1 Corinthians 15
1 But let me recall to you, brethren, the Good News which I brought you, which you accepted, and on which you are standing,
Now, my fellow believers, I want to remind you about the message about Christ that I preached to you. It is the message that you received and that you have continued to trust firmly.
2 through 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.
If you keep on firmly [believing] this message that I preached to you, you will be saved {[God] will save you}. If you do not continue to believe it, your believing [in Christ] was (all for nothing/useless)!
3 For 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;
The most important part of the message that I received [from the Lord Jesus], and that I told you, was this: Christ died to [take away the guilt] of our sins, as the Scriptures [said that he would do].
4 that He was buried; that He rose to life again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
His [dead body] was buried {They buried his [body]}. On the third day [after that], [God] caused him to become alive again, as the Scriptures [said would happen].
5 and was seen by Peter, and then by the Twelve.
After that, [Christ] was seen by {appeared to} Peter. Then he appeared to [eleven of] the [original] twelve [apostles].
6 Afterwards 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.
Later he was seen by {appeared to} more than 500 of our fellow believers. Most of those are still living, but some of them have died [EUP].
7 Afterwards He was seen by James, and then by all the Apostles.
Then he was seen by {appeared [to]} [his younger brother] James, [who became the leader of the congregation in Jerusalem]. Then he appeared to all of the apostles.
8 And last of all, as to one of untimely birth, He appeared to me also.
Finally, he was seen by {appeared to} me, but I became an apostle in a way that was very unusual [MET].
9 For I am the least of the Apostles, and am not fit to be called an Apostle--because I persecuted the Church of God.
The fact is, I [consider that I] am the least important of the apostles. I do not deserve to be an apostle, because I (persecuted God’s groups of believers/caused God’s groups of believers to suffer) [everywhere I went].
10 But 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.
But it is because God acted kindly toward me in ways that I did not deserve that I became what I am now. And his acting kindly toward me produced a great result [LIT], which is that I worked harder [for Christ] than all the other apostles. But it was not that I [was working with my own ability]. Instead, God was helping me in a way I did not deserve.
11 But whether it is I or they, this is the way we preach and the way that you came to believe.
So it does not matter whether it was I [who was preaching or whether it was the other apostles who were preaching]. We all preached [the same message], and that message is what you believed.
12 But 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?
So now [let me ask you this]: Since [we] have all preached to you that Christ was raised again {that [God] caused Christ to become alive} after he died, (no one among you should be saying that [God] will not cause [believers] to become alive again after they die!/why do some of you say that [God] will not cause [believers] to become alive again after they die?) [RHQ]
13 If there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead, then Christ Himself has not risen to life.
If [it is true that God] will not cause anyone to become alive again, that situation would mean that Christ was not raised from the dead {[he] did not cause Christ to become alive again}!
14 And if Christ has not risen, it follows that what we preach is a delusion, and that your faith also is a delusion.
And if Christ was not raised from the dead {if [God] did not cause Christ to become alive again}, then what we preached to you was useless, and your believing [in Christ] is useless.
15 Nay 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.
[If it is true that] no one will be raised from the dead {[that God] will not cause anyone to become alive again after he dies}, we [(exc)] have been guilty of lying to you about God, because we told you that God caused Christ to become alive again.
16 For if none of the dead are raised to life, then Christ has not risen;
But if it were really true that no one who has died will be raised {that [God will] not cause anyone who has died to become alive} again, then Christ was not raised {[he] did not cause Christ to become alive} again either!
17 and if Christ has not risen, your faith is a vain thing--you are still in your sins.
If it were true that Christ was not raised {that [God] did not cause Christ to become alive} again after he died, you have believed in Christ for nothing, [because] God will still [punish] you for [MTY] your sins.
18 It follows also that those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
And those people who died [EUP] [while they were trusting] in Christ will go to hell. (questioned)
19 If 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.
In this life [many of us have suffered much for Christ] because we confidently expect [that he will reward us in heaven]. If we have confidently expected this in vain, people should pity us more than they pity anyone else!
20 But, in reality, Christ has risen from among the dead, being the first to do so of those who are asleep.
But [the truth is that] Christ has been raised from the dead {that [God] has caused Christ to live again after he had died}, and (that guarantees/because of that, it is certain) [MET] that he will also cause those [believers] who have died [EUP] to become alive again.
21 For seeing that death came through man, through man comes also the resurrection of the dead.
What one man, [Adam, did affects us all]. We all die. Similarly, what one man—[Christ]—did [affects us(inc) all]: God will cause [all believers] to become alive again.
22 For just as through Adam all die, so also through Christ all will be made alive again.
Because of what Adam did, all [of us who are descended] from him die. Similarly, because of what [Christ did], all of us who have a close relationship with him will be brought back to life {[God] will make alive all of us who have a close relationship with Christ}.
23 But 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.
But we must all take our turn. [God raised] Christ first [MET]. And when Christ returns, [God will cause] those who belong to Christ to become alive again.
24 Later 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.
Then, after Christ has destroyed all [DOU] the evil powers that oppose God, [the world] will end. Then Christ will give to God, his Father, his kingdom to completely rule over it.
25 For He must continue King until He shall have put all His enemies under His feet.
You must realize that Christ must rule [here on earth] until he has completely defeated [MTY] all his enemies.
26 The last enemy that is to be overthrown is Death;
The last thing that [he] will get rid of is death. [But he certainly will get rid of death, which is like] an enemy [to us].
27 for 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.
[In the Scriptures the Psalmist wrote that] God will cause everything to be under Christ’s [authority] [MTY]. But it is clear that the word ‘everything’ here does not include God, because God is the one who will cause everything to be under Christ’s [authority] [MTY].
28 But 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.
After everything is put under [the authority of] God’s Son, then Christ will put himself completely under [the authority of] God, the one who gave him that authority. Then God will be completely in control of everything [IDM], everywhere.
29 Otherwise 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?
[Now think about this: Some among you] are being baptized (OR, are baptizing people) on behalf of those who died [before someone baptized them] (OR, who died [before they became believers]). If, [as some people say, believers] will not be raised [from the dead] {[God] will not cause [believers] to become alive again}, (what is the value in those people doing that?/there is no value in those people doing that!) [RHQ] If [God] will not cause any [believers] to become alive again, it is senseless to be baptized {baptize anyone} on behalf of someone who has died. [RHQ]
30 Why also do we Apostles expose ourselves to danger every hour?
Furthermore, [if God will not cause us believers to become alive again], it is [RHQ] very foolish for me and the other apostles to be constantly [putting ourselves] in danger [because we tell people the gospel].
31 I 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.
My fellow believers, every day I [am in danger of] being killed {people killing me}! That is as true as it is that I am pleased with you because of your close relationship with Christ Jesus our Lord.
32 If 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.
[If God will not cause us believers to become alive again after we die], (I will receive no benefit at all [from having opposed those who attacked me so strongly] in Ephesus [city]./what will I gain [from having opposed those who attacked me so strongly] in Ephesus [city]?) [RHQ] They were [fighting me like] wild beasts! If we [believers] will not be raised [from the dead] {If [God] will not cause us [believers] to live again}, we might as well say [as people often say]: “Tomorrow we are going to die, so we might as well enjoy now everything that we can. We might as well feast and get drunk!”
33 Do not deceive yourselves: "Evil companionships corrupt good morals."
Do not let [yourselves be deceived by those who say that God will not cause believers to live again] {Do not let [people who say that God will not cause believers to live again] deceive you}. If you associate with evil people [who say such things], they will (influence you to do evil things/destroy your good moral way of living).
34 Wake 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.
Start thinking correctly again [about these matters], as you should, and [stop your sinful behavior which has resulted from] your wrong thinking. [I say that] because [it seems that] some among you do not know God, and as a result they [are thinking wrongly]. I say that to make you ashamed.
35 But some one will say, "How can the dead rise? And with what kind of body do they come back?"
But some of you are asking, “How will dead people be raised {How will [God] cause dead people to become alive} again? What kind of bodies will they have?”
36 Foolish man! the seed you yourself sow has no life given to it unless it first dies;
[Anyone who asks such questions is] foolish. You [know that] a seed that is planted in the ground must completely change its form [MET] before it sprouts.
37 and 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) or of something else, and God gives it a body as He has seen fit,
A seed, such as a wheat seed, is very different from the plant that sprouts from it.
38 and to each kind of seed a body of its own.
God gives everything that lives the form that he desires. He gives each seed its own form.
39 All flesh is not the same: there is human flesh, and flesh of cattle, of birds, and of fishes.
[Similarly], people, animals, birds, and fish all have flesh, but each one has a different kind of flesh.
40 There 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.
Also, there are angelic beings in heaven (OR, stars and planets in the sky), and there are people with bodies on the earth. The angelic beings (OR, stars and planets) are beautiful in one way, and people on earth are beautiful in a different way.
41 There is one glory of the sun, another of the moon, and another of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
The sun is bright in one way, and the moon is bright in a different way, and the stars are bright in a different way. And even the various stars are different from each other in how bright they are.
42 It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in a state of decay, it is raised free from decay;
And it is the same way [with our bodies. The bodies that we will have when God causes us] to live again after we die [will not be the same as the bodies that we have now] [MET]. [The bodies that we have now] will die and decay. [The new bodies that we will have] will never die.
43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
We despise [the bodies that we have now], before we die. But our [new bodies] will be glorious. The [bodies that we have before we die] are weak. But our new bodies will be strong.
44 an animal body is sown, a spiritual body is raised. As surely as there is an animal body, so there is also a spiritual body.
The bodies that we have before we die are natural bodies. But [our new bodies] will be ones that [God’s] Spirit ([controls/gives us]). Just like there are natural bodies, there are bodies that [God’s] Spirit [completely] controls (OR, makes alive).
45 In the same way also it is written, "The first man Adam became a living animal"; the last Adam is a life-giving Spirit.
[In the Scriptures] it is written {we read} that [when] the first man, Adam, [was created], he became a living human being. [Christ later also became a human being]. But [he is different from Adam, because he] became a person who gives us [spiritual] life.
46 Nevertheless, it is not what is spiritual that came first, but what is animal; what is spiritual came afterwards.
But our bodies that God’s Spirit (will completely control/will give us) are not the first bodies that we have. We have our natural bodies first.
47 The first man is a man of earth, earthy; the second man is from Heaven.
The first man, [Adam], was created {[God] created the first man, Adam} from the dust of the earth. But [Christ], the one who came later, came from heaven.
48 What the earthy one is, that also are those who are earthy; and what the heavenly One is, that also are those who are heavenly.
Everyone on earth [has a body] like the first man on the earth had. And in heaven, [everyone will have a body like Christ], the man who came from heaven, has.
49 And 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.
And just like [God] gave us bodies like the first man on earth had, so we [believers will have bodies] like [Christ] has, who is now in heaven.
50 But this I tell you, brethren: our mortal bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor will what is perishable inherit what is imperishable.
My fellow believers, I want you to know that we [(inc)] [SYN] cannot go [to heaven, where] God rules [over everything], with our physical bodies, because our bodies [cannot last forever]. They will die and decay.
51 I tell you a truth hitherto kept secret: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
But I will tell you something that [God] has not revealed [before]: [Some of] us [believers] will not die [EUP]. However, all of us will be changed {[God] will change all of us}.
52 in 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.
[It will happen] suddenly, as [fast as someone can] blink his eye [MET], when [we hear the sound of God’s] trumpet for the last time. When we hear that trumpet, all [the believers] who have died will come back to life and will have bodies that are changed {that [God] has changed}, bodies that will never decay.
53 For so it must be: this perishable nature must clothe itself with what is imperishable, and this mortality must clothe itself with immortality.
And the [bodies of us who are alive at that time] will [also] be changed {And [God] will [also] change the [bodies of us who are alive at that time]}. These bodies of ours that die and decay must be transformed into [new bodies that] will never die; [it will be like someone] [MET] getting rid of [his old clothes] and putting on [new ones].
54 But 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."
When that happens, what is written {what ([a prophet/Isaiah]) wrote} [in the Scriptures] will come true/happen: [God] will completely get rid of [MET] death. Our dying will no longer have any power to defeat us;
Death [APO] will not win a victory over us. Death will not be able to hurt us. (Hadēs g86)
56 Now sin is the sting of death, and sin derives its power from the Law;
It is because we sin [MET] [that we die, and it is because we] have God’s laws that we [know that we] have sinned.
57 but God be thanked who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
But because of what our Lord Jesus Christ [has done], he enables us to be free [from having to obey God’s laws to be saved and to be free of being afraid to die]. We should thank God for that!
58 Therefore, 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.
So, my fellow believers whom I love, continue to hold strongly to [the things that you believe]. Do not let anything cause you to doubt them. Always be doing enthusiastically the work that the Lord [gives you]. And remember that the work that you do for the Lord is never (in vain/useless), [as it would be if God will not cause us to live again after we die].
