'1Cor 15:12-28

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A guarantee of final victory (1Co 15:12-28)

To those who claim there will be no bodily resurrection of the dead, Paul replies that if this is true it means that Christ has not been raised. In that case the gospel he preaches is not true and the believer’s faith is without foundation (1Co 15:12-14).

Furthermore, it means that the preachers of the gospel have misled their hearers. For if Christ has not been raised from the dead, he is certainly not the victorious Saviour. He has not conquered sin; sin has conquered him (1Co 15:15-17).

Those who died believing in Christ have likewise been for ever conquered by sin and death. As for those believers still living, they are to be pitied for putting up with hardship in the hope of a better life to come if, as the doubters argue, there is no such future life (1Co 15:18-19).

Christ’s return guarantees the resurrection of all believers. They will not merely be brought back to life, but they will enter into a new kind of life, one where death will no longer have any part. Death is the result of sin, and all who are descended from Adam will die; but all who have faith in Christ will triumph over death. This victorious resurrection of believers will take place at Christ’s return (1Co 15:20-23).

With the final banishment of death itself, Christ will see the victory he won at the cross effectual to the last outpost of rebellion. Having established full and complete authority over everything and everyone, he will deliver up this authority to his Father (1Co 15:24-26).

The work for which the Son willingly became subject to the Father will then be complete. Everything will be subject to him who is Lord of all (1Co 15:27-28).