1 Cor 15 – Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 1 Cor 15:1-11

1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 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. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

A. Find Out:    

1. What do we need to do with the Gospel? v.1,2
2. What are the basics of it? v.3,4
3. To whom did Jesus appear after resurrection? v.5-8
4. What did Paul feel about himself and why? v.9
5. Yet why was he what he was? v.10

B. Think:

1. What is Paul doing in this passage?
2. Why do you think he is doing it at this stage?

C. Comment:

Remember so far in the last three chapters Paul has been speaking about gifts of the Spirit and their use when the church comes together. As he comes to the end of that it is as if he now says, “OK, that’s all very important but remember the most important thing – the Gospel – get everything else in perspective, it’s the Gospel that is most important, not what goes on in your meetings! (he’s also paving the way for what will follow – see tomorrow)

Note first of all, in verse 2, the warning – the Gospel is valid ONLY if you keep holding on it. If you no longer rely on it or live according to it, it doesn’t matter what profession you made, it will be of no avail.

Next he goes on to give the FACTS of the Gospel, the things that happened in time-space history on which we base all our beliefs: that the Christ, Messiah, Promised One came, and died in our place, was buried and was raised on the third day. Take away any of those pieces and you no longer have the Gospel. Those are the key essentials. In a sense the most important part among all the important parts, is the resurrection and that’s why Paul reminds us of the witnesses (including himself) who saw the risen Jesus. The resurrection story is factual history with genuine witnesses. Always remember that!

D. Application:

1. Other things may be important in our lives but the Gospel itself is the very reason for our existence. Remember that.
2. The details of the Gospel are facts of history. Remember that.

Passage: 1 Cor 15:12-19

12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

A. Find Out:

1. What had some of them been saying? v.12
2. If that was true what follows? v.13, 16
3. If that also was true, then what also follows? v.14
4. And what would that make Paul? v.15
5. And if all that were true where would that leave us? v.17
6. And what about those who have died already? v.18

B. Think:

1. To what subject does Paul now turn?
2. What are the consequences if there is no resurrection?

C. Comment:

Paul now addresses yet a further problem that had arisen in the Corinthian church. Some had obviously been saying that there was no such thing as resurrection from the dead. This was a doctrine that the early church firmly believed in, indeed the whole concept of eternal life means life that continues on after death. If there is no resurrection of the dead then a number of things logically follow, says Paul.

First, Christ could not have been raised from the dead. If he wasn’t raised from the dead then our faith in him is futile and the Father hasn’t ratified his ministry and we cannot be sure that our sins have been dealt with on the Cross. Any hope we might have in a future inheritance in heaven with God would be a baseless hope, and those who have died already have just gone and there is no hope for them either. No, we may think that the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead is not the most important things in Christian belief, but Paul shows us that it is vitally important and goes to the very heart of our salvation in Christ, and is the very hope of any future life with Christ.

For further references to this subject see: Dan 12:2, Jn 5:28,29, Acts 24:15, Mt 25:31-46, 1 Thess 4:16. The Bible clearly teaches that all will be raised after death to face God, and then comes either eternal life or death.

D. Application:

1. Christ was raised from the dead, the first fruits of many.
2. We will be raised after death to live with Christ.

Passage: 1 Cor 15:20-28

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the first-fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For he ‘has put everything under his feet’. Now when it says that ‘everything’ has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

A. Find Out:

1. What is Christ rising from the dead? v.20
2. How does resurrection from the dead come? v.21,22
3. When will it happen? v.23
4. What will Jesus then do? v.24
5. How long must he do what? v.25
6. What will be the last thing to be destroyed? v.26

B. Think:

1. How is our state after immediate death described?
2. When does Paul say the resurrection of the dead will happen?
3. What is Jesus’ present position and aim?

C. Comment:

Continuing to discuss the whole matter of resurrection, Paul now asserts that Christ’s resurrection is the proof that God does raise the dead, and what he did for Christ He will eventually do for us. When we speak of resurrection here the Bible means the resurrection of the body, not the spirit. When we die our spirit goes to be with Christ immediately (see Lk 23:43 ) but our bodies which will go into the ground at death, and will decompose, will be reconstituted in a new way when Jesus returns to inaugurate the final phase of his mission.

Paul is quite clear about this here: this will take place when Jesus returns. When that happens he will destroy all enemies, including death, and bring a new eternal kingdom, with all his followers having new bodies in a new heaven and new earth – see Rev 21. Revelation 20 seems to indicate a period between Christ’s return and the new heaven and earth, yet many interpret these things in different ways. Suffice it to say that at some point in our eternal destinies Christ will give us new bodies like his new body, presumably to enjoy a more glorious “material existence” than we can know now. It’s a mystery – you’ll have to wait and see! What we can be sure of is that however it will work out, it will be for our eternal blessing – it will be great!

D. Application:

1. Christ is working out a plan prepared before all things.
2. His plan is guaranteed! It will come to completion!

Passage: 1 Cor 15:29-34

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? 30 And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31 I face death every day – yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

‘Let us eat and drink,
    for tomorrow we die.’]

33 Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’ 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.

A. Find Out:

1. What question does Paul now pose? v.29a
2. What were some people doing? v.29b
3. What did Paul say happened to him? v.30,31
4. What example does he give? v.32
5. What principle does he state? v.33
6. What does he instruct and why? v.34

B. Think:

1. What do you think Paul meant by saying he died every day?
2. Why do you think he warns about the company you keep?
3. How do you think they were sinning?

C. Comment:

Paul, continuing to discuss resurrection of the dead, now refers to the practice of some of being baptized on behalf of the dead. When a person had become a Christian but had died before they had chance to be baptized, some felt they should complete that person’s salvation by being baptized on their half. Now Paul is not endorsing that practice (and neither should we) but he simply says what is the point of that if those people don’t believe in resurrection after death.

Then he says, almost as a throwaway aside, and I die every day! What does he mean? He isn’t clear. He may mean that his lifestyle puts his life at risk frequently and he counts on there being life after death, or he may mean that figuratively his life is thrown away and given back to him on a daily basis. The former is more likely because of the quote he uses from Isa 22:13.

He then chides them for moving into an area of unbelief, which is sin, and says it is only because of the bad company that some of them are keeping that they have come into a place of doubt and unbelief. Come on, he says, wake up, come to your senses, come back to the truth.

D. Application:

1. Resurrection is the hope for the Christian – eternal life.
2. Check your company out, those that you listen to – do they draw you nearer to Jesus or take you away from him?

Passage: 1 Cor 15:35-44

35 But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?’ 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same: people have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendour of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendour of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendour, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendour.

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonour, 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. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

A. Find Out:

1. What question did Paul foresee being asked? v.35
2. What analogy does he use? v.36-38
3. What does he then compare? v.39
4. And what else does he compare? v.40,41
5. What are the characteristics of our body as it dies? v.42-44
6. What are its characteristics when it is raised? v.42-44

B. Think:

1. What is Paul trying to show by the various comparisons?
2. How will the raised body differ from the dying body?
3. How did Jesus’ raised body apparently differ?

C. Comment:

In furthering his explanation about resurrection from the dead, Paul now goes on to describe the nature of the body that will be raised. First of all he says don’t expect it to be like the dying body. He compares it first to a seed and the eventual plant. The grown plant is very different from the planted seed. Then he says, realise there are different sorts of body, as seen with animals, birds and people. There are many different sorts of body in God’s creation and he refers to stars and planets. Then he describes the nature of the two bodies.

First the dying body: it is perishable (it decays), it is buried in dishonour (death is not a glorious thing), it dies in weakness (there is an ebbing away of life), it is the natural body (the material, body of flesh).

Next the raised body: it is imperishable (will not deteriorate), it is glorious (shares more of the nature of God), it is raised by power (it is the powerful work of God), it is spiritual (it is not limited to physical limitations).

Because some of these second descriptions are hard to understand, consider Jesus’ body after his resurrection. At the very least it was not the same as before because now he was often not recognised, now he could walk through closed doors. No, now he was different.

D. Application:

1. Our earthly bodies limit us in many ways.
2. Our resurrected bodies will only bless us for eternity. Praise Him!

Passage: 1 Cor 15:45-50

45 So it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living being’]; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. 50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

A. Find Out:

1. How did the two Adams differ? v.45
2. What was the order? v.46
3. What were their two origins? v.47
4. How does this apply to us? v.48
5. So how will it work out? v.49
6. How doesn’t it work? v.50

B. Think:

1. What are the basic differences between Adam and Jesus?
2. How will that work for us?
3. Why?

C. Comment:

Still pursuing the subject of resurrection from the dead, Paul now distinguishes the life or ordinary man from that of Jesus. Adam was made from material matter by God breathing His spirit or breath into him. Later on Jesus came, the Son of God from heaven who was spirit (for God is spirit) who dwelt in a human body. When he returned to heaven he returned with a resurrected body which, though material in form, did not have the same characteristics and restrictions of a usual human body (a mystery!).

So, says Paul, when we became a Christian the life of God entered us and dwells within us so when we die, His Spirit with our spirit will eventually take on a new resurrected “body” that has the same characteristics as Jesus’ resurrected body. An ordinary flesh and blood body, which relies on the heart to pump life around it and which winds down and decomposes, has no room in eternity, so God will give us a new body form that will be the perfect housing for spirit and which will not have the same deficiencies and limitations that our present bodies, affected by the effects of sin, have in this present world. Difficult to understand? Yes, but rest in the simple basics of what Paul is saying: we leave behind our old bodies and will receive new imperishable ones.

D. Application:

1. Our future state will be different from the present (see Rev 21:4)
2. Jesus will give us his new form. Praise him!

Passage: 1 Cor 15:51-58

51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – 52 in 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. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’

55 ‘Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?’

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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 labour in the Lord is not in vain.

A. Find Out:

1. What does Paul maintain will happen and when? v.51,52
2. What will actually happen? v.53
3. How does Paul view that? v.54
4. What is the relationship of sin to death? v.56
5. Yet what is our position? v.57
6. So what does Paul exhort them to do? v.58

B. Think:

1. Why is death guaranteed for all?
2. But why do we in Christ not need to fear it?
3. How should that affect our daily living?

C. Comment:

As Paul concludes his comments about resurrection of the dead he reiterates some of the basics of this doctrine. First it is a mystery, it is not something easily understood, it is a matter of revelation. Second, it will involve all Christians. Third, it will happen at a given time in God’s economy (it may be at one all-embracing time in the “future” or it may be that the trumpet is the trumpet for the individual in their particular part of God’s economy). Fourth, our perishable body will go to be replaced by an imperishable one.

The result of all this is that death is no longer the fear-making thing it is for so many. Sin is in every person, it is the sting-poison that guarantees death for every person (see Gen 2:17 which refers to both physical and spiritual death). The Law reinforces sin (see Rom 7) and just makes its effect even stronger, so death is the natural result for every person. But for us in Christ, the power of sin and the effect of sin have been drawn by Jesus and we are no longer bound by either. We are assured of a resurrected life with Christ in eternity. The effect on our daily lives must be that we are released from the fear of death and released into purposeful living knowing that all we do is part of the plan and purpose of God which will go on into a glorious eternity.

D. Application:

1. Death will come but so will resurrection! Hallelujah!
2. We need no longer fear death. It is but a doorway for us.