Bible Commentaries
1 Corinthians 15

Verses 1-58

1 There is a notable contrast between the methods with which the apostle deals with fundamental doctrinal error and moral evil. The wicked man (1 Corinthians 5:5) is delivered to Satan, but those who denied the resurrection are not put away. In these days the contrary course is pursued. Doctrinal differences, not nearly so vital as the denial of the resurrection, are made the ground for disfellowshipping godly saints, while moral evil is often condoned and overlooked. Differences in doctrine do not demand a severance of fellowship, or Paul would have so dealt with the Corinthians who denied the one doctrine which, because it involves all others, has the right to be called "fundamental".

3 The evangel which Paul preached was concerned with Christ. Not, however, with His life, but with His death, burial, and resurrection. These are the fundamental facts of the evangel. Not His death only, for that would be no evangel at all, but His burial and His resurrection.

5 The evidence for the resurrection of Christ is as conclusive as it is possible for any evidence to be. There were over five hundred witnesses and some of these were especially appointed and given ample opportunity to convince themselves. But the crowning proof was the descent of the glorified Christ to call Saul, upon the Damascus road. Saul was His enemy, and would have done much to prove that He was not roused. His testimony is of special weight. The resurrection is of the utmost consequence to Paul, for he did not know the Lord before His death, like the twelve apostles. Consequently he never would have known Him nor would he have seen Him unless He had been raised. In a very special sense Paul is the apostle of the ascended and glorified Christ. He never bases his teaching on the life of Jesus before His death and resurrection.

9 Paul's persecution of the ecclesia was the necessary prelude to the transcendent grace which called and sustained him so that he became at once the least and the greatest of the apostles. It was necessary that he should be the most undeserving in order that he might become the pattern for God's present dealings in grace.

12 The resurrection is the very fundamental of fundamentals. The death of Christ is essential to the evangel, yet it is not enough. A dead Christ cannot save. The resurrection is not only essential, but it involves His death, for only one who is dead can be roused from the dead.

Without His resurrection we are still in our sins.

18 The state of the dead, apart from resurrection, is not one of ecstatic bliss, but of destruction.

20 Christ was not the first one to be roused from the dead. The prophets, and the Lord Himself, recalled some to life before He Himself suffered death. But He is the first One to be made alive beyond the power of death. All the others were roused to die again. He is the First fruit of those who are vivified, and die no more.

21 Death's entrance and exit are both through a man. Adam and Christ are the channels, respectively, through which death and resurrection reach all mankind.

22 The words "even as'' mark a close parallel. The universality of death, through Adam, is beyond question. "Thus also" we are told, "in Christ, shall all be vivified." This will not occur simultaneously but in three distinct classes at widely separated intervals of time. Christ, the First fruit, is already alive at God's right hand. We who are Christ's will be made alive at His presence. This includes His coming to the air for the believers of this economy (1 Thessalonians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 15:52; Philippians 3:21) and His coming to Israel before the thousand years. The rest, who are not included in "those who are Christ's," must wait until the consummation, when death, the last enemy, is abolished. This will not occur until the eons have run their course and Christ hands over the kingdom to the Father. At the great white throne judgment no one is vivified or made alive. Hence it is passed over. Authority and power are still in exercise in the new earth. The throne of the Lamb is there. The consummation must be later, for sovereignty is abolished before death, the last enemy. The consummation is at the close of the eonian times, at the close of the last eon which is presented to our view in the final vision of the Unveiling.

25 The reign of Christ is so beneficent, it brings mankind to such a state of perfection, that all further need of the restraints of government vanishes. Rule implies insubordination, and is unnecessary where there is perfect subjection. Rule is a temporary expedient to cope with evil. When evil is banished rule also retires. The effects of evil for mankind are concentrated in death. When the universe has been purged of all other evil, then death itself becomes inoperative and yields up its victims. Not till then is it true that all are made alive in Christ.

27 The universality of Christ's subjection of all under His feet is evident from the one exception-God Himself.

28 God is All in Christ now. He will be All in His saints when we are made alive. He will be All in all when death is abolished, at the consummation. What a marvelous outcome of God's purpose! What a Christ we have, Who can accomplish such a complete reconciliation! The Corinthians denied the resurrection of any: Paul insists on the vivification of all.

29 The argument here is founded on the sixth chapter of Romans. Baptism is a symbol of death. Its benefits are confined to those who are united to Christ in His death. But even then it is absolutely valueless except as it also figures the resurrection. Apart from the resurrection of the dead, baptism, instead of introducing to a resurrection experience, will lead to carelessness and indifference.

35 The human body is not composed of definite, unvarying substance, but is changing its components daily, so that, in a few years, it has completely renewed its elements. Yet it remains the same body. So it is in resurrection. We do not look for the identical elements to be roused in the resurrection, even though we will identify the body as our own.

37 The miracle of resurrection is wrought each spring in the fields of the farmer. Death sustains our life now and it will be the entrance to eonian life, if we are not caught up to meet

Him ere it comes.

40 There is no direct statement here that our bodies will be changed to celestial bodies, in accord with the later revelation of Ephesians, but such an inference would be in point. Even among the celestials there will be degrees of glory. Our Lord Himself has a body which excelled the noonday in its effulgence. Ours will be transfigured to conform to His (Philippians 3:21).

42 In death the body disintegrates and returns to the soil whence it came. This loathsome process is reversed in resurrection. Disease and weakness accompany its dissolution, but power and glory will be the portion of all who are Christ's when He comes.

44 Our present bodies respond to the soul, or senses. They seek for physical comfort and satisfaction and pleasure. They do not respond to spiritual things. The soul is not a distinct entity. It is the effect of the combination of body and spirit. Adam was made of the soil. When the breath of life was breathed into him he became a living soul. He could feel, see, hear, smell. He became conscious. Such is the body which we have now. We are dominated by our senses. In the resurrection our bodies will respond to our spirit. Physical sensations will give place to spiritual perception.

47 The soil is the upper, oxidized crust of the earth from which Adam was formed and from which mankind derives its sustenance. It is the soil which sustains the plants and animals which provide us with food. Below the soil is the sphere of sulfation, which destroys life. As men are constituted now, they cannot exist apart from the soil of the earth. If we should be raised with bodies such as we now possess, we could not partake of a celestial allotment, for we would die from the lack of such food as our bodies can assimilate.

50 The soul (not the life) of the flesh is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11). The Lord has no blood in His resurrection body (Luke 24:39) .

51 This is a secret. It had not been told before. It lies in the one word change. It leads us one step nearer the celestial destiny revealed in the epistle to the Ephesians. Soilish as our bodies are, they need to be radically changed before they can endure a life celestial. This change will come in an instant when the Lord descends from heaven with the trumpet of God (1 Thessalonians 4:16). As the last note sounds we who are alive, who are mortal, as well as those who repose, who have gone to corruption, shall be changed. What a glorious prospect! Our bodies shall be like His-not as it was in His weakness before He was roused, not even as it was before His ascension, marvelous as that was, but as it was when Saul met Him and was blinded by the brightness of His presence. He will transfigure the body of our humiliation, to conform it to His body glorious (Philippians 3:21) .

55 What a victory that will be! Now death is operating in our bodies at all times, and eventually succeeds in dragging us down to the grave. Then we shall not only be restored to life, but enjoy incorruption and deathlessness, and a body so changed and glorified that it corresponds to the one which befits the Head of the universe. Yet the enjoyment and appreciation of the glory will depend on our previous humiliation.

55 The Septuagint reads "0 Unseen, where is your sting?" (Hosea 13:14), and some manuscripts follow this reading. As the tendency is to conform a quotation to its original, it is probable that Death was changed to Unseen by a copyist who knew the Septuagint reading but did not see that the apostle had enlarged the scope of the quotation to include the consummation, when there is no unseen (Revelation 20:14) and only the second death remains. A quotation is often varied from its original reading to fit it for its new context.