1 Corinthians 15:12-58
- Background
In a church Paul planted, he deals with a heresy that claimed Christ never truly resurrected from the dead. Paul argues for the case of a resurrected Christ. Most importantly, if Christ never resurrected, we are all taken for fools and doomed to die without hope.
2. What can we observe about God?
God wants His sovereignty to be man’s hope for the future.
God’s limitless power and faithfulness to honor His word give us the security to trust Him. These verses give four reasons why we may put our hope in Him.
i. All authority and power are subject to Him.
“Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.”
Verse 24
Could we reasonably hope in God if there were some other forces powerful enough to resist His will? The Bible would have us believe that God is supremely sovereign. The God who created everything with the power of His word has no equal. The devils, nature, and cosmic forces all tremble at His word and obey His decrees. We have our hope in Him because all that He promises to give us cannot be taken by force.
ii. All enemies of God are already defeated.
“For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.”
Verse 25
But aren’t there those that contest His will? If God wanted a perfect world like in Genesis one, then how is it we live in a world of corruption and evil? How is it that Satan roams freely, assaulting His creation?
We see a world whose time is running out. God has reasons why He allowed evil to continue until this day. Thank God He chose mercy rather than swift justice, or else we would all be without life or hope. In Genesis 3:15, God told us in a prophetic word that He would defeat his enemies with the same means they use to attack Him. But this method God used to defeat His enemies implies a time He will suffer them to continue. We live in that time, but we have already been given proof of assurance that God has subdued His enemies. We are merely waiting for His decree that will bring the final judgment on His enemies.
iii. God will reverse the effects of the curse and death.
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
Verse 26
Even if God is powerful enough to defeat His enemies, how does that give us hope if we are all doomed to die? That’s why God includes “death” in the list of enemies He will defeat. Death is alien to God’s created world, and He will expel it along with our sin and corruption. God has also demonstrated His power over death and given us reasonable hope in Him. It is in this hope we wait for His final victory over death.
iv. We will receive a transformed, resurrection body.
Man chose to sin in the beginning, and death is what followed. How can we have any real hope if we do not know man will sin and invite death upon us again? Our hope is a new resurrection body God gives us. It is made after the likeness of Jesus Himself. The rest of the chapter speaks about it, but we’ll look at two verse that can summarize:
“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”
Verse 52-53
Our earthly bodies are patterned after Adam, our ancestor who fell before God. But this heavenly body will be patterned after the Lord Himself.
“The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.”
Verse 47
These are the promises all Christians hold onto for their hope. God cannot be defeated. He will reverse sin and death. And our bodies and natured will be changed to be patterned after the Lord.
Someone who hears this the first time might say, How can eternal life be good? Won’t it be Boring and exhausting?
This question has come up before on several occasions, but it only shows the one asking the question does not know God’s goodness and greatness. But to answer the question, let’s look at the future vision God gave John. This was the vision of eternal life:
“And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Revelation 21:27
John tells us that in the vision God gave him, he did not see sin or the effects of sin—no corruption, no lies, no death. In other words, John did not see the things that exhaust humanity today. Bible students know everything that ails and the human race is caused by sin, whether it be physical fatigue or moral corruption. God restores a world that will have none of these things because sin has been dealt with.
Those who think this world will be boring simply have yet to discover who God is. In Genesis two, we see man and God enjoying each other and creation. When sin entered in Genesis 3, we lost our relationship with God and the contentment we possessed in Him.
But John saw in a vision that man and God are reconciled again.
“And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.”
Revelation 22:4
To someone who does not know God, this verse will carry little meaning. But for those who know Him and yearn for God, this is one of the most hope-giving verses in all the Bible.
God’s greatness is unsearchable.
“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And his greatness is unsearchable.”
Psalm 145:3
His pleasures are unending.
“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: In thy presence is fulness of joy; At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
Psalm 16:11
For anyone who thinks God is boring, the alternative is to enter eternity without Him in hell. But why would you perish when such a wonderful God beckons you to come?
3. How does this passage point to Christ and the Gospel?
Someone says, “This all sounds fantastical. How can we reasonably believe and hope in this?
Indeed, in our world, speaking of people rising from the dead is bound to make some people laugh at you for believing such things. But we believe none-the-less because the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection is compelling and reasonable.
In our chapter, Paul gives some fundamental reasons:
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.”
Verses 3-8
Christian believe in the hope that Jesus gives through the eyewitness accounts of His death and resurrection. If one can reasonably deny the resurrection, then all of Christianity would tumble. But if several witnesses reasonably confirm the resurrection, then we are compelled to investigate further.
Finally, our investigation of the eyewitness will lead us to the conclusion in verse 22.
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
This simple statement is either entirely true or entirely false. Everyone who hears the Gospel will make a decision. Paul shows us the weight of the matter in verse 17:
“And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; and ye are yet in your sins.”
Believers are those who place their eternal hopes in the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
4. Application
For those yet to receive the gift of eternal life, all one must do is believe in Christ, and you will be placed in Him.
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive”
Verse 22
For believers, this future hope changes the way we live today. Our main work is to be thankful and enjoy God.
“But thanks be to God! Which gives us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Vere 57
Believers live a life already in victory. Therefore our behavior and service are not done in obligation or in payment to earn eternal life. Instead, we reflect on the Gospel and God’s grace towards us. God does a work in our hearts, transforming our lives into a people that lives for Him.
Finally, we have a job to do.
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
Verse 58
The hope we receive ensures us of a future in which we do not need to worry. But some have no knowledge of God’s grace and what Jesus did for them on the cross. People need to be reconciled to a God, and they can only be reconciled in Christ alone. They must hear what God has done for them, and this is the work that we are given to do!
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