1 Corinthians 15: What happens to us now?
Thank you for listening to First Today. I am Patrick Cooley. Please like, subscribe, and share. Sorry I've been behind on getting episodes out here as we continue to go through the Bible, in in our studies, but had an influx of newcomers into, Northport Methodist Church. And, I've been trying to readjust to my schedule to accommodate, I guess, roughly 50% more people than I had than than we're here before.
Patrick:So, so that's probably one of the reasons for the delay. Also, you'll notice that this will sound a little differently than episode 14. For some reason, the episode the the episodes covering 1st Corinthians 14, there was a mix up in the recorder, and it and it started recording for for some reason, mono and not stereo. And, you may not be able to tell if you're actually listening to it, but if you have headphones on. And I don't know why that is.
Patrick:I didn't catch it until I started getting ready here to record today, for first Corinthians 15. So in my estimation, first Corinthians 15 is one of the most doctrinally dense chap chapters in the New Testament outside of Paul's letter to the Romans. Now, why the apostle writes what he does here in this chapter is easily in keeping with the rest of his letter to the to the to the Corinthians. But the nature of its subject is definitely not. In respect to the former that it is in keeping, remember, the Corinthians have strayed from what they were taught by Paul and what had been demonstrated to them in the way that he lived.
Patrick:And so they're kind of wandering away from what they once accepted. And he's trying to get them back on track. Now, considering the latter part that it's not the same subject matter as it has been, that that Paul is focused on. That indicates that their beliefs actually might be changing. For the case of the first part that they're wandering away and Paul's trying to get them back.
Patrick:So far in 1st Corinthians, the letter focuses a lot on practical or pastoral theology, living out the life of Christ. And they had been adulterating that life that they saw in in Paul and they heard in Jesus and and believed. They've been adulterating that with the rest of the way that the Corinthians go about living their lives. But here in this chapter, it also appears that their actual faith or their actual belief is beginning to wobble, that there has crept into the Corinthians beliefs, or at least some of the Corinthians beliefs. A sizable enough number that Paul is concerned about it.
Patrick:That error has crept into their actual belief, not just how they live their lives, but, you know, what does it truly mean to to be a Christian and to believe the gospel and to believe or know what the mission of Christ was? They've kind of apparently begun to wander away from that. Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 15:1. Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preach to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preach you, I preach to you unless you believed in vain. The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, and him crucified and arisen is the only instrument for salvation that is available to the Corinthians.
Patrick:It seems that there have been some doubts to arise within the congregation of the gospel's uniqueness in this regard, that there might possibly be other ways to find salvation. The Corinthians had heard and accepted Paul's message and had actually, quote, staked their lives on it, on which you have taken your stand, Paul says. Paul was under the impression that this was a done deal, that they bought into the gospel that Paul preached to them. They bought into the fact that it is only through Christ that there is salvation. But the apostle's response here in 15 seems to indicate that there is now some doubt, maybe springing from the Corinthians' determination to keep up the practices and the beliefs of their old lives.
Patrick:Not that it is through the gospel now note here that it is through the gospel that they are being saved if they hold to the message unless they believed in vain. Now this is not a doctrinal statement that some denominations and traditions want to hear. Salvation, Paul says here, is not an instantaneous single exclusive act. Salvation is achieved through a process. The Corinthians are being saved.
Patrick:The Corinthians must hold to the message to achieve salvation in the future. Thus, believing with the head is not enough to assure salvation. Remember James' word to the church that had fallen into temptation. He said, even the demons believe. So, there is more to salvation than simple belief.
Patrick:And it's also not a matter of a Christian, an outsider, looking at somebody else that had been baptized or quote saved and then they backslide or fall off the path saying, well, I guess they weren't saved in the 1st place. Sorry. That's not what Paul says here. Paul says, you are being saved if you hold to the message unless you have believed in vain. As stated in the introduction, Paul's letter has been focused on the need for the Corinthians to change the way that they live their lives, or more specifically, the need to engage each other and engage the world in a new Christ like way.
Patrick:Salvation then is best understood to be a process that starts with belief and ends with the person's total transformation. Now I see dimly as in a mirror, then I will see face to face. Belief, in reference to mental acceptance, is not enough to reach salvation. We must believe and then be transformed by the renewing of our minds, as Paul will say in the next letter that he writes. We must be transformed.
Patrick:We must be in the common in the common tongue. We must be born again, be transformed. No one puts new wine into old wineskins. The new wine goes into new wineskins. So, 153.
Patrick:For I passed on to you as most important what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the 3rd day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the 12. Then he appeared to over 500 brothers and sisters at one time. Most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me.
Patrick:Here is the good news, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, by which Paul means the Hebrew scriptures. That he was buried, that he was raised to new life, and that he appeared to others as proof. These people then shared the gospel with others who then shared the gospel with even more. Verse number 9. For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church.
Patrick:But by the grace of God, I am what I am and his grace toward me was not in vain. As Paul has stressed before to the Corinthians, the relationship with God, the relationship with God has its cause in God. Any relationship with God is always started by God. Just as we can only understand God's wisdom by the presence of the Holy Spirit. Remember from a couple of chapters ago, the wisdom of God is foolishness to the world.
Patrick:So too can we only become what we are supposed to be with God's initiative. Paul doesn't claim to be an apostle. He is an apostle by God's action. Likewise, all the Corinthians can do is choose to respond in the way that the spirit desires them to respond, as demonstrated in the life of Christ. If they choose not to capitalize on what they have been given by God through Christ, then they have received it in vain.
Patrick:So salvation in a sense here is a partnership. It's a collective action between God and the individual, between god and the community, and between the individual and the community. To to find proof of this, all one must do is recall the 9 fruits of the spirit that Paul talks about in Galatians. 3 are between God and the individual. 3 are within the individual.
Patrick:And 3 are with others in the community. To put another way, God does his part and we do ours, which we can only do by his presence, ironically enough. And Paul here seems to understand this. On the contrary, he writes, I worked harder than any of them. Yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
Patrick:Whether then it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you believe. So the purpose of Christ's appearance to the apostles, the greatest and the least, is so that the Corinthians might come to believe and hopefully respond to Christ. Maybe they've got the first three fruits growing. Maybe they've got love, joy, and peace. But the other 6, patience, kindness, and generosity with others, and faithfulness, gentleness, and self control, so far in this letter appears that those other 6 when, are very much lacking.
Patrick:In fact, maybe even the first three fruits are hard to find. These first three fruits, love, joy, and peace, though, are Paul's concern here in chapter 15. What these opening verses in chapter 15 tell us is that the fruit that God demands is the product of our belief and our response in that belief. And that if we do not maintain the right belief in the gospel, there is no way for us to produce the fruits of the spirit. If we don't believe correctly, if we don't have the correct foundation, and we're not operating on the correct foundation, it doesn't matter what kind of house we build.
Patrick:It's going to fall down. It cannot stand. He said that back in, chapter 3 of of first Corinthians about it's up to us to build upon the foundation of Christ something that is going to last. For some reason, it appears as though members of the Corinthian church are stepping away from the gospel that Paul had preached to them, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the 3rd day according to the scriptures. And it is this gospel that provides the foundation of selfless love, agape, joy, and peace.
Patrick:And these things are only found in Jesus. And these things only work if Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the 3rd day. Verse number 12. Now if Christ is proclaimed as risen from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
Patrick:And if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain and so is your faith. So if in abandoning their belief in the physical resurrection, the Corinthians are turning their backs on the first fruits of the spirit. Gone is the freedom from the fear of death. Perhaps their tendency to hold on to elements of their old lives is surfacing here too in their beliefs. Previously, the Corinthians would have had no desire to be physically resurrected.
Patrick:Go back and visit the series on 1st and second Thessalonians for a deeper dive into Greek beliefs about the death and about the afterlife. It is obvious that the Corinthians once embraced Paul's gospel, but now they're falling away from it. We see in verse 13 that the resurrection is central to the joy and peace brought by Christ's selfless act on the cross. Without it, without that resurrection, then everything that Paul preaches is in vain, he says. Verse number 15.
Patrick:Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised Christ up, whom he did not raise up if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins. Those then who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.
Patrick:If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone. If the resurrection is not true, then not only are Paul's efforts in vain and the Corinthians' face futile, but the apostle states also that he is a liar and has shared with them a mere fairy tale. Quote, and if Christ is not has not been raised, your faith is worthless and you are still in your sins. The resurrection is required to complete the work of the cross. Paul will expound on this later in his letter to the Romans.
Patrick:But as for now, he is satisfied to state this reality matter of factly. If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone. If it is only for this life, then what differences make? If it is only for this life, what differences our faith make? There's no progress.
Patrick:There's no freedom from sin's power. There's no growth in humility, and there's no peace in weakness. Only the strong, the wealthy, the connected, the beautiful, and the savvy will survive. And even then, they won't survive for long. Without the resurrection, we are still lost and social Darwinism is victorious.
Patrick:Verse number 20. But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But whether the Corinthians believe it or not, the truth is that Christ has been raised from the dead, and he will not be the only one.
Patrick:For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ will all be made alive. Paul doesn't explain why this is here, but will later in his next letter to the Romans. Maybe he had yet to work it out in the spirit, or maybe he knew that the Corinthians were already kind of hanging on by a thread and that this would sort of push them over the edge. It'd be a little bit too heavy for them.
Patrick:Regardless, the apostle only gives us the shell of the doctrine of the cross and the doctrine of the empty tomb. Only gives us a hint of the purpose and reason for Christ's mission. Put simply, Paul says Adam brought death and Jesus brought life. Verse 23. But each in his own order, Christ, the first fruits.
Patrick:Afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when he hands over the kingdom to god the father. When he abolishes all rule and all authority and all power. For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be abolished is death, for God has put everything under his feet.
Patrick:Now, when it says everything is put under him, it is obvious that he who puts everything under him is the exception. When everything is subject to Christ, then the son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him so that God may be all in all. This is something the Corinthians cannot derive from worldly wisdom. And it is outside of their wheelhouse of experience, either factual, practical, or religious. That this what Paul just said would have made no sense to them and it might not even make sense to some of us.
Patrick:Maybe even to me. You know, who knows? I could be completely off the mark here. So Jesus will be resurrected and then those who belong to Christ. Following this, Paul says, there will be an end when Christ Jesus receives authority over God's kingdom, when everything that is subject to Christ, including Christ himself, will also be subject to God so that God may be all in all.
Patrick:I can only imagine the Corinthians confused faces when they read this in the letter. Their original view of things, their original afterlife, was an afterlife only for their eternal spirit, not for their bodies. The Corinthians was a worldview that would keep on going even if it occasionally underwent destruction. The world simply will always be here. It'll come to an it'll it'll collapse and then it'll come back.
Patrick:It would always come back for a bit more of a look or a deeper look into their Greek worldview, the Roman worldview, essentially, same thing, pretty much. Look in the Thessalonians series and there's a discussion in one of the episodes on olethros. And God here, Paul says, God becoming all in all. What does that mean? Does it mean that someday we will all be gods or that we will become spirits and merge with God like the Buddhists believe.
Patrick:Oh, well, no and no. This is something that Paul doesn't explain here, but will eventually. Paul is concerned about the Corinthians. In so many aspects of their lives, they are struggling to live as Christ would have them to. And they even seem to be leaving behind their faith in him.
Patrick:It appears to be just too difficult for them to put their old ways of living and their old ways of believing behind them. I like the Thessalonians who have who have brought the gospel into their hearts and become so strong in it, they were examples to all of the Christians in Greece and Macedonia. Now, so far in chapter 15, Paul has informed the Corinthians that to abandon their belief in the resurrection from the dead is to abandon the efficacy of the cross. It is to say that Jesus died for nothing and that Jesus and the apostles are they're both liars. To abandon the resurrection of the dead is to embrace futility, that there can be no transformation.
Patrick:There can be no lasting change. Paul tells the church that it must be patient and that as Christ was raised from the dead, so too will be his faithful. And this is ultimately Paul's command to the church. Remain faithful. Remain faithful, Corinth Corinthians, in your daily doings.
Patrick:Remain faithful, Corinthians, in your beliefs. He continues in chapter 29, if there is no resurrection from the dead, otherwise, what will they do who are being baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are people baptized for them? No one can say with any certainty what Paul is talking about here. But it appears that people are being baptized into Christ Jesus for the sake of those who have already died.
Patrick:This doesn't appear to be a fringe activity, since he asks why, if there is no resurrection, would the church expend its time and its energy on what is essentially a pointless exercise. I doubt that he would have even brought it up if only a handful of members on the fringe of the church were doing such a thing. This does, however, provide an opportunity for me to state that there is no evidence that the whole Corinthian church was ever Paul's intended audience here. His comments throughout this letter are repeatedly directed to those or some within the congregation that are living out their faith in a questionable manner. But these aren't the fringe.
Patrick:I like to think of this more than likely, these are the leaders. These are the ones that have been positioning themselves all through first Corinthians at the head, the ones that are seeking the places of honor, the ones that are claiming special knowledge and being holier than thou. These are the ones that I think that are practicing baptism, from the dead, not the weird guy in the corner of the church that has a lamp made out of human skin. You know, these are these are the these are the men and women that write the biggest checks and make sure they're all on the correct boards and leadership positions in the church. These are the ones that I think he's addressing here.
Patrick:Why are we in danger every hour? I face death every day as surely as I may boast about you brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus as a mere man, what good did that do me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived.
Patrick:Bad company corrupts good morals. Come to your senses and stop sinning for some people are ignorant about God. I say this to your shame. Plainly put, every difficulty Christians face on on account of their faith is not worth the hassle if there is no resurrection of the dead. But some will ask, Paul continues in verse 35, how are the dead raised?
Patrick:What kind of body will they have when they come? Ye fool. What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you are not sowing the body that will be, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain. But god gives it a body as he wants and to each of the seed its own body.
Patrick:Not all flesh is the same not all flesh is the same flesh. There is one flesh for humans, one for animals, another for birds, another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the splendor of the heavenly body is different from that of the earthly ones. There is a splendor of the sun, another of the moon, another of the stars.
Patrick:In fact, one star differs from another star in splendor. So it is with the resurrection of the dead sown in corruption, raised in incorruption, sown in dishonor, raised in glory, sown in weakness, raised in power, sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. Paul provides a detailed rationale for resurrection in the form of an answer to 2 questions. How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come?
Patrick:What will be raised from the earth is not the same as it was when it was sown into the earth. For God gives it a body he wants and to each of the seeds his own body. But regardless of what physical form it had when it was sown, when the body rises anew, it is always as God intends it to be and that is splendorous. So it is with the resurrection of the dead, sown in corruption, raised in incorruption, sown in dishonor, raised in glory, sown in weakness, raised in power, sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. Paul continues.
Patrick:If there is a natural body, there is also 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 then the spiritual. Paul delves into the ontological here.
Patrick:He reminds the Corinthians that contrary to their previous beliefs, to be human means to be natural. Greeks understood a person to consist of 2 parts, 1 physical or natural and the other spiritual. And it's this latter part, the spiritual part, that is the real person. We compared this dualism to Judaism's monism in some detail back in the Thessalonian series. So, again, you might give it a listen.
Patrick:But just for a quick review, the natural material person is bad and the goal of life is to free the spirit from it. This was the Greek belief. This is dualism. On the other hand, Paul believes that a person is first and foremost the stuff that he or she is made of. There is a natural body.
Patrick:So it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being. The second man, the last Adam, whom Paul does not name, but is Jesus, became a life giving spirit after his resurrection. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual. The Corinthians would have been raised believing that their spirits came first, that their spirits were preexistent before their bodies. So Paul tells them here that is not the way this works.
Patrick:The first man was from the earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven. Like the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust. Like the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. And just as we are born then just as we have born the image of the man of dust, so will also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Patrick:What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption. Since the physical man came first and then the spiritual one, so too we are first material beings, just as Adam. However, once we have come to faith in Jesus Christ as Messiah, we bear the image of the man of heaven. This is why Paul can claim to this is why Paul can claim a pre resurrection, if you will, in Galatians when he writes in the in 2:20, it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives within me.
Patrick:And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. Paul no longer lives by the desires and the ways of the flesh, but by those of the spirit, because he has died to the old self and been born anew into the image of the second man, the second Adam, Jesus Christ the Messiah. Here in chapter 15, the Corinthians are receiving a very complex and seemingly contradictory message. On the one hand, Paul tells them that humans are first natural material creatures and not spiritual ones. And we can be raised into eternal life only because our material corruptible bodies have been sown as seed back into the earth.
Patrick:We are not firstly spirit as they were raised to believe in Corinth, but rather we are firstly flesh. We are firstly stuff. We are firstly stuff that will ultimately die. However, that which is corruptible and transient cannot enter the eternal. It cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption.
Patrick:This is why it's necessary to possess within our hearts the life and the spirit of Christ Jesus. Our inward nature must change for our outward one to follow suit. Verse 51. Listen. I'm telling you a mystery.
Patrick:We will not all fall asleep, but we all will be changed. In a moment, in the twinkle of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. Those who have died in Christ, whether physically alive or dead, will put on the Savior's incorruptibility.
Patrick:I lose that block. Verse 54. When this corruptible body is clothed in incorruptibility and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place. Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, oh death, is your victory?
Patrick:Where, oh death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our lord Jesus Christ. Our victory over death results from our faith in Christ Jesus. In dying to ourselves, we live through Christ.
Patrick:Sin, on the other hand, results only in death. And there aren't many spiritual fruits found in it, are there? Paul will expand on this considerably in his letter to the Romans, and the power of sin is the law. Here, Paul is not likely talking about the law of Moses or even the Jewish law. Remember, the Corinthians are very Greco Roman.
Patrick:This is human law in contrast to natural law. Sin's power, therefore, is found in the things that we try to do to overcome death or to set ourselves apart. Its law is living by our own standards and not by God's standards that is found only in Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the lord's work because you know that your labor in the lord is not in vain. Paul encourages the Corinthians to continue striving to live into the life of Christ that is in them and not to continue living as they did before the apostle came to them and shared this wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ.
Patrick:Thank you for listening. I know it's been a longer than usual episode, but I had I gotta make up for lost time, you know. So, this is Patrick Cooley. Visit the website at www.firstday.us. And there you can link over to Amazon podcasts, Amazon podcasts, Google Music, Apple Music, and Spotify where you can tune in and subscribe to the podcast there.
Patrick:So until next time, blessings and goodbye for now.