1 Corinthians 15

Notes

Ver. 1, 2. Moreover, with respect to the resurrection of the dead and the certainty of a future state, I will again set before you the great fundamental truth—which I preached unto you, and which ye were convinced of, and embraced as the foundation of all your hope towards God; and in the profession and faith of which the generality of you still persevere, notwithstanding all the pains of false teachers to corrupt you; and by means of which all of you who truly believe were brought into a state of salvation, having already the beginning and earnest, and a full security for the complete perfection of it:—3, 4. This great and fundamental truth, which I received from God by immediate inspiration, and first and chiefly delivered unto you in my preaching as a most sacred and valuable trust, to be inviolably kept by you, was, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God in our nature, according to the manifold types and predictions of the Old Testament, died in our stead, to make atonement for our sins and reconcile us to God, and was buried by Joseph of Arimathea and other friends; and by his own, his Father's, and the Spirit's almighty influence, rose from the dead on the third day. 5-7. And that, to manifest the absolute certainty of his resurrection, and instruct his apostles concerning the form of his New Testament church, he continued on earth forty days, and appeared, on several occasions, to the most unexceptionable witnesses, who could neither be deceived themselves, nor were under any temptation to deceive others.—Thus, on the very day of his resurrection, he appeared to Peter, and at night to ten of his disciples, and that day seven-night to eleven of them. Some time after he appeared to five hundred of his followers in Galilee; most of whom still live to attest it, though some of them have, by death, fallen asleep till the general resurrection. After that he was seen of James the son of Alpheus, his kinsman according to the flesh, and then of all the apostles, if not also the seventy disciples, just before his ascension to heaven.—8. And after all these repeated and undoubted appearances to his friends, several years after his ascension, he appeared to me in an extraordinary manner, that, as an eye-witness, I might be able to attest his resurrection; though, alas, I was not among his followers during his life, but was converted and called to the apostleship out of the ordinary time, and by an uncommon extension of free grace! 9. For however remarkably Jesus Christ has enriched me with qualifications for, and success in, the apostolical work, I was utterly unworthy of that office, or even of the smallest mercy, because, during my ignorance of Christ, instigated by a furious zeal for the Jewish religion, I outrageously persecuted the church, which God intended to organize in Christ, and which he owns and blesses, and in and by which he will be forever glorified.—10. But by the free, tender, infinite, and transcendent favour of God, I, a blasphemer, persecutor, and injurious person, have found Christ, and am qualified with every proper endowment; and that grace and apostleship, freely bestowed upon me, was not unprofitable: for under a deep sense of his marvellous grace, I have unweariedly, and amidst difficulties and sufferings unnumbered, exerted myself and all my gifts and graces, for his honour and the good of souls, more than any other apostle did. I mention this to confute my reproachers; but do not attribute my diligence and success to any excellency or care of mine, but wholly to the loving and assisting grace of God:—11. But whether ye ascribe your conversion and edification to me, or to any other instrument, the doctrine of the death and resurrection of Christ is what we all preached, and ye always professed to believe and depend on, as the sole ground of your eternal salvation. 12. Now, if the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to immortal life and glory, as the Head of the church, has been so uniformly preached with undoubted evidence of its certainty, how absurd is it for any who bear the Christian name to pretend that there neither is, nor can be, a real and proper resurrection of men's dead bodies to eternal happiness or misery! 13. For if there be no resurrection of the dead, then, contrary to the most abundant and incontestable evidence, Christ himself cannot have risen from the dead, as the earnest, pledge, pattern, cause, and first-fruits of them that sleep in him. 14. And if Christ be not risen as the public Head of his people, the whole gospel of salvation, which we apostles and others preach, is a mere fable, unworthy of regard, and your faith in it and in him is a mere empty conceit. 15, 16. Nay, if Christ be not risen from the dead, we who have testified his resurrection at the hazard of all that was dear to us in the world, and with the greatest simplicity and integrity, must be the most impious and abandoned miscreants, who have forged lies for God, and have wilfully published a damnable falsehood in his name, as if he had raised up Christ from the dead;—when it is certain he neither did nor could raise him up, as a public person and Head of his church, if his members are not to rise after him, and in virtue of his resurrection. 17. And if it were true that Christ still continues in the state of the dead, your faith in him is quite useless, and it is absolutely foolish to expect any benefit from his crucifixion. For unless he has not only suffered death for your sins, but risen again for your justification, ye must remain for ever under the guilt and power of your sins, and thus shut up to the guilt of eternal sin. 18. And in this case, they who have died in the closest union to and fellowship with him, and in the most assured hopes of eternal life through him, or who have even suffered death for his sake, must for ever perish without remedy, disappointed of all their hopes in and from him. 19. And if, after all our faith in Christ, and dependence on him, and all the self-denial, mortifications, and sufferings to which we have submitted for his sake, we have no prospect of happiness from him beyond this present life, we Christians, and especially ministers, must be the most silly, deluded, and wretched creatures on earth, who, for nothing real in time or eternity, part with all the conveniences, delights, and advantages of this world, and submit to calamities unnumbered. 20. But we have sufficiently proved that Christ, in consequence of his full sacrifice for our sins, is actually raised from the dead, and become not only the first, in order of time, who rose to an immortal life; and the chief, in respect of dignity, who, as Head of his church, rose by his own power; but also the earnest, pledge, and security of the resurrection of all his people. 21. And since, by the disobedience of the first Adam, death and ruin were brought upon all mankind; therefore God, in infinite wisdom and mercy, has appointed the happy resurrection of the faithful to eternal life, to be brought in by Jesus Christ, the second Adam or new-covenant Head. 22. For, as in the first Adam, as their common parent and covenant head, all men by sin are subjected to death, temporal as well as spiritual and eternal; so in Christ, as their new-covenant Head, who fulfilled the law for them, and communicates all vital influence to them, all the race can, by the merit of his death and power of his resurrection, repent of sin and believe in Jesus Christ, so that, in their bodies as well as their souls, they may for ever reign with him in glory—and as all who were in Adam die, so all who are in Christ shall be made alive. 23. But indeed he, and each of his members, must partake of this life in their proper rank, time, and order; he, as the first-fruits, who is already risen as their public Head, Representative, and Pattern, to insure their resurrection, and sanctify them to the service of God; and then they who repent of sin, and whom he has pardoned by his blood, conquered by his power, graciously subdued by his Spirit, united to his person, and furnished with his grace,—at his second coming to judge the world. 24. Then shall come the end of this world, and of all the changes, temptations, sins, and snares under which believers now groan, and of all the instituted means of grace, and of those ministerial assistances of angels and men, which they now need. And Christ, having finished the whole work of his administration of providence and grace in its present form, and having abolished every form of civil and ecclesiastical government, and all the usurped powers of men and devils, shall solemnly deliver up his commission, trust, and charge to God the Father, from whom he received it,—and present all his members together as one glorious church. 25. For, according to the purpose, love, and promise of the Father, Christ, as Man and Mediator, must sit at his right hand, and reign over all persons, causes, and things, till all his enemies, temporal and spiritual, be placed in absolute and actual subjection to him, as captives of war brought under his feet. 26. And the last enemy, which, for the sake of his people, he shall utterly destroy and abolish, is death, which now prevents the complete happiness of their persons, and must be destroyed by the raising of their dead bodies to immortal life. 27. For Christ must reign till all, except Jehovah himself, who delegated to him his mediatorial power and authority, be manifestly subdued by or subjected to him. 28. And when his mediatorial methods of government have had their full effect, in the conversion, sanctification, and complete glorification of all who believe, and the conquest of all his incorrigible enemies, he shall lay aside the present forms of administration as the appointed mediatorial governor of the world, and shall surrender up himself as such, and his whole church, to his Father, to be for ever honoured and blessed, each in their due order, with the full and immediate enjoyment of the Godhead, as their all and in all. 29. Moreover, to return to the point in debate, if there be no resurrection of the dead, to what purpose are professed believers baptized in the name of Christ, in hopes of a happy resurrection through him? Or why are they induced to it by what they have seen and heard of martyrs dying triumphantly for Christ in the assured hopes of such a resurrection? Or why are the children of the deceased baptized on their parents' account, in order to fill up their room in the church? 30. And if the dead rise not, how weak and absurd is it for us Christians and ministers continually to expose ourselves to the greatest losses, hazards, and troubles for his sake, in hopes of an eternal life and reigning with him in glory? 31. I solemnly protest, that, as really as the blessed Comforter dwells in our hearts, and makes us to rejoice in God through Christ in hopes of eternal life, I am daily exposed to, and stand ready for, sufferings of every form and degree for Christ's sake. 32. Now to what purpose have I struggled with men, outrageous, malicious, furious, and unreasonable as beasts, or been exposed to, or am ready to encounter, devouring wild beasts for the sake of Christ and his cause, if there be no future blessedness, no resurrection to eternal life? I had much better act the epicurean, indulging myself in sensual pleasures, as I know not how soon death may deprive me of every opportunity. 33. But let no seducer thus decoy you from the faith of the first principles of all Christianity, nay, and of morality. Frequent and familiar conversation with persons of an atheistical and luxurious turn will insensibly and deeply corrupt your minds and morals, and destroy every principle of religion and virtue. 34. Be therefore sober, and rouse up yourselves to serious and just consideration, and to a righteous and holy life; and beware of being seduced into delusive errors and sinful practices: for, by their denying the resurrection of the dead, I perceive that some of your teachers are ignorant of God and his perfections manifested in the gospel. And this hint ought to make them ashamed of themselves, and you ashamed of countenancing them. 35. Perhaps, indeed, some of your self-conceited doctors will ask me how men's dead bodies can be raised to life, after rotting into dust, and being scattered and intermingled with bodies unnumbered? Or in what form, power, or capacity they will be raised, answerable to the happiness of the glorified souls reunited to them? 36. How foolish and absurd is it to set up your weak notions in opposition to the power and wisdom of God! —Even in common things, do we not see that seeds cast into the earth spring not up till they first rot and die under the clods? 37, 38. And do we not see, that however many forms God causes the bare grains of wheat, &c., to assume in their growth and ripening, yet they at last produce a body answerable to the seed? 39-41. And is it not evident, that out of the same original dust God forms animals, whose flesh and qualities are extremely different; and that of the same matter he hath formed bodies, some grosser, others more refined; and that the properties and glories of the heavenly luminaries, though all sprung from one original, are extremely different? 42, 43. In like manner the wisdom and power of God operate in the resurrection of the dead, particularly of the saints, rendering their bodies fit companions for their souls in the glorified state. In this world their bodies are frail, mortal, and, by death, subjected to putrefaction; but they shall be raised free from all corruptibility, dissolution, or decay, and rendered immortal, never more to die. In this world they are mean, contemptible, liable to deformity and defilement, and feeble and weak, liable to sickness, pain, weariness, fainting, and death, incapable of defending themselves from surrounding evils;—and being laid in the grave, become loathsome carcasses, an easy prey to the weakest worm; but they shall be raised, beautiful, glorious, and shining as the sun or stars; and with such vigour, health, and strength as will enable them to keep pace with their glorified souls in every operation. 44. In this world they must be maintained by food, sleep, and air as the bodies of brutes, and in the grave they are quite destitute of sensation: but in their resurrection, the Holy Ghost dwelling in them shall so refine them, as to make them need no animal refreshments, and render them inexpressibly light and active. 45. Thus the diversified conditions of our bodies will answer to our two different covenant heads; the first Adam being made a living soul, which could communicate sensitive life to his own body, or that of his seed; whereas Christ, the second Adam, is a quickening Spirit, who conveys spiritual and immortal life to the bodies of his saints at the resurrection, by his Spirit dwelling in them. 46. Nay, these conditions of our bodies will answer to the very order in which Adam and Christ stand connected with us; that which is natural and less excellent, according to God's ordinary method, preceding that which is spiritual and inexpressibly excellent and glorious. 47. For the first Adam was formed out of the dust, and was of an earthly constitution; whereas the second Adam is the eternal Son of God, who, descending from heaven, assumed our nature, into a union with his person, and who will at the last day descend from heaven to raise the dead bodies of his saints, and receive them to himself. 48. They who descend from the earthly Adam derive from him an earthly, animal, and mortal body, such as he had in his fallen state: and they who are spiritually begotten by Christ, born from above, and formed with heavenly dispositions for heavenly enjoyments, shall derive a spiritual, heavenly, and immortal body from him, such as he has in his exalted state. 49. And as we believers bear the debased image of our first father and covenant head in the earthly, animal, sickly, and mortal state of our bodies, and in their putrefaction and corruption in the grave; so, by virtue derived from Christ our new-covenant Head, our bodies, at the resurrection, shall be conformed to his immortality, strength, glory, and honour, that we may for ever bear his image in our whole person. 50. And indeed this great alteration of our bodies is absolutely necessary, as in their present gross, animal, sluggish, and corruptible nature, they could neither share the visions and pleasures, nor join in the services of the heavenly state, where God is all and in all. 51-54. And, to inform you of a thing never before plainly revealed, the bodies of all believers shall not die or rest in graves, but some shall undergo a surprising and glorious change, equivalent to dying and rising again. For in that moment in which Christ shall awfully and efficaciously call up the dead bodies from their graves, the living ones shall be changed from corruptible and mortal to incorruptible and immortal, answerably to the everlasting glories given through faith.—And when our bodies shall be thus glorified and immortalized, death, that formidable tyrant, who had so long conquered and reigned over the believers' outward man, shall, with respect to every one of them, be finally conquered and totally abolished. 55. In the view of these things all real Christians may now by faith triumph over death and the grave, as things which can do them no real hurt, and which shall be obliged, by Jesus Christ, to restore them back with inexpressible advantage. 56. It is the unremoved guilt, power, and pollution of sin which renders death either hurtful or painful; and it is the holy law of God, which, by condemning to death, spiritual as well as temporal and eternal, in a mysterious but awful manner, founds and fortifies the reigning, enslaving, and destructive power of sin. 57. But thanks be to God, who, through the merits and power of Jesus Christ as our loving Head, gives us deliverance from the guilt, power, and pollution of sin, and a complete victory over death and the grave, and every other opposer.—58. In the views then of all that has been taught you concerning the death and resurrection of Christ, and our glorious resurrection to eternal life through him, let me beseech you, as beloved of God, and dear to my soul, to excite, animate, and encourage yourselves to a firm and constant steadfastness in the faith, hope, and holy profession of the gospel, and to be invariably increasing and abounding in every good work towards God or men,—fully persuaded that your almighty, gracious, and faithful God will, through Christ, assist you in your obedience and suffering, and freely reward you with endless life and glory.

Ver. 5. The apostles, after the fall of Judas, are distinctly called 'the eleven,' Mat. 28.16: Mar. 16.14; Lu. 24.9, 33; Ac. 1.26; 2.14. Guyse and others suppose that, 'the twelve' having been the original name of the apostles taken collectively, they still retained it when their number was reduced to eleven, as a centurion, ruler of a hundred, would still retain his title were his company reduced to a few, or altogether cut off: and this mode of speech is certainly common in history. But this supposition is not necessary; for Matthias, who was subsequently numbered with 'the eleven,' may have been actually present with them when our Lord appeared. This view is rendered highly probable, if not certain, by Lu. 24.9, 33. C.

Ver. 22. All men are in Adam as branches are in a tree; and as the root died, so must all the branches: and as many as are in Christ—being born of the Spirit,—because he lives they shall live also. This does not preclude or gainsay the resurrection of the wicked, which is elsewhere most plainly revealed, Da. 12.2; Jn. 5.28, 29. But the apostle here speaks merely of the resurrection of 'all' that are 'in Christ,' a distinction which our Lord was also accustomed to make. See Jn. 6.40, 44. C.

Ver. 28. The difficulty in this passage will be removed by considering that, so long as men are sinners, 'Christ is all and in all,' Col. 3.11. But when sinners shall have been converted and delivered to the Father 'as dear children,' then shall Christ cease to be 'all in all;' and God, that is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to whom the name of 'God' is alike common, will be 'all in all.' C.

Ver. 32. Fought with beasts, might figuratively signify contests with men as unreasonable and savage as beasts. But, in that case, why particularize Ephesus, seeing he had met with such cruel men in many other places? See Ac. xix.; 2 Co. 1.9, 10. It is much more likely that the apostle had been literally condemned to fight for his life with beasts in the amphitheatre— custom very common during the prevalence of the heathen empire of Rome. C.

Ver. 36. Except it die, has been alleged as an error in the physiology of plants, inasmuch as the seed that grows does not die. Now, in one sense, this is true—in another, incorrect: for as it is correct to say that a man dies, while yet his body only dies, and the spirit returns to God; so the visible body of the seed perishes, while the invisible germ survives. C.

Reflections.—How fully confirmed, and infinitely important and delightful, are the doctrines of Jesus' atoning death and glorious resurrection, and of our resurrection to eternal life through him! The Scriptures of the Old Testament and the witnesses of the New join to attest them.—God's grace can make a most wonderful change on the most perverse transgressors. And many sorrows do they escape who are the earliest partakers of it. All true ministers harmoniously determine to know and preach nothing but Christ, and him crucified and glorified. And wonderful are the methods of God's grace; that, as by a sinning man came death, so by a dying and rising Godman came the happy resurrection of the dead! It is highly absurd to deny these fundamental principles of our Christian religion; for if these be false, all apostles are downright deceivers; Jesus' death, and all our faith and hope, and all our services and sufferings, are in vain; yea, all morality and religion are an unavailing farce. But certain is his glory and high exaltation; and no less certain our resurrection and future glory together with him. Wonderful are the works of God in creation and providence, and much more in redemption, of which the former are but emblems. And marvellous is the change that shall be made on our bodies to qualify them for their heavenly glories. With what joy may we even now, through Christ, triumph over death and the grave! And the believing views of our future, our eternal glories, should animate our hearts to unremitting activity in Christ's service.