March 6, 2026
Friday of the Second Week of Lent
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
In this tenth presentation on Saint Paul and the early Church in Corinth, we are dealing with the issue of resurrection.
Episode 10: The Resurrection (1 Corinthians, Chapter 15)
Chapter fifteen of First Corinthians is the third longest chapter in the New Testament (after Luke 1 and 22) and it is all focused on one topic, the resurrection of the dead. Now it seems clear that Paul had preached the standard Christian doctrine, which he calls “Good News” (Euangelion), that he had received and that was being preached by Christian missionaries all over the known pagan world, that Jesus had died and the Jesus had been raised from the dead. This creedal statement was further developed by affirming his full death, since Jesus was buried, and the full resurrection, since he appeared to witnesses. And why did all that happen? This was God’s way of freeing us from sin and then bringing us to share in his glory.
Judaism did not have a real life after death until the time period just before Christ and even then the Sadducees opposed this belief in their fights with the Pharisees. Those who did believe in such a life moved easily to a resurrection theology. As to the pagans, many of them already believed that life continued in some way after death but that it was not in the body. The body was a prison to be abandoned so as to be truly free. Where the material world for the Jew was a good created by God, for the pagan world it was simply a vehicle to be used in this lifetime.
Now recall that Paul had come from Athens where his more philosophical approach to the crowds had not really worked. So, he clearly returned to traditional teaching when he arrived at Corinth. Paul makes it clear that the Corinthians had received this very solid teaching, but just as clearly they seem to have been uncertain about its specific meaning. This chapter deals with these problems. How they came to Paul’s attention is unknown, but perhaps it was something also brought by Chloe’s people.
It is this core belief of Christians which is the foundation of all the other points which Paul has made in this letter. It is the basis of being in the Body of Christ, of Baptism, of the Eucharist, and of what divine love really means.
Now the challenge which came to Paul is apparently that some seem to have denied the resurrection of the dead. Perhaps they did not deny Christ’s resurrection. They may have thought that with Baptism we are now already at the end times and are now in fact in a state of glory. Or perhaps they really did not believe in a physical, bodily resurrection at all. Either way, Paul states that the resurrection is critical, even affirming (15:19): “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.”
Paul affirms the connection between Christ’s resurrection and our resurrection. Christ is the first one, but ours will come. This may have been a major issue as well, that is, was Jesus really going to return (and why hadn’t he?) or were we already fully conformed to Christ in the Spirit as we are? Paul points out that this is a process. This must have been a difficulty in all his Churches. It was in Thessalonica. Maybe Paul himself expected the Lord to come soon, within his own lifetime. However, as people died without that return a longer range process was the only answer and now Paul provides it. And there is an order to all this, Christ first, then those who have already died, and then those who may survive to the end times.
The Baptism for the dead (15:29) is a strange idea, but perhaps it was meant to accommodate those who had prepared for baptism but died prior to its celebration. In any case, Paul is not making a judgment about it. He is merely pointing out that it demonstrates that these folks are waiting for something more, that is, the resurrection.
The second half of the chapter deals with how this will take place. What kind of body will this be? Basically, Paul is affirming that there will be continuity but difference, even radical difference. Paul uses Adam as the example of our earthly existence and Christ as our immortal spiritual existence. This change must involve the end of sin and its product death. Victory over death in the resurrection is the real gift of God to all of us. Theologians talk about the already and not yet. What has already taken place is the victory of Christ; what is not yet is its full completion and expression. So how we live now really matters as we await our own death and that final resurrection.
Until next week, may God bless you.
+ Earl Boyea
Bishop of Lansing
P.S. Here is a video version of this week's talk. Please do share with friends and family. Thank you.