“If No Resurrection, What’s the Point?”
(1 Corinthians 15:29-34)
Series: Chaos & Correction (1 Corinthians)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
•Take your Bibles and join me in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 (page 775; YouVersion).
We are preaching our way, verse-by-verse, through this practical letter to the church at Corinth. And in chapter 15 Paul is teaching on the glorious doctrine of the resurrection, namely the future resurrection of the Christian’s body from the dead.
You will recall that Paul ties the future resurrection of the Christian’s body to the former resurrection of Christ’s body. That is, because Christ is risen from the dead in bodily form, so will His followers rise from the dead in bodily form.
Paul has taught this close connection between Christ’s resurrection and the Christian’s resurrection since verse 12. In verse 12 and following Paul says, “Look, if there is no future resurrection of the Christian’s body, then we cannot even say that Christ rose from the dead in bodily form. And if Christ is not risen, then everything is for naught—our preaching is vain, your faith is vain—it is a hopeless cause.
Then in verse 20 Paul says, “But now Christ is risen from the dead,” and we studied these verses last time, verses 20 and following, where Paul teaches that Christ’s bodily resurrection is the first of many other resurrections to take place in the future. And Paul taught that the resurrection of Christ is part of God’s sovereign plan for human history.
Now Paul returns to addressing those at Corinth who did not believe in the bodily resurrection of Christians. He returns to the idea—first expressed back in verse 12—that there were “some” who said, “there was no resurrection of the dead” and Paul demonstrates the pointlessness of Christian living if the bodies of Christians are not raised from the dead. So in these six verses, verses 29-34, listen for the pointlessness of Christian living if there is no future resurrection of the bodies of Christians.
•Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
29 Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?
30 And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour?
31 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
32 If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
33 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”
34 Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
•Pray.
Introduction:
Our message this morning is entitled, “If No Resurrection, What’s the Point?” If there is to be no future resurrection of the bodies of Christians, then what is the point of being a Christian, at all? This really is Paul’s question here in these few verses. In fact you will note there are a series of questions that he asks in the passage. And with each question he is asking a larger question, “What is the point?” What is the point of living our Christian faith and what is the point of putting our lives on the line as Christian soldiers if there is no resurrection? Why be a Christian at all?
So as we go back through these verses I want to turn the questions around into the positive truths that are affirmed by the fact of the resurrection. In other words, because of the resurrection, there are some truths Christians can embrace. Number one, because of the resurrection:
I. We can Prevail over Death (29)
Now, before we look at verse 29, let’s recall what we have affirmed in previous weeks, namely what it is that happens to the Christian at death. We have noted that once the Christian dies, his or her soul goes to be with the Lord immediately.
Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 5:8 that to be “absent from the body” is to be “present with the Lord.” There is no period of so-called “soul sleep” where the Christian lies sleeping in a grave awaiting some time when he or she will wake up and go to heaven. Again, 2 Corinthians 5:8, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
Also in Philippians 1:21 and following Paul describes the Christian’s death as “gain” and says emphatically that should he die that he would then be in a position “far better” than remaining alive. He says, in fact, that he has “a desire to depart and be with Christ (Philippians 1:23).”
When a Christian dies, his or her soul goes immediately to be with Christ in heaven as it is presently experienced. It is not the final state of heaven as God will eventually create what the Book of Revelation calls a “new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1).”
Until then, when a Christian dies his or her soul goes to be with the Lord immediately at death. The body does not go to heaven, but the soul goes. We are confident that souls will recognize other souls and will have everything needful to experience the joy and wonder of heaven. But the Bible teaches that one day Christ will return and when He returns, the souls of Christians will return with Him. And when He returns He will raise from the dead the bodies that had belonged to these Christian souls and then those bodies will be changed into glorified bodies, like the Lord’s glorified body, and the Christian’s soul will inhabit that glorified body for eternity. It is in this glorified body that the Christian will enjoy the final state of glorification, living among other Christians in the new heavens and the new earth. The final state is a great reversal of the Fall. Adam and Eve had a kind of glorified body and dwelt in a kind of glorified state. In the future, Christians will have glorified bodies dwelling in a place even better than the Garden of Eden.
Now we’ll study more about the nature and makeup of the glorified body when we come together next week, Lord willing, and study verses 35 and following. For now, we are recalling this major truth that Christians will prevail over death. Because of the resurrection Christians prevail over death, spiritual death and physical death.
Now let’s look at verse 29, a verse that has caused no small amount of confusion over the past 2,000 years.
29 Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?
At first reading this verse seems to teach a sort of vicarious baptism, that a person can be baptized for someone else, being baptized in the place of the one who had died in order to ensure that the one who had died will go to heaven. This interpretation takes the preposition “for” there in verse 29 to mean “on behalf of” another person, namely one who has already died.
Mormons interpret the verse that way, believing that a person can be baptized for a dead ancestor. Mormons teach that if one goes back through history and locates his or her ancestors then baptisms can be performed for those dead ancestors. This seems to be at least one reason the Mormon church places such great emphases on keeping maintaining exhaustive genealogical records.
So a person could, in effect, save another person who had already died simply by being baptized for them.
Ray Stedman states that he had “met a woman once who said that she had saved more people than Jesus Christ because,” (she claimed) “she had been baptized for so many thousands of people!”
The obvious problem with interpreting the verse this way is that it goes totally against everything the Bible teaches elsewhere on the doctrine of salvation. We have already noted, for example, that once a person dies his or her fate is sealed. The writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 9:27, “It is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment.” For the Christian, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. For the non-Christian, teachings such as Luke 16 illustrate that the unbeliever at death goes immediately to hell. One a person dies his or her fate is sealed. There are no second chances to be saved.
Furthermore, we are not saved by baptism. Baptism is a work and Christians are not saved by works but by grace through faith in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9). So if you cannot save yourself by baptism, then clearly you cannot save another person by baptism, either.
Some think that there was, however, this strange practice going on in Corinth and that Paul was not seeking to correct the wrong practice but merely illustrating the pointlessness of it if there were no resurrection. But this hardly seems like the Apostle Paul—not to correct a heretical practice when he is so clear on the teaching of salvation everywhere else in his writings.
Others think that Paul is talking about folks getting baptized in order to be with those who had died in Christ. So a saintly grandmother dies and her grandson at the funeral is convicted of his sin and trusts Christ and is baptized so that he may see his grandmother again. This is a better interpretation and the thought of being with a loved one again in the future is not a bad motivation for coming to Christ, but the preposition “for” means “on behalf of” and so the interpretation is probably not correct.
The preposition “for” in verse 29, “for the dead” seems best applied to the person himself. That is, when Paul asks, “what will they do who are baptized for the dead,” he is talking about the Christian’s dying body, the Christian’s dying, decaying body. He is talking about the mortal body of the living Christian.
As Paul elaborates in the following verses, the Christian’s body is subject to death and decay and will be changed to a glorified body, a body that is not subject to death and decay. The Christian exchanges the mortal body for an immortal body. So when the Christian is baptized, then, he is illustrating that while he himself lives, his soul lives, his body on the other hand is dead. It is a mortal body. Christians are baptized “on behalf of” their dying bodies showing their faith in the future resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:42-44: “The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body…”
Also 1 Corinthians 15:53-54: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’”
So Christians being baptized “for the dead” refers to Christians being baptized for their dying bodies, a baptism that is useless, Paul argues, if the dead are not raised.
Because of the resurrection, we can prevail over death. Secondly, because of the resurrection:
II. We can Persevere through Difficulty (30-32)
What Paul does next is to illustrate the pointlessness of facing peril and persecution if there is no bodily resurrection. He asks in verse 30:
30 And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour?
That is, if there is no resurrection of the dead, no future bodily resurrection of Christians, then what would be the point of our “standing in jeopardy every hour?” Why suffer persecution and difficulty if we have no hope in a future resurrection?
See, for the Christian, God’s raising our bodies from the dead is a demonstration of His ultimate victory over all evil. It is a vindication of God and His plan and power over the forces of evil. He created everything and called everything good. When sin entered in, everything became bad. So the resurrection of the bodies of believers is tied-into this ultimate vindication of God and His original creation. Without the resurrection, death and defeat reign. But because of the resurrection of the material body and the changing of that body into a glorified body, God’s original creative purposes are not finally thwarted as God reigns victorious over death.
This is why Paul asks, in verse 30, “And why do we stand in jeopardy ever hour?” In other words, “What is the point of facing difficulty and danger if there is no bodily resurrection—if there is no ultimate vindication of God’s created order—if there is no victory over death and the forces of evil?”
Rather, Paul says, “This is how I stand in the face of trials and tribulations. I know that this world is not all there is and that God is in control of all things and that one day even this body—this body now beaten and bruised as I have suffered for Christ—even this body will one day be changed into a glorified body like the body of my Lord’s.”
31 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
Paul says, “I boast in you,” my boast is not in myself, but in you. I am delighted to see that you have come to Christ and it is my joy for your coming to faith in Christ that I am willing to “die daily.”
Just as certain as your are saved is the certainty that I will face death at every turn. And Paul had faced tremendous difficulty in his living for Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:23b–29 sheds light on the kinds of trials he has had to endure.
“…in…(beatings; I received them) above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— 28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
What motivates a man to suffer so greatly and continue on in times of adversity? The truth of resurrection.
Paul continues in verse 32:
32 If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
Paul writes metaphorically of his having “fought with beasts at Ephesus.” As a Roman citizen he would not face beasts literally as did the gladiators, but he certainly faced his share of trouble and apparently some particularly difficult persons while ministering in Ephesus. It’s probably the “beasts at Ephesus” to whom Paul was referring in:
2 Corinthians 1:8-9, 8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia (that would be Ephesus): that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead,
There it is again: Because of the resurrection we can persevere through difficulty.
It’s like the chorus in the hymn:
Because he lives
I can face tomorrow
Because he lives
All fear is gone
Because I know
He holds the future
And life is worth the living
Just because he lives
So we Christians have a different mindset than the mindset of non-Christians. Were it not for the resurrection, we may as well adopt the philosophy of the Epicureans. Paul refers to that kind of secular thinking in the second part of verse 32, “If the dead do not rise, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!’”
But we Christians don’t think that way. That is why we can persevere through difficulty. We are willing to suffer persecution and death because of the hope of the resurrection.
Because of the resurrection we can persevere through difficulty.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18:
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
This is why we risk our lives for the Gospel. This is why we go to the unreached peoples of the world. This is why we persevere in spite of illness, loss, or cancer. We know that these are things that are “temporary,” that, “the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Because of the resurrection we can prevail over death, we can persevere through difficulty and, thirdly, because of the resurrection:
III. We can Protect against Deception (33-34)
Verse 33:
33 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”
Paul writes that warning right after quoting the popular post-modern secularist thinking of our age, the thinking of the Epicureans in verse 32, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
Paul says, “Do not be deceived.” Guard against the deceptive and hollow ways of the atheist, agnostic, or so-called liberal Christian who denies the bodily resurrection. Do not be deceived, “Evil company corrupts good habits.”
That’s another way of saying, “You become like the people you hang out with.” You become like the people you hang out with.
Solomon said in Proverbs 13:20, “He who walks with the wise and become wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.”
You become like the people you run around with. Evil company corrupts good habits. Don’t take my word for it, take God’s Word for it. Young people, “Evil company corrupts good habits.” Who do you spend the majority of your time with—godly people? People who inspire you to grow in godliness? Young couples, “Evil company corrupts good habits.”
What we think about the future affects how we live in the present.
See how practical doctrine is? Think rightly and you will live rightly. Think rightly about the certain future, the future judgment, the future resurrection, think rightly about what happens after death and it will have a positive affect on how you live in the present. You are less likely to be deceived by the ways of those who reject the teachings of Scripture.
Evil company corrupts good habits. This is the thinking of the Psalmist as well in Psalm 1, verse 1, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful;”
Because of the truth of the resurrection, we can protect against deception. Verse 34:
34 Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
Paul is saying, “Wake up! Wake up, Christians!” He says, “Do not sin. Don’t be like those who do not know God. I speak this to your shame.” Paul is using shame in a good way.
He is trying to wake up those who have fallen asleep to right doctrine. Doctrine drives behavior. Many of the Corinthians had slumbered into a sleepy embrace of false teaching. They had allowed those who rejected the teaching of the resurrection to affect their behavior and they had fallen into sin.
Bad theology leads to immorality. Think wrongly about doctrine and it leads to error. Think rightly about doctrine and it leads to godly living. Doctrine drives behavior.
What we think about the future affects how we behave in the present.
Because of the resurrection…
We can prevail over death
We can persevere through difficulty—this week
We can protect against deception
•Stand for prayer.
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