The Resurrection of Christ

1But let me recall to you, brethren, the Good News which I brought you, which you accepted, and on which you are standing, 2through which also you are obtaining salvation, if you bear in mind the words in which I proclaimed it—unless indeed your faith has been unreal from the very first.

3For I repeated to you the all-important fact which also I had been taught, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; 4that He was buried; that He rose to life again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5and was seen by Peter, and then by the Twelve. 6Afterwards He was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once, most of whom are still alive, although some of them have now fallen asleep. 7Afterwards He was seen by James, and then by all the Apostles. 8And last of all, as to one of untimely birth, He appeared to me also. 9For I am the least of the Apostles, and am not fit to be called an Apostle—because I persecuted the Church of God. 10But what I am I am by the grace of God, and His grace bestowed upon me did not prove ineffectual. But I labored more strenuously than all the rest—yet it was not I, but God's grace working with me. 11But whether it is I or they, this is the way we preach and the way that you came to believe.

The Resurrection of the Dead

12But if Christ is preached as having risen from the dead, how is it that some of you say that there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead, then Christ Himself has not risen to life. 14And if Christ has not risen, it follows that what we preach is a delusion, and that your faith also is a delusion. 15Nay more, we are actually being discovered to be bearing false witness about God, because we have testified that God raised Christ to life, whom He did not raise, if in reality none of the dead are raised. 16For if none of the dead are raised to life, then Christ has not risen; 17and if Christ has not risen, your faith is a vain thing—you are still in your sins. 18It follows also that those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19If in this present life we have a *hope* resting on Christ, and nothing more, we are more to be pitied than all the rest of the world.

The Order of Resurrection

20But, in reality, Christ *has* risen from among the dead, being the first to do so of those who are asleep. 21For seeing that death came through man, through man comes also the resurrection of the dead. 22For just as through Adam all die, so also through Christ all will be made alive again. 23But this will happen to each in the right order—Christ having been the first to rise, and afterwards Christ's people rising at His return. 24Later on, comes the End, when He is to surrender the Kingship to God, the Father, when He shall have overthrown all other government and all other authority and power. 25For He must continue King until He shall have put all His enemies under His feet. 26The last enemy that is to be overthrown is Death; 27for He will have put all things in subjection under His feet. And when He shall have declared that "All things are in subjection," it will be with the manifest exception of Him who has reduced them all to subjection to Him. 28But when the whole universe has been made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also become subject to Him who has made the universe subject to Him, in order that GOD may be all in all.

29Otherwise what will become of those who got themselves baptized for the dead? If the dead do not rise at all, why are these baptized for them? 30Why also do we Apostles expose ourselves to danger every hour? 31I protest, brethren, as surely as I glory over you—which I may justly do in Christ Jesus our Lord—that I die day by day. 32If from merely human motives I have fought with wild beasts in Ephesus, what profit is it to me? If the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we are to die. 33Do not deceive yourselves: "Evil companionships corrupt good morals." 34Wake from this drunken fit; live righteous lives, and cease to sin; for some have no knowledge of God: I speak thus in order to move you to shame.

The Resurrection Body

35But some one will say, "How can the dead rise? And with what kind of body do they come back?" 36Foolish man! the seed you yourself sow has no life given to it unless it first dies; 37and as for what you sow, it is not the plant which is to be that you are sowing, but a bare grain, of wheat (it may be) 38and to each kind of seed a body of its own. 39All flesh is not the same: there is human flesh, and flesh of cattle, of birds, and of fishes. 40There are bodies which are celestial and there are bodies which are earthly, but the glory of the celestial ones is one thing, and that of the earthly ones is another. 41There is one glory of the sun, another of the moon, and another of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

42It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in a state of decay, it is raised free from decay; 43it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44an animal body is sown, a spiritual body is raised. As surely as there is an animal body, so there is also a spiritual body. 45In the same way also it is written, "The first man Adam became a living animal"; the last Adam is a life-giving Spirit. 46Nevertheless, it is not what is spiritual that came first, but what is animal; what is spiritual came afterwards. 47The first man is a man of earth, earthy; the second man is from Heaven. 48What the earthy one is, that also are those who are earthy; and what the heavenly One is, that also are those who are heavenly. 49And as we have borne a resemblance to the earthy one, let us see to it that we also bear a resemblance to the heavenly One.

Where O Death is Your Victory?

(Isaiah 57:1-2)

50But this I tell you, brethren: our mortal bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor will what is perishable inherit what is imperishable. 51I tell you a truth hitherto kept secret: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sounding of the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incapable of decay, and *we* shall be changed. 53For so it must be: this perishable nature must clothe itself with what is imperishable, and this mortality must clothe itself with immortality. 54But when this perishable nature has put on what is imperishable, and this mortality has put on immortality, then will the words of Scripture be fulfilled, "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55"Where, O death, is thy victory? Where, O death, is thy sting?" 56Now sin is the sting of death, and sin derives its power from the Law; 57but God be thanked who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

58Therefore, my dear brethren, be firm, unmovable, busily occupied at all times in the Lord's work, knowing that your toil is not fruitless in the Lord.