1 Corinthians 15

F. The resurrection of believers ch. 15

The Apostle Paul did not introduce the instruction on the resurrection that follows with the formula that identifies it as a response to a specific question from the Corinthians (i.e., peri de). From what he said in this chapter he apparently knew that some in the church had adopted a belief concerning the resurrection that was contrary to apostolic teaching. They believed that there is no resurrection of the dead (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:12; 1 Corinthians 15:16; 1 Corinthians 15:29; 1 Corinthians 15:32; Acts 17:32).

"Educated, elite Corinthians probably followed views held by many philosophers, such as immortality of the soul after the body’s death. . . .

"Some Greeks (like Epicureans and popular doubts on tombstones) denied even an afterlife. Yet even Greeks who expected an afterlife for the soul could not conceive of bodily resurrection (which they would view as the reanimation of corpses) or glorified bodies." [Note: Keener, 1-2 Corinthians, p. 122. ]

Apparently Paul included this teaching to correct this error and to reaffirm the central importance of the doctrine of the resurrection in the Christian faith.

". . . the letter itself is not finished. Lying behind their view of spirituality is not simply a false view of spiritual gifts, but a false theology of spiritual existence as such. Since their view of ’spirituality’ had also brought them to deny a future resurrection of the body, it is fitting that this matter be taken up next. The result is the grand climax of the letter as a whole, at least in terms of its argument." [Note: Fee, The First . . ., p. 713.]

"This chapter has been called ’the earliest Christian doctrinal essay,’ and it is the only part of the letter which deals directly with doctrine." [Note: Robertson and Plummer, p. 329.]

Evidently most of the Corinthian church believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), but belief in His resurrection did not necessarily involve believing that God would raise all believers in Christ. Christ’s resurrection gave hope to believers about the future, but that hope did not necessarily involve the believer’s resurrection. This seems to have been the viewpoint of the early Christians until Paul taught them that their bodily resurrection was part of their hope, which he did here. Thus this chapter has great theological value for the church.

". . . apparently soon after Paul’s departure from Corinth [after his 18 months of ministry there] things took a turn for the worse in this church. A false theology began to gain ground, rooted in a radical pneumatism that denied the value/significance of the body and expressed in a somewhat ’overrealized,’ or ’spiritualized,’ eschatology. Along with this there arose a decided movement against Paul. These two matters climax in this letter in their pneumatic behavior (chaps. 12-14) and their denial of a resurrection of the dead (chap. 15), which included their questioning of his status as pneumatikos ([spiritual] 1 Corinthians 14:36-38) and perhaps their calling him an ’abortion’ or a ’freak’ (1 Corinthians 15:8). Thus, as elsewhere, Paul sets out not only to correct some bad theology but at the same time to remind them of his right to do so." [Note: Fee, The First . . ., p. 716.]