1 Corinthians 15

1I make known to you, brothers, the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you also received, in which you also stand,

2through which you also are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I proclaimed as good news to you—unless you believed in vain.

3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

4and that he was buried, and that he has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom remain until now, though some have fallen asleep.

7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

8And last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

9For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me did not prove empty. On the contrary, I labored more than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

11Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you believed.

12If the Messiah is proclaimed as having been raised from the dead, how can some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

13But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Messiah has been raised.

14And if Messiah has not been raised, then our proclamation is empty, and your faith is empty.

15Then we are even found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified about God that he raised the Messiah, whom he did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised.

16For if the dead are not raised, not even Messiah has been raised.

17But if Messiah has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Messiah have perished.

19If we have hoped in Messiah for this life only, we are more pitiable than all people.

20But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man.

22For just as in Adam all die, so also in Messiah all will be made alive.

23But each in his own order: Messiah the firstfruits, then those who belong to Messiah at his coming.

24Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes every rule and every authority and power.

25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

26The last enemy to be abolished is death.

27For he has subjected all things under his feet. But when it says that all things have been subjected, it is clear that this excludes the one who subjected all things to him.

28But when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all.

29Otherwise, what will those do who are being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they being baptized on their behalf?

30Why are we also in danger every hour?

31I die every day—by the boasting in you that I have in Messiah Jesus our Lord.

32If, speaking in merely human terms, I fought with wild beasts in Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

33Do not be deceived: bad company corrupts good morals.

34Come to your senses rightly, and do not go on sinning; for some have ignorance of God. I say this to your shame.

35But someone will say, “How are the dead raised, and with what kind of body do they come?”

36Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.

37And what you sow, you do not sow the body that will be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other kind.

38But God gives it a body as he willed, and to each of the seeds its own body.

39Not all flesh is the same flesh, but one kind is of humans, another flesh of animals, another of birds, and another of fish.

40And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the glory of the heavenly is one kind, and the glory of the earthly is another.

41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

42So also is the resurrection of the dead: it is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.

43It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

45So also it is written: “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

46But the spiritual is not first, but the natural; afterward the spiritual.

47The first man was from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven.

48As is the man of dust, so also are those of dust; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are heavenly.

49And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the heavenly man.

50I say this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

51Behold, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,

52in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

53For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

54But when this perishable puts on imperishability, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the written word will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

55Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?

56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

58Therefore, my beloved brothers, become steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.