Free Bible Commentary
“1 Corinthians 15:29-34”
Categories: 1 Corinthians“Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? Why are we also in danger every hour? I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, LET US EAT AND DRINK, FOR TOMORROW WE DIE. Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals.’ Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.”
---End of Scripture verses---
Paul is still making arguments in support of believing in the resurrection of the dead, although, admittedly, the reasoning from today’s verses seems rather bizarre. “If the dead are not raised, why then are they baptized for the dead” (29)? It is obvious (to me anyway) that some people were practicing “immersion substitution”. That is to say, some people were being baptized to try to save other people who had already passed away. Here is the important point to take notice of however: Paul is not condemning or endorsing this practice. He is just pointing out that some people were doing it. The reasoning then is, why would people even bother to do such a strange thing if the dead “are not raised at all?”
I want you to also notice the distinction that Paul is drawing between what is stated in verse 29 and verses 30-32. In verse 29 he asked what will “those” do, and why then are “they” baptized for the dead. In verses 30-32 he shifts to what he and his companions were doing. The pronouns “we” and “I” and “me” were used instead of “they”. So, Paul was not teaching that we can be baptized for someone else in order to save that person. He is just pointing out a peculiar practice that some of the brethren in Corinth were participating in to make a point. And let’s face it, the brethren in Corinth did some pretty wild things! As Paul pointed out in verse 34, “Some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame”!
“If from human motives I fought with wild bests at Ephesus, what does it profit me” (verse 32). Now an argument in favor of the resurrection from the way that Paul lived his life. Paul was living proof that there MUST be a resurrection from the dead. Why in the world would he expose himself to harm and danger and death every day of his life, if THIS life was all that he was living for?! What a miserable, hopeless existence it would have been to have taught and preached and clawed and fought, day after day to try to help save people’s immortal souls, if people’s souls just perished with their bodies. Paul would not have exposed himself to “wild beasts”—to resistance and persecution and harm and hardship on this earth, if this earth was all there was to life! He would have just enjoyed his food and drink and then died as peacefully as possible.
“Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals’” (verse 33). It matters who you hang out with. There were some “bad influences” at the church in Corinth. They were teaching things that were contrary to logic and truth and it was causing unnecessary distractions and harm to the brethren’s faith. It is good to try and be a positive influence in the lives of “ungodly” or “worldly” people. But when they begin to influence us for the worse, it is time to “come out from their midst and be separate” (2 Corinthians 6:17).
Please read 1 Corinthians 15:35-41 for tomorrow.
Enjoy your day!
- Louie Taylor
