Difference between revisions of "1 Cor 15:11-15"

Revision as of 15:53, 6 November 2006

The New Testament > 1 Corinthians > Chapter 15

Questions

• Click the edit link above and to the right to add questions

Lexical notes

• Click the edit link above and to the right to add lexical notes

Exegesis

Click the edit link above and to the right to add exegesis

Verse 12

Paul attempts to defend his teachings concerning the future resurrection of the dead on the basis of Christ’s resurrection. The primary problem in this text is understanding the position of the opponents. Though the text itself offers a quotation from the opponents, “there is no resurrection of the dead,” it is difficult to understand exactly what is meant by this. We have seen Paul quote other slogans of the opponents in this letter (6:12, 13; 8:1, 4) followed by a defense or explanation of his own position. However, these other quotations don’t contribute to our understanding of the text. There are a number of different possibilities that have been suggested. Perhaps the most prominent position that has been proposed has been that the Corinthians believe in a “realized resurrection,” that they have already been resurrected, perhaps at baptism. This view sees the Corinthian opponents as “Gnostics” or “proto-gnostics”. This reading is frequently supported by 4:8, which mentions that the Corinthians see themselves as partakers “already” in certain aspects of salvation. In this reading, the Corinthians reject a future resurrection, or a resurrection of the dead, in favor or a resurrection of the living. A second approach has argued that the Corinthians don’t deny a future resurrection, only that they deny a bodily resurrection. In this view, the dispute with the Corinthians centers more on the latter half of chapter 15 in the discussions of the nature of the resurrected body (15:35ff). He focuses on the question that is proposed, “with what kind of body do they come” (15:35).

Verse 17

One of the difficulties that the text presents is how Paul justifies the argument from Christ’s resurrection to a general resurrection. Paul takes Christ as primary evidence of the possibility of the resurrection. Paul seems to assume that the Corinthians don’t deny Christ’s resurrection, only a more general resurrection. Christ’s resurrection is seen as a miraculous, exceptional event, exactly the way that it has been presented to them, but it doesn’t follow that this is necessarily the fate of all believers. In this reading, the denial of the resurrection in 15:12 and the first question in 15:35, “How are the dead raised?” represent more closely the skeptical position of the Corinthians. We may have another clue in verse 19 that indicates that the Corinthians might have believed that we hope in Christ for our benefit in this life "only". In this view, the question about “what kind of body” can be seen in a larger skeptical view about the possibility of the resurrection and life after death, rather than a debate over its nature per se. Paul’s claim about Christ’s resurrection seems to rely upon the fact that the Corinthians believe in Christ’s resurrection. His opening rehearsal (15:1-11) of these resurrection accounts is meant more to set up the argument in 12-19 than to prove that Christ was resurrected. In fact, he says that they have accepted Christ’s resurrection in 15:1 (Gr: parelabete) and 11 (Gr: epistevsate). He even suggests that they believe in the salvation from their sins through Christ’s resurrection (17). It may not be possible to discern the precise position of the Corinthians, but this doesn’t preclude a study of the competing notions of the body and afterlife that Paul sees are at stake.

Related links

• Click the edit link above and to the right to add related links