1 Corinthians 15

     15:1-4.  Paul reminds them in brief of the core message of the gospel.  This is what he preached and they believed; Christ’s atoning death, his burial, and his resurrection the third day, and all according to Scripture.  This was God’s promise, and the hope of the ages come to pass, which all the Scriptures pointed to (cf. Luke 24:44-46).

     Jesus is the key to understanding the OT.  See how he used Jonah’s three days in the sea monster as a sign of his death, burial, and resurrection (Mt.12:40).  Cf. Hos.6:2; Ps.16:8-11; Ps.41:7-12.

     15:5-7.  Our faith rests on the testimony of these chosen eyewitnesses; Peter and the other apostles (5), plus over five hundred others, v.6 (possibly linked to Mt.28:10,16 ff.).

He appeared also to James (his brother), then to the apostles, v.7 (at the ascension, Acts 1:12-13).

     15:8-11.  Then last of all, the highly unusual and untimely appearance of the risen Lord to Paul himself (and not only at his calling, see 2 Cor.12:1 ff.; Gal.1:11-17).  The word apostle is sometimes used in a broader sense, but here Paul uses it in the strict sense, as an officially chosen witness bearer to the teaching and work of Christ, including the resurrection (cf.9:1; Acts 9:15; 1 John 1:1-3).  As to their message, Paul and the other true apostles all teach this same gospel, the proof of which is the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead to which they all alike testify (11).

     15:12-19.  There are three false ideas about the resurrection:

          1.  The Sadducees (and modern materialists) say there is no resurrection (Mt.22:23).  Death ends all life.

          2.  The Pharisees say there will be a resurrection to a carnal, earthy kingdom, with a body much like it is now, but relieved of mortality.

          3.  The Greeks could not imagine a resurrection of the corruptible body, but taught a release of the pure spirit from the bondage of the body.  This is still a very common notion.

     In a manner of speaking, in opposition to these are the three truths of the resurrection:

          1.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ.

          2.  The resurrection of the spiritually dead in their sins to newness of life (i.e., regeneration; see John 5:24-25; Eph.2:5-6; Rev.20:4-6).

          3.  The resurrection of the body at the last great day (John 5:28-29).  

Of course, for the redeemed these are all a part of the same thing.  An essential part of the gospel is believing and trusting in Christ’s resurrection, giving us a sure hope and confidence of the truth of our own resurrection, as we face the trials of life and the darkness of death.

     Here in vv.12-19, the apostle confronts those who did not believe in a bodily resurrection.  It may be significant that Paul literally says “some among you” (12), rather than some of you (as the NIV has it).  Wolves can be among the flock, but not of it.  Cf. Jude 4.  None of the true flock can deny their shepherd lives, for it would make all Christ’s witnesses liars (15), and make putting one’s faith in Christ an absurdity (16-19).

     15:20.  The first fruits of those who are asleep: This is another example of how the OT points to Christ, and how Christ is the key to understanding.  See Lev.23:10-11.  Like the first sheaf of the harvest, Jesus our High Priest brought himself before the heavenly Father, and waved his perfect life before the LORD, as the first fruits of the great harvest to come.  First Fruits was celebrated on the first day of the week during the feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread (i.e., Easter Sunday).

     15:21-22.  The headship of Adam and Christ (see notes Ro.5:12-19): All who are born in Adam, of the flesh, shall die.   All who are born anew in Christ, of the Spirit, shall be made alive.

     15:23-28.  Reigning at the Father’s right hand (cf.Mt.28:18), Christ is subduing all things under his feet.  He shall abolish even the power of death (26), for all must be subject to him.  Then, at the great harvest home, he will lay all things at the feet of the Father in fulfillment of the eternal covenant, that all glory may be to the praise of God forever.

     15:29.  Some, looking at this verse as though it were standing alone, understand it as referring to some strange practice of proxy-baptism on behalf of dead loved ones.  Surely Paul would never have allowed that!  The context is this: Christ is not dead.  He is a risen savior who is putting all his and our enemies in subjection under his feet.  Otherwise (i.e., if it is not so), what will those do who are being baptized for the dead (i.e., being baptized for a dead Jesus and his dying church)?  If the dead are not raised at all, then not even Christ has been raised (16).  So if none of the dead are raised, why be baptized into those who are dead (i.e., into their company)?  If all this were so, why would we put ourselves in such danger, as we do every hour, for the sake of a dead man (30)?  On the contrary, we are not only baptized into his death, but into his resurrection (Ro.6:4; Col.2:12).

     15:30-34.  Paul does not serve the dead, but has put his mortal life on the line everyday to bring souls safely into Christ (30-31).  Why did he fight wild beasts at Ephesus?  (This is probably a metaphor for human opposition, cf. Ps.22:12-13; 2 Cor.1:8-9).  The quote here (32) is from Is.22:13.   But Isaiah is echoing Solomon, from Ecc.8:15, whose purpose is to show the futility of life if only looked at “under the sun” (i.e., from the worldview of naturalistic materialism).  Death makes all effort vanity, so live it up while you can (cf.v.19).  This makes sense of vv.32-33.  People who think this way, who believe death destroys all meaning, so party on, are bad company.  They have no knowledge of God (cf. Jesus’ answer to the materialistic Sadducees, Mt.22:23, 29).

     15:35-49.  This passage speaks both to the Pharisee’s error, who imagined an overly carnal resurrection with the body essentially unchanged, and the difficulty the Greek mind had in thinking of any afterlife except that of a disembodied spirit.  Paul does the best he can, like explaining colors to a man born blind.  Using analogies, he tells us that we will have a body, but a spiritual body, a body with a connection to but vastly different from our earthly body.  We are like Adam now.  We shall be like Christ, fitted for heaven.

     V.46 states a principle seen many times in the OT, especially in such stories as Jacob and Esau, or Saul and David, where the carnal but naturally first person is passed over and rejected in favor of the more spiritually minded second person (cf. Ro.9:8-13; Gal.5:17).  We are all born at first like Adam.  We must be born again of the spirit, like Christ (47-49).  Like Jacob, all who are born again are in a constant struggle with their earthy first born twin, and the older must be made to serve the younger (Gen.25:23).

      15:50-58.  The resurrection change will come upon all in Christ, on the dead and on the still living alike, at his glorious coming.  We shall all put off the corruptible nature, and put on incorruption.  Christ will show Death no mercy.  Paul freely quotes Is.25:8 and Hos.13:14 to mock the powerlessness of our once invincible enemy (54-55).  All glory be to God who has given us the victory through our great David, our champion, the Lord Jesus Christ (57; cf. 1 Sam.17).  Because of the resurrection of Christ, our toil is not in vain in the Lord (58; cf. Ecc.2:16-17; Heb.2:14-15).