The Bible Says Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15

1 Corinthians 15:1-2 urges the Corinthians to remember the gospel message Paul taught to them. They believed it, they are Paul's brothers and sisters in Christ, but they need to also live it out daily to be saved from the power of sin. We have believed in Christ to no useful end in our daily lives if we don't also live out our faith, living in God's power apart from sin's power.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 reiterates the gospel message, the most important and central belief that Paul and the Corinthians share. Jesus is the Messiah, He died for the sins of humankind, His dead body was buried, and then God raised Him back to life. All of this was prophesied in the Hebrew scriptures. God promised that these things would happen, and now they have. This faith in Jesus's death and resurrection is what we build our lives on.

1 Corinthians 15:5-8 shows that after resurrecting to life, Jesus appeared to and interacted with Peter and the other 12 apostles, as well as five hundred other believers (most of whom are still alive as of Paul's writing of this letter), and His brother James, then to many others who had followed Him. Lastly Jesus appeared to Paul, who was persecuting the church, trying to destroy all believers in Jesus. But Paul, seeing Jesus, believed, and became a preacher of the gospel.

1 Corinthians 15:9-11 records Paul's self-reflection on how God's grace saved him. He did not deserve to be called to be an apostle of God. He had persecuted the church, intending to kill all believers in Jesus. Jesus appeared to him and He reversed the course of his life. Paul believed in Jesus, an enemy of Christ no longer. It was God's favor and compassion on Paul that saved him. So Paul works as hard as he can, or rather, God's grace works through Paul, so that he can serve God and do the works God has called him to; namely, to preach the gospel.

1 Corinthians 15:12-14 addresses a false teaching in the Corinthian church. Paul has established the foundational importance of their faith, of the existence of the Corinthian church, being founded on belief that Jesus rose from the dead. That being the case, why then is there a false teaching circulating the Corinthian church that claims that believers will not also rise from the dead in the future, as promised? If there is no resurrection of the dead, as the false teachers claim, then Jesus was not raised from the dead. If Jesus was not raised and is still dead, then Paul has preached nonsense to no purpose. Which means the Corinthians' faith and church assembly is pointless.

1 Corinthians 15:15-19 argues that if there is no resurrection for believers, then Jesus also was not raised from the dead, and therefore the apostles are liars. If Jesus was not raised, then there's no point in believing in Him, and we have not been made new creatures, but are still enslaved to sin and unforgiven. Believers in Jesus are pitiful and ridiculous if the resurrection is not real, because that means this life is all there is, and we're wasting our time pretending otherwise.

1 Corinthians 15:20-22 preaches the truth that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead to life. He is like the first fruits of a harvest, signaling that more fruits will follow, that all who believe in Him will likewise raise to life after death. One man, Adam, caused mankind to fall into sin and death. But one man, Jesus, has paved the way to eternal life.

1 Corinthians 15:23-24 shows the order of resurrections: Jesus was the first to resurrect to eternal life, and believers in Him will also resurrect when He returns to earth, and then the age will end, and Jesus will submit His new earthly kingdom to God the Father after casting down the sinful earthly kingdoms.

1 Corinthians 15:25-28 shows that Jesus will rule the earth to the point of total victory; all of His enemies will be defeated. The last enemy is Death. Paul, combatting the lie in Corinth that there is no resurrection, shows that Death is something outside of God's original design for creation, and that when Jesus reigns on earth, Death, which doesn't belong in His perfect kingdom, will be discarded for those who believe in Jesus. We will live eternally with our King. Thus creation will be in harmony with its creator again, as Jesus redeems it, and submits to God the Father, and God dwells among His creation according to His perfect design.

1 Corinthians 15:29-32 contrast the truth of resurrection and Jesus coming to rule the earth with the false teaching that there is no bodily resurrection and that death is the end. If this life is all there is, why do the Corinthians put their lives at risk practicing Christianity and being persecuted? What's the point of that? Paul points to his own daily suffering for Jesus, that it is silly for him to stand for Christ against the hostility of the world, if we are not resurrected to eternal life in the end. We might as well live for the pleasures of the day before the finality of permanent dark death.

1 Corinthians 15:33-34 exhorts the Corinthians to repent of sin and abstain from the bad influences in their midst. Some have been falsely teaching that this life is all there is and that we are not resurrected to eternal life. If that's true, there is no point in living for Christ and rejecting sin. But this is a lie leading to sin; believers will be raised to eternal life and we will be accountable for what we did in this life. Therefore, stay away from deceptive people encouraging sin. The way the Corinthians have been living is shameful and ignorant.

1 Corinthians 15:35-38 addresses the false teaching that believers won’t resurrect by anticipating a counterargument. Paul states what the false teachers will say––they will ridicule the idea of resurrection, implying it is unnatural. Paul points to nature to show how God created seeds to go into the ground, dry up, and then burst forth with life. Something small dies, and then something new and different comes from it, bigger and better than before. We are all like individual seeds who will receive new bodies.

1 Corinthians 15:39-44 distinguishes different types of bodies in creation. Humans are different from land animals, and from birds, and fish. There is a different kind of body, one created in heaven, which is different than our earthly bodies built of dust. Just as the sun and moon and stars are all observably different, our future resurrected bodies will be different than our current bodies. We are currently in bodies that will decay and die, sown like a seed into the grave, and God will raise us into something new, strong, and eternal.

1 Corinthians 15:45-49 continues to demonstrate how our resurrected bodies will be different than our current bodies. Adam was born from dust, made into a soul that was alive. Jesus, through His death and resurrection, is a spirit who gives us eternal life. First we are born on this earth, made of dust, and then when we are resurrected we will be given spiritual bodies (real bodies, but eternal and heavenly, not earthly). On this earth, we are born from its materials, and were made for this environment, but in our resurrection, we will be made for a heavenly environment and purpose.

1 Corinthians 15:50-53 shows that one of the reasons for the resurrection of the dead (Paul is arguing against the false teaching that there is no resurrection) is that we cannot live and serve in God's kingdom in our current state. We have weak human bodies that decay and die. We will be made eternal to thrive in God's future kingdom. Paul reveals how this change will occur when the angelic trumpets sound, and Jesus raises the dead, and in a split second we will receive resurrection bodies and will live forever.

1 Corinthians 15:54-57 reflects on Old Testament prophecies and shows that when believers are resurrected and given eternal bodies, God's promise will be complete that no one will die again, nor will we sin. We will live, thank God, forever and in perfect joy and obedience to God, victorious at last over the pain and temptations of this life we will have then left behind forever. This is possible because of Jesus the Messiah, our Savior and King.

1 Corinthians 15:58 records Paul's conclusion to his lengthy defense of the resurrection of the dead, that Jesus did raise to eternal life and will raise believers too after we have died. In light of this, we should be solid and consistent, producing and over-producing good works of obedience to God, remembering that there is a purpose and a reward to living this way, when Jesus comes into His kingdom one day.