The gospel Paul preached
15
📚Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel✭ which I preached to you, which also you have received, and in which you stand. 2 📚By it also you are saved✭, if✭ you hold firmly to the word I preached to you; unless you believed in vain.3 📚 ✭For I passed on to you first of all that which I also received✭: That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 📚and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 📚and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 📚After that, he was seen by more than five hundred✭ brethren at once, of whom the majority remain to this present day, but some have fallen asleep✭. 7 📚After that, he was seen by James✭; then by all the apostles. 8 📚And last of all he was seen by me✭ also, as by one born out of due time✭.
9 📚✭For I am the least of the apostles, and am not worthy 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 which was granted to me was not in vain, for I laboured far more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11 📚✭Therefore, whether I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.
The resurrection of Christ and of believers
12 📚✭Now if Christ is preached that he rose from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 📚But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not risen. 14 📚And if Christ has not risen, then our preaching✭ is in vain, and your faith is also in vain. 15 📚Yes, and we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ up, whom he did not raise up, if so be that the dead do not rise. 16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ has not been raised. 17 📚✭And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain, you are still in your sins. 18 📚Then, also, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 📚✭If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied. 20 📚✭But now Christ has risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits✭ of those who slept.
21 📚✭For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 📚For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 📚But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ✭. 24 📚After that✭ comes the end✭, when he will have handed over the kingdom to God the Father, when he will have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 📚For he must reign until he has put all enemies✭ under his feet. 26 📚The last enemy that will be destroyed is death✭. 27 📚For he has put all things under his feet. But when he says that all things are put under him, it is evident that he who put all things under him is not included. 28 📚✭And when all things have been made subject to him, then the Son himself will also be subject✭ to him who put all things under him, so that God may be all in all✭.
29 📚Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why, then, are they baptized for the dead✭? 30 📚✭And why do we stand in danger every hour? 31 📚I declare by the boasting I have about you in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 32 📚If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts✭ at Ephesus, what does it benefit me, if the dead do not rise? In that case let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
33 📚✭Do not be deceived: Bad company ruins good character. 34 📚✭Awake to righteousness, and do not sin. For some do not have the knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
A new kind of body
35 📚✭But someone will say, How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? 36 📚Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive, unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is only seed; you do not sow the body that will be, but perhaps seeds of wheat or of some other grain. 38 📚But God gives it a body as it pleases him, and to every seed its own body. 39 📚All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh for men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. 40 There are also heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies. But the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. 41 📚There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.
42 📚✭So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. 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. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 📚✭And so it is written: “The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a life-giving spirit”. 46 📚✭However, that which is spiritual did not come first, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47 📚The first man was of the earth, earthly; the second man is the Lord from heaven. 48 📚✭As was the earthly man, so also are those who are earthly; and as the heavenly man is, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 📚✭And as we have borne the likeness of the earthly, so we will also bear the likeness✭ of the heavenly.
50 📚✭Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit the incorruptible.
The last trumpet
51 📚✭See, I show you a mystery✭. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 📚in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet✭. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. 53 📚✭For this corruptible must put on the incorruptible, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 📚So when this corruptible has put on the incorruptible, and this mortal has put on immortality, then will take place the word that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 📚O death, where is your sting?
O grave, where is your victory?
56 📚✭The sting of death is sin; and the strength 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 brethren, be firm, unmovable✭, always abounding in the work✭ of the Lord, for you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.