1 Corinthians 15
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
The
Fact of Christ’s Resurrection
15 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached
to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by
which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached
to you, unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also
received, that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He
was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and
that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After
that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom
remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then
He appeared to James, then to all the apostles;8 and
last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 9 For
I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But
by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove
vain; but I laboured even more than all of them, yet not I, but the
grace of God with me.11 Whether then it was I
or they, so we preach and so you believed.
12 Now if Christ is
preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that
there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But
if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if
Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is
vain. 15 Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God,
because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He
did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For
if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and
if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in
your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen
asleep in Christ have perished.19 If we have hoped in
Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.
The
Order of Resurrection
20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits
of those who are asleep. 21 For since by
a man came death, by a man also came the
resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam
all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But
each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who
are Christ’s at His coming, 24 then comes
the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father,
when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25 For
He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26 The
last enemy that will be abolished is death. 27 For He has put all things in subjection under His
feet. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is
evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. 28 When all
things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the
One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.
29 Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead
are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? 30 Why
are we also in danger every hour? 31 I affirm,
brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I
die daily. 32 If from human motives
I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the
dead are not raised, let us eat and
drink, for tomorrow we die. 33 Do not be
deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” 34 Become
sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no
knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what
kind of body do they come?” 36 You fool! That which
you sow does not come to life unless it dies; 37 and
that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain,
perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But
God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of
its own. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but
there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and
another flesh of birds, and another of fish. 40 There
are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is
one, and the glory of the earthly is another. 41 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.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a
perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 43 it
is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is
raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body,
it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a
spiritual body. 45 So also it is
written, “The first man, Adam
,became a living soul.”
The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However,
the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 47 The
first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from
heaven. 48 As is the earthy, so also are those who
are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are
heavenly. 49 Just as we have borne the image
of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
The
Mystery of Resurrection
50 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the
imperishable. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery;
we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 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
will be changed. 53 For this perishable must
put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on
immortality. 54 But when this perishable will
have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on
immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the
power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to
God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain
in the Lord.
Matthew Henry's Commentary
Verses 12-19
Having confirmed the truth of our
Saviour’s resurrection, the apostle goes on to refute those among the
Corinthians who said there would be none: If Christ be preached that he rose
from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
1 Cor. 15:12. It seems from this passage, and the course of the argument, there
were some among the Corinthians who thought the resurrection an impossibility.
This was a common sentiment among the heathens. But against this the apostle
produces an incontestable fact, namely, the resurrection of Christ; and he goes
on to argue against them from the absurdities that must follow from their
principle. As,
I. If there be (can be) no resurrection
of the dead, then Christ has not risen (1 Cor. 15:13); and again, “If the dead
rise not, cannot be raised or recovered to life, then is Christ not raised, 1
Cor. 15:16. And yet it was foretold in ancient prophecies that he should rise;
and it has been proved by multitudes of eye-witnesses that he had risen. And will
you say, will any among you dare to say, that is not, cannot be, which God long
ago said should be, and which is now undoubted matter of fact?”
II. It would follow hereupon that the
preaching and faith of the gospel would be vain: If Christ be not risen, then
is our preaching vain, and your faith vain, 1 Cor. 15:14. This supposition
admitted, would destroy the principal evidence of Christianity; and so, 1. Make
preaching vain. “We apostles should be found false witnesses of God; we pretend
to be God’s witnesses for truth, and to work miracles by his power in
confirmation of it, and are all the while deceivers, liars for God, if in his
name, and by power received from him, we go forth, and publish and assert a
thing false in fact, and impossible to be true. And does not this make us the
vainest men in the world, and our office and ministry the vainest and most
useless thing in the world? What end could we propose to ourselves in
undertaking this hard and hazardous service, if we knew our religion stood on no
better foundation, nay, if we were not well assured of the contrary? What
should we preach for? Would not our labour be wholly in vain? We can have no
very favourable expectations in this life; and we could have none beyond it. If
Christ be not raised, the gospel is a jest; it is chaff and emptiness.” 2. This
supposition would make the faith of Christians vain, as well as the labours of
ministers: If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your
sins (1 Cor. 15:17), yet under the guilt and condemnation of sin, because it is
through his death and sacrifice for sin alone that forgiveness is to be had. We
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, Eph. 1:7. No
remission of sins is to be had but through the shedding of his blood. And had
his blood been shed, and his life taken away, without ever being restored, what
evidence could we have had that through him we should have justification and
eternal life? Had he remained under the power of death, how could he have
delivered us from its power? And how vain a thing is faith in him, upon this
supposition! He must rise for our justification who was delivered for our sins,
or in vain we look for any such benefit by him. There had been no justification
nor salvation if Christ had not risen. And must not faith in Christ be vain,
and of no signification, if he be still among the dead?
III. Another absurdity following from
this supposition is that those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
if there be no resurrection, they cannot rise, and therefore are lost, even
those who have died in the Christian faith, and for it. It is plain from this
that those among the Corinthians who denied the resurrection meant thereby a
state of future retribution, and not merely the revival of the flesh; they took
death to be the destruction and extinction of the man, and not merely of the
bodily life; for otherwise the apostle could not infer the utter loss of those
who slept in Jesus, from the supposition that they would never rise more or
that they had no hopes in Christ after life; for they might have hope of
happiness for their minds if these survived their bodies, and this would
prevent the limiting of their hopes in Christ to this life only. “Upon
supposition there is no resurrection in your sense, no after-state and life,
then dead Christians are quite lost. How vain a thing were our faith and
religion upon this supposition!” And this,
IV. Would infer that Christ’s ministers
and servants were of all men most miserable, as having hope in him in this life
only (1 Cor. 15:19), which is another absurdity that would follow from
asserting no resurrection. Their condition who hope in Christ would be worse
than that of other men. Who hope in Christ. Note, All who believe in Christ
have hope in him; all who believe in him as a Redeemer hope for redemption and
salvation by him; but if there be no resurrection, or state of future recompense
(which was intended by those who denied the resurrection at Corinth), their
hope in him must be limited to this life: and, if all their hopes in Christ lie
within the compass of this life, they are in a much worse condition than the
rest of mankind, especially at that time, and under those circumstances, in
which the apostles wrote; for then they had no countenance nor protection from
the rulers of the world, but were hated and persecuted by all men. Preachers
and private Christians therefore had a hard lot if in this life only they had
hope in Christ. Better be anything than a Christian upon these terms; for in
this world they are hated, and hunted, and abused, stripped of all worldly
comforts and exposed to all manner of sufferings: they fare much harder than
other men in this life, and yet have no further nor better hopes. And is it not
absurd for one who believes in Christ to admit a principle that involves so
absurd an inference? Can that man have faith in Christ who can believe
concerning him that he will leave his faithful servants, whether ministers or
others, in a worse state than his enemies? Note, It were a gross absurdity in a
Christian to admit the supposition of no resurrection or future state. It would
leave no hope beyond this world, and would frequently make his condition the
worst in the world. Indeed, the Christian is by his religion crucified to this world,
and taught to live upon the hope of another. Carnal pleasures are insipid to
him in a great degree; and spiritual and heavenly pleasures are those which he
affects and pants after. How sad is his case indeed, if he must be dead to
worldly pleasures and yet never hope for any better!
The Bible Panorama
1 Corinthians 15
V 1–2: BEWARE A belief ‘in vain’ comes from mere
mental assent. Real faith causes adherence to God’s word and this demonstrates
salvation.
V 3–4: BIBLICAL The death of Christ
on the cross and His resurrection are foretold in the Scriptures. Paul insists
on the priority of preaching the cross and the resurrection. There is no gospel
without that twin emphasis.
V 5–10: BASIS Christian confidence in
the resurrection of Christ is based on ample, reliable, first-hand,
corroborated evidence from credible witnesses of good character. Paul himself
became such a witness, fulfilling one of the main qualifications to be an
apostle. Although an apostle, he sees his own insignificance and sinfulness, but
rejoices in God’s grace working in him and through him.
V 11: BELIEF The Corinthians came to trust in God
through the preaching of Christ crucified and risen again. V 12–19: BARREN
Christianity would be barren, dishonest, empty and fruitless if Christ had
remained dead.
V 20–28: BATTLE Through the victory of His death and resurrection, Christ will
ultimately triumph over all enemies, including death itself. Christians who
have died physically will live eternally through their risen Lord. He has won
the battle for them!
V 29–32: BOASTING Paul boasts of what
the risen Jesus has done for him and for others. The resurrection has led to
the conversion and baptism of sinners, who were drawn to faith in Christ
through observing the way that real Christians died. Boldness in martyrdom and
Paul’s changed lifestyle also result from the knowledge of the risen Christ.
V 33–34: BADNESS Bad habits can be
caught from association with evil companions. Those following the risen Christ
will show their salvation by seeking righteousness, rather than settling for
sin.
V 35–57: BODY After the sowing in death of the
physical body, a completely new resurrection body will result that will clothe
every saved soul, and be the ultimate possession of every convert to Christ.
That resurrection body will be different, permanent, glorious, powerful and
spiritual. It will reflect Christ’s likeness. It will be given to each believer
in an instant at Christ’s second coming. Victory over death and the grave is
for those who know Christ.
V 58: BRETHREN In view of this awaited
and wonderful future through Christ’s resurrection, Paul’s urges his ‘beloved
brethren’ to stand firm and to keep labouring abundantly for the Lord. A good
understanding of our salvation encourages us to work for it in others.
Dictionary of Bible Themes
6712 propitiation
The satisfaction of the righteous
demands of God in relation to human sin and its punishment through the
sacrificial death of Jesus Christ upon the cross, by which the penalty of sin
is cancelled and the anger of God averted. [The NIV is distinctive at this
point, in that it generally translates this term by “atonement” and related
words.].
The need for propitiation: God’s anger
against sin
Ps 7:11; Ro 2:5 See also Ex 32:11-14;
Nu 32:8-15; Dt 6:14-15; 2Ki 23:26; Ps 78:38; Isa 30:27-31; Da 9:16-19; Hos
11:8-9; Mt 25:41-46; Jn 3:36; Ro 1:18; Eph 5:6
The provision of propitiation: Jesus
Christ the atoning sacrifice
The promise in the OT Isa 53:5-6 See
also Isa 53:10-12
The fulfilment in the NT Ro 3:21-26 See
also Ro 5:9-10; Col 1:21-22; Heb 2:17; Heb 9:11-14; 1Jn 2:2
The motivation for propitiation: God’s
love
1Jn 4:10 See also Ps 85:2-3; Ps
103:8-12; Mic 7:18-19; Ro 5:6-8; 2Co 5:19
What is propitiation?" from Got
questions
Answer: The word propitiation carries
the basic idea of appeasement, or satisfaction, specifically towards God.
Propitiation is a two-part act that involves appeasing the wrath of an offended
person and being reconciled to him.
The necessity of appeasing God is
something many religions have in common. In ancient pagan religions, as well as
in many religions today, the idea is taught that man appeases God by offering
various gifts or sacrifices. However, the Bible teaches that God Himself has
provided the only means through which His wrath can be appeased and sinful man
can be reconciled to Him. In the New Testament, the act of propitiation always
refers to the work of God and not the sacrifices or gifts offered by man. The
reason for this is that man is totally incapable of satisfying God’s justice
except by spending eternity in hell. There is no service, sacrifice or gift
that man can offer that will appease the holy wrath of God or satisfy His
perfect justice. The only satisfaction, or propitiation, that could be
acceptable to God and that could reconcile man to Him, had to be made by God.
For this reason God the Son, Jesus Christ, came into the world in human flesh
to be the perfect sacrifice for sin and make atonement or “propitiation for the
sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17).
The word propitiation is used in
several key verses to explain what Jesus accomplished through His death on the
cross. For example, in Romans 3:24-25 we see that believers in Christ have been
“justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to
demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over
the sins that were previously committed." These verses are a key point in
Paul’s argument in the Book of Romans and are really at the heart of the Gospel
message.
In the first three chapters of Romans,
Paul has made the argument that everybody, both Jew and Gentile alike, is under
the condemnation of God and deserving of His wrath (Romans 1:18). Everyone has
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). All of us deserve
His wrath and punishment. God in His infinite grace and mercy has provided a
way that His wrath can be appeased and we can be reconciled to Him. That way is
through the sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus Christ, as the atonement or
payment for sins. It is through faith in Jesus Christ as God’s perfect
sacrifice, foretold in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament, that
we can be reconciled to God. It is only because of Christ’s perfect life, His
death on the cross, and His resurrection on the third day that a lost sinner
deserving of hell can be reconciled to a Holy God. The wonderful truth of the
Gospel message is that Christians are saved from God’s wrath and reconciled to
God not because “we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
Jesus said, "I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
The only way for God’s wrath against sinful man to be appeased and for us to be
reconciled to God is through Jesus Christ. There is no other way. This truth is
also communicated in 1 John 2:2; “And He Himself is the propitiation for our
sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” An important part of
Christ’s saving work includes deliverance from God’s wrath that the unbelieving
sinner is under, because Jesus’ atonement on the cross is the only thing that can
turn away God’s divine wrath. Those that reject Christ as their Savior and
refuse to believe in Him have no hope of salvation. They can only look forward
to facing the wrath of God that they have stored up for the coming day of
judgment (Romans 2:5). There is no other propitiation or sacrifice that can be
made for their sins.
Encyclopaedia of The Bible
ATONEMENT (×›ָּפַר֒, H4105, cover; ἱλάσκομαι, G2661; καταλλάσσω, G2904,
reconcile). Etymologically the word atonement signifies a harmonious relationship
or that which brings about such a relationship, i.e., a reconciliation. It is
principally used of the reconciliation between God and man effected by the work
of Christ. The necessity for such reconciliation is the breach in the primal
relationship between the Creator and the creature occasioned by man’s sinful
rebellion.
3. The doctrine of the Atonement.
a. Its reason. In this all too brief
survey of the Biblical materials, we shall venture to outline a doctrine of the
Atonement, touching upon the questions commonly discussed by the theologians.
The first point to be made is that the Atonement originated with God; it was He
who provided it. However one may trace the development of blood sacrifice among
the Hebrews, there can be no doubt that in both the priestly and prophetic
writings of the OT it is God who appointed the various rites, giving to Moses
and those who followed him instructions concerning the manner in which they
were to be rendered and the benefits which they secured to the worshiper. So it
is in the NT. The atonement for sin provided by the death of Christ had its
source in God. It is He who “was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” (2
Cor 5:19). The ultimate reason for this initiative is not to be found in any
necessity laid upon Him, but in His free and sovereign love.
“For God so loved
the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not
perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This is the ultimate of revelation;
i.e., the Atonement finds its ultimate explanation in an unfathomable urge in
God toward His sinful and alienated creatures. He has been pleased, for reasons
known only to Himself, to set His love upon those who are unworthy. The Lord
has loved men with an everlasting love (Jer 31:3), and in due time commended
that love to them in that while they were yet sinners Christ died for them (Rom
5:8). This, then, is the final reason for the Atonement. When Scripture says
that God is love (1 John 4:7, 8), it teaches that love is no incidental aspect
of God’s being, something which He may choose to be or not to be at His
pleasure. Rather, it is the essence of His being. Though people can discover no
reason in themselves, no value or worth which would evoke that love, yet He
loves them because He is God who is love. The Lord says that He set His love
upon His people, not because they were greater in number than any other—for
they were the fewest—but because He loved them (Deut 7:6-8). That is, He loved
them because He loved them; the reason for His love is hidden in Himself whose
name is, “I am who I am” (Exod 3:14).
The principal word which the NT uses
for the divine love is agape.
Significantly, eros, the virile word
for love in Gr. philosophy, does not occur. The most plausible explanation is
that erotic love, whether it describes the relation of the sexes or, as in
Plato, the aspiration of the soul for the ideas, is the love of the worthy, a
love based on value. By contrast, God’s covenant love for His people (agape),
which moved Him to provide an atonement for sin, is a love for the unworthy.
Even when His people, like an unfaithful wife, went whoring after other gods,
the Lord loved them still (Hos 11:8, 9). “In this is love,” wrote John, “not
that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for
our sins” (1 John 4:10). This “love divine, all loves excelling” cannot be
frustrated at last; it is a love, says Paul, from which nothing can separate us
(Rom 8:38, 39). The reason for this is that this love is not dependent upon
anything in man; it is a love which is sovereign and free.
Soteriology - The Doctrine of Salvation
from Bible.org
The Meaning and Scope of Salvation
Even a casual look at the world quickly
reveals man’s condition in sin and the awful plight in which this fallen
condition has left him. Furthermore, it is a condition against which mankind is
completely helpless when left to his own human resources. In spite of all man’s
expectations of a new society in which he is able to bring about peace and
prosperity, the world remains shattered and torn by the ravages of sin locally,
nationally, and internationally. The Bible speaks, however, of God’s gracious
plan to provide a solution to man’s problem. We call it salvation or
soteriology. Ryrie writes:
Soteriology, the doctrine of salvation,
must be the grandest theme in the Scriptures. It embraces all of time as well
as eternity past and future. It relates in one way or another to all of
mankind, without exception. It even has ramifications in the sphere of the
angels. It is the theme of both the Old and New Testaments. It is personal, national,
and cosmic. And it centres on the greatest Person, our Lord Jesus Christ.1
According to the broadest meaning as
used in Scripture, the term salvation encompasses the total work of God by
which He seeks to rescue man from the ruin, doom, and power of sin and bestows
upon him the wealth of His grace encompassing eternal life, provision for
abundant life now, and eternal glory (Eph. 1:3-8; 2:4-10; 1 Pet. 1:3-5; John 3:16,
36; 10:10).
The word “salvation” is the translation
of the Greek word soteria which is derived from the word soter meaning “Saviour.”
The word “salvation” communicates the thought of deliverance, safety,
preservation, soundness, restoration, and healing. In theology, however, its
major use is to denote a work of God on behalf of men, and as such it is a
major doctrine of the Bible which includes redemption, reconciliation,
propitiation, conviction, repentance, faith, regeneration, forgiveness, justification,
sanctification, preservation, and glorification.
On the one hand, salvation is
described as the work of God rescuing man from his lost estate. On the other
hand salvation describes the estate of a man who has been saved and who is
vitally renewed and made a partaker of the inheritance of the saints.
Be Blessed Today
Yours by His Grace, for the sake of His Kingdom and His Church
Blair Humphreys
Southport, Merseyside, England
