CHAPTER 15
Now,
brothers,
I want to remind
you
of the
gospel
I preached
to you,
which
you received,
and
in
which
you stand firm.
By
this gospel
you are saved,
if
you hold firmly
to the
word
I preached
to you.
Otherwise,
you have believed
in vain.
For
what
I received
I passed on
to you
as of
first importance:
that
Christ
died
for
our
sins
according to
the
Scriptures,
After that,
He appeared
to more than
five hundred
brothers
at once,
most
of
whom
are still alive,
though
some
have fallen asleep.
For
I
am
the
least
of the
apostles
and
am
unworthy
to be called
an apostle,
because
I persecuted
the
church
of God.
But
by the grace
of God
I am
what
I am,
and
His
grace
to
me
was not
in vain.
No,
I worked
harder
than all of them—
yet
not
I,
but
the
grace
of God
that was
with
me.
But
if
it is preached
that
Christ
has been raised
from
the dead,
how
can some
of
you
say
that
there is
no
resurrection
of the dead?
In that case,
we are also exposed as
false witnesses
about God.
For
we have testified
about
God
that
He raised
Christ from the dead,
but He did not raise
Him
if
in fact
the dead
are not raised.
But
Christ
has indeed
been raised
from
the dead,
the firstfruits
of those who
have fallen asleep.
Then
the
end will come,
when
He hands over
the
kingdom
to God
the
Father
after
He has destroyed
all
dominion,
authority,
and
power.
For
“God has put
everything
under
His
feet.”
Now
when
it says
that
everything
has been put under Him,
this
clearly
does not include
the One who
put everything under
Him.
And
when
all things
have been subjected to
Him,
then
the
Son
Himself
will be made subject
to Him who
put
all things
under Him,
so that
God
may be
all
in
all.
If these things are not so,
what
will those do
who
are baptized
for
the
dead?
If
the dead
are not raised
at all,
why
are people baptized
for
them?
If
I fought wild beasts
in
Ephesus
for
human motives,
what
did I gain?
If
the dead
are not raised,
“Let us eat
and
drink,
for
tomorrow
we die.”
Sober up
as you ought,
and
stop sinning;
for
some of you
are ignorant
of God.
I say this
to
your
shame.
And
what
you sow
is not
the
body
that
will be,
but
just
a seed,
perhaps
of wheat
or
something
else.
Not
all
flesh is
the
same:
Men have
one kind of
flesh,
animals have
another,
birds
another,
and
fish
another.
There are also
heavenly
bodies
and
earthly
bodies.
But
the
splendor
of the
heavenly bodies
is of one degree,
and
the splendor
of the
earthly bodies
is of another.
The sun
has one
degree of splendor,
the moon
another,
and
the stars
another;
and
star
differs
from star
in
splendor.
So
will it be
with the
resurrection
of the
dead:
What is sown is
perishable;
it is raised
imperishable.
It is sown
a natural
body;
it is raised
a spiritual
body.
If
there is
a natural
body,
there is
also
a spiritual body.
So
it is written:
“The
first
man
Adam
became
a living
being;”
the
last
Adam
a life-giving
spirit.
As
was the
earthly man,
so
also are
those who are
of the earth;
and
as
is the
heavenly man,
so
also
are those who are
of heaven.
And
just as
we have borne
the
likeness
of the
earthly man,
so also
shall we bear
the
likeness
of the
heavenly man.
Now
I declare to you,
brothers,
that
flesh
and
blood
cannot
inherit
the kingdom
of God,
nor
does the
perishable
inherit
the
imperishable.
in
an instant,
in
the twinkling
of an eye,
at
the
last
trumpet.
For
the trumpet will sound,
the
dead
will be raised
imperishable,
and
we
will be changed.
When
the
perishable
has been clothed with
the
imperishable
and
the
mortal
with
immortality,
then
the
saying
that
is written
will come to pass:
“Death
has been swallowed up
in
victory."
Therefore,
my
beloved
brothers,
be
steadfast
and immovable.
Always
excel
in
the
work
of the
Lord,
because you know
that
your
labor
in
the Lord
is
not
in vain.