1 Corinthians 15 explained: Christ Rose, So the Dead Will Rise

The core message (vv. 1-11)

Paul restates the message he received and passed on: Christ died for our sins, was buried, was raised on the third day, and was seen alive by Peter (also called Cephas), the Twelve, over five hundred people at once, James, all the apostles, and last of all Paul himself. He compares himself to a baby born too early or out of the normal time (the translations word this differently), probably because he met the risen Jesus late and suddenly, after persecuting Jesus' followers.

If no one rises (vv. 12-19)

Some Corinthians said the dead are not raised. Scholars are unsure whether they rejected life after death, found a bodily rising absurd, or thought it had already happened in a spiritual sense. Paul answers that then Christ did not rise either, so their faith, their forgiveness and their hope for those who have died would all be empty.

The first of the harvest (vv. 20-28)

In Israel the firstfruits were the first part of the harvest, offered to God as a sign that the rest would follow, and Paul calls the risen Christ that first part: death came through Adam and life comes through Christ (readers differ on whether 'all' in v. 22 means everyone or all who belong to Christ). Christ reigns until every enemy, death last of all, is destroyed, then hands the kingdom to God the Father, and most churches read the Son placing himself under the Father (v. 28) as about his role, not a lesser nature.

Why take the risk? (vv. 29-34)

No one is sure what being baptized for the dead meant (v. 29). Many scholars think living people were baptized on behalf of those who had died, a practice Latter-day Saints carry on today from this verse, while others read it as baptism in hope of rejoining believers who had died. Either way, Paul's point is that this, and his own constant danger, including his fight with 'beasts' at Ephesus (most likely fierce human opponents), would make no sense without resurrection, and people might as well just eat and drink, since tomorrow they die.

What kind of body? (vv. 35-49)

Paul compares burial to planting a seed, which goes into the ground as bare grain and comes up as a far richer plant, and notes that God already makes many kinds of bodies, from fish to sun and stars. The present body is weak and perishable, while the raised one is a 'spiritual body', which most readers take as a real body fully alive with God's Spirit rather than a ghost, shaped after Christ as our present bodies are shaped after Adam.

Death swallowed up (vv. 50-58)

At a final trumpet the dead will be raised and the living changed in an instant, because bodies as they are now cannot enter God's kingdom. Paul taunts death with lines from Isaiah and Hosea, links its sting to sin, which he says draws power from the law, and urges his readers to stand firm because their work for the Lord is not wasted.

Key verse: 1 Corinthians 15:20

Where Christians differ

Christians agree the chapter teaches a real resurrection, but differ on how the raised body relates to the present one: many hold it is this same body transformed, while others read 'spiritual body' (v. 44) and 'flesh and blood cannot inherit' (v. 50) as a new kind of body that keeps the person but not the same physical matter.

Something to think about

Paul argues that what people believe happens after death shapes how they live now; does that match what you have seen in yourself or in others?