1 Corinthians 15

Goodspeed^{(i) 1} Now I want to remind you, brothers, of the form in which I presented to you the good news I brought, which you accepted and have stood by, ² and through which you are to be saved, if you hold on, unless your faith has been all for nothing. ³ For I passed on to you, as of first importance, the account I had received, that Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures foretold, ⁴ that he was buried, that on the third day he was raised from the dead, as the Scriptures foretold, ⁵ and that he was seen by Cephas, and then by the Twelve. ⁶ After that he was seen by more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, although some of them have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he was seen by James, then by all the apostles, ⁸ and finally he was seen by me also, as though I were born at the wrong time. ⁹ For I am the least important of the apostles, and am not fit to be called an apostle, because I once persecuted God's church. ¹⁰ But by God's favor I have become what I am, and the favor he showed me has not gone for nothing, but I have worked harder than any of them, although it was not really I but the favor God showed me. ¹¹ But whether it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. ¹² Now if what we preach about Christ is that he was raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ was not raised, ¹⁴ and if Christ was not raised, there is nothing in our message; there is nothing in our faith either, ¹⁵ and we are found guilty of misrepresenting God, for we have testified that he raised Christ, when he did not do it, if it is true that the dead are never raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are never raised, Christ was not raised; ¹⁷ and if Christ was not raised, your faith is a delusion; you are still under the control of your sins. ¹⁸ Yes, and those who have fallen asleep in trust in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If we have centered our hopes on Christ in this life, and that is all, we are the most pitiable people in the world. ²⁰ But the truth is, Christ was raised from the dead, the first to be raised of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For since it was through a man that we have death, it is through a man also that we have the raising of the dead. ²² For just as because of their relation to Adam all men die, so because of their relation to Christ they will all be brought to life again. ²³ But each in his own turn; Christ first, and then at Christ's coming those who belong to him. ²⁴ After that will come the end, when he will turn over the kingdom to God his Father, bringing to an end all other government, authority, and power, ²⁵ for he must retain the kingdom until he puts all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be overthrown will be death, ²⁷ for everything is to be reduced to subjection and put under Christ's feet. But when it says that everything is subject to him, he is evidently excepted who reduced it all to subjection to him. ²⁸ And when everything is reduced to subjection to him, then the Son himself will also become subject to him who has reduced everything to subjection to him, so that God may be everything to everyone. ²⁹ Otherwise, what do people mean by having themselves baptized on behalf of their dead? If the dead do not rise at all, why do they have themselves baptized on their behalf? ³⁰ Why do we ourselves run such risks every hour? ³¹ By the very pride I take in you, brothers, through our union with Christ Jesus our Lord, I face death every day. ³² From the human point of view, what good is it to me that I have fought wild animals here in Ephesus? If the dead do not rise at all, "Let us eat and drink, for we will be dead tomorrow!" ³³ Do not be misled. Bad company ruins character. ³⁴ Return to your sober sense as you ought, and stop sinning, for some of you are utterly ignorant about God. To your shame I say so. ³⁵ But someone will say, "How can the dead rise? What kind of a body will they have when they come back?" ³⁶ You foolish man, the very seed you sow never comes to life without dying first; ³⁷ and when you sow it, it has not the form it is going to have, but is a naked kernel, perhaps of wheat or something else; ³⁸ and God gives it just such a form as he pleases, so that each kind of seed has a form of its own. ³⁹ Flesh is not all alike; men have one kind, animals another, birds another, and fish another. ⁴⁰ There are heavenly bodies, and there are earthly bodies, but the beauty of the heavenly bodies is of one kind, and the beauty of the earthly bodies is of another. ⁴¹ The sun has one kind of beauty, and the moon another, and the stars another; why, one star differs from another in beauty. ⁴² It is so with the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in decay, it is raised free from decay. ⁴³ It is sown in humiliation, it is raised in splendor. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in strength. ⁴⁴ It is a physical body that is sown, it is a spiritual body that is raised. If there is a physical body, there is a spiritual body also. ⁴⁵ This is also what the Scripture says: "The first man Adam became a living creature." The last Adam has become a life-giving Spirit. ⁴⁶ It is not the spiritual that comes first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man is of the dust of the earth; the second man is from heaven. ⁴⁸ Those who are of the earth are like him who was of the earth, and those who are of heaven are like him who is from heaven, ⁴⁹ and as we have been like the man of the earth, let us also try to be like the man from heaven. ⁵⁰ But I can tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot share in the Kingdom of God, and decay will not share in what is imperishable. ⁵¹ I will tell you a secret. We shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised free from decay, and we shall be changed. ⁵³ For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ And when this mortal nature puts on immortality, then what the Scripture says will come true—"Death has been triumphantly destroyed. ⁵⁵ Where, Death, is your victory? Where, Death, is your sting?" ⁵⁶ Sin is the sting of death, and it is the Law that gives sin its power. ⁵⁷ But thank God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵⁸ So my dear brothers, be firm and unmoved, and always devote yourselves to the Lord's work, for you know that through the Lord your labor is not thrown away.