In the last article, we analyzed the first half of the chapter, and discovered that this chapter was not written to provide a comprehensive understanding of the gospel, but it was to provide a counter-argument against those in the Corinth congregation who were teaching that there was no such thing as the resurrection of the dead.  In this half f the chapter, we will see how Rav Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) completes his argument.

Paul’s Eschatology

Beginning in verse 24, he argues how the resurrection of the dead fits into final eschatology, the study of end time events:

Then comes the end, when he shall have delivered ip the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.  For he must reign, UNTIL he has put all enemies under his feet.  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. (I Corinthians 15:24-26, emphasis added)

The problem here in the English is in regard to the pronouns, “he” and “his.”  Which of these male pronouns refer to God and which ones refer to the Messiah?  The way that this is written, it is problematic to tell readily who is being referenced.  In English, this is called a Vague Pronoun Reference.  I don’t know if this was purposely done by Rav Sha’ul Paulus (Paul), a cribe who copied this letter for someone, or be the English translators.  Whoever he was, it does not facilitate our immediate understanding of the text.

Messiah – “A Judge”?

Rav Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) here is using the pattern of the judges in the book of Judges.  A judge would rule only for a certain time period and then his rule would be over.  The word “until” indicates at what point the Messiah’s rule would end: when “he has put all enemies under his feet.  The last enemy that shall be destroyed.”  The question that this provokes is “When will death finally be destroyed”?  Answer: After the Great White Throne Judgment and before the recreation of the heavens and the earth (Revelation 21).  Obviously, we are not at this point yet.

For he hath put all things under his feet.  But when he says all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. (I Corinthians 15:27-28)

Here again we have the same confusion of male pronouns, “he” and “him,” until the last part of this passage.  In this section, we can see that it is God Himself who is putting all things, including “death,” under the feet of the Messiah.  But once all things are put under his feet, “the Son” [Messiah] will willingly “subject” [or place himself in submission] to God and “put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.”  The ultimate goal of the Messiah is to elevate the Holy God of Israel above all, including himself, so that in the end, it will only be the God of Israel [the Father] who is worshipped and adored.

Baptism for the Dead?

Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all?  why are they then baptized for the dead?  And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?  (I Corinthians 15:29-30)

These two verses confused me for a long time until I analyzed this chapter.  I just coculd not figure out why Rav Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) was writing about being “baptized for the dead”?  However, after analyzing this chapter, I realized that if his opponents were saying that there is no such thing as “resurrection of the dead,” so that “the dead” being referenced here are not believers in Messiah but the Messiah himself.  If the Messiah did not rise from the dead, as his opponents argue, then why are people, then, being “baptized for the dead” [i.e., the Messiah]?  Also, he asks, if we cannot hope for anything except life in this world, then “why [do we] stand in jeopardy every hour?”

A Couple More Questions

I protest by your rejoicing which I have in the Messiah Yeshua our Lord, I die daily.  If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me, if the dead rise not?  let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die. (I Corinthians 15:31-32)

Here Rav Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) is asking some good questions about his actions if there is no resurrection of the dead.  First, why does he “die daily,” and “what advantage is it” for him to “have fought with beasts at Ephesus…if the dead rise not?”  Here again, he draws the conclusion that if there is no resurrection of the dead, we might as well all “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die,” which is a line I have even heard atheists quote.

Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.  Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame. (I Corinthians 15:33-34)

Rav Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) then comes back and tells us not to be deceived by these “evil communications” because they will “corrupt good manners.”  Instead, we are taught to “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some,” meaning “some” within the congregation there, Rav Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) says, “have not the knowledge of God:…”  And he says this, “to your shame.”  This is not something that they should be proud about at all – but feel deeply ashamed instead.

Paul’s Agricultural Analogy

But some man will say, How are the dead raised up?  and with what body do they come? You fool, that which you sow [plant] is not made alive, except it die first: And that which you sow [plant], you sow [plant] not that body that it shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God gives it a body as it has pleased him, and to every seed his own body. (I Corinthians 15:35-38)

He begins to address questions that people have asked about what happens to the body after it dies, and in what the body is like when it experiences the moment of resurrection.  Are our bodies the same as when we were alive, or are we given a different kind of body?  Rav Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) compares this processs to planting seeds in the ground.  After the plant is planted, it dies, but then it takes on a whole new form – the form of a plant – which is different than it was as a seed.  “But God gives it,” he argues, “a body that has pleased him, and to every seed his own body.”

A Comparison with Other Living Animals & Celestial Bodies

All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.  There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.  There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differs from another star in glory. (I Corinthians 15:39 – 41)

“All flesh,” he says, “is not the same flesh,” but each type of animal has its own kind of body, including human beings who have their own kind of body.  Also, there are “celestial” (heavenly) bodies, and other “bodies terrestrial (earthly).  However, “the glory of” each is uniquely its own.  To give examples of this, he writes, “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differs from another star in glory,’ demonstrating that even the stars are not the same, but each one has its own unique “glory.”

So also is the resurrection of the dead.  It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
(I Corinthians 15: 42 -44)

Just as each animal, plant, star, and celetial body has its own body and glory, so we also have our own bodies and glory which we will experience at “the resurrection of the dead.”  Our bodies “sown” (planted or buried) in the corruption of death, but we will be “raised in incorruption:’ we are “sown” (planted or buried) “in dishonor;” but we will be “raised in glory:”We are “sown” (planted or buried) “in weakness;” but we will be “raised in power,” and finally, we will be “sown a natural body:” but we will be “raised a spiritual body.”

But if we are “raised a spiritual body,” does that mean that we will not have the same physical sensations or desires that we do now?  Does that mean that we will not get physically hungry, like we do now?  What about other forms of “hunger”: sexual, mental, emotional, or social?  Will we still have these, or will they simply be removed from us?  Rav Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) really does not get into too much detail here, and this leaves more questions that it provokes.

Comparing & Contrasting Two Adams

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (I Corinthians 15:45 -49)

To further demonstrate his point, Rav Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) compares and contrasts “the first man Adam,” and “the last Adam,” the Messiah Yeshua.  “The first man Adam” was a created being. In Genesis 2, we read,

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)

“Man” [Heb. ha-adam] did not begin as “a living soul,” but as dust of the ground.”  In the Hebrew there is so much more going on in this verse than what we see in the English.  The picture the Hebrew presents here of the LORD God is as the Potter, and He is molding and shaping the Adam out of the dust of the red soil, which in Hebrew is the word, adamah, to form him a body, and then he “breathes” (puffs) “into his nostrils” the nishmat chayyim (trans. “breath of life”); and it is only after this that we read “the man [adam] became a living soul [Heb. nephesh chayyah].” He “became” something new that he was not ever before.  So it is at this point that he began to exist.

A Plurality of Majesty or Is It Something More?

What is also interesting here is that the Hebrew word chayyim [lit. “lives”] is in the plural, rather than the singular, as we see it in our English translations.  Mainstream Jews will argue that this is “a plurality of majesty,” meaning that the concept is so awesome that the Hebrew is written in the plural.  This is also true for words like elohim (“God”), shamayim (“heaven”), and some other concepts as well.  But what if there were more than one type of “life” that was “breathed” into “the man” [Adam]?  For example, “physical life,” “mental life,” “emotional life,” “spiritual life,” “social life,” and even “financial life.”  All of the various aspects of “life” that we would need to succeed within this world.  So we could write this out as the equation: body + lives = soul.  In the Hebrew Scriptures, a person does not possess “a soul,” which is a Greek way of thinking, but every person is “a soul.”

This was really driven home to me by Dr. Hobart Freeman, the pastor of my wife’s church, that he made during a series he was teaching on “Old Testament Theology.”  In this series, he taught that “from a Greek perspective, which Christians use, if they are out saving souls, they are out saving only the eternal immaterial part of  a person, but,” he said, “if they are out saving souls from a Hebrew perspective, then they are out to save the whole person, who they are physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and socially.”  At the time, this really provoked my interest to find out what other differences exist between a “Greek perspective” and a “Hebrew perspective.” Therefore, it is not that a person possesses a soul, but that each person is “a soul.”  So just think, without each of our bodies or these various “lives,” we are not a complete individual – but an incomplete “soul.”  This is why the resurrection of the dead is so critically important.

Is Messiah “A Spirit” or “A Soul”?

Another question that this provokes was Messiah made “a quickening spirit”?  The Messiah told his disciples after his resurrection: ”

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.  Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (I Corinthians 15:50-53)

Rav Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) explicitly states here that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” nor can “corruption inherit incorruption.”  This means that there needs to be more than just “a spiritual change,” there needs to be a complete and total change in our complete being.  And according to him, this complete change will happen at the moment of the resurrection of the dead.  There is no “rapture,” as many Christians have been deceived to believe, but this will happen at the Second Coming of the Messiah during the battle of Armeggedon.  Rav Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) calls this moment, “a mystery.”  He writes,

Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (I Corinthians 15:51-53).

Rav Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) tells us that when the resurrection of the dead finally happens, then it will happen “in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump.”  He explains that when “the trumpet shall sound, the dead shall be raise incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”  At this future moment, “this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”  Notice at that moment, we will not have any say in what happens or how it will happen since it says “must put on,” meaning that it will be something that we will not have any choice in what happens.  Our only choice is in which resurrection of the dead that we will participate in: the one at the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom or the one prior to the final judgment?

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall it be brought to pass the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in vistory.  O Death, where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory?”  [qtd. Isaiah 25:8].  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach [the Messiah]. (I Corinthians 15:54-57)

When this moment does happen, it will be a fulfillment of Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 25: 8.  Christians and many Messianic believers have confused this next part, “The sting of death is sin,’ This probably refers to the yetzer ra (“the evil imagination”), also called “the sin nature” or just “sin.”  He continues to say that “the strength of sin is the law.”  However, he does not mean “the law of God,” but “the law of sin.”  And finally, he ends by saying, “thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach [the Messiah].”

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (I Corinthians 15:58)

Finally, Rav Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) encourages us to “be steadfast, immovable, always” striving forward and “abounding in the work of the Lord,” since we “know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord,” for we will be rewarded.