Easter &
Resurrection
Christ died for
our sins just as the Scriptures had said would happen, he was
buried, he was raised on the third day just as the Scriptures had
prophesied, and he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After
that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the
same time. . . . Then he appeared to James, then to all the
apostles. . . .
Christ has
indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have
died. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the
dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ
all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the
firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the
end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after
he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign
until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be
destroyed is death. . . .
But someone may
ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they
come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it
dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just
a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a
body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own
body. All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals
have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly
bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly
bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is
another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the
stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
So will it be
with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is
perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is
raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is
sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a
natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The
first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving
spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after
that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the
second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are
of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who
are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly
man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
I declare to
you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of
God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell
you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in
a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the
trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will
be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the
imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable
has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with
immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death
has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O
death, is your victory?
Where, O death,
is your sting?”
The
sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be
to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore,
my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give
yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your
labor in the Lord is not in vain.
--from
1 Corinthians 15
