Top of Page
Page Style
brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel that I proclaimed to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By the gospel you are also saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have believed in vain.
3 For I have passed on to you as of first importance what I also received: 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 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all, as the one of untimely birth, He also appeared to me.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, and do not deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by God’s grace I am what I am, and His grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you have believed.
12 Now if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there are is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 14 But if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and so is your faith. 15 What is more, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead. But He did not raise Him up if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. 19 If in this life we have only hope in Christ, we of all men are the most to be pitied.
20 But Christ has, in fact, been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. 22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then afterward at His coming, those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after He has put an end to all dominion and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign until He puts 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 obvious that this does not include He who puts everything under Him. 28 And when everything is made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put everything under Him, so that God may be all in all.
29 Otherwise, what will those people do who are being baptised for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptised for them? 30 And as for us, why are we in danger every hour? 31 I affirm by the pride I take in you in Christ Jesus our Lord, that I do I die every day! 32 If I fought with wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised,
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die”.
33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals”. 34 Come back to being right-minded and do not sin, for there are some people who are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.
35 But someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body will they have when they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And as for what you sow, you do not plant the body that is to be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as He has determined, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh; there is one kind of flesh for man, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the splendour of the heavenly bodies is different from the splendour of the earthly bodies. 41 There is one kind of splendour for the sun, another for the moon, and another for the stars; and the stars differ one from another in splendour.
42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, but 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. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that came first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth and made of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man made of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, so shall we also bear the image of the man of heaven.
50 Brothers, what I am saying to you is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the perishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, 52 In a moment, in a twinkling of the eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable shall be clothed with imperishability, and the mortal shall be clothed with immortality. 54 Then when the perishable is clothed with imperishability, and the mortal is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written shall be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory”.
“O Death, where is your victory?
O Death, where it is your sting?
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 58 Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.