Book of Common Prayer

¹² You have been told that Christ was raised from death. How can some of you say that dead people do not rise again?

¹³ If dead people do not rise, Christ did not rise.

¹⁴ And if Christ did not rise, then what we told you was not true, and what you believe is not true.

¹⁵ If this were so, we would have been telling lies about God, because we said that God raised up Christ. He did not raise up Christ if dead people are not raised up.

¹⁶ If dead people are not raised, then Christ was not raised either.

¹⁷ If Christ was not raised, then what you believe is no good. Your wrong ways have not been forgiven.

¹⁸ If that were true, then the people who believed in Christ who have now died, are lost.

¹⁹ And if we have hope in Christ for our life in this world only, then we are the most unhappy of all people.

²⁰ But Christ really has been raised from death. He was the first one to rise of all who have died.

²¹ It was a man who first brought death. So it was also a man who was first raised from death.

²² All people who are of Adam die. And so also, all people who belong to Christ will live.

²³ But each one has his turn. Christ rose first. Then those who belong to Christ will rise when he comes again.

²⁴ After that the end will come. Christ will hand over the ruling power to God the Father. Christ will stop all other rulers, and everyone who has any rights and power.

²⁵ Christ must rule until God has all power over all his enemies.

²⁶ Death is the last enemy to be destroyed.

²⁷ The holy writings say, `God has put all things under Christ.' But it does not mean that God is under Christ. God is the one who put all things under him.

²⁸ One day the Son will be over all things. And God will be over the Son. So in the end God will be over all things.

⁹ Jesus rose early on the first day of the week. He showed himself first to Mary Magdalene. Jesus had driven seven bad spirits out of her.

¹⁰ She went and told the disciples that she had seen him. They were still crying because Jesus was dead.

¹¹ Mary told them that he was living. She had seen him. But they would not believe it.

¹² After this, Jesus came to two disciples. He looked like a different person. They were walking out in the country.

¹³ They went back and told the rest of the disciples, but they would not believe them either.

¹⁴ Then after that Jesus showed himself to the eleven disciples while they were eating. He said it was very bad for them not to believe and for their minds to be slow. He said they should have believed those who saw him after he rose from death.

¹⁵ Then Jesus said to them, `Go into every part of the world. Tell the good news to everyone.

¹⁶ The one who believes the good news and is baptised will be saved. But he who does not believe will be judged and punished.

¹⁷ These signs will be with those who believe. They will drive bad spirits out of people by using my name. They will speak new languages.

¹⁸ They will take up snakes. If they drink poison, it will not make them sick. They will put their hands on sick people and sick people will get well again.'

¹⁹ So after the Lord Jesus had talked to them, he went up into heaven and sat down beside God.

²⁰ Then the disciples went and told the good news everywhere. The Lord worked with them. He made their words come true by the signs that happened after they talked.