New Testament in a Year
29 Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? 30 And why do we stand in danger every hour? 31 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 32 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.”[a]
33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” 34 Awake to righteousness and do not sin, for some do not have the knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
The Resurrection Body
35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? With what body do they come?” 36 You fool! What you sow is not made alive unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not sow the body that shall be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 Then God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh. There is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fish, and another of birds. 40 There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies. The glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars. One star differs from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 So it is written, “The first man Adam was made a living soul.”[b] The last Adam was made a life-giving spirit. 46 However, that which is spiritual is not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second man was the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so are those who are of dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49 As we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
50 Now this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible will put on incorruption, and this mortal will put on immortality. 54 When this corruptible will have put on incorruption, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then the saying that is written shall come to pass: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”[c]
55 “O death, where is your sting?
O grave, where is your victory?”[d]
56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.