1 Corinthians 15

1Now I am making known to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I proclaimed to you—the gospel you received and in which you now stand,

2and through it you are being saved, provided you keep a firm grip on the message in the form I proclaimed it to you—unless your believing was for nothing.

3For first and foremost I handed on to you what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in keeping with the Scriptures,

4that he was buried, and that he has been raised on the third day in keeping with the Scriptures,

5and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.

6Next he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters all at once. Most of them are still with us, though some have fallen asleep.

7Then he appeared to James, and after that to all the apostles.

8Last of all, he appeared to me too, as if to a child born before its time.

9For I am the lowest of the apostles, not fit to bear the name apostle, since I persecuted God’s church.

10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and the grace he showed me did not go to waste. No, I have labored more than all of them—though not I, but God’s grace that was with me.

11So whether it was I or they, this is the message we proclaim and the message you came to believe.

12Now if what is proclaimed about Christ is that he has been raised from the dead, how can some among you claim there is no resurrection of the dead?

13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

14And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is empty, and your faith is empty too.

15What is more, we turn out to be false witnesses about God, since we have given testimony against God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise, if the dead really are not raised.

16For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you remain in your sins.

18It would follow, too, that those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.

19If our hope in Christ is only for this life, then we deserve more pity than anyone else.

20But now Christ really has been raised from the dead, as the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

21For since it was through a human being that death came, it is also through a human being that the resurrection of the dead comes.

22For just as all die in Adam, so too all will be made alive in Christ.

23But each one in their proper turn: Christ as the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who are Christ’s.

24After that comes the end, when he gives the kingdom over to God the Father, when he has abolished every ruler, every authority, and every power.

25For he has to reign until he has placed all his enemies under his feet.

26Death is the last enemy to be abolished.

27For “he has put all things in subjection under his feet.” Now when it says that “all things” have been put in subjection, obviously the one who put all things in subjection to him is the exception.

28And once all things have been put in subjection to him, the Son himself will then also be put in subjection to the one who put all things in subjection to him, so that God may be all in all.

29Otherwise, what will those who are baptized for the dead accomplish? If the dead are not raised at all, why do people get baptized for them?

30And why do we ourselves face danger every hour?

31I die every day—I swear it, brothers and sisters, by my boasting about you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.

32If, humanly speaking, I fought wild beasts at Ephesus, what did I gain by it? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

33Do not be fooled: “Evil companions spoil good character.”

34Sober up, as you ought to, and stop sinning, for some are ignorant of God. I am saying this to make you ashamed.

35But someone may ask, “In what way are the dead raised? What sort of body will they have when they come?”

36Fool! What you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies.

37And when you sow, you do not sow the body that will come to be, but a bare seed—perhaps of wheat or of something else.

38Then God gives it the body he has decided on, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.

39Not all flesh is the same. Human beings have one kind of flesh, animals another, birds another, and fish another.

40There are also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth; but the heavenly ones have one kind of glory, and the earthly ones a different kind.

41The sun has one glory, the moon another glory, the stars yet another; indeed, one star is different from another in glory.

42So it is with the resurrection of the dead. It is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable.

43It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If a natural body exists, a spiritual one exists too.

45So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

46The spiritual does not come first, however; the natural comes first, and after that the spiritual.

47The first man came out of the earth and was made of dust; the second man comes from heaven.

48Those who are made of dust are like the one made of dust, and those who are heavenly are like the heavenly one.

49And as we have worn the image of the one made of dust, we will also wear the image of the heavenly one.

50This is my point, brothers and sisters: flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom, and what is perishable does not inherit what is imperishable.

51Look, I am letting you in on a mystery: not all of us will fall asleep, but all of us will be changed,

52in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the final trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

53For this perishable body has to be clothed with imperishability, and this mortal body has to be clothed with immortality.

54When this perishable body has been clothed with imperishability, and this mortal body has been clothed with immortality, then the word that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

55“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

58So then, my dear brothers and sisters, be steady and unshakable, always overflowing in the Lord’s work, since you know that the toil you do in the Lord is not wasted.