THE REASON WHY – 1 Corinthians 15:29-34

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This was what Paul was trying to restore to his brothers and sisters in 1 Corinthians 15. He wanted them to embrace, once again, this ‘living hope’ that Peter wrote about. He wanted them to have such confidence in the prospect of their own resurrection in Jesus that they were motivated to joyfully give their all for Jesus; and even to lay down their lives in His service.

Somehow, they had lost this confidence. They had started off well. Paul wrote to them, in the first few verses of Chapter 15 about how the truth of Jesus’ resurrection was presented to them as a part of the gospel. He wrote to them about how eyewitnesses testified that Jesus was alive from the dead. Paul himself was one of those witnesses who had met the resurrected Lord Jesus. But somehow along the way, some folks had entered into the church family in Corinth and had caused the Corinthian believers to doubt the “living hope” of their own future resurrection.

In verses 12-19, Paul wrote to them and said;

Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).

What powerful words these are! They show us what we will have lost if we lose our faith in our own future resurrection in Christ. If there is no resurrection for those of us who believe on Jesus—if we only have ‘hope’ in Him for “this life only”—then what a pitiful bunch of people we are! We will have given ourselves to Jesus, and will have turned from the things of this world to follow Him, and will have suffered tribulation for His name’s sake, and will have labored for His kingdom; and it will all have been for nothing!

That’s only true, though, if there is no resurrection!

When we get to verse 20, it seems to me that Paul just couldn’t hold it in any longer. He just couldn’t leave us hanging in hopelessness. He had to burst out with joy and say, “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (v. 20). He was compelled to declare to us that Jesus truly is alive—and that He is the ‘firstfruits’ of more yet to come—and that we are destined to be raised along with Him.

Now; verses 20-28 is a joyful interlude in the case that Paul was making. It’s the passage we looked at during our last time in 1 Corinthians 15. But it seems to me that then, in verses 29-34, Paul picked up where he left off in verse 19; and went on to show us more of what we would lose if we doubt our own prospect of resurrection. He wrote;

Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead? And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour? I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame (vv. 29-34).

If we allow others to rob us of our faith in the prospect of our own resurrection, then we will basically be robbed of one of the greatest motivations we have for the Christian faith. It may be that many of us are, even now, weak in our motivation for our Christian lives. And if so, this may be because we are weak in our faith in the living hope that is ours in Christ. It may be that we are not thinking seriously enough about it, and that we are not keeping the truth of it sufficiently before our eyes.

This morning, dear brothers and sisters, let’s take Paul’s warning about what we would lose if we lost our faith in the hope of resurrection—let’s put it in terms of a positive call to action—and let’s become renewed in our motivation. As verses 29-34 show us, the promise of our own resurrection in Jesus is what gives us a great reason why we can give our all for Jesus’ kingdom.

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One thing that our faith in the resurrection of Jesus gives us is the great reason why we can take our stand with others who have gone before us in the faith.

The way that the apostle Paul said this is found in verse 29; and his words have been often misunderstood. Paul writes, “Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?” It might be that you read those words, and think to yourself, “Baptized for the dead’? That sounds weird. What in the world is that talking about?”

There have been some sects of the Christian faith in history—and even a few well-known cults—that have taken Paul’s words and turned them into an ordinance. They have believed that salvation comes through the ceremony of baptism; and so, when it comes to loved ones or friends who were not baptized, they have actually sought to be baptized for them. Some have even gone so far as to be baptized on behalf of other people in history—people that they never knew and could not have ever met—in the hopes that this will bring them into heaven.

Well; this, of course, is completely wrong. Salvation does not come to anyone as a result of baptism. It comes only as a result of personal faith in what Jesus has done for us on the cross; and someone is baptized only as a public expression of that faith. We can neither ‘have faith’ for someone else, nor ever bring about their salvation by being baptized on their behalf. We can be sure that this isn’t what Paul meant. But what, then, did Paul mean by the phrase ‘baptized for the dead’? Some have suggested that it means that we are baptized for Jesus—who died for us. Paul would then be saying that if Jesus had not risen from the dead, why then be baptized ‘for the dead’? But even this can’t be what Paul meant; because in the original language, the word “the dead” is in the plural. It speaks of ‘the many who have died’—not of the One who died for us.

Paul’s meaning may seem like a difficult thing to grasp; but I think it helps greatly to know that, in the original language of Paul’s letter, the word “for” grammatically means “in the place of”. It doesn’t mean “baptized on the behalf of the dead ones”, or “baptized for the benefit of the dead ones”, but rather “baptized in place of the dead ones”. I believe that what Paul is saying is that there have been many who have gone before us in the faith in Jesus—many saints who have taken their stand for Him and have labored for His kingdom; many who had expressed their faith in Jesus by being publicly baptized—who have since died, and who have left the active scene of this earth. And now that they are gone, we are called upon to enter into the ranks of the faith upon this earth and to identify ourselves with Jesus through baptism, and to live and work for Him ‘in their place’. We are called upon to be ‘baptized for the dead’ in the sense that we are taking our stand in this world in the place that they once occupied. We’re to fill the ranks of the ‘baptized ones’ who went on before us.

I have found it helpful to think of what the Bible teacher Dr. Harry Ironside had said about this. He wrote:

A regiment of soldiers goes into battle, and after the battle is over they count the men and find perhaps that seventy-five have been slain. Immediately they begin to recruit others in place of the dead, not to do the dead any good, but to take their places. Seventy-five other men are drawn into that regiment, are recruited in place of the dead, they don the uniform and go forth to take part in other conflicts. But if they are fighting a losing battle, if there is no possibility of ever winning, if they are just wasting their lives, why are they then recruited for the dead? What is the use of their taking the places of those who have died? It is the height of folly if they know there is nothing but certain defeat and destruction awaiting them (Harry Ironside, Addresses on The First Epistle to The Corinthians [1938], p. 499).

Imagine that the church of our Lord is one great army—stretching back centuries before us. Many have lived for Jesus—and have declared their faith in Him by being baptized. They were “Christian soldiers—marching as to war; with the cross of Jesus going on before!” And they have fought the good fight, died in their time, and have now left this earthly scene. But if there is no resurrection ahead for them—if there is no ‘living hope’ in Christ—then they would have wasted their lives. And it would be a foolish waste of time for you and me to then stand up, and be baptized in their place, and take our stand in the army of our Lord. That is what Paul means by asking, “what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all?” What would they gain? What good would it do? Why bother at all?

But flip that around in thinking, dear brothers and sisters, to a positive word of encouragement. Because Jesus has risen from the dead, we now have a living hope through Him. And that living hope gives us the great reason why we can faithfully take our stand with those who have gone ahead. They are “the great cloud of witnesses” that the writer of Hebrews speaks of—those who have gone on before us and who now urge us on to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us”, and to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Because of our living hope, we have the reason why we can take our stand with them.

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Another thing that our faith in the resurrection of Jesus gives us is the great reason why we can risk being put in danger for the work of the gospel. There’s no doubt about it. We live in a world that is hostile to our faith—a world that crucified our Lord. We may be called upon to suffer for our devotion to Him. But we can do so confidently—without any fear of ultimate loss—because of our living hope of resurrection and future glory.

Paul went on to ask in verse 30—as if there was no living hope—“And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour?” The “we” he speaks of is himself and the other apostles who faithfully brought the gospel message to the world. They suffered great hardship for having done so. In fact, every one of the apostles—with the exception of the apostle John—was put to death for his faithful preaching about Jesus. Paul himself suffered often, and was eventually executed for his faith. If there is no resurrection, what then is the motivation for suffering so much for the cause of Jesus? Why bother, if there is no hope?

Paul even expressed this in a personal way to the Corinthian believers. He said, “I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily” (v. 31). Paul puts this in very strong terms. In the original language, he took up the words of an oath; and he declared that just as surely as he rejoiced in the glory that is set for them in Jesus, he affirmed to them that he died ‘daily’. Every morning, as it were, Paul got up from his sleep, and stretched his arms, and prayed, “Lord; I am going off now to serve Your kingdom at your command. I don’t know whether or not it will result in my dying a martyr’s death before this day is over. But I consider my life nothing to me. I just count myself ‘put to death’ for Your sake. If I live, it’s up to You. If I die, it’s up to You. But I don’t count my life dear to me anymore. ‘… I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day’ (2 Timothy 1:12). And so, Lord; as far as I am concerned, I die today. Use me as You wish.”

If there is no ‘living hope’—if there is no promise of resurrection in Jesus—why bother doing such a thing as that? Why ‘die daily’ for the cause of Christ?

He went on further to say in verse 32, “If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me?” This may have been something that the Corinthians knew about from first-hand awareness. Acts 19 tells us that, right after he had finished ministering to the Corinthians, he went on—not too far away from Corinth—to preach the same gospel in the city of Ephesus. And his preaching there caused the whole city to break into a riot! Hostile people—who had made their living from creating idols—were losing their money because of the preaching of Paul. They tried to turn the whole city into stir in order to drag him to judgment and to death. Paul had barely escaped with his life. It may be that he was using the name “beasts” as a way of describing these hostile opponents. Or it may even be that he was, somehow, literally placed in the arena for a time and made to fight with actual wild beasts.

But he asked that, if he did this ‘in the manner of men’—that is, merely as a human being with nothing more than human expectations and human motives; and not with a living hope of a future resurrection in Christ—then why bother doing such a thing at all? He quoted from Isaiah 22 and said, “If the dead do not rise, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!’” If there is no resurrection ahead for us—if this is all there is—then why give one’s self over to needless suffering and trial? Let’s just forget about this ‘hope for eternity’, and live for the pleasures of this life in the hear-and-now while we can.

As you can see, we lose so much when we lose the living hope of our resurrection in Christ!

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Well; all of this to shows us that the prospect of our resurrection in Christ is a powerful reason why we can give ourselves unreservedly to the cause of our Lord. We must not allow ourselves to be robbed of our living hope. It’s what gives us our motivation. It gives us our “why”.

And let me ask, dear brother or sister; how is your motivation in the Christian life right now? Is it driven by a living hope through the resurrection of our Lord? Or is it sort of weak? Have you become indifferent to the faith—and lost your passion? Could it be that you have taken your eyes off the promise of our future resurrection in Christ?

Paul closes off with a very serious warning. He wrote;

Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” (v. 33).

It may be that what happened to some of these Corinthian believers has happened to you. It may be that someone has been allowed to influence you in such a way as to compromise your faith in the ‘living hope’ of future resurrection in Christ. It may be that they have been allowed to turn your eyes away from that hope; and to turn your focus so much upon the temporal things of this world that you have forgotten your glorious destiny in Christ. Paul urged his Corinthian brothers and sisters,

Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame (v. 34).

Go back and read Paul’s words at the first 11 verses of this chapter. Let it sink into your heart that Jesus Christ has, indeed, risen from the dead. Let’s allow what Paul said to another group of Christians be his word to us:

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

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EA