SOAP: Tuesday, March 11, 2008

1 Corinthians 15:1-28 (NLT)

1Co 15:1 Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it.
1Co 15:2 It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.
1Co 15:3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.
1Co 15:4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.
1Co 15:5 He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve.
1Co 15:6 After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.
1Co 15:7 Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles.
1Co 15:8 Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.
1Co 15:9 For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.
1Co 15:10 But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.
1Co 15:11 So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed.
1Co 15:12 But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead?
1Co 15:13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either.
1Co 15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless.
1Co 15:15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised.
1Co 15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins.
1Co 15:18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost!
1Co 15:19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
1Co 15:20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.
1Co 15:21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man.
1Co 15:22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.
1Co 15:23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.
1Co 15:24 After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power.
1Co 15:25 For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet.
1Co 15:26 And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:27 For the Scriptures say, "God has put all things under his authority." (Of course, when it says "all things are under his authority," that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.)
1Co 15:28 Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.