1 Corinthians 15
v.1
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.
v.10
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
v.20
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
v.23
But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
v.29
Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?
Despite all sorts of ingenious alternatives that have been suggested, the plain meaning of verse 29 remains that of some sort of proxy baptism. Early church fathers allude to such a practice among second-century Gnostic and Gnostic-like groups, in which living believers were baptized on behalf of those in their sect or group who had died without being baptized (cf. Tertullian, Against Marcion 5.10; Chrysostom’s Homily on 1 Cor. 40.1; Epiphanius, Hereies 28; and Philaster, Heresies 49). Given the Corinthians’ tendencies towards early Gnostic belief and practice, it is not difficult to imagine something similar having begun among at a least a few in Corinth already in the first century. Paul neither condemns nor condones such a practice but argues for its irrelevance if Christ is not raised. In other words, those who are baptizing people on behalf of the dead contradict their own theology that denies the resurrection. The Corinthians might well have replied that they performed such baptisms for the sake of disembodied souls, but Paul is convinced that without a body there is no further life at all.
Paul appeals to a practice, which the Corinthians affirmed, as inconsistent without belief in resurrection (cf. 2 Maccabees 12:43-45). Here “baptized for the dead” may mean that a Christian friend was baptized for symbolic effect on behalf of a new convert who had died before being able to be baptized. (Although there is no evidence of vicarious *baptism in ancient Judaism, posthumous symbols could be employed. For instance, if someone was to be executed, Jewish teachers said that his death could *atone for his sins; if he died before he could be executed, however, the people placed a stone on the coffin, symbolically enacting his stoning so that his execution would still count with God; cf. Mishnah Eduyyot 5:6.) Or this expression may refer to washings of the dead before burial, a standard Jewish custom; religious groups in the ancient Mediterranean supervised the burials of their own members. It could also be a roundabout way of saying “baptized so as to be able to participate in *eternal life with Christians who have already died,” hence baptized in the light of their own mortality as well. Or people may be baptized for the sake of their own future resurrection, in view of the sentence of death already in their mortal bodies (cf. Rom 8:10). To whatever practice Paul alludes, it is not clear whether he agrees with the Corinthian practice; even if he does not, however, he can use it to make his point.
v.33
Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
Those who deny the resurrection make for “bad company,” and their dualistic presuppositions (“matter doesn’t matter”) foster immoral behavior (as in chaps. 5-6). Paul appeals to the Corinthians to reject this route (v. 34) by again chiding them for their lack of gnosis and by trying to shame them into repentance (cf. 6:5).
Here Paul cites a popular proverb, first attributed to the comic playwright Menander but in common circulation by Paul’s day. It was the common advice of Greco-Roman moralists and Jewish wisdom teachers to avoid morally inferior company (e.g., Sirach 13:1; in the Old Testament, Ps 119:63; Prov 13:20; 14:7; 28:7). Paul perhaps refers here to those who do not believe in the future resurrection and hence do not have the basis for morals that those who believe in a final judgment of God do; other Jewish teachers who believed in the resurrection associated disbelief in that doctrine with immorality.
v.34
Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.
Verse 34a highlights how immorality often flows from false theology. We recall the sexual sin that stemmed from the Corinthians’ divorce of body and spirit (chaps. 5-6). Verse 34b reminds us again that shame or guilt can be an appropriate motivation to corrective action when we are objectively guilty and engaged in shameful behavior. But it can be overdone and misapplied as well.
v.51-52
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed–52in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
The trumpet was a stock metaphor in biblical literature to herald the end (cf. Joel 2:1; Zech. 9:14; Matt. 24:31; 1 Thess. 4:16); and the seven trumpets of Rev. 8:2-9:14).
v.56
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
And, as in Romans 6-8, he recalls that sin is the primary culprit that has led to both physical and spiritual death, while the law, apart from pointing people to Christ, serves only to promote sin, as it increases conscious rebellion against God’s standards (v. 56; cf. Gal. 3:19-24).
Increasing transgressions is not the sole purpose of the Law. Indeed, Reformation theology has traditionally recognized three uses of the Law, the other two of which are far more positive—as a deterrent to sin and as a moral instruction for Christians. But the first one is an important use and supports in some measure the classic Lutheran dichotomy between law and gospel.
v.58
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.