I Corinthians 15
1 So I make known to you, brothers, the good-news that I good-newsed to you, which you also received, in which you do stand, 2 through which you are also saved, if you hold fast to what word I good-newsed to you, unless you have believed rashly1. 3 For I delivered up to you, firstly, what I also received, that Christ died in behalf of our sins according to the scriptures, 4 and that he was buried, and that he arose on the third day according to the scriptures, 5 and that he was seen by Cephas2, then to the twelve, 6 then he was seen by more than five-hundred brothers at once, from whom most remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 But last of all, by the untimely born as it were, he was seen by me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, I who am not worthy to be called apostle, because I persecuted the assembly3 of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not become empty, but I toiled more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God [that was] with me. 11 Therefore, whether [it was] I or they, thus we proclaimed and thus you believed.12 Now if Christ be proclaimed that he rose from the dead, how do some [of you] say that there is no resurrection from [the] dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection from [the] dead, neither is Christ raised. 14 But if Christ is not raised, then our proclamation is empty, and our faith is empty, 15 and we are found false witnesses of God, because we testified of God that he raised the Christ, whom he did not raise, if indeed the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, neither is Christ raised, 17 and if Christ is not raised, our faith is futile, you are still in your sins. 18 Therefore also those having fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this zoe-life4 we have hoped in Christ only, we are of all men more pitiable. 20 But now is Christ raised from the dead, [the] first-fruits of those fallen asleep. 21 For since through man [is] death, through man also [is] resurrection from [the] dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, thus also in Christ will all be made zoe-alive. 23 But each in his own order5, Christ [the] first-fruits, then those of Christ in his coming, 24 then the completion, when he delivers up the kingdom to the god and father, when he will nullify all rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must be reigning until he put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy [that] is nullified is death. 27 For he has subjected everything under his feet. So when he says that everything is subjected, [it is] clear that [he is] excepted who will subjected to him everything. 28 So when everything be subjected to him, then also the son himself will be subjected to the [one] having subjected everything to him, in order that God be everything in everything. 29 Since what do they do who are being baptized in behalf of the dead? If the dead be not at all raised, why are they also baptized in their behalf? 30 And why are we in danger every hour? 31 Every day I die, by your boasting, brothers, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If according to me, I fought wild beasts in Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. 33 Be not being deceived:
Evil company corrupts kind manners6.
34 Be justly sober and be not sinning. For some have ignorance of God, I speak this to your shame.
35 But someone will say: How are the dead raised? And with what sort of body do they come? 36 Fool, what you sow, is it not made-zoe-alive except it die? 37 And what you sow, you do not sow the body that shall be, but [the] naked grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives to it body just as he wanted, and to each of the seeds its own body. 39 Not all flesh [is] the same flesh, but [there is] the flesh of men, and another flesh of domesticated animals, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. 40 And [there are] heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies. But the glory of the celestial [is one] and that 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 Thus also the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown [a] psyche-life-ish7 body, it is raised [a] spiritual body. If there is [a] psyche-life-ish7 body, there is also [a] spiritual body. 45 Thus also is it written:
The first man Adam came to be [a] zoe-living4 psyche-life7,
The last Adam [a] zoe-life-making4 spirit.
46 But not first [is] the spiritual, but the psyche-life-ish7, then the spiritual. 47 The first man [was] from the dust of the earth, the second man [was] from heaven. 48 Of what sort [is] the [one] made of dust, such are they made of dust, and of what sort [is] the heavenly [one], such also are the heavenly [ones]. 49 And just as we bear the image of the [one] made of dust, let us also bear the image of the heavenly. 50 For this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood is not able to inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold I tell you [a] mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in [a] moment, in the blink of [an] eye, in the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. 53 For this corruption must put on incorruption and this death-like must put on deathlessness. 54 So when this corruption has put on incorruption and this death-like has put on deathlessness, then will come to pass the word that is written:
Death is swallowed in victory.
55 O death, where is your sting,
O death, where is your victory?
56 But the sting of death [is] sin, and the power of sin [is] the law. 57 But grace be to God, the [one] giving victory to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 So, my agape-beloved brothers, become steadfast, immovable, abounding in the work of the Lord always, knowing that our toil is not empty in the Lord.
1without plan or purpose, without due consideration
2another name for Peter
3EKKLESIA (εκκλησια) from "called out". Appears 114 times in the N.T., but only in two places in the Gospels ( Matt.16:18 (twice) and Matt.18:17 (twice)). It's worth noting that when Jesus uses the term EKKLESIA, Christian community as we know it didn't yet exist—there were only the disciples. EKKLESIA is apparently different from 'synagogue' (SYNAGOGE (συναγωγη) which occurs 56 times in the N.T.) EKKLESIA is used in secular Greek literature of a popular assembly 'called to assemble', and also of those 'called' to a cult. EKKLESIA is used frequently in the N.T. outside of the Gospels to refer to Christian communities, but in Acts.7:38 it is used of the people of Israel led through the desert by Moses, and in Acts.19:32 ff. of a secular assembly. Thus, all told, the common translation of EKKLESIA as 'church' doesn't really reflect 1st century usage—it seems to mean more like 'a group of people assembled for some specific purpose'.
4from ZOE "ZOH-ay" (ζωη)—Life 'collectively', interdependent, interconnected. Although it means 'life' in the conventional sense (for example: Matt.9:18, Matt.27:63, Luke.2:36, Acts.25:24, Rom.7:2, 2Cor.1:8, 1Thes.4:17, 1Tim.5:10, Rev.19:20), Jesus uses ZOE exclusively of 'life eternal' (with the possible exceptions of Luke.15:13, Luke.16:25). The other N.T. writers use ZOE in both senses—temporal and eternal, generally clear from the context. The Father is the 'zoe-living God' (see Matt.16:16). The Septuagint (LXX) in Gen.2:7 has "...[God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of zoe-life, and the man became a zoe-living psyche-life" (and see 1Cor.15:45); and Gen.3:20 (LXX) "And Adam called his wife's name ZOE, because she was the mother of all zoe-living." Contrast PSYCHE (ψυχη): an individual manifestation of life/consciousness. See John.12:25 where both ZOE and PSYCHE occur. Greek also has the word BIOS (βιoς ) for 'life' in the sense of biological processes.
5or "rank", "company"
6or "dispositions", "customs", "habits"
7from PSYCHE (ψυχη): an individual manifestation of life/consciousness. Animals have PSYCHEs as well as humans. Contrast ZOE (ζωη)—Life 'collectively', interdependent, interconnected.