This passage is one of the more confusing texts in the New Testament. It has some things that seems straight forward and other things that you just wonder what was going on in Apostle Paul’s head. So in order to understand this text remember to always go back to the context of the letter and who he was writing to. Also think about the things Paul was trying to share with the church in Corinthian. There was a lot of disunity and also teaching that was trying to take them away from Christ and His power and meaning. So some were being influenced with the thought that they were living for nothing because there is no “resurrection of the dead” meaning Christ did truly come back to life in human form and thus can’t give us full life. So read it, I will give you some info from the NIV Application commentary, and then we will apply it to our own lives.
Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-34
The main point of verses 12-19 is that if there is no coming bodily resurrection of all Christians, then Jesus himself was not bodily raised, and that makes Christianity futile. Paul continuously repeats this thought from several different angles in these verses. Christ has been raised bodily and has thus set into motion an inexorable chain of events that will culminate in the universal demonstration of the absolute sovereignty of God. Paul points out the parallel between Adam’s sin leading to the sinfulness of all humanity (cf. Rom. 5:12–21) and Christ’s resurrection leading to the resurrection of all his followers (vv. 21–22). Because Adam represented the entire human race that would descend from him, sin spread throughout the whole world. Because Christ, as fully human, represented the entire human race in bearing its sins, he is able to apply the benefits of his death and resurrection to all who will accept them.
But the general resurrection of believers at the time of Christ’s return is just the beginning (v. 23). Verses 24–28 go on to explain what will subsequently occur. After some unspecified interval of time, “the end” or goal of human history will arrive. By this time, Christ will have destroyed all opposition to his reign in the universe—both human and angelic.
This passage then moves to Paul explaining that we aren’t living this race out in vain. All the things that he has been doing and sharing passionately with people is not for nothing. And then he gives a very important verse to us – Vs 33 (memorize it) – Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." Right before this verse he talks about people in the world living in a way that says let’s eat and drink for tomorrow we die. It is this notion to just live for all your fleshly desires now and enjoy life all you can because you don’t know what tomorrow will bring. I’ve actually hear this advice a lot in from the secular world and shockingly I have heard a few times from people in the church. Just enjoy life to the fullest, whatever your heart wants and live in the moment now. This doesn’t give us the proper perspective of loving God, worshipping Him and living righteous holy lives. Am I saying that living a life with God does give us the ability to enjoy life? ABSOLUTELY NOT (my little Paulism)! That is the true enjoyment when we are living for God. But the world wants to change our understand of what is meaningful and what is joyful in this life. That is where Paul says bad company corrupts good character. This is so important for us as we want to hang out and be a witness for our friends. But we have to come to a point to make sure we are a better influence on them then they are a bad influence on you. Reflect on that and pray about it.
Tuesday: Pray for your family
Pray that God will provide for your family’s daily needs
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