Old/New Testament

Let All the Earth Praise the Lord

A Song About Rejoicing in God

A Psalm of Praise

²⁹ Otherwise, what will those people do who are being baptized because of those who have died? If the dead are not raised at all, why are they being baptized because of them? ³⁰ And why in fact are we being endangered every hour? ³¹ I face death every day! That is as certain, brothers,^[a] as it is that I am proud of you in the Messiah,^[b] Jesus our Lord. ³² If I have fought with wild animals in Ephesus from merely human motives, what do I get out of it? If the dead are not raised,

³³ Stop being deceived:

³⁴ Come back to your senses as you should, and stop sinning! For some of you—I say this to your shame—don’t fully know God.

The Resurrection Body

³⁵ But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come back?” ³⁶ You fool! The seed you plant does not come to life unless it dies, ³⁷ and what you plant is not the form that it will be, but a bare kernel, whether it is wheat or something else. ³⁸ But God gives the plant^[e] the form he wants it to have, and to each kind of seed its own form. ³⁹ Not all flesh is the same.^[f] Humans have one kind of flesh,^[g] animals in general have another,^[h] birds have another,^[i] and fish have still another. ⁴⁰ There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the splendor of those in heaven is of one kind, and that of those on earth is of another. ⁴¹ One kind of splendor belongs to the sun, another^[j] to the moon, and still another^[k] to the stars. In fact, one star differs from another star in splendor.

⁴² This is how it will be at the resurrection of the dead. What is planted is decaying, what is raised cannot decay. ⁴³ The body^[l] is planted in a state of dishonor but is raised in a state of splendor. It is planted in weakness but is raised in power. ⁴⁴ It is planted a physical body but is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.^[m]

⁴⁵ This, indeed, is what is written: “The first man, Adam, became a living being.”^[n] The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ The spiritual does not come first, but the physical does, and then comes the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man came from the dust of the earth; the second man came from heaven. ⁴⁸ Those who are made of the dust are like the man from the dust; those who are heavenly are like the man who is from heaven. ⁴⁹ Just as we have borne the likeness of the man who was made from dust, we will^[o] also bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

⁵⁰ Brothers, this is what I mean: Mortal bodies^[p] cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and what decays cannot inherit what does not decay. ⁵¹ Let me tell you a secret. Not all of us will die,^[q] but all of us will be changed— ⁵² in a moment, faster than an eye can blink, at the sound of the last trumpet. Indeed, that trumpet^[r] will sound, and then the dead will be raised never to decay, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For what is decaying must be clothed with what cannot decay, and what is dying must be clothed with what cannot die. ⁵⁴ Now, when what is decaying is clothed with what cannot decay, and what is dying is clothed with what cannot die, then the written word will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up by victory!”^[s]

⁵⁶ Now death’s stinger is sin, and sin’s power is the Law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus the Messiah!^[u]

⁵⁸ Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, unmovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that the work that you do for the Lord isn’t wasted.