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1 Corinthians 15 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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The Resurrection of Christ

(cf. Mar 16:9–20 )
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:1 - Now I would remind you, brothers,[fn] of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:2 - and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:3 - For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:4 - that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:5 - and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:6 - Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:7 - Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:8 - Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:9 - For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:10 - But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:11 - Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

(cf. 1Th 4:13–18 )
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:12 - Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:13 - But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:14 - And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:15 - We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:16 - For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:17 - And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:18 - Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:19 - If in Christ we have hope[fn] in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:20 - But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:21 - For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:22 - For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:23 - But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:24 - Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:25 - For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:26 - The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:27 - For “God[fn] has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:28 - When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:29 - Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:30 - Why are we in danger every hour?
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:31 - I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day!
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:32 - What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:33 - Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”[fn]
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:34 - Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

The Resurrection Body

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:35 - But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:36 - You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:37 - And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:38 - But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:39 - For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:40 - There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:41 - There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:42 - So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:43 - It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:44 - It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:45 - Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”;[fn] the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:46 - But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:47 - The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:48 - As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:49 - Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall[fn] also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Mystery and Victory

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:50 - I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:51 - Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:52 - in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:53 - For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:54 - When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:55 - “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:56 - The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:57 - But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:58 - Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
ESV Footnotes
Or brothers and sisters; also verses 6, 31, 50, 58
Or we have hoped
Greek he
Probably from Menander’s comedy Thais
Greek a living soul
Some manuscripts let us
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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