1 Corinthians 15:1-32

1Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand

2and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you — unless you believed in vain.

3For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that 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.

6Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep.

7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

8Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me.

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

10But 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, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

11Whether, then, it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you have believed.

12Now if Christ is proclaimed as 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 Christ has been raised;

14and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith.

15Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised up Christ — whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised.

16For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.

18Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.

19If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.

20But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man.

22For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

23But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ.

24Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power.

25For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet.

26The last enemy to be abolished is death.

27For God has put everything under his feet. Now when it says “everything” is put under him, it is obvious that he who puts everything under him is the exception.

28When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

29Otherwise what will they do who are being baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are people baptized for them?

30Why are we in danger every hour?

31I face death every day, as surely as I may boast about you, brothers and sisters, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus as a mere man, what good did that do me? If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.