People do live again after death
12 We all speak 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, then Christ did not rise up after his death. He would still be dead. 14 And if God did not raise Christ up, it does no good for us to tell God's good news to people. 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, that would not be true.
16 So, if dead people never rise to a new life, then 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 lead us into 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 it is really true that God raised Christ up after his death. He 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 was Adam. And it is because of another man that people can rise up after death to a new life. That is Christ. 22 As people, all of us belong to Adam's family. So all of us must die. But all people who belong to Christ will live again after death. 23 It is like this: First of all, Christ died and then he became alive again. Then, when Christ returns, his people will live again too. 24 After that, the end of everything will happen. Christ will win against every ruler and power and authority. He will give the kingdom to God, the Father. God will rule over everything.
15:21Adam was the first person that God made in the beginning. See Genesis 1:26-27. 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 It says in the Bible, ‘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 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 city, 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.
‘Tomorrow we will probably die.
So we should just eat and drink as much as we like.’
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.
