1 Corinthians 15:29-32 (NIV)
Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
Paul marshals his arguments against those who say there is no resurrection from the dead which, to Paul, is synonymous with believing that there is no life beyond the grave. And he starts in what strikes some as a peculiar place: baptism for the dead.
The practice of baptizing people as proxies for those who had died before the gospel had been proclaimed was apparently practiced in Corinth. This was based on the hope that a person’s eternal soul could be saved even after their body had died, if the proper rituals were performed. This unscriptural practice was based on pagan beliefs about the afterlife.
Paul in no way sanctions this practice. But he does point out the inconsistency between a professed non-belief in the resurrection and an afterlife and those who baptized people for the dead. Paul can see no logical way that both things can be held onto simultaneously. And that makes perfect sense. If you don’t believe in life after death, why baptize people hoping that some benefit will acquire accrue to those whose lives on earth are already over?
Paul also points to his own sufferings he has experienced as he preached the gospel all over the empire. Those who refuse to believe in the resurrection and afterlife said that, if you were saved, God would have to pour out all the blessings due to a person in the present life, giving them health and happiness, and a life of blessing and ease. But Paul’s own life, though blessed in the most important ways, had been a life of suffering and hardship as he pushed the gospel out into places it had not yet been taken. And Jesus himself had promised his followers, not a life of ease, but of at least occasional hardship and even persecution.
Paul’s final point is a sarcastic adoption of a pagan saying. If there is no afterlife, if the present life is all there is, then all the Christians should put aside the work of the gospel and simply indulge themselves in fleshly pleasures. If there is no heaven, then you should make this life as close to heaven as you can get it.
In reality, of course, Paul completely rejected all these arguments. Jesus clearly taught that this life is not all that there is, and demonstrated it himself by rising from the dead, and then ascending into heaven in clear view of his followers. And since this present life is not all there is, that reality should move all of us to devote our earthly lives to the work of the kingdom, even if that involves pain and suffering. It should move every one of us to live a righteous and holy life through which God can work, even if that involves forsaking earthly pleasures in favor of the eternal blessings that God has stored up for us.
Father, Paul’s arguments are clear, logical, and persuasive. But the clearest argument for the resurrection and the life to come is Jesus own words, backed up by His own resurrection. With that kind of evidence, how can we doubt and still claim to be followers of Jesus? Thank you, Lord, for those great promises which we can be sure that You will fulfill for us. Amen.