1Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the Good News I preached to you, which you received and in which you continue to stand.
2By this Good News you are saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you—unless your belief was pointless.
3For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said,
4that he was buried, that he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said,
5and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the twelve apostles.
6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.
7Then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles.
8Last of all, as if I were born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me.
9For I am the least of the apostles, not even worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted God’s church.
10But by God’s grace, I am what I am. And the grace he showed me was not wasted. In fact, I worked harder than all of them—though it was not I, but God’s grace working through me.
11So whether it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
12Now if we preach that Christ was raised from the dead, how can some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either.
14And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is useless, and your faith is also useless.
15More than that, we would be proven to be false witnesses about God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, when in fact he would not have raised him if the dead are not raised.
16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised.
17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless, and you are still in your sins.
18Then those who have died believing in Christ have also perished.
19If our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
20But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first to be raised of those who have died.
21For since death came into the world through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man.
22For just as everyone dies because of their connection to Adam, in the same way, everyone made alive because of their connection to Christ.
23But each will be raised in their proper order: Christ is the first, then when he comes, those who belong to Christ will be raised.
24Then the end will come, when he will hand over the Kingdom to God the Father, after he has put an end to all rule, all authority, and all power.
25For he must reign until he has placed all his enemies under his feet.
26The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
27For the Scripture says, “He put everything under his control.” When it says “everything is under his control,” it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ’s control.
28When everything is under his control, then the Son himself will also be under the control of God, who put everything under his control, so that God may be all in all.
29Otherwise, what will those people do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are they then baptized for the dead?
30Why do we also put ourselves in danger every hour?
31I swear by the pride I have in you through Christ Jesus our Lord, I face death every day.
32If I fought wild animals in Ephesus for human reasons, what good would it do me? If the dead are not raised, then “let’s eat and drink, because tomorrow we die.”
33Don’t be fooled! “Bad company ruins good character.”
34Come back to your senses and stop sinning, because some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
35But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised?” and, “What kind of body will they have when they come back?”
36You foolish person, the seed you plant doesn't come to life unless it dies first.
37What you plant is not the body that will grow, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or something else.
38But God gives it the body he wants, and to each kind of seed its own body.
39Not all flesh is the same; there is human flesh, animal flesh, fish flesh, and bird flesh.
40There are bodies in the sky and bodies on earth; but the beauty of the sky bodies is different from that of the earth bodies.
41The sun has its own brightness, the moon has its own brightness, and the stars have their own brightness; and each star's brightness is different from another.
42The same is true for the resurrection of the dead. The body is planted in the ground as something that will decay; it is raised as something that will not decay.
43It is planted in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is planted in weakness; it is raised in power.
44It is planted as a natural body; it is raised as a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is also a spiritual body.
45As the Scripture says, "The first man, Adam, became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
46However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural; then the spiritual.
47The first man came from the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.
48Just as people are earthly, so are all others who are earthly; and just as the heavenly being is, so are all others who are heavenly.
49Just as we have been like the earthly person, we will also be like the heavenly person.
50Brothers and sisters, I can tell you this: our human bodies cannot inherit God’s Kingdom, nor can something that decays inherit something that does not decay.
51Listen, I am telling you a secret: We will not all die, but we will all be changed,
52in an instant, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet sounds. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised with bodies that cannot decay, and we will be changed.
53Because this body that can decay must become a body that cannot decay, and this body that can die must become a body that cannot die.
54But when this body that can decay has become a body that cannot decay, and this body that can die has become a body that cannot die, then the Scripture will come true: “Death has been swallowed up by victory.”
55“Death, where is your power to sting? Grave, where is your victory?”
56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin comes from the law.
57But thank God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
58Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be firm, don’t be moved, always do your best in the Lord’s work, because you know that your work for the Lord is not wasted.