1 CORINTHIANS 15: 29-34 [RESURRECTION REALITIES SERIES]
SOME RESURRECTION INCENTIVES
Scripture is not theoretical, impractical, or irrelevant. If truth is denied we cannot think or live right. Right doctrine is inseparably connected to right moral behavior. Right principles are given to lead to right conduct. Scripture is not given to simply be discussed; it is to be lived out. When its truth is denied there are devastating moral and spiritual consequences.
Though the resurrection of the human body is a future event it has compelling implications for our present lives. The major thrust in 15:29-34 is: if you remove the resurrection, if you deny this crucial and wonderful truth of God's redemptive work, you have removed one of the greatest motivations the Lord gives for coming to Christ and for living for Christ. He therefore points out three powerful incentives the resurrection gives: (1) an incentive for salvation; (2) an incentive for service; and (3) an incentive for sanctification.
I. AN INCENTIVE FOR SALVATION, 29.
The argument begins in verse 29 with a difficult to understand thought. “Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them?”
This verse is one of the most difficult in all of Scripture and has many legitimate possible interpretations. It also has been used to support many strange and heretical ideas. As to what this verse does mean, we can only guess, since history has locked it into obscurity.
We can be sure though that it does not teach vicarious or proxy baptism for the dead, as claimed by ancient gnostic heretics such as Marcion and by the Mormon church today. Paul did not teach that a person who has died can be saved, or helped in any way, by another person's being baptized in his behalf. Baptismal regeneration, the idea that one is saved by being baptized, or that baptism is in some way necessary for salvation, is unscriptural.
If one person's faith cannot save another, then certainly one person's baptism cannot save another. Baptism is simply an act of obedient faith that proclaims identity with Christ (Rom. 6:3–4). No one is saved by baptism—not even living persons, much less dead ones. “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Heb 9: 27). Death ends all opportunity for salvation and for spiritual help of any sort.
In the New Testament baptism is closely associated with salvation, of which it is an outward testimony. Although a person does not have to be baptized to be a Christian, he has to be baptized to be an obedient Christian—with the obvious exception of a believer who has no opportunity to be baptized before death. Baptism is an integral part of Christ's Great Commission (Mt 28:19). In the early church a person who was saved was assumed to have been baptized; and a person was not baptized unless the church was satisfied he was saved. To ask, then, if a person was baptized, was equivalent to asking if he was saved.
No interpretation of this text is entirely satisfactory. It could be that some in Corinth believed a false view of baptism and were baptized for the dead. Paul then took up and used it as an argument against those who denied the Resurrection. Also it is noteworthy that Paul referred to those (not “we”) who are “baptized for the dead.”
It could also be possible that Paul may be affirming the truth that Christians who face death with joy and hope are a powerful testimony. It may be that the first seeds of faith were planted in Paul's own heart by the testimony of Stephen, whose death the young Paul (then Saul) witnessed and whose confident and loving dying testimony he heard (Acts 7:59–8:1).
During the FINNISH-RUSSIAN WAR seven captured Russian soldiers were sentenced to death by the Finnish army. The evening before they were to be shot, one of the soldiers began singing “Safe in the Arms of Jesus.” Asked why he was singing such a song, he answered tearfully that he had heard it sung by a group of Salvation Army “soldiers” just three weeks earlier. As a boy he had heard his mother talk and sing of Jesus many times, but would not accept her Savior. The previous night, as he lay contemplating his execution, he had a vision of his mother's face, which reminded him of the hymn he had recently heard. The words of the song and verses from the Bible that he had heard long ago came to his mind. He testified before his fellow prisoners and his captors that he had prayed for Christ to forgive his sins and cleanse his soul and make him ready to stand before God. All the men, prisoners and guards alike, were deeply moved, and most spent the night praying, weeping, talking about spiritual things, and singing hymns. In the morning, just before the seven were shot, they asked to be able to sing once more “Safe in the Arms of Jesus,” which they were allowed to do.
At least one other of the Russian soldiers had confessed Christ during the night. In addition, the Finnish officer in charge said, “`What happened in the hearts of the others I don't know, but I was a new man from that hour. I had met Christ in one of His loveliest and youngest disciples, and I had seen enough to realize that I too could be His.”
The prospect of eternal life, of resurrection life, of reunion with loved ones, is a strong motive for people to listen to and accept the gospel. Resurrection is one of the greatest assurances that God gives to those who trust in His Son. For those who believe in Jesus Christ, the grave is not the end. At death our souls and spirits are not absorbed back into some cosmic divine mind. When we die, we will go immediately to be with the Lord—as an individual, personal being. Not only that, but one day our glorified bodies will rejoin our spirits, and we will live as whole, completed human beings throughout all of eternity with all who have loved and worshiped God.
If there is no resurrection, no hope of a future life, why are people coming to Christ because of the testimony of believers who have died? The reality of the resurrection is a powerful incentive in salvation.
II. AN INCENTIVE FOR SERVICE, 30-32.
The second incentive that hope of resurrection gives is that for service. In contrast to the practice of those cited in verse 29, Paul mentioned his own lifestyle as a forceful statement of his conviction about the certainty of the Resurrection in verses 30-32. Verse 30 refers to dangers and sufferings with which those who believe in the resurrection willingly experience. “Why are we also in danger every hour?”
Why would believers endure and sacrifice so much if there is no resurrection? If this life were the end, what would be the reason for Paul's and the other apostles' being “in danger every hour?”
If there were no resurrection of the believing dead, then suffering and dying for the sake of the gospel would be masochistic, suffering for suffering's sake. As Paul had already pointed out, “If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied” (15:19).
What makes Christians willing to work hard, willing to suffer, willing to be abused and ridiculed, and willing to endure the inner working of Christ is that Christ's supreme task, the redemption of sinners, will last past this present life (Rom. 8:18). What would be the purpose of suffering for Christ if we would never see Him face to face? What would be the purpose of winning others to Christ if they would never see Him face to face? Where would be the good news in such a gospel? Where would be the incentive for preaching or believing such a gospel?
Why partake of anything that makes this life miserable if this life is all there is? Why be in danger every hour, if we have no security to look forward to?
In verse 31 Paul affirms that only because of the resurrection power and hope does he daily die to self and live for Christ. “I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.”
Paul lived for Jesus instead of for himself (2 Cor. 2:20). He died daily because every day he deliberately put his life in jeopardy for the cause of Jesus Christ. Why “die daily,” that is, give your life in self-denying ministry, if death ends it all? Paul protests them making shambles of the Christian’s service for Christ Jesus. Service to God makes little sense if there is no resurrection. If Christ's resurrection on Easter morning was the only resurrection, as some of the Corinthians believed, then His being raised was no victory for us. He would not have conquered death but only made death a greater mockery for those who put their trust in Him.
Paul could only glory or boast in those saved (in those he lead to Christ and those in Christ he discipled) because he would not only see them in heaven, but live with them eternally in heaven. His work in the Lord only had meaning if the dead were resurrected.
Verse 32 asks what profit is there in serving God if there is no resurrection. “If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, LET US EAT AND DRINK, FOR TOMORROW WE DIE.”
What “human motives” could Paul have had for continually risking his safety and his life? We cannot be certain that Paul “fought” literal “wild beasts at Ephesus,” (the city from which he is writing this letter), though this interpretation is supported by tradition. It may be that Paul was speaking metaphorically of the wild crowd of Ephesians (illustrated by the riot incited against him by the silversmith Demetrius when he narrowly escaped death forcing him from the city (Acts 19:23–20:1; 2 Cor. 1:8–10). In any case, he was speaking of one of his many dangerous, life-threatening experiences.
Why would he have endured that, he was saying, and have continued to endure such things, if his only purpose and only hope was merely human and temporary? If we live only to die and remain dead, it makes more sense to living just for ‘the here and now.’ “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” —a direct quotation from Isaiah 22:13.
Why face that if this life were all there is? The Epicureans (and less philosophical men before them; Isa. 22:13) would be right—pursue pleasure and avoid pain (Epicurus Letter to Menoeceus 128). If this life is all there is, why should the sensual not rule? Why not grab all we can, do all we can, live it up all we can? If we die only to remain dead, hedonism makes perfect sense.
What profit or advantage is there for Paul if the dead are not raised? Why would he choose to live so precariously if the resurrection is not true? ‘If the dead are not raised’, as some of them are saying, the only sensible course would be to make the most of this life, circumscribed as it would be by birth and death, with nothing beyond.
Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith,…for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). It was anticipation of the resurrection, of being raised to be again with His Father, that gave our Lord the motive to die on our behalf. He was willing to die for us because He knew He would be raised for us.
III. AN INCENTIVE FOR SANCTIFICATION, 33-34.
The third incentive the hope of resurrection gives is for sanctification (or Christ-likeness). Looking forward to resurrection should lead to more godly living and spiritual maturity. Paul knew there was more, and his life testified to that fact (1 Cor. 9:24-27; 2 Cor. 4:16-18).
Denying the resurrection destroys the incentives both for service and for sanctification. Why then bother serving the Lord or serving others in His name, and why bother to be holy and pure? That is what was happening as verse 33 indicates. “Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”’
Some Corinthians were listening to some wrong teaching and associating with some deceived people. Whether the teaching was in formal messages or not, it was bad and corrupting.
People who think wrongly invariably behave wrongly. Wrong behavior comes from wrong thinking, from wrong beliefs and wrong standards. It is impossible to associate regularly with deceived people without being contaminated both by their ideas and by their habits. 2 Peter 3:17 says, “Don’t let the errors of wicked people lead you down the wrong path and make you lose your balance.”
“Be not deceived” could also be translated as do not roam or wander from the truth. That is what deceivers do. They use their charm and wit to lure you into thinking something evil is good. They learn their skill from Satan who is the first and foremost deceiver. Paul is warning the Corinthians that they are being deceived or tempted to wander from the truth.
Paul’s concluding advice [with reference to those who continued to deny the Resurrection of the body] was like his former counsel concerning immoral people in the church —don’t associate with them. Previously he had compared immorality in the church to yeast in bread (5:6). [Here he quoted the pagan writer Menander (Thais 218)] “Bad company corrupts good character.”
[False teachers should be avoided (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1) because though they claimed great knowledge they were in fact “ignorant of God” (1 Cor. 8:2). The context implies that the bad company did believe in the resurrection of the dead, and that bad theology had corrupted good morals. Were the wise Corinthians this easily deceived? (2 Cor. 11:3)]
Their bad theology lead to bad behavior, which kept them from sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Verse 34, “Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.”
These friends and teachers had so influenced the Corinthians that they had ignored soul winning and discipleship. They needed to wake up. They should be leading those who do not believe in the resurrection into a true “knowledge of God,” rather than allowing them and their immorality mislead and corrupt. The apostle spoke this to [their] shame. They had the truth, but they did not fully believe it and therefore did not fully follow it. He commands them to cease the sin they were involved in.
With out a knowledge of God, there is no living out His truth. Without the prospect of a resurrection, and of the accountability it brings, there is no incentive for doing anything but what we feel like doing here and now (2 Cor. 6:14 ). If behavior has no reward or condemnation, it will become uncontrolled.
Sadly, ‘some’ in the church today continue to dispute the resurrection of the dead and the resurrection of Christ. Among these are some prominent church leaders who exercise a ‘corrupting’ influence among Christians. Paul's advice continues to shine like a beacon, ‘Do not be led astray’ by them. Hold fast to the gospel as the measuring rod for the teachings of all ministers, including those who hold high office.
In CLOSING
What tremendous power the resurrection has! What wonderful hope it gives! Jesus rose from the dead. He is alive; and we shall live also because one day He will raise us up to be with Him eternally. What greater incentive, what greater motive, could we have for coming to Him, for serving Him, and for living for Him? [MacArthur, 430]
If you do not have a personal relationship with JC, I invite you to begin one right now. Life has eternal meaning because He gives eternal life to all who will follow Him. He has conquered sin, death and the grave and offers you an abundant life filled with hope. Come and find the free gift of life He offers all who will turn to Him from their own way of living.
Lord, the resurrection of Your Son has given us new life and renewed hope. Come transform us on the inside so that each day we become more like our risen Lord. We welcome You to breath into our every word, action & thought. Help us to live as new people in pursuit of the Christian ideal. Grant us wisdom to know what we must do, the will to want to do it, the courage to undertake it, the perseverance to continue to do it, & the strength to complete it.
Make the resurrection personal to us—help it to inspire and change the way we live each day. Make us agents of your hope by what we do for others and claim for our lives. Strengthen our belief so that we might enjoy spiritual treasures from Your hand & rest in the promises of the life to come.
