1 Corinthians 15:29-58

1 Corinthians 15:29-58

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Effects of Denying the Resurrection

29 Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead? 30 And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour? 31 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 32 If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

33 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” 34 Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.

A Glorious Body

35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” 36 Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. 37 And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.

39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.

40 There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body 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 natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

Our Final Victory

50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall 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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

55 “O  Death, where is your sting?

O Hades, where is your victory?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength 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 labor is not in vain in the Lord.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 1 Co 15:29-58

• Transcript

  Hey, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions. Let me jump on the computer here and make sure everybody is able to join us live. Gonna jump on, make sure everybody is able to join us live just about there looks like things are recording, just looking to connect. I'll grab my coffee, and as soon as they do, we're live. Well good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions is where every day you and I we get together. We have a little bit of coffee we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together and this year 2022. We'll make it from the book of Acts to the book of Philemon. We're at first Corinthians chapter 15. We'll wrap up chapter 15. We're almost done with a book of First Corinthians. Why don't we have some coffee? We'll pray and we'll get into the Lord's word. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for your word. And thank you for the resurrection of the dead. God we pray that as we wrap up this portion of your word that Your Holy Spirit would be teaching and encouraging us in Jesus's name. Amen. First Corinthians chapter 15. And we'll begin at verse 29. Now I just need to let you know it's going to start with something that we need to address and it's going to actually take me reading something really old to kind of give us some context for this. Okay, here we go. First Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 29. Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead? And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour? I affirm by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If in the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise? Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived. Evil company corrupts good habits, awake to righteousness, and do not sin. For some do not have the knowledge of God I speak this to your shame. But someone will say how are the dead raised up and with what body do they come? Foolish one what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow you do not sow that body that shall be but near green, perhaps a weed or some other green. But God gives it a body as he pleases and to each seed its own body. All flesh is not the same flesh. But there is one kind of flesh of men another flesh of animals, another a fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies, but the glory of the celestial one, the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon. And another glory of the stars, for one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. So it is written. The first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a LIFE GIVING SPIRIT. However, the spiritual is not first but the natural and afterward the spirit or the spiritual. The first man was of the earth made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven. And was the man of dust. So also are those who are made of dust and as is the heavenly man. So also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, so also, so shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit in corruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall it be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh Death, where is your sting? Oh Hades. Where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin. And the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work with the Lord, knowing that your labor is not vain in the Lord. Well, we need to ask ourselves a What's this about? The what's the best verse to summarize this and see what we call to do in response to these words. What's this about? Well, we start off our passage in verse 29. About something with baptism with the dead what is going on here are our Mormon friends right? Should we baptize people? You know, post humanist Lee for dead people who didn't hear the Gospel. Well, no, that's not what's going on here. We're not baptizing dead people. Right. This is to understand this. I'd actually like to take us back to the fourth century. I'd like to take us all the way back to Chris awesome. He's a bishop in Constantinople. Chris Austin is wonderful exegesis of the scriptures, church father and and he's just a pastor. And he's got a pretty amazing story sometime if you ever want to look up his life, but it's helpful sometimes to go way back and read the old authors to try to figure out what did this passage I mean, because now we have Mormons and stuff like that, but even back then people were just starting this teaching. And so you would have this group called the Marcia knights and, and what they would do is he makes fun of them where, you know, they have this silly ridiculous thing where you're they'll have these catechumens and though they'll have a child who will hide underneath a dead person's bed, and after that person dies, they'll ask the dead body. Do you believe in the resurrection of the dead, and the little child underneath the the body of this dead? person will say, Yes, I believe in the resurrection of the dead and baptize a dead body and so that's foolish, right? That's not what this is getting at. And so I want to read to you what Chris awesome says this actually means. I'm going to read from my computer here he said, this also we add at the end when we are about to baptize bidding them same. I believe in the resurrection of the dead. And upon this faith we are baptized for after we have confessed this together with the rest. Then at last we're let down into the fount of those sacred streams. This therefore Paul recalling to their mind say, If there be no resurrection, why art thou baptize for the dead? For example, the dead bodies, for in fact with a view to this art, you are baptize, the resurrection of your dead body, believing that it no longer remains dead. And he continues on he says, For the being baptized and immersed and then emerging is a symbol of the descent into Hades and return thence wherefore also Paul calls baptism a burial, saying Therefore we are buried by him, with him by baptism into death, Romans six four, By this he makes that also which is to come credible I mean, the resurrection of our bodies, for the blotting out of sins is much greater is a much greater thing than the raising up of a body. Do you see what he's saying? He's saying, You're You're not being baptized for the dead in the sense that you're being baptized for another dead person. But you're being baptized for your dead body, or your you believe in the resurrection of the dead. You are a good as dead when you are when you are first believing. And so you are baptized into newness of life. You're baptized into Christ you are baptized into this spiritual reality that you are going to be raised again from the dead. So this is what he's saying. Right and, and, and so I agree with Chris Austin there I think that's helpful for him to go. And he says, Is this isn't true if we're not being baptized for this reason why am I doing these things? Why am I being willing to be imprisoned? Why am I facing possible death in Ephesus? Why Why am I why am I not just going about my life right? Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die right? Why not just go about your life if there's no resurrection of the dead, right? If all of it ends in the grave? Why not just enjoy your best life right now? He says, but don't be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals. These false teachers are going to corrupt your morals. Right? They're going to lead you towards some type of hedonism. He says no awake to righteousness and do not sin. For some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak to your shame. Are you saying some of you don't believe in the resurrection resurrection of the dead and I'm telling you, it's going to corrupt your your morals. And you don't know God. And he's saying this to shame them. He's being a bold preacher here. And so what's this next part about? Right? People have questions? Okay. So we believe in the resurrection of the dead. But what's that going to look like? Is is it going to be like literally my exact flesh being raised from the dead and he says, but some will say or the Deseret stop and by what body they come. He says there's a different type of body that you get. Right? There's what is planted, physically grows differently. He gives us idea of a seed, right? You plant a little seed of barley or grain or wheat of some type and you put it down in the ground and it goes in one form, it comes out another form. And they use this same example of what our resurrected bodies are going to be like, right there buried naturally, but they're raised spiritually. And he says, just like Adam had to die, and he was the one who gave us natural life. So Jesus Christ died, and he gives a spiritual life. So our bodies are going to be like Christ bodies now. This is important because some people have taken this and they've made it seem as if, oh, look, we're just going to be disembodied souls, and our spiritual body is going to be immaterial. I don't think that this that's what this is saying. Because the model of our resurrected bodies is our resurrected Lord. And as Jesus when he's resurrected, who says to His disciples, yo, let's have breakfast, give me some fish. And he eats is Jesus who appears to Thomas and he says, Put your hand here in my wound? Right, put it here my side. Go ahead. Go ahead. Or Jesus has a physical body. Yes, it's spiritual. It's, it's filled with the Holy Spirit. He's able to do things that people don't understand. Right. How was he able to enter into a room that's large? I don't know. But he certainly has a physical body, but it's also a spiritual body. It's that there's something better that happens. But it's not that you lose everything, but it is a glorious body. We were sown naturally, but we're raised gloriously. Once the disciples beheld his glory, it was like nothing other is this amazing thing, right? This is why sometimes they didn't recognize him. Even though they knew him. They could hear his voice and that would remind them, they would know his deeds that our physical bodies are going to be done away with. We're going to be buried in that gray but we're going to rise again from the dead, a spiritual body where we're going to be changed there. Is going to be a change thing. God there's going to be a change. All the effects of the fall are going to be gone. I don't know about you, but I can't wait for that. No more creaking knees no more aching back. No more eyes that are failing you you know we get to have spiritual bodies unaffected, redeemed, run affected by the fall and redeemed from the curse of the fall. And so he says, so also the resurrection of the dead so the body as soon incorruption have raised and in corruption. In verse 49, it shows us that this is specifically tied to Christ. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, so also shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. Right of the man Jesus Christ. This is worth talking about our Lord. And so you wrap this up. When is this going to happen? It's going to happen at the last trumpet call, in a twinkling of an eye. Right when Death is swallowed up, or death where is your sting or Hades? Where is your victory? Right, what is what is corruptible has put on incorruption and that which is mortal has put on immortality, then shall we be brought then shall be brought to pass the same? That is written Oh, death where it's you're seeing? Right when Jesus Christ returns, this is going to happen again. When he is going to raise the dead. The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin as law. But thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, right? It is through Christ Jesus, that we have hope in the resurrection of the dead. And if Jesus is alive, then so we shall also live and what's the what's the conclusion? Of this? Right? I'm just gonna say what's the calling your call to believe? Thank you. For those who commented online. I believe yesterday. Now is our different calling. Now is the calling verse 58. Gives us what are we supposed to do about this? What's the application? Therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain. In the Lord. Cling to Jesus Christ. Hold firm that Jesus Christ. Continue in the work of Jesus Christ, because your work isn't in vain. You're not going to work your whole life just to end up in a grave and be dead for eternity. But you get to abound in your work in the Lord. Because in Jesus Christ, there's hope of the resurrection. And in Jesus Christ, your work matters for eternity. What you do today does not end in the grave but what you do today matters for eternity. So remain steadfast, immovable. I pray that you are a bounding in the work of the Lord. I pray that you cherish the resurrection of the dead and that you have hope for the days ahead. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ. The first fruits of the resurrection. Our hope in the resurrection are proof of the resurrection. And Lord, we pray that you would keep us until you return. Lord, we pray that you would by the power of your Holy Spirit, make us steadfast, immovable and abounding. Lord, please encourage our hearts. In Jesus's name. Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. As you do the work of the Lord. May You do it for His glory. May you do it knowing that all you do today has eternal value. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye. Transcribed by https://otter.ai