1 Corinthians 15:12-58

--- Hey, welcome back to our study in 1 Corinthians. We've got a lot to cover in this chapter because the Apostle Paul is going to be dealing with the resurrection. And this is something that the Corinthians apparently had had some confusion over. Maybe some people were coming into the church and messing with their understanding of the resurrection, telling people that the resurrection of the dead had already taken place, all kinds of things. Anyway, Paul is going to clear up a lot of that, but this is a long chapter, so we're going to pray and get right into it. All right? Father God, open our hearts, open our eyes, help us to see in your word what you'd have us to see. Help us to make sense of it. We ask it in the authority granted us through Jesus our Lord, amen. We're picking it up in verse 12 of chapter 15.

Wow. So what the Apostle Paul is doing in these opening verses is he's connecting the resurrection of Jesus with the general resurrection of the body of Christ and saying that if one hasn't happened, the other hasn't happened or will not happen. And if that is the case, then the gospel is nil. It is meaningless and you are still in your sins and there's no hope. So you can see in these opening verses the importance that the Apostle Paul placed on the resurrection. You can also see why the resurrection of Jesus has been so attacked over the years. Remember something. We are the body of Christ. Jesus is the head, the head of his body. And if the head has been raised, the body will also be raised. That's the point that Paul is making here. And the importance is undeniable.

In other words, if believing in Jesus is only for now, then we are to be greatly pitied. Our faith in Jesus Christ goes so far beyond this life. If it's just for this life, forget it. No, we have put our faith in Jesus for eternal life, life that goes on. And that's the point that Paul is making.

That word first fruits is very important. Take note of it.

And then I love this, this next verse,

So this is what the resurrection frankly is all about. Ultimately, it's about turning back the curse of sin, which is death, death to the body. Now Jesus does not stop death to the body for believe and for believers, except for those who are alive when he comes again. But they will just be changed, as Paul says, in the twinkling of an eye. For the rest of us who may pass from this world before the Lord comes, we may experience physical death, but he has taken the sting away from that as we're going to see at the end of this chapter. He's taken the power of death away. The physical body may die. We go to be with the Lord. And then when he returns, he raises our bodies incorruptible. In other words, with a new body that cannot die. And we're told that the last enemy to finally be destroyed is death. And it is important for us to see this. Death is an enemy. Death, you know, it's kind of funny, I get comments or questions sometimes from people who are just beginning to understand little bits and pieces of the Bible. And they'll say, but one thing I just don't get, why did God create all this rottenness, all this death and disease? And my response is, he didn't. He didn't create any of it. Death is an intrusion in God's creation. It came about as a result of sin, which we learn in the first few chapters of the book of Genesis. And it is something that God is going to overturn. He has already begun that work by sending his son to bear the penalty of our sin, which is death. And it will one day be completely obliterated. That's what Paul is saying here in verse 26, the last enemy to be destroyed. Listen, death is an enemy as far as God is concerned. He never intended death to be part of our existence. We invited it through sin and rebellion, but God is going to overturn it.

Wow. These few verses that we just read are not something that I necessarily pretend to fully understand. But we know that Jesus had to empty himself, according to Philippians, had to empty himself in order to become a human being. And he still, to this day, and I believe for eternity, will bear the marks of his crucifixion and that humanity. He has become a man. Yes, he is God in human flesh, but also a man, and he will retain that. And the Bible says that after he finishes all of his work, he will be in subjection to the father. It's difficult for us to understand what we're saying here, but Jesus has for all eternity surrendered himself to be under the subjection of the father. The Bible tells us he did not consider equality something to be grasped, held onto, but made himself a servant, and he will forever be that servant. He did that for you, and he did that for me, and that's pretty powerful.

Now is Paul teaching baptism for the dead? the dead? No, he's asking questions about what practices people do. There was obviously, we don't know if this was a practice among the Christians or not. We don't know if it was simply a practice among the pagans, for sure. The issue is Paul is using an example to make a point. But understand this, nowhere in the Bible, nowhere in the Bible is it taught that we are to be baptized for the dead. It simply is just never taught, never brought up. Paul is simply using this idea as an example. He is not saying that this is what we should do. All right? So it's very important that we understand that.

If I protest, again, he's coming back to the, if there's no resurrection, why am I spending my time, literally risking my life? I'm in danger constantly. And if there's no resurrection, why am I doing this? I protest brothers by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus, our Lord. I die every day. In other words, I die to my own desires, my own wants and wishes every day, but I'm doing it because I believe in a resurrection of the dead. What do I gain? He says, if humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus. If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink for tomorrow. We die. Do not be deceived. Bad company ruins good morals. Wake up from your drunken stupor as it, as is right and do not go on sinning for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. Obviously there were people in the Corinthian church who were saying there is no resurrection of the dead. And Paul is very strongly opposing that message and those who are preaching it. And he's saying, if that's the case, we're lost and everything I'm doing is for nothing. You can see how important is the resurrection of Jesus. Now he's going to talk about the resurrection body. All right.

Thus it is written. The first man, Adam, became a living being. The last Adam, obviously he's talking about Jesus, became a life giving spirit, but it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven as was the man of dust. So also are those who are of the dust and as is the man of heaven. So also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. I wanted to read this whole section together because it is so powerful. The apostle Paul is correcting some of their misshapen ideas about Adam and the body that is planted, sown, if you will, into the earth when we die and the body that is raised incorruptible. There were obviously a lot of questions and you know, frankly, there are still a lot of questions that people ask about the resurrection body. What are we going to look like? Are we going to recognize each other? All these sorts of things because Paul does say that the body that is going to be raised is not going to be like the one that was sown or the perishable body. But there is a promise in these verses just as we have borne the image of the man of dust. So also we shall bear the image of the man of heaven and that is a promise from God's word. If there has been a perishable body for the believer, there will be an imperishable body. One day you and I are going to put on these new incorruptible bodies and death will be no more. Hunger and thirst will be no more. It's going to be incredible. I mean it's what we were intended for originally before sin came in and marred the whole picture of God's creation.

Okay, there you go. These physical bodies cannot be in the presence of God. His glory is too much for them and therefore we cannot inherit the kingdom of God with these bodies, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, he says, I tell you a mystery. And by the way, the word mystery in the Bible refers to something that is not a mystery. The word imperishable refers to something that was previously unknown but has now been revealed. And that's why he says I'm going to explain this because it has now been revealed, right?

And Paul's going to make quotations from two different Old Testament prophets here. The first is from Isaiah 25.

And then verse 55 is a quote from Hosea chapter 13, which says,

Well, he explains the sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is the law. Now Paul talks about this in Romans. He's not saying the law is a bad thing, but it does kill us. It kills us because we can't live up to it. The law puts us to death. This is something Paul goes into great detail in Romans to explain. How the law, and if all we give people is the law, all we're giving them is death because nobody can live up to the law. The law is perfect. It's great. It's good to learn. We should learn from it, about it. But if that's all I give people is the law, if I say, all right, here's the Ten Commandments. Here's the law that God gave. Here you go. Boom. Well, all I'm giving them is a death sentence because it is through the law that I die because I see the standard is unreachable. I am condemned. I am under the curse of the law. However, Jesus has broken the curse by dying in our place, paying literally the curse in our place. All right? So once again,

because He has borne our curse, taken the sting out of death. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. So, be steadfast, immovable. In what? The gospel, the promise, the good news that Jesus has borne our curse, the curse of the law. The law condemns us, Jesus has acquitted us, and now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Amen? Let's pray. Father, thank you. It's a long chapter, but it's important. Thank you for the promise of the resurrection. I pray my Father God that we would all stand fast, be steadfast in our faith, immovable. Thank you for loving us, teaching us, instructing us, and guiding us through your Spirit. Continue to do so, we pray, in the authority of the name of Jesus. Amen. ---