In my own opinion about this idea of being baptized for the dead, I think that what Paul is speaking of here is not so much the rite of baptism, but that which lies behind baptism as its primary meaning. I have said before when we talked about baptism that what is involved is not so much the mode o
This is a section of the chapter in which Paul puts the resurrection of Christ in a cosmic perspective. He is talking about Christ’s resurrection and our resurrection, and as we look at that within the framework of history, at least from the perspective in which he was writing, he is talking about
Paul had preached the Gospel of Jesus’ resurrection to the Corinthians, and they had responded positively to his preaching. They believed what he had taught them. So Paul has to tell them that if they follow the philosophical mood of their day and deny the resurrection, they must understand that t
As I read verses 13 through 19, I find that every verse except verse 16 has a consequence in it. This is no doubt because verse 16 is simply a repetition of a consequence that came earlier. Thus, every single verse talks about something that is bad if you deny the resurrection. In verse 13 Paul w
In last week’s devotional we looked at the first eleven verses of this chapter. We saw that Paul was dealing with a situation in Corinth on this subject. There were people who apparently did not believe in resurrection. You cannot tell exactly from these verses whether they discounted the resurrec
The great Samuel Johnson once said about John Milton's Paradise Lost that although he knew many people who had "read it," he knew very few who had read it "through." That is true of many literary classics. Books like Plato's Republic, Dante's Divine Comedy, Tolstoy's War and Peace, Melville's Moby D
When Paul looked back over the circumstances of his life, he could declare, as he does in the third chapter of Philippians, that he was born a Hebrew of the Hebrews, an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, and circumcised on the eighth day. Then, in addition to all of those things that he had inheri
I think it is interesting that, although Paul's concern in this chapter is to talk about the resurrection, nevertheless, when he gets to this point and mentions the fact that Jesus Christ appeared to him last of all, Paul immediately thinks of the grace of God to give such a revelation and entrust s
Now, it is important when Paul points out that Christ did not merely die, but that He died for our sins. If he had said merely that Christ died, somebody could very well reply, "Well, so what? Everybody dies." But when he says that Christ died for our sins, he puts that in a different category alt
Paul has some interesting terminology here that is not at once apparent in our English translations but is more so in Greek and probably in the Hebrew terms that stand behind it. Paul says that he delivered to the Christians in Corinth that which he had received. Those two terms, “delivering” and
1 Corinthians 15 is the most comprehensive chapter in the New Testament on the resurrection. It joins Hebrews 11, which is the great chapter on faith, and 1 Corinthians 13, the great chapter on love. There are many other great chapters in the Bible, of course. But I think of those three together
Finally, Paul talks also of the benefit of this for unbelievers. It is interesting how he does it. He begins to talk about it in verse 22, saying that tongues are signs, not for believers, but for unbelievers; while prophecy is for believers, and not for unbelievers. What he means by that is that
Paul says that if you are really thinking about other people, if you are really concerned about them, and if you are beginning to exercise the kind of love about which he spoke in the thirteenth chapter, you will recognize that people are hurting. So in your worship services you will not be trying
As he talks about prophecy here, he does so in three areas. Prophecy is better than speaking in tongues for the church, the individual, and for the sake of unbelievers. In the first place Paul says that prophecy in this sense, that is, communicating the Word of God in a clear and applicable way is
Finally, at the very end of the chapter he gives this principle where he tells the Corinthians to “be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues” (v. 39). You see, when you speak about all these difficulties or dangers in the practice of the gift, it might be our tendency to say, “Wel
Every part of the Bible is relevant and is helpful for us in any time of history or any period of our lives. But it is true that some parts speak to contemporary problems more than others. I suppose in some ways this fourteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians that we come to now is one of those parts. R
That leads to our last point, which is where Paul himself is going. He has talked about the importance of love and the nature of love. And if we really understand these two things, it follows that love never fails. All these other things he mentions are going to fail. Prophecies will cease. Ton
In addition to knowing people who are patient and kind, there are also those who do not envy, those who do not boast, and those who are not proud. But the difficulty, you see, is in getting all of these things together. I know people who are patient, but they do not persevere. Or there are people w
The apostle John wrote his first epistle to reassure people who want to know they are saved. He gave them three tests by which they could know they were Christians. The first was to believe the right things about Christ, because if you do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the Lord, you
It is not a hard chapter to analyze. I think it is a hard chapter to preach on simply because it is so profound. There is a preface in the New International Version, which is carried over from the last chapter and printed properly with this one. Paul says, “Now I am going to show you a more excel
Sometime during the last half of the nineteenth century, a Scottish author and evangelist by the name of Henry Drummond wrote a classic sermon called “The Greatest Thing in the World.” It was about love and was based on 1 Corinthians 13, which is certainly viewed as one of the greatest chapters in
Let me tell you about the most unattractive body part I ever saw. I explain first that it was not a human body part. My wife and I were in France years ago, and it was one of our first visits. We were in Paris and had been there just a few days. We wanted to eat dinner, and we found a little res
Now in the next part Paul gives a great illustration of this unity with diversity. It is the illustration of the body and its many parts. He really develops this at length. I think the reason is that at this point in the context of this illustration, he introduces an idea which was not quite so ob
One of the problems we have with spiritual gifts is that when we have a spiritual gift, we naturally think that our spiritual gift is the primary one. You can get famous writing a book about your spiritual gift. Preachers do it all the time. They get something going in their church that flows from
