What Paul addresses in this letter is in response to something that has been reported to him of the confusion that some in the church have, about the physical resurrection from the dead. He states that he and his fellow apostles have preached the full truth of he Gospel to them ? and this would include such men as Peter and Apollos, whom he trusted implicitly. He states the historical evidence of more than 500 personal witnesses who saw Jesus when he came back to earth after his resurrection. (and includes his own personal life changing encounter with the risen Jesus, in a vision, on his journey to Damascus)

Their problem the Corinthian church had arisen from the fact that many of them believed that they had already attained to the resurrected state and were in a ?spiritual body? because of the spiritual gifts that they had seen in operation amongst them. Paul attacks this kind of super spirituality and reminds them that Christ rose from the dead and was the fore runner of all those who are alive and would one day also be resurrected. That means that Jesus, with all of his supernatural power, had not attained to a resurrected state until he first died and was then risen back to life. He argues that if Jesus did not rise from the dead then no one else would either. This would mean that their faith was useless, (as would have been his preaching) and in vs 18 and 19 he says ; And those who have died believing in Christ have simply died and cease to exist.19. And if our hope in Jesus only lasts until we are dead, then we are to be pitied more than anybody.

Paul then reiterates his Gospel message that one man, Adam brought death into the world and another man, Jesus, brought resurrection from death. He goes on to testify to his own life and ministry that brought him face to face with death every day, and quotes his perilous experience s in Ephesus. Vs. 32; . If I would have had deadly encounters with the assassins of Ephesus with the same mindset as you, that we are here today and gone tomorrow, what meaning would that have had for me and the way I live and believe? If there was no resurrection why don’t we just eat and drink and tomorrow we die?

He follows his with a warning that the confused mindset that they have will lead to a confused lifestyle of foolish indulgence and ruin.

Paul then gives illustrations of different forms of seed life bringing forth a transformed state of fully germinated life. He accredits God with designing these transformed states. He challenges them to wake up to themselves and tells them that the sharing of the life of Jesus one day in our resurrected form is the compelling reason for them to share life with the risen Christ in their spiritual walk, now, and so be ?like? him not only one day in a new body, but also now, in a new lifestyle, sharing with the person and nature of Jesus.

He finishes with a high note of encouragement in vs 58; So my beloved friends, stand firm and be at rest, sharing abundantly in what God is doing, knowing that working with the Lord is never a useless or futile thing.

1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 15 - CONTEMPORARY ALIGNED VERSION (SPIRITCODE)

SPIRITCODE

1. I am bringing you understanding of the gospel that I preached to you which you have taken hold of and stuck with

2. `Which brings about your salvation if you really hold onto it in your minds, unless of course you haven’t believed it strongly enough.

3. The first thing I told you was what I also first took hold of, about how Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures had said he would.

4. And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day, as the Scriptures had also foretold.

5. And that he was seen by Peter and then twelve others

6. After that he was seen by more than five hundred disciples, most of whom are still alive, while some have since passed away

7. Then he was seen by James and then all of the apostles.

8. Finally he was seen by me, a one who was seemingly born out of due time.

9. Because I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.

10. But because of the gift of God’s life within me I am what I am - this gift of his life is not just some empty token - and even though I have worked harder than anyone it has not really been me doing it but this gift of his life doing it all for me

11. Whether it was me or my other brothers, we preached what we preached, and you believed it.

12. So if we preached that Christ rose from the dead, why is it that some of you say that no one will ever rise from the dead?

13. If there is no resurrection of people from the dead then it means that Jesus has not risen from the dead

14. And if Jesus has not risen from the dead then our preaching is useless and your faith is useless.

15. And we have been seen as lying about God, because we testified that God raised Christ from the dead, and of course if God didn’t raise him up then no one will get raised up.

16. If the dead do not get resurrected, then Jesus did not get resurrected.

17. And if Jesus did not get resurrected then your faith is useless and your sins have not even been forgiven.

18. And those who have died believing in Christ have simply died and cease to exist.

19. And if our hope in Jesus only lasts until we are dead, then we are to be pitied more than anybody.

20. But now Christ has risen from the dead

And has become the forerunner of risen life for all who die.

21. It was because of man that death originated, and resurrection from death has now also come through a man.

22. It was being part of Adam that made all mankind taste death, and it is being part of Christ that allows all mankind taste life.

23. Each person will be resurrected according to a personally designated order. First there will be Christ, the forerunner, then after that all those that are his when he returns.

24. Then the end will have come, when Jesus will present the Kingdom to his Father God, having subdued and overcome every other expression of rule and authority and power in the Universe.

25. For he must rule as King until he has subdued everything that opposes him or is hostile to him.

26. His final opponent to be destroyed is death itself.

27. Then everything that exists will be under him. But it is obvious that the exception is his Father God, who placed everything under him in the first place.

28. And when everything is subdued and under his rule, then he, The Son, will place himself in subjection to his Father God, who placed everything under him, so that Father God will be the center of all consequence and meaning in the Universe.

29. So I ask you, If there is no resurrection

Why is it that some people even get baptized for the dead? Why would these people do a thing like that of there was no resurrection from the dead?

30. And why do we put ourselves in danger of death all the time?

31. I give you my word, just as you have given me your word that I am commissioned by Jesus himself, that I face death every day.

32. If I would have had deadly encounters with the assassins of Ephesus with the same mindset as you, that we are here today and gone tomorrow, what meaning would that have had for me and the way I live and believe? If there was no resurrection why don’t we just eat and drink and tomorrow we die?

33. Don’t fool yourselves. Wrong thinking about the resurrection will lead to sharing the lifestyles of those who practice foolish indulgence and ruin.

34. Wake up to yourselves! Get right with God, because some of you don’t even seem to know God. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

35. But someone will ask the question “How will the dead be raised up and what sort of body will they have?”

36. How ignorant! A seed cannot germinate unless it dies first.

37. And the seed that you sow has a different form and structure than what it is transformed into. It is just a grain of seed, perhaps wheat or some other type of grain

38. But God transforms it into the form that he has chosen for it, and God has specially chosen a final form for every kind of seed.

39. Every kind of living flesh is different. There is one kind of flesh for humanity, another for animals, another for fish life, and another for birdlife.

40. There are also inanimate heavenly formations and earthly formations but the radiance and display of heavenly formations is different to that of the earthly.

41. The radiance of the sun is different to that of the moon, which again differs from that of the stars, and each star differs from another in its radiance.

42. The same holds for the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in a perishable state but it is raised in an eternal state.

43. It is sown in a worthless state, but it is raised in a glorious state. It is sown in weakness but raised in great power.

44. It is sown as a natural body but raised as a spiritual body. There is a difference between an animate natural body and a supernatural spiritual body, (adapted to a different realm).

45. The Scriptures state that the first man Adam was brought into being as an animate living soul, but the last Adam was brought into being as a life giving spirit.

46. So what was first brought into being was natural, and afterward what was spiritual was brought into being.

47. The first man’s origin was purely from the dust of the earth, while the second man’s origin included the supreme Lordship of heaven.

48. And as was the first man, occupied with earthly things, so are those earthly people who are so occupied now, and as is the heavenly Man, occupied with heavenly things, so also are those people who are so occupied now.

49. And just as we share the likeness of the earthly man in our daily life, we can also share the likeness of the heavenly man.

50. And I want to emphasize that just as perishable flesh and blood cannot exist in the heavenly realm, neither can the mortal body be part of the immortal imperishable body.

51. I want to bring you a revelation of something – not everyone will necessarily have to die – but everyone’s body will have to be supernaturally transformed

52. It will happen in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, when the resurrection trumpet sounds. The trumpet will sound and those who have died will be raised with an incorruptible supernatural body, and we who are still  alive will be supernaturally transformed

53. Because the perishable body must become an imperishable body, and the mortal body that dies must become an immortal body that never dies.

54. So then when this perishable body becomes an imperishable body and this body headed for dying becomes a body that never can die, then Isaiah’s saying will be established that says; ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’ (Isa 25:8).

55. So death, your poison can’t hurt us anymore, and grave, you don’t own us anymore.

56. Death’s poison is sin, and sin gets its power from the Law.

57. But we thank God who has given us victory over all these things through Our Lord Jesus Christ

58. So my beloved friends, stand firm and be at rest, sharing abundantly in what God is doing, knowing that working with the Lord is never a useless or futile thing.