New Testament in a Year

Jesus Came Back to Life

15 Brothers and sisters, I’m making known to you the Good News which I already told you, which you received, and on which your faith is based. ² In addition, you are saved by this Good News if you hold on to the doctrine I taught you, unless you believed it without thinking it over. ³ I passed on to you the most important points of doctrine that I had received:

Christ died to take away our sins as the Scriptures predicted.

⁴ He was placed in a tomb.

He was brought back to life on the third day as the Scriptures predicted.

⁵ He appeared to Cephas.^[a] Next he appeared to the twelve apostles. ⁶ Then he appeared to more than 500 believers at one time. (Most of these people are still living, but some have died.) ⁷ Next he appeared to James. Then he appeared to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, he also appeared to me.

I’m like an aborted child ⌞who was given life⌟. ⁹ I’m the least of the apostles. I’m not even fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted God’s church. ¹⁰ But God’s kindness ^[b] made me what I am, and that kindness was not wasted on me. Instead, I worked harder than all the others. It was not I who did it, but God’s kindness was with me. ¹¹ So, whether it was I or someone else, this is the message we brought you, and this is what you believed.

We Will Come Back to Life

¹² If we have told you that Christ has been brought back to life, how can some of you say that coming back from the dead is impossible? ¹³ If the dead can’t be brought back to life, then Christ hasn’t come back to life. ¹⁴ If Christ hasn’t come back to life, our message has no meaning and your faith also has no meaning. ¹⁵ In addition, we are obviously witnesses who lied about God because we testified that he brought Christ back to life. But if it’s true that the dead don’t come back to life, then God didn’t bring Christ back to life. ¹⁶ Certainly, if the dead don’t come back to life, then Christ hasn’t come back to life either. ¹⁷ If Christ hasn’t come back to life, your faith is worthless and sin still has you in its power. ¹⁸ Then those who have died as believers in Christ no longer exist. ¹⁹ If Christ is our hope in this life only, we deserve more pity than any other people.

²⁰ But now Christ has come back from the dead. He is the very first person of those who have died to come back to life. ²¹ Since a man brought death, a man also brought life back from death. ²² As everyone dies because of Adam, so also everyone will be made alive because of Christ. ²³ This will happen to each person in his own turn. Christ is the first, then at his coming, those who belong to him ⌞will be made alive⌟. ²⁴ Then the end will come. Christ will hand over the kingdom to God the Father as he destroys every ruler, authority, and power.

²⁵ Christ must rule until God has put every enemy under his control. ²⁶ The last enemy he will destroy is death. ²⁷ Clearly, God has put everything under Christ’s authority. When God says that everything has been put under Christ’s authority, this clearly excludes God, since God has put everything under Christ’s authority. ²⁸ But when God puts everything under Christ’s authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, since God had put everything under the Son’s authority. Then God will be in control of everything.