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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 15:29-44
Resurrection is a fact which has much to do with our daily life as Christians. The daily life of a Christian actually depends on resurrection. Furthermore, our Christian hope depends on resurrection. If there were no resurrection, there would be no hope, and we would be the most miserable people on earth.
Christ’s resurrection is also related to God’s administration. The carrying out of the divine administration depends on our experience of Christ’s resurrection. If we do not have Christ as the resurrection life within us, we cannot be living members of His Body for the carrying out of God’s administration so that Christ may reign until He subdues all His enemies. In this message we shall consider the moral influence of resurrection (vv. 29-34) and the definition of resurrection (vv. 35-49).
We have seen that verses 20 through 28 may be regarded as a parenthesis. This would then connect verse 29 to verse 18, and verses 30 through 32 to verse 19.
In verse 29 Paul says, “Otherwise, what shall they do who are being baptized for the dead? If the dead are actually not raised, why indeed are they baptized for them?” The phrase “baptized for the dead” means to be baptized for others who are dead. This was not an official matter generally practiced by the early churches, but a personal activity of some individual believers for dead persons for whom they were concerned who may have believed in the Lord but were not baptized before they died. They did this in hope of their resurrection from among the dead at the Lord’s coming back (1 Thes. 4:16), since in baptism resurrection is strongly signified (Col. 2:12). The apostle uses what they did to strengthen the truth of resurrection. This does not mean, however, that he sanctions baptism by some believers for the dead.
In verse 29 the word “for” actually means on behalf of. Some believers had relatives, neighbors, or friends who also believed in the Lord, but who died without being baptized. Out of love for them, certain believers were baptized on behalf of the ones who had died. This was not taught by the apostles, but we know from church history it was practiced by the believers, although the practice was not common. The fact that one believer would be baptized on behalf of another believer who had died signifies a strong belief in resurrection. Baptism signifies death, burial, and resurrection. But if there is no resurrection and if Christians simply die and are buried, why would someone be baptized on behalf of the dead? The fact that someone would be baptized for the dead indicates a belief, an expectation, that the dead one would be resurrected. Paul refers to this practice as part of his rebuttal against the heresy which claimed that there was no resurrection. Here Paul seems to be saying, “If the dead are not raised, then why are others baptized for them to signify that they will be resurrected?” This is Paul’s meaning here.
In verse 30 Paul goes on to say, “Why also are we in danger every hour?” If there is no resurrection, then why would Paul allow himself to be in danger every hour? Why would he daily risk his life? Instead, if there is no resurrection, he should enjoy this present life.
In verse 31 Paul continues, “Daily I die, I protest by the boasting in you, brothers, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Here the word die means to risk one’s life, to be in danger of death, to face death, and to die to self (2 Cor. 11:23; 4:11; 1:8-9; Rom. 8:36).
The Corinthian believers were the fruit of the apostle’s labor, a labor in which he risked his life and was in danger of death. In them the apostle can boast of this. By this boasting he protests that daily he dies. The apostle’s boasting in the Corinthians as the fruit of the risk of his life is in Christ, not in himself, because his labor is not by himself but by Christ.
Paul was like a soldier risking his life on the battlefield. He fought for God’s kingdom, and daily he died for the sake of the Corinthians. When he came to preach the gospel to them, he risked his life. While he was in Corinth, he died daily. It was not an easy thing for Paul to come to Corinth in the Gentile world. This world was opposed to anything Jewish and also opposed to anything Christian. Nevertheless, Paul daily risked his life in order to preach the gospel to them. But because of his willingness to die daily, a number of those at Corinth were saved.
In verse 32 Paul uses a figure of speech: “If after the manner of men I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” The phrase “wild beasts” used here is a figure of speech denoting evil persons or matters. The manner of men in fighting against any evil person or matter is to receive a temporal reward. But the apostle will be rewarded for his fighting with evil persons and matters for the gospel’s sake at the resurrection in the future (Luke 14:14; 2 Tim. 4:8).
We know from Acts 19 that Paul was fighting against “wild beasts.” Both the Jews and the Gentiles at Ephesus strongly opposed him. Thus, he had to fight against evil persons and evil things. But if there were no resurrection, what profit would it have been to Paul to fight in this way? As Paul says, “If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” This appears to be a quotation of a saying of that day, a maxim of the Epicureans. If there is no resurrection, we believers shall have no hope in the future and thus become the most miserable of all men (v. 19). If so, we should enjoy our life today, forgetting the future, like the Epicureans.
Verse 33 says, “Do not be deceived, evil companionships corrupt good morals.” This appears to be a quotation of another saying of that day, a fragment of a Greek poem. By this word the apostle warns the Corinthian believers not to have any companionship with those heretics who say there is no resurrection. Such evil companionship will corrupt their faith and Christian virtues.
In verse 33 Paul charges the Corinthians not to pay attention to the deceitful and nonsensical heresy that there is no resurrection. Those who listen to this heresy will be deceived by it. Furthermore, if they become companions of heretics, that companionship will corrupt good morals. This principle applies to us in the church life today.
Certain of those who left the Lord’s recovery and now speak evil concerning it may try to influence others who have remained in the church life. If you take in negative thoughts and become a companion to those who oppose the church life, that companionship will corrupt your church life. The good morals mentioned in verse 33 include loving the Lord, living for the future, risking our lives for the gospel, and practicing the proper church life. It actually includes all the good things covered in the entire book of 1 Corinthians.
In verse 34 Paul continues his charge: “Become sober righteously and do not sin, for some are ignorant of God. I speak to your shame.” To become sober, righteously, is to awaken to soberness from a drunken stupor; it is to cease, righteously, to be drunken. The word “righteously” here means to be right with God and man. To say there is no resurrection offends God and man, and it is sin. Hence, the apostle advises the misled Corinthians to awake soberly from this sin to be right with God and man. They were drunken unrighteously in a stupor of the no-resurrection heresy. They needed to cease being in that stupor.
Literally, the words “are ignorant” are “have ignorance.” To be heretical in saying there is no resurrection is to be ignorant of God, not knowing God’s power or His economy (Matt. 22:29-32). This is a shame to the believers.
As Christians, we must be awake to soberness. We should not be like the Epicureans, who wanted only to enjoy life and did not care for tomorrow. We need to cease, righteously, to be drugged. Anyone who says that there is no resurrection is not righteous with God or man. Likewise, those who oppose the church life are not right with either God or man.
Once I received a letter from a brother who acknowledged that I had helped him to know Christ and experience Christ. He was grateful for this help, and also for help in knowing the church. But then he went on to say that my teaching regarding the church life, especially the church ground, is fleshly. It is unrighteous to say that to teach the believers to practice the church life is fleshly. This saying is unrighteous both toward God and toward man. Anyone who makes such a statement or who agrees with it needs to awaken as from a drunken stupor.
Today there are many heretical teachings. Some of these teachings may contain only a small percentage of heresy, and others, a much larger percentage. Do you know why you are willing to accept a certain kind of heresy? It is because you have a tendency, an inner inclination, toward that heresy. It fits your taste. Then, because you take in a heretical teaching to match your taste, you become drugged.
Knowing the situation among the Corinthians, Paul warned them not to accept the heresy which denies the resurrection. He knew this would involve an evil companionship that would corrupt their morals in the church life. By this we see that resurrection certainly has a positive influence on our morals. But to deny the resurrection will corrupt our morals. It will cause us to be shipwrecked.
In the natural world we have many illustrations of resurrection. In 1936 I paid a visit to one of the leading universities in China. One of the students spoke to me about his difficulty in believing in resurrection. He told me that due to his modern scientific knowledge, he could not believe. To him, resurrection was against scientific truth. Outside of the room where we were meeting there was a wheat field. Drawing his attention to the wheat growing in the field, I pointed out that the wheat was produced by some grains of seed that were buried in the earth. I told him that, in a sense, those seeds died, but that now they had come forth in resurrection as wheat. Through that illustration of death and resurrection, this young man was saved. Now he is one of the leading co-workers in Taiwan. In using wheat as an illustration of resurrection, I was not following my own wisdom. On the contrary, I was following the example set by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15.
Verses 35 and 36 say, “But someone will say, How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come? Foolish man, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.” The philosophical Greeks thought they were clever, but Paul addressed them as foolish, indicating that the questions they asked proved their foolishness. In his answer Paul refers to the plant life. The reality of resurrection is contained and concealed in nature, especially in the plant life. A seed sown into the earth dies and is made alive. This is resurrection. This answers the foolish Corinthians’ first question, “How are the dead raised?”
In verse 37 Paul continues, “And what you sow, you do not sow the body that shall be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat, or some of the rest.” What is sown is not a sheaf of wheat, but a seed, bare grain. Then the seed grows and changes into “the body that shall be.” It may be very difficult to distinguish between certain seeds. But once these seeds have been sown into the soil and have grown up, eventually the differences will be manifest. The plants will differ in shape and color.
Continuing this illustration in verse 38, Paul goes on to say, “But God gives it a body even as He willed, and to each of the seeds its own body.” Paul applies the word body here not to the body sown to die, as in verse 37, but to the resurrected body given by God, in a different shape and on a higher level. This answers the Corinthians’ second foolish question, “With what kind of body do they come?”
Verse 39 says, “All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one of men and another flesh of cattle, and another of birds, and another of fishes.” From verse 39 through 41, the apostle proves to the foolish Corinthians that God is able to give a body to all resurrected lives, just as He gave to all created things — to men and animals on the earth, to birds in the air, and to fish in the water — the earthly bodies with their different glories; and to the sun, the moon, and the stars, heavenly bodies with heavenly glory in varying degrees. In verse 42 Paul draws the conclusion, “So also is the resurrection of the dead.” Then he points out that the body is sown in corruption, dishonor, and weakness, but raised in incorruption, glory, and power.
In verse 44 Paul declares, “It is sown a soulish body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a soulish body, there is also a spiritual body.” A soulish body is a natural body animated by the soul, a body in which the soul predominates. A spiritual body is a resurrected body saturated by the spirit, a body in which the spirit predominates. If we die, our natural body, having been soulish, will be sown, buried, in corruption, dishonor, and weakness. When it is resurrected, it will become spiritual in incorruption, glory, and power. Hallelujah, one day we shall be in resurrection! Then there will be no more corruption, dishonor, or weakness. Instead, we shall be in incorruption, glory, and power.
