Let’s feast and
drink, for tomorrow we die!”
- Beasts … of Ephesus:
- Greek: “fighting wild beasts in Ephesus”.
- He is referring to the riot at Ephesus of an angry mob shouting, “Great
is Diana of the Ephesians” (Acts 19:28) and he likened them
unto beasts.
- 2 Corinthians 1:8-10: We think you ought to
know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went
through in the province of Asia. We were crushed
and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought
we would never live through it. In fact, we
expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on
ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And
he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will
rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will
continue to rescue us.
- Feast … die:
- That was the philosophy of Epicureanism in that day, and it is
widespread today. “Live it up. Get it all now. Don’t bother with
giving yourself and wasting your time on doing things for God. Enjoy
yourself. If it feels good, do it! He who dies with the most toys
wins.”
- The Greek historian Herodotus tells of an interesting custom of the
Egyptians. “In social meetings among the rich, when the banquet was
ended, a servant would often carry around among the guests a coffin,
in which was a wooden image of a corpse carved and painted to resemble
a dead person as nearly as possible. The servant would show it to each
of the guests and would say, ‘Gaze here and drink and be merry, for
when you die such you shall be.’ ”
- Isaiah 22:13: But instead, you dance and play
you slaughter cattle and kill sheep. You feast on meat and drink
wine. You say, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
(33) Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad
company corrupts good character.”
- Bad company corrupts good character:
- Lot is an Old Testament example of a righteous man who was corrupted
through his association with the ungodly (2 Peter 2:7-9 and Genesis
19).
- Paul warned the Corinthians not to associate with nor listen to
those who did not believe in the resurrection. Those who did not
believe in the resurrection could easily fall into the trap mentioned
in the previous verse: “IF there is no
resurrection, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
- This quotation is from a Greek comedy with which the Corinthians
would have been well acquainted and probably had quoted it themselves.
Paul used it to warn his readers, that if they kept company with
people who denied the resurrection, their character would eventually
suffer: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”
- We have a saying today that a “person is known by the company he
keeps” and it was evident that some of the Corinthians were
associating themselves too closely with pagans.
- Proverbs 13:20: Walk with the wise and become
wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.
(34) Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning.
For to your shame I
say that some of you don’t know God at all.
- Think carefully:
- Albert Barnes said this means, “Arouse from your stupidity
on this subject!” Rather than living for the present, as their pagan
friends were probably encouraging them to do, they needed to live for
Christ, expecting the soon return of Christ.
- Don't know God:
- In English this is the term “agnostic” from “a” “gnosis”
- “not know”. There were some in Corinth who by their actions,
attitudes and theology showed they were never believers!
They rejected Paul’s gospel, Paul’s
apostolic authority merged the gospel into Roman culture, which
eventually resulted in the corruption we see in "Christendom" today.
(35) BUT someone may ask, “How will the dead be
raised? What kind of bodies will they have?”
- What kind of bodies:
- Joni Eareckson Tada in her book “Heaven Your Real Home”
says, “Trying to understand what our bodies will be like in heaven is
much like expecting an acorn to understand his destiny of roots, bark,
branches and leaves. Or asking a caterpillar to appreciate flying. Or
a peach pit to fathom being fragrant. Or a coconut to grasp what it
means to sway in the ocean breeze. Our eternal bodies will be so
grand, so glorious, that we can only catch a fleeting glimpse of Lima
beans, kernels of wheat. Peach pits. Acorns and oak trees. Examples in
nature are what the Bible invites us to use since. “what we will
be has not yet been made known” (1 John 3:2). One of the best
ways to understand the resurrection is to take a field trip after the
apostle Paul’s lesson in nature: Go find an acorn on
the ground, look up into the billowy skirts of the tree from which it
fell, and then praise God that ’so it will be with
the resurrection of the dead.’ ”
- Paul proceeded to show that the resurrection of believers was not
simply a resuscitation of dead bodies, as with Lazarus, but instead a
powerful re-creation of new, glorified bodies like that of the
risen Christ.
- The Greek word soma (body) occurs 10 times in this section
compared to zero times in the first 34 verses. The apostle proceeded
to offer two sets of analogies (seeds and types of bodies), which he
then applied to the resurrection of the dead.
(36) What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground,
it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first.
- A seed:
- Look at a tree and then look at the seed from which it came. Same
DNA. Common origin, but significantly different. Such is the
difference between the body which is planted and that which is raised.
The body will be like that of Jesus at his resurrection. He could eat,
but he didn’t have to. He could vanish, walk through walls, change his
appearance and yet was not a ghost.
(37) And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow,
but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting.
- Seed of wheat: John 12:24: I
tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil
and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many
new kernels - a plentiful harvest of new lives.
(38-41) Then God gives it the new body he wants it
to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed. Similarly there
are different kinds of flesh - one kind for humans,
another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are
also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth. The glory of the
heavenly bodies is different from the glory of the earthly bodies. The
sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another
kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory.
In the several few verses, Paul gives contrasting pairs:
- Planted…raised
- Buried…raised
- Brokenness…glory
- Weakness…strength
- Natural human bodies…spiritual bodies
- First man, Adam…last Adam
- Adam…Christ
- Living person…life-giving Spirit
- Natural body…spiritual body
- First…later
- First man…second man
- Earth…heaven
- Earthly people…heavenly people
- Earthly man…heavenly man
- Dying bodies…bodies that will never die
- Mortal bodies…immortal bodies
- Death…victory
(42) It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our
earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, BUT they will be
raised to live forever.
- Earthly bodies: Our bodies are fitted for time,
subject to decay, weakness, losing its ability to function, groaning and
complaining.
- Planted in the ground: Just like the seed planted in
the ground in verses 36-37.
(43-44) Our bodies are buried in brokenness, BUT
they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness,
BUT they will be raised in strength.
They are buried as natural human bodies, BUT
they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as
there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.
- Natural bodies:
- “They are buried as natural (psychikon) human bodies (soma) but
they will be raised as spiritual (pneumatikon) bodies (soma).”
- The Greek word psychē means “soul”; the word psychikon
means “pertaining to the soul.” Psychikon refers to the life
force — the biochemistry and brain function of an animal. Paul uses
the word to refer to the type of body we now have, as opposed to a
body animated by spirit. In 1 Corinthians 2:14, Paul says that the psychikos
person cannot understand spiritual things. James 3:15 refers to psychikos
wisdom; it is the sort of wisdom that an animal might have. Jude 19
uses the word to say that psychikos people follow their
instincts; they do not have the Spirit.
- Spiritual bodies:
- When the disciples saw Jesus after He was resurrected, they thought
they had seen a ghost. Jesus assured them, “Touch me and make sure
that I am not a ghost, because ghosts
don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” (Luke
24:39). Jesus did not become a spirit, but was raised with a
spiritual body. In heaven, we will not be “spirits,” but we
will have spiritual bodies. After Jesus died and rose from
the dead, He didn’t have two bodies, one natural and another
spiritual. He had one body—a natural body that had been
transformed into a spiritual body. Jesus showed His
disciples the marks of the nails in His hands and feet and the wounds
in His side that proved it was the same body that had
undergone a radical change. Similarly, when you are
resurrected, your body also will be changed and perfected.
- We know that Jesus’ post-resurrection body was a body that could be
touched, since He instructed Thomas to touch His wounds. We see that
Jesus could eat after His resurrection and that He could pass through
walls and closed doors. He could be present one moment and gone the
next. He could communicate, had full recall of His pre-resurrection
life, yet was sufficiently different in appearance that people who
knew Him well did not recognize Him in His post-resurrection state.
Jesus’ post-resurrection traits give us some idea of what we will be
like when we join Him in that state.
(45) THE SCRIPTURES tell us, “The first
man, Adam, became a living person.” BUT the
last Adam - that is, Christ - is a life-giving Spirit.
- SCRIPTURES tell us:
- Genesis 2:7: Then the Lord God formed the man
from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the
man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
- A living person: Greek: “a living soul”.
- Life-giving spirit:
- Paul’s point is that Christ gives life through His resurrection.
- Romans 5:14-19: Still, everyone died - from
the time of Adam to the time of Moses - even those who did not
disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam
is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come.
But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s
gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought
death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace
and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus
Christ. And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from
the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to
condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made
right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. For the sin
of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even
greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for
all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through
this one man, Jesus Christ. Yes, Adam’s one sin brings
condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness
brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.
Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because
one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.
(46-47) What comes first is the natural body, then
the spiritual body comes later. Adam, the first
man, was made from the dust of the earth, WHILE
Christ, the second man, came from heaven.
- Made from the dust of the earth:
- Genesis 2:7: Then the Lord God formed the
man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of
life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
(48-49) Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people
are like the heavenly man. Just as we are now like the earthly man, we
will someday be like the heavenly man.
- Like the heavenly man:
- Believers will be like Jesus (and unlike Adam) in the resurrection.
- 1 John 3:2: Dear friends, we are already God’s
children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when
Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him,
for we will see him as he really is.
(50-51) What I
am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical
bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies
cannot inherit what will last forever. But let ME
reveal to you a wonderful secret. WE will not ALL die, but WE
will ALL be transformed!
- Reveal … secret:
- The secret is that the generation of people living on the earth when
Jesus Christ comes back to claim his own will be instantly changed and
taken to be with him forever. The same will be true for all the
believers down through human history who have died physically. They
will be resurrected, transformed and they too will be with the Lord
forever.
- ALL: All born-again Christians, not all humans!
- Not ALL die:
- There is a generation of Christians that is never going to
die. Some who will not die, but will instantly, suddenly,
without warning, be changed -- “in a moment, in the blink of an
eye.”
(52) It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye,
when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet
sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who
are living will also be transformed.
- In a moment:
- Greek “en atomi” - it’s that part of time which
cannot be divided. We get our word ‘atom’ from this word.
- In other words, when the Rapture happens it will take place faster
than anyone can observe.
- Wikipedia: Planck time, theoretically the smallest
time measurement that will ever be possible, is the time light takes
to travel one Planck length, and is 5.39 x 10-44 seconds.
- Last trumpet:
- Ironside: “When a Roman camp was about to be broken up, whether in
the middle of the night or in the day, a trumpet was sounded. The
first blast meant, “Strike tents and prepare to depart.”
The second meant, “Fall into line,” and when what was
called “the last trump” sounded it meant, “March away.”
The apostle uses that figure, and says that when the last trump of
this age of grace sounds, then we shall be called away to be forever
with the Lord.”
- Robertson and Plummer, A critical and exegetical commentary on
the first epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians: “We need not
suppose that St Paul believed that an actual trumpet would awaken and
summon the dead. The language is symbolical in accordance with the
apocalyptic ideas of the time. The point is that the
resurrection of the dead and the transformation of the living will
be simultaneous, as of two companies obeying the same
signal.”
- Dr. Thomas Ice: “If the seventh trumpet in Revelation and the last
trumpet in 1 Corinthians 15:52 are supposed to be a reference to the
same thing, then why are there many more months of judgment that
follow the supposed last trumpet in Revelation 11? The view that
equates the last trumpet in 1 Corinthians 15:52 with the seventh
trumpet of Revelation does not harmonize in any way. The context of 1
Corinthians 15:52 is very different than the context of Revelation
11:15. 1 Corinthians 15:52 better harmonizes with 1 Thessalonians
4:16, which says, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God;
and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” Both passages speak of the
rapture and judgment is absent from both. The trumpet in both are the
last or final command that the Lord gives to the church, resulting in
the translation of all Believers.”
- 1 Thessalonians 4:16: For the Lord
himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the
voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God.
First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves.
(53) For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies
that will never die; our mortal bodies must
be transformed into immortal bodies.
- Our:
- The first Christians thought Christ's return to be in their
lifetime. Paul thinks he too may perhaps be alive when it happens. The
simple fact is that Paul did not know when Christ would return. He was
in the exact position in which we are. All that he knew, and
all that we know, is that Christ may come at any time.
- Immortal bodies:
- What Paul really meant was that our personality will survive. We
will still be ourselves, but sinless. But, at the same time, all
things will be new, and body and spirit will alike be very different
from earthly things.
(54) THEN, when our dying bodies have been
transformed into bodies that will never die, THIS
SCRIPTURE will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up
in victory.
- Death … victory:
- Isaiah 25:8: He will swallow up death
forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. He
will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and
people. The Lord has spoken!
- Revelation 1:18: I am the living one. I died,
but look - I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys
of death and the grave.
(55) O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
- Death: Death and Hades (the grave) go into the lake
of fire in Revelation 20:13.
- Death … sting:
- From the Septuagint Greek version of Hosea 13:14:
“0 Unseen, where is your sting?”.
(56) For sin is the sting that results in death, and the
law gives sin its power.
- The Living Bible gives a clearer translation: “For
sin -- the sting that causes death -- will all be
gone; and the law, which reveals our sins, will no longer be our
judge.”
(57) BUT thank God! He gives us victory
over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Gives:
- Ray Stedman: “I want you to notice that is put in the
PRESENT TENSE. It is not past, “who gave
us the victory.” It is “thanks be to God who keeps on giving
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I do not
know anything that means more to me as a Christian than the fact that
every day I can lay hold of the grace of Jesus Christ. He is not a
distant Savior who lived twenty centuries ago. He is alive,
and I meet him every day. When I find myself having failed,
faltered, and sinned, I come again and receive from him the cleansing
that he has won for me on Calvary. My sins are washed away anew. I am
forgiven once again, and given a clean slate to start over again from
that moment. That gives me new power to say, “No!” to all the evil,
afflictions, and pressures of my life. I know that that evil is put
away; it will never come back to haunt me; I will not have to
face it at the judgment seat of God.”
(58) SO, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong
and immovable. Always work enthusiastically
for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is
ever useless.
- SO:
- In conclusion, knowing that Christ rose again and
assured those of us who are saved that we will spend eternity with
him, here is how you’re to live! The word “So” or “Therefore”
points back to the fact and truth of Christ’s resurrection and the
assurance that those who are in Christ share that resurrection and
victory.
- Be:
- The word “be” is an imperative and should be understood as
“continue to be.” Paul urged the Corinthian
Christian to continue to “be strong and immovable” in their
faith, not to listen to those who deny Christ’s resurrection
- and ours.
- Be strong and immovable:
- He doesn’t want us to be “on again off again” when it comes to our
walk with Him. That means don’t quit … don’t give
up!
- Ephesians 6:14: Stand your ground …
- Peter 5:12: … Stand firm in this grace.
- Nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless:
- We may not see the immediate results of our investment, but one day
we will when we reach out to Christ.
No one, except Jesus Christ, has come back from the dead to tell us what
is on the other side. However, His testimony through His apostles is
sufficient to give us confidence that there is life and bodily
resurrection after death. We will live that life in an changed,
immortal body. Therefore, we need to be
certain of our salvation and make sure that those around us will share
eternity with us with Christ and that a present, daily, close walk with
Jesus will be our experience.
NOTES:
