I usually wouldn’t do this for a blog, but it is key to understanding the message that I want to convey that I am going to print the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 15 out so that you will be able to read it and then soak it in as you read. The discussion will follow.
1 Corinthians 15.(NASB)
Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preached to you the gospel, which you received, in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold it fast unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance
with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me. Whether it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting god, because we testified of God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raided, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen aspleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came by death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die so also in Christ shall be made alive. But each in his own order. Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. “For God has put all things in subjection under his feet” But when it says, ” All things are put in subjection under him” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be everything to every one.
Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalfof the dead? I the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Why am I in peril every hour? I protest brethren, by my pride in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! What do I gain if humanly speaking , I fought with beasts a Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, ” let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be deceived “Bad company ruins good morals.” Come to your right mind and sin no more. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
But some one will ask, ” How are the dead raised? With what Kind of body do they come?” You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is alike, but there is one kind for men, another for animals, another for birds and another for fish. There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial is another. There 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.
So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor , it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raise a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, ” The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust’ and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have born the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of man of heaven. I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. NASB
Reading this passage is just breath taking and awe inspiring coming from God to his coming bride to partake of the wedding feast! Reading this passage over again can and will make you understand what the Kingdom of God is all about.
We need to read scripture in larger portions than that of just one liners or snippets that we are accustomed to, we will not see the big picture if we do not do this. Read a chapter at a time and describe the theme of it, who was the author talking to, why,when, and how. Asking questions and answering them will then place concrete information going forward in the reading the bible. Putting chapters together, or pieces together will then begin to have a picture take form for you in the overall them of the scriptures!
The Eternal Purpose 