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1 Corinthians 15 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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The Resurrection of Christ
(cf. Mar 16:9–20 )
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:1 - Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters,[fn] of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:2 - It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.[fn]
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:3 - I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:4 - He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:5 - He was seen by Peter[fn] and then by the Twelve.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:6 - After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers[fn] at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:7 - Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:8 - Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:9 - For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:10 - But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:11 - So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed.
The Resurrection of the Dead
(cf. 1Th 4:13–18 )
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:12 - But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead?
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:13 - For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:14 - And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:15 - And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:16 - And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:17 - And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:18 - In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost!
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:19 - And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:20 - But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:21 - So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:22 - Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:23 - But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:24 - After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:25 - For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:26 - And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:27 - For the Scriptures say, “God has put all things under his authority.”[fn] (Of course, when it says “all things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.)
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:28 - Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:29 - If the dead will not be raised, what point is there in people being baptized for those who are dead? Why do it unless the dead will someday rise again?
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:30 - And why should we ourselves risk our lives hour by hour?
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:31 - For I swear, dear brothers and sisters, that I face death daily. This is as certain as my pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done in you.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:32 - And what value was there in fighting wild beasts—those people of Ephesus[fn]—if there will be no resurrection from the dead? And if there is no resurrection, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!”[fn]
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:33 - Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:34 - Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all.
The Resurrection Body
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:35 - But someone may ask, “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?”
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:36 - What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:37 - And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:38 - Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:39 - Similarly there are different kinds of flesh—one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:40 - There are also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the glory of the earthly bodies.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:41 - The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:42 - It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:43 - Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:44 - They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:45 - The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.”[fn] But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:46 - What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:47 - Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:48 - Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:49 - Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like[fn] the heavenly man.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:50 - What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:51 - But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:52 - It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:53 - For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:54 - Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die,[fn] this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.[fn]
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:55 - O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?[fn]
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:56 - For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:57 - But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 15:58 - So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
NLT Footnotes
Greek brothers; also in 15:31, 50, 58.
Or unless you never believed it in the first place.
Greek Cephas.
Greek the brothers.
Ps 8:6.
Greek fighting wild beasts in Ephesus.
Isa 22:13.
Gen 2:7.
Some manuscripts read let us be like.
Some manuscripts add and our mortal bodies have been transformed into immortal bodies.
Isa 25:8.
Hos 13:14 (Greek version).
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

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

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