- The Resurrection of Christ
- 1
- Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you,
- which you received and on which you have taken your stand.
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- By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.
- Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
- 3
- For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:
- 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,
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- and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.
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- After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time,
- most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
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- Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
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- and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
- 9
- For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle,
- because I persecuted the church of God.
- 10
- But by the grace of God I am what I am,
- and his grace to me was not without effect.
- No, I worked harder than all of them--
- yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
- 11
- Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
- The Resurrection of the Dead
- 12
- 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?
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- If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
- 14
- And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
- 15
- 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.
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- For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
- 17
- And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
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- Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
- 19
- If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
- 20
- But Christ has indeed 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 comes also through a man.
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- For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
- 23
- But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits;
- then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
- 24
- Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to
- God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.
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- For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
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- The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
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- 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.
- 28
- 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.
- 29
- 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?
- 30
- And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour?
- 31
- I die every day--I mean that, brothers--
- just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- 32
- If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained?
- If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
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- Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character."
- 34
- 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.
- The Resurrection Body
- 35
- But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised?
- With what kind of body will they come?"
- 36
- How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
- 37
- When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be,
- but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.
- 38
- But God gives it a body as he has determined,
- and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.
- 39
- All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh,
- animals have another, birds another and fish another.
- 40
- There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies;
- but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind,
- and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.
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- The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another;
- and star differs from star in splendor.
- 42
- So will it be with the resurrection of the dead.
- The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;
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- it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory;
- it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
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- it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
- If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
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- So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being";
- the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
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- The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.
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- The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.
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- As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth;
- and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
- 49
- And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man,
- so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
- 50
- I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,
- nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
- 51
- Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--
- 52
- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound,
- the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
- 53
- For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable,
- and the mortal with immortality.
- 54
- When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable,
- and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true:
- "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
- 55
- "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"
- 56
- The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
- 57
- But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 58
- Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you.
- Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,
- because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.