Christians will live again after death
12 We all teach this message: God raised Christ up after his death. But some of you say that dead people do not live again. 13 Anyone who says that is wrong. If dead people do not live again, Christ also did not rise up after his death. He would still be dead. 14 And if God did not raise Christ up, it would be useless for us to teach you. There would be nothing for you to believe. 15 We would have been telling lies about God, because we told you that God raised Christ up after his death. But if dead people do not live again, it means that God did not raise Christ.
16 So, if dead people never rise to a new life, even Christ himself did not rise after his death. 17 And if Christ did not rise, then you have believed a false message. God would still say that you are guilty, because of your sins.
18 Also, think about those people who believed in Christ but they have already died. If dead people do not rise to a new life, those people would have no life with God. 19 As believers, we trust Christ to give us a new life after death. But if we only trust him to help us in this life, we should be very sad. Everybody should be very sorry for us, more than for anyone else.
20 But God did raise Christ up after his death. We know that is true! Christ rose up to go to God in heaven. He was the first, so we know that believers who die will also rise up.
21 All people die because of what one man did. That man was Adam. And it is because of another man that people can rise up after death to a new life. That man is Christ. 22 As people, all of us belong to Adam's family. So all of us must die. In the same way, all people who belong to Christ will live again after death. 23 But it must happen like this: first of all, Christ became alive again after his death. Then, when Christ returns, his people will also rise to new life. 24 After that, the end of everything will happen. Christ will win against every ruler and power and authority. Then he will give the kingdom to God the Father, for him to rule.
25 Christ himself must rule as king until he has won against all his enemies. 26 The last enemy that he must destroy is death. 27 The Bible says, ‘God has put all things under his authority.’ But it is clear that the words ‘all things’ do not include God himself. No, because it is God who put all things under Christ's authority. 28 When God has put all things under Christ's authority, then God's Son, Jesus Christ, will put himself under his Father's authority. Then God will have complete authority over all things, everywhere.
29 Think about this. Some of you have let people baptize you on behalf of believers who have already died. But if dead people do not rise up to a new life, there is no reason to baptize anyone on their behalf.
15:29It seems that some people in the church at Corinth did this. If a believer died before anyone had baptized him, they might baptize another believer on behalf of the dead person. Paul does not say that this was a good thing to do. But it shows that they expected dead believers to rise to a new life.
30 Also, think about us! All the time we are in great danger. 31 Yes, every day I come near to death! Why do I tell you this? It is because I am proud of you. I am proud because we all belong to Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 At Ephesus, people attacked me like wild animals and I fought against them. But that would be worth nothing to me if dead people do not rise to a new life. If dead people do not live again, then we could say:
15:32Ephesus was a city in the country that we call Turkey now.
‘We will have a big feast today,
because tomorrow we will all be dead.’
33 Do not let anyone deceive you. Remember this:
‘If you become a friend of bad people,
you also will live in a bad way.’
34 So start thinking properly! Stop doing wrong things! Some of you do not really know God. I am saying this to make you feel ashamed.
