^15:1Now I want to make clear for you,¹ brothers and sisters,² the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, ^15:2and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. ^15:3For I passed on to you as of first importance³ what I also received—that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, ^15:4and that he was buried, and that he was raised⁴ on the third day according to the scriptures, ^15:5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ^15:6Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters⁵ at one time, most of whom are still alive,⁶ though some have fallen asleep.⁷^15:7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ^15:8Last of all, as though to one born at the wrong time,⁸ he appeared to me also. ^15:9For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ^15:10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God with me. ^15:11Whether then it was I or they, this is the way we preach and this is the way you believed.

No Resurrection?

^15:12Now if Christ is being preached as raised from the dead,⁹ how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? ^15:13But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ^15:14And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty. ^15:15Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified against God that he raised Christ from the dead, when in reality he did not raise him, if indeed the dead are not raised. ^15:16For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised. ^15:17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still in your sins. ^15:18Furthermore, those who have fallen asleep¹⁰ in Christ have also perished. ^15:19For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone.

^15:20But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ^15:21For since death came through a man,¹¹ the resurrection of the dead also came through a man.¹²^15:22For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. ^15:23But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him.¹³^15:24Then¹⁴ comes the end,¹⁵ when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has brought to an end all rule and all authority and power. ^15:25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ^15:26The last enemy to be eliminated is death. ^15:27For he has put everything in subjection under his feet.¹⁶ But when it says “everything” has been put in subjection, it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection to him. ^15:28And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

Read in Logos

1 Corinthians 15:10: 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 that is with me.

Footnotes

1 Grk “Now I make known to you.”
2 Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in .
3 Grk “among (the) first things.”
4 Grk “he has been raised/is raised,” using a Greek tense that points to the present effect of the act of raising him. But in English idiom the temporal phrase “on the third day” requires a different translation of the verb.
5 Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in .
6 Grk “most of whom remain until now.”
7 The verb κοιμάω (koimaō) literally means “sleep,” but it is often used in the Bible as a euphemism for death when speaking of believers. This metaphorical usage by its very nature emphasizes the hope of resurrection: Believers will one day “wake up” out of death. Here the term refers to death, but “sleep” was used in the translation to emphasize the metaphorical, rhetorical usage of the term.
8 One born at the wrong time. The Greek word used here (ἔκτρωμα, ektrōma) refers to a premature birth, a miscarriage, or an aborted child. Paul uses it as a powerful figure of the unexpected, abnormal nature of his apostolic call.
9 Grk “that he has been raised from the dead.”
10 See the note on the word “asleep” in . This term is also used in v. 20.
11 Or “through a human being” (a reference to Adam).
12 Or “through a human being” (a reference to Jesus Christ).
13 Grk “then those who belong to Christ, at his coming.”
14 This is a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
15 Grk “then the end” or “then (is) the end.” Paul explains how the “end” relates to resurrection in vv. 25–28.
16 A quotation from Ps 8:6.