Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

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? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 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. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 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. 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.
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? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 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.”
Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 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.

• 1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

1 Corinthians 15:12-19 ‘The Promise of the Resurrection’: “First Corinthians 15 has been called Paul’s great resurrection chapter. After defining and describing the gospel in verses 1-11, he gives a detailed analysis of the doctrine of the resurrection. In this section (verses 12-19), Paul points out that the resurrection of Christ is central to Christianity. He begins by noting that without the promise of a resurrection, ‘not even Christ has been raised.’”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

1 Corinthians 15:12 ‘some among you say’: “The Corinthian Christians believed in Christ’s resurrection, or else they could not have been Christians (cf. John 6:44; 11:25; Acts 4:12; 2 Cor. 4:14; 1 Thess. 4:16). But some had particular difficulty accepting and understanding the resurrection of believers. Some of this confusion was a result of their experiences with pagan philosophies and religions. A basic tenet of much of ancient Gr. philosophy was dualism, which taught that everything physical was intrinsically evil; so the idea of a resurrected body was repulsive and disgusting (Acts 17:32). In addition, perhaps some Jews in the Corinthian church formerly may have been influenced by the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection even though it is taught in the OT (Job 19:26; Pss. 16:8–11; 17:15; Dan. 12:2). On the other hand, NT teaching in the words of our Lord Himself was extensive on the resurrection (John 5:28, 29; 6:44; 11:25; 14:19) and it was the theme of the apostolic preaching (Acts 4:1, 2). In spite of that clarity, the church at Corinth was in doubt about the resurrection.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 15:17-19 ‘the living, resurrected Christ’: ”Chapter 15 places great emphasis on the resurrection, and for good reason. What would any of these truths be worth if we did not have the living, resurrected Christ to make them real? The resurrection is the great pivot upon which the entire Christian faith turns. Without the resurrection Christianity collapses. If Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead, writes Paul, ‘your faith is futile; you are still in your sins’ (15:17). Not only that, but if Christ is not raised, ‘we are to be pitied more than all men’ (15:19)-we are fools. “

• Ray C. Stedman, Adventuring Through the Bible

1 Corinthians 15:17 ‘The Dangerous Easter Text’: ‘If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins’ (1 Cor. 15:17). This is a dangerous Easter text. For if we examine it closely and let it impress us, it could take away our Easter joy. Thus it does not seem appropriate at Easter to speak of such serious, such dangerous things. And yet, among the Christian festivals, there is not one that does not seem threatening to us, if we take it quite seriously. Our whole existence and our entire spiritual being are attacked, brought into judgment, and placed at the crossroads of decision. What is true of the Easter story is true of the Christmas message as well. Yet only when we let the attack work on us anew at the deepest level, can we overcome it and feel the real joy of Easter, which is anything but sentimentality. If Christ has not been raised, then our faith is futile, and that means further that we still live in guilt in relation to God; that means ultimately that we are the most miserable people on the earth. In other words, if Christ did not rise, then the foundation on which our life rests is taken away and everything collapses. Our life falls into meaninglessness. Paul is telling us that our life depends on Easter.”

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I Want to Live These Days with You, devotional compiled from several of his writings

1 Corinthians 15:17 ‘resurrection is essential to faith’: “Some Ancient Greek philosophy viewed everything spiritual as intrinsically good and everything physical as intrinsically evil. To those holding this view, the idea of a resurrected body would have been repugnant. The Corinthians were affected by contemporary philosophy. Although they had faith in the resurrection of Christ, some had begun to question the resurrection of believers. Paul demonstrated that the two go hand in hand (vv. 13-19). Resurrection is not only possible but is essential to the Christian faith. In order to vindicate the work of his Son, God raised Christ from the dead. Therefore, a denial of the resurrection of the dead is a denial of the gospel. Paul argued that if Christ were not risen from the dead, all believers throughout history would have believed for nothing, lived for nothing and died for nothing.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 15:20-28 ‘The Order of Resurrection’: “Paul gives an order to the resurrection, though this order is not complete. His words are meant to comfort the church as to the main events concerning the resurrection. Despite the denials of the pagan world, the fact is that Christ came forth from the dead, and He is the ‘first fruits’ or the first crop of ‘those who are asleep’ (verse 20). Whereas Adam brought death to the human race, the Lord Jesus Christ brought new life by ‘the resurrection of the dead’ (verse 21). Because the entire human race comes from Adam, all in him must die, just as Adam died. The divine commandment brought upon him the sentence of death threatened in Genesis 2:17. ‘Adam’s sin marked the historic entry of death as a phenomenon-his own death’ (Barrett, First Epistle to the Corinthians, pp. 351-52). But all who are ‘in Christ… will be made alive’ (verse 22).
“The order of resurrection begins with Christ. He is ‘the first fruits,’ but then follow those ‘who are Christ’s at His coming’ (verse 23). The discussion here is confined to the church saints who had ‘fallen asleep in Jesus’ (1 Thessalonians 4:14), the ‘dead in Christ’ who will rise from the grave at the sound of God’s trumpet (verse 16). It will also include the bodily transformation of those who are alive on earth at the time (1 Corinthians 15:51-52), who will be changed and ‘caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air’ (1 Thessalonians 4:17).”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

1 Corinthians 15:20-23 ‘God’s Yes to Us’ : ”The resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s yes to us. Christ died for our sins; he was raised for our justification (Rom. 4:25). Christ’s death was the judgment of death on us and our sins. Had Christ remained in death, this judgment of death would still be in force and we would still be in our sins (1 Cor. 15:17). But because Christ was raised from death, the judgment on us has been lifted, and we are resurrected with Christ (1 Cor. 15:20-23). This is so because we are in Jesus Christ by virtue of the adoption of our human nature in the incarnation. What happens to him happens to us, for we are adopted by him. That is not a judgment of experience but a judgment of God that must be acknowledged through faith in God’s Word. …
“The resurrection of Jesus Christ requires faith. It is the unanimous witness of all reports-though they are not unified in what they have otherwise recounted about what happened and was experienced-that the resurrected One did not show himself to the world, but only to his own (Acts 10:40–41). Jesus did not present himself to an impartial authority in order to have the miracle of his resurrection certified to the world and thereby to force its recognition. He wants to be believed, preached, and believed again.”

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I Want to Live These Days with You, devotional compiled from several of his writings

1 Corinthians 15:23 ‘firstfruits’: “Prior to reaping their fields, Israelites were to bring a representative sample of their crop to the priests as an offering to the Lord (Lev 23:10). Full harvest was not allowed until this sample, called the ‘firstfruits,’ was offered. This practice was behind Paul’s imagery of Christ as the ‘firstfruits.’ Christ’s resurrection was the first sample of the coming harvest of the resurrection of the believing dead. He himself was the offering made to the Father on their behalf. In referring to Christ as ‘firstfruits,’ Paul furthered his resurrection argument. The ‘firstfruits’ were only the initial installment; the rest of the crop would follow. Therefore, in order to complete the Father’s harvest, it was necessary that all those who believed in Christ also be resurrected.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 15:26 ‘A New Cleansing Wind’: ”Easter? Our attention falls more on dying than on death. How we deal with dying is more important to us than how we conquer death. Socrates overcame dying; Christ overcame death.
“’The last enemy to be destroyed is death’ (1 Cor. 15:26). Dealing with dying doesn’t mean dealing with death. The overcoming of dying is within the realm of human possibilities; the overcoming of death means resurrection.
“Based not on the art of dying, but on the resurrection of Christ, a new, cleansing wind can blow into the present world. … If a few people really believed this and let it affect the way they move in their earthly activity, a lot of things would change. To live on the basis of the resurrection -that is what Easter means.
“Most people do not know what their lives are actually based on. They are very much surrounded by mental confusion. There is an unconscious waiting for a resolving and liberating word. Yet the time has probably not yet arrived when it can be heard. But that time will come.”

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I Want to Live These Days with You, devotional compiled from several of his writings

1 Corinthians 15:26 ‘Jesus repeatedly conquered death’: “Jesus Christ repeatedly overturned the enemy, Death, and robbed Death of its sting (1Co 15:26; 2Ti 1:8–10). After Lazarus’ dead body had been in its grave for four days, Jesus prayed and then called Lazarus back to life (Jn 11:1–44). When Jesus arrived at the house of Jairus, he found the ruler’s twelve-year old daughter dead. He took the child by the hand and told her to arise. To her parents’ astonishment, she came back to life (Mk 5:38–42). Jesus stopped a funeral procession in Nain. He touched the open coffin of a widow’s only son and commanded him back to life. Then Jesus presented the living son to his mother (Lk 7:11–15).”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 15:29 ‘baptism and resurrection’: “A difficult and obscure text cannot structure Biblical doctrine. Though there is no easy explanation, the sense seems to be that the preposition ‘for’ (Gk. huper) is better translated ‘concerning’ so that Christian baptism ‘concerning’ death as it relates to the resurrection is meaningless unless the resurrection is, in fact, true.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 15:30-32 ‘The resurrection is the point when facing hardships’: “Paul speaks about how the truth of the resurrection affected him personally. He was in mortal danger on a regular basis because of his gospel ministry (15:30-31). Both Jews and Gentiles had tried to kill him. He contended with wild beasts in Ephesus-which may be a reference to those who opposed God’s kingdom. Yet, what was the point if the dead are not raised? If there’s no resurrection, Paul says, quoting the self-indulgent attitude of the Israelites in Isaiah 22:13, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die (15:32).”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 15:32 ‘Culture and Society’: “Public contests to entertain people with the spectacle of death were extremely popular in the Roman world. Throughout the empire Romans built stadiums where professional gladiators, prisoners, and slaves fought wild animals and each other to the death for sport. Paul’s figure of speech ‘fought with beasts’ (1 Cor. 15:32) probably describes his human enemies as wild animals, not claiming that he actually fought in the arena.”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

1 Corinthians 15:33 ‘Choose wise friends’: “Friends are not neutral; they impact our lives.   If your friends lead good lives, they encourage you to become a better person. If your friends lead disreputable lives, they lead you down the same path-or worse. … So choose your friends carefully and wisely. Gossips usually gravitate to gossips. Rebels run with rebels. You want to be wise? Choose wise friends.”

• Charles R. Swindoll, Bedside Blessing

1 Corinthians 15:33 ‘The Company You Keep’: “Growing up, I wanted to hang out with the kids who seemed fun or were cool. I don’t think that desire has changed much over the years with kids. But my mother had different criteria. Her primary concern wasn’t whether kids were cool enough for me, but whether those kids had character. This verse from the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church (using a quotation from the Greek poet Menander) is one I remember her using. It didn’t leave any wiggle room for further discussion from myself or my brother and sisters.
“How can you impart that lesson to your children or other young people? It’s true that you can’t always choose the people you hang out with because of the environments you are in, but you can make some deliberate decisions as to who you will not hang out with.  You should choose other couples or families who love God and who will help you to continue to become men and women of character. Folks who will help your family to grow in the encouragement and guidance of God.
Back to my parents.  Whenever my siblings or I mentioned someone new, my mom and dad wanted to know if that person was a complainer, a gossip, or involved in things that he or she shouldn’t be getting into.
“You can apply the same questions to evaluate your own children’s friends. Emphasize that it’s important to have friends with the same positive qualities you are teaching to them. You probably will be able to assess someone’s character pretty quickly after a few meetings. Learn about his or her family. Your input into the lives of your children’s friends and their families can possibly be life-changing for them.
“Maybe you can be the positive influence they are missing. Befriend the entire family when possible and make a difference in their lives.”

• Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker, Uncommon Life – Daily Challenge (excerpt from devotion for 22 August)

My Thoughts

To recap part 1, in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Paul discusses how essential the resurrection of Jesus is to the Gospel.  He was fighting against ideologies that said that anything that comes from the grave was abhorrent, but also heresies that said Jesus never existed, never died, or is still dead.

So, Paul starts this discourse with a statement that if the resurrection of the dead is not possible, then Jesus did not rise from the grave.  Then, how could we ever believe and trust in a dead man?  Christianity is the belief and trust in a living God, who roamed this earth as a living man, fully God and fully man.  The entire thing unravels if Jesus is dead.  Who sits at the right hand of God on high if Jesus is dead?

When I was growing up, there was a movement that stated, “God is dead.”  Satan has used that type of tactic for millennia, drawing people away from God.  It was not a new idea, not a new trick.  He was planting that idea with people in Corinth in the first century.  Once you are tricked into thinking God is dead, then you have no one who is looking over you.  “In God we trust” becomes a meaningless slogan if the resurrection is untrue.

Moreover, Paul and his companions are guilty of not speaking the truth if Jesus was not raised from the dead, so anything else that they said could not be trusted.  Thus, calling oneself a Christian would be meaningless in that one lie laid upon another lie produces no foundation of faith and belief at all.

But Jesus Christ rose from the dead.  In the last study, Paul spoke of five hundred people who saw Him die and then saw the resurrected Lord.  Many of those people were still alive and would confirm what Paul was saying.  Paul had already covered that proof.

Jesus has indeed risen from the grave.  Paul mentions Jesus as the firstfruits of those who are “asleep.”  This is not the first time in 1 Corinthians that Paul has used “sleep” to mean dead.  I told the Sunday school class the day before I wrote these thoughts that this does not mean “soul sleep.”  When we pass away, our next conscious thought will be opening our eyes and seeing the glory of God.  “Asleep” was Paul’s polite way to avoid the word dead.  These days we say “passed on” but two hundred years from now, if the world lasts that long, someone might ask where these people are passing to.  Then they might come up with a new euphemism since no one seems to want to use “dead.”  Do not worry.  God will throw death into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14).

But Jesus is the firstfruit of all those who have been raised from the dead.  There is some thoughts that the Old Testament saints waited for the Lord to conquer death and sin on the cross, and part of Jesus going down into the grave was to gather those saints and bring them home. Thus, He was first among those raised from the dead.  This almost begs the concept of soul sleep at that time.  But remember that God is outside space and time.  When we go to be with Him, the time between our death and our resurrection is meaningless at that point.  Our next conscious experience will be more glorious than anything we have experienced to that point.

But just rising from the dead is not the end.  Jesus Christ will return to destroy all dominion, authority, and power.  Then Jesus will destroy death itself.  We should all take notice.  All this world is “God’s country” in that He created the world and God is sovereign over the entire world, but in the end, there will no longer be any countries or civil authorities or power other than God Himself.  Why have those?  We are in the presence of God.  This does not mean that we should not have our duty to our country here on earth, but too many people today cry out to their government to save them while ignoring the eternal One who has the ultimate power to save.  Turn to Jesus because in the end that is all that is left.

Then, Paul asks about baptism and persecution for righteousness’ sake.  Are we baptized in the name of dead people?  Do we put ourselves in danger of persecution for something or someone that is dead?  No!  Paul quotes the old expression about eating and drinking for tomorrow we die.  If there is no resurrection, that is what we are left with, but Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and He promises us that we will rise also.  And God fulfills His promises.

Paul ends this section with a plea to keep good friends around you.  In context, he is saying to not listen to those who are leading people away from the Truth.  But out of context, the statement still holds true.  Another old saying is “You are what your friends are.”  That may not be true in every case, but in most cases, people gravitate toward the lowest standard, thus we need to associate with righteous people.

Yet, there is one section of 1 Corinthians 15 remaining.  Paul will address that concept that the Corinthians maintained that all that rises from a grave is abhorrent.  They were in error there too.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

1 Corinthians 15:12-34 The Resurrection of the Dead 1. When did you connect the resurrection of Christ with your own victory over death? What difference has that made to you in terms of hope and courage? What new sense of purpose does this give you?
“2. When have you felt that life was futile? How do you go on when those feelings come?
“3. What arguments have you found helpful in showing un-believing friends that Christ did rise from the dead?

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

First Corinthians 15 has one set of questions for this segment.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.