The gospel I passed on to you
1I want to remind you, brothers and sisters, of the gospel I announced to you, the one you received, the one on which you stand, 2the one that saves you — if you hold on to the message I announced to you; otherwise you believed for nothing. 3For I passed on to you, as of first importance, what I also received: that the Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6After that he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at once, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8Last of all he appeared to me too, as to a child born far too soon. 9For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I hunted down the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not wasted: I worked harder than any of them — not I, but the grace of God with me. 11So whether it was I or they, this is what we proclaim, and this is what you believed.
If the dead are not raised
12Now if what is proclaimed is that the Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even the Christ has been raised. 14And if the Christ has not been raised, our preaching is empty and your faith is empty too. 15We are even found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified against God that he raised the Christ — whom he did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, not even the Christ has been raised; 17and if the Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless: you are still in your sins. 18And those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If our hope in Christ is for this life only, we are the most pitiable of all people.
The Christ, first fruits of those asleep
20But in fact the Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes through a man as well. 22As in Adam all die, so in the Christ all will be made alive, 23each in his own order: the Christ as first fruits, then those who belong to the Christ, at his coming. 24Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, having brought to nothing every ruler and every authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be brought to nothing is death. 27For “he put everything under his feet.” But when it says that everything has been put under him, it is plain that this does not include the one who put everything under him. 28And when everything has been put under him, then the Son himself will be put under the one who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. 29Otherwise, what are people doing who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why be baptized for them? 30And why do we put ourselves in danger every hour? 31Every day I die — as surely as I boast of you, brothers and sisters, in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised, “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33Do not be deceived: bad company ruins good character. 34Come to your senses as you should, and stop sinning; some of you know nothing about God — I say it to shame you.
What kind of body?
35But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body do they come back with?” 36You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37And what you sow is not the body that will be, but a bare grain — of wheat, perhaps, or something else. 38God gives it a body as he wished, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39Not all flesh is the same flesh: there is one flesh of human beings, another of animals, another of birds, another of fish. 40There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, the glory of the earthly another. 41The sun has one glory, the moon another, the stars another; and star differs from star in glory. 42So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43It is sown in dishonor, raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, raised in power. 44It is sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is a spiritual one as well. 45So it is written: “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46The spiritual did not come first; the natural did, and the spiritual after it. 47The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48As the man of dust was, so are those made of dust; and as the man from heaven is, so are those of heaven. 49And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man from heaven.
Death swallowed up in victory
50What I mean, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and what perishes cannot inherit what does not. 51Listen, I am telling you a mystery: we will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, 52in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. The trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For this perishable body must be clothed with the imperishable, and this mortal body clothed with immortality. 54And when this perishable is clothed with the imperishable, and this mortal with immortality, then the word that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55“Where, death, is your victory? Where, 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 Christ. 58So, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm, unshakable, always giving yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not wasted.
