“Baptised For The Dead”
This section begins with one of the best known “problem verses” in the New Testament. The passage is used by the Mormons to support their unbiblical theory that living persons can assist in the salvation of those who have died by being baptised on their behalf. The Mormon teaching is based on a number of assumptions:
- That the “dead” are not really dead – as the Bible teaches – but that their spirits have passed out of the body and entered a spirit world.
- That these departed spirits have the gospel preached to them (whether or not they heard it during their bodily existence!) and can respond by accepting the word preached.
- That these repentant spirits cannot enter the kingdom of heaven without baptism.
- That having no bodily existence, they cannot be baptised.
- That the baptism of a living person in this world will be accepted by God on their behalf.
- That the foundation for all the above is the book of Mormon which is authoritative on this and other matters of doctrine.
It is not difficult to demonstrate from Scripture that these teachings are contrary to the Truth. All the way through, the Scriptures stress the mortality of man and that death is a cessation of all existence. “It is appointed unto men once to die” – and after this comes, not a second chance, but “judgment” (Heb.9:27). The book of Mormon, in opposing Scripture, as it does here and on many other issues, speaks not according to God’s Word and therefore there is no light in it.
If we are in discussion with Mormons, the understanding of this verse is therefore lifted above the “my interpretation versus yours” level of argument to a consideration of what is the real state of the dead, and which is the genuine Word of God – the Bible or the book of Mormon? On these issues we should be well equipped to argue the case for the Truth.
If we are pressed for “our” interpretation of the verse, then I suggest that we regard verses 20 to 28 as one of the many parentheses in Paul’s letters and demonstrate that the argument of verses 12 to 19 is carried on by the apostle from verse 29 onwards. Notice in this connection the repetition of the phrase “if the dead rise not” in verses 15, 16, 29 and 32. The whole section is a continuous argument on the foolishness of their position (and his!) if Jesus was not raised. “The dead” in the first part of verse 29 is therefore Jesus. If he was still in the tomb, they had all been baptised in the name of a dead man and any such ceremony was manifestly of no value. What was the point of Paul running the risks that he took every day (v.30), if the one whom he preached was dead and without the power to save anybody?
Day by day Paul was faced with death (v.31); why, he urged them to think, would he so behave if there was no hope of resurrection for the faithful? On the occasion when he confronted those in Ephesus who wished to slay him (v.32 – possibly referring to Acts 19), was there any gain in prospect in the absence of the certainty of resurrection? Thus in these verses Paul is reinforcing his argument in verses 12 to 19 that a gospel shorn of the resurrection of Jesus is no gospel at all.
Verse 32 contains a quotation from Isaiah 22:13 which, when seen in its context, adds further weight to Paul’s argument. The Assyrian army had invaded Judah (Is.22:7); Hezekiah and his people brought out all their store of weapons (v.8 RV) and manufactured more besides (2 Chron.32:5). They repaired Millo (v.9 and 2 Chron.32:5) and redirected the water supply of Jerusalem (v.9). They tore down houses to reinforce the defences of the city, without regard for those that had built them, or consideration of God’s view of their doings (v.10-11). The Assyrians were outside the walls, Hezekiah the king was as good as dead and, through Isaiah, God was calling for a fast (v.12) but what was the point? The faithless people of Jerusalem had no hope, so they held a great party: “joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die” (v.13).
Yet the king rose off his death bed on the third day and went into the presence of God, the sun went backwards and the Assyrian army was driven back into their own land. The siege was lifted and Hezekiah led the people out of the city which they thought was to be their grave into a land which became fruitful again (Is.55:12-13). “Now”, said Paul in effect, “those among you who deny the resurrection of Jesus are as faithless as the citizens of Jerusalem in Hezekiah’s day. God was offering them salvation and they did not believe it – so in figure he slew their king and raised him to life again so that he became their Saviour. What God did in type in Hezekiah, He has done in reality in Christ – so be not faithless, but believing!”
For the second time in the epistle Paul warned against the danger of deceitful false teachers. They were active in the ecclesia with wrong ideas on morality (6:9) and on doctrine (15:33). The two are inextricable – wrong beliefs will inevitably lead to impure lives – just as had happened in Jerusalem in Hezekiah’s day. Their attitude in this matter of the resurrection clearly showed that for all their boasts of knowledge and wisdom, the most important thing of all – knowledge of God – was lacking (v.34).
The resurrection body
The doctrine of resurrection was foolishness to the Greeks (1:23) because they believed that the body was evil and was either to be indulged or denied. How could such a body as this one be raised up? To these “wise” men Paul used great plainness of speech: “Thou fool” (v.36) – the principles of resurrection are illustrated even in the plant creation with the death of the seed in order that the plant may sprout out of it; and the great difference between the growing plant and the seed from which it germinated. The variety of creation, both on earth and in the heavens, illustrates the power of God and His ability to achieve the desired result. All these things are patterns of the reality of resurrection.
Paul then begins to expound, in more detail than in any other passage, what will happen at the resurrection. First he contrasts the two bodily states:
| The Natural Body | The Spiritual Body |
|---|---|
| Corruptible | Incorruptible |
| Dishonorable | Glorious |
| Weak | Powerful |
| Natural | Spiritual |
| Earthly | Heavenly |
| Mortal(Flesh & Blood) | Immortal |
To these contrasts may be added other pictures which the Scripture presents to us of the resurrection state. In Romans 2 the apostle promises that “to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, (God will give) eternal life” (v.7). There is a series of passages in Proverbs which set forth the same teaching; e.g. Prov.3:16, 4:8-10, 8:18-21, 21:21,22:4. In 2 Corinthians 4:17 it is “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”.
It is pertinent to note also that Scripture uses the figure of sowing in another sense in reference to our life in Christ: “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal.6:7-8). We are doing one or the other in our lives and the end result will be, on the one hand, the destruction of the natural body, or, on the other, its transformation into a spiritual body.
“Raised incorruptible”
It is a sad reflection on the perversity of the mind of the flesh that a passage which should engender nothing but joy and rejoicing in our hearts has been wrested, and has been expounded in a way which goes against the rest of Scripture. When Paul wrote this section of the epistle he was concerned with the error of those in Corinth who argued that there is no resurrection of the dead. He did not therefore go into every detail on other matters which were peripheral to the argument which he was putting forward. Thus there is no mention in verses 22 and 23 of those who have been called but have not been chosen, who having put their hand to the plough and looking back are not fit for the kingdom of God.
One of the first things which Jesus will do at his return is to sit as judge of quick and dead (Acts 10:42, 2 Tim.4:1, 1 Pet.4:5). Old and New Testament Scriptures show that both faithful and unfaithful will be raised; the former will be given aionian life and the latter condemned to the second death:
“And many of them which sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan.12:2).
“Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves (Gr. lit remembered places) shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:28-29).
“Wherefore we labour, that, whether present of absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor.5:9-10).
The word translated “raised” in 1 Corinthians 15:52 is used of the raising of Lazarus in John 12:1. It is evident that Lazarus did not come out of the grave immortal (Christ is “the firstfruits of them that slept” in the sense that he was the first to be raised and made immortal) and therefore this Greek word does not of itself imply ‘the dead shall come out of their graves in an immortal state’.
Earlier in the chapter (v.35) Paul has likened the resurrection to life to the sowing of seed and the subsequent growth of the plant to maturity – a process. By putting together a number of passages relating to the resurrection it can be shown that it too is a process: the actual bringing out of the grave (Is.26:19, John 5:28-29, 1 Thess.4:16), transportation to the judgment seat (1 Thess.4:17), the process of judgment (2 Cor.5:10) and the bestowal of reward or punishment (Matt. 25:34,41). There should be no doubt that the judgment will be real. The word translated “judgment seat” is the same as that used in Acts 25:17 of the judgment seat of the Roman governor.
The context of this passage (v.16) is that of a trial with witnesses for the prosecution and the accused able to make reply. The constant warnings of the New Testament about the consequences of being found wanting at the sudden appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ should leave us in no doubt of the seriousness of the position of those who are judged unworthy by the Lord at his appearing. It is evident that the responsible evil-doers will not be “raised incorruptible”; and since there is no Scriptural basis (apart possibly from 1 Cor.15:52) for the idea of immortal emergence for the righteous, we conclude that all who appear before the judgment seat of Christ will be in the same physical state – capable of being sentenced to eternal death or receiving the power of an endless life.
If the teaching of Scripture on this matter is so clear (and I believe that it is), why has the complication of the doctrine of immortal emergence been attached to verse 52 of this chapter, and insisted on by some as an essential part of the gospel?
The short answer is that it is one of the many complications necessitated by the initially false premises of David Handley and Edward Turney, who taught the doctrines known in the 1870’s as “Renunciationism” and today as “Clean Flesh”. Because they taught that Adam and Eve were mortal beings before eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and that therefore natural death is not a consequence of sin (a teaching opposed by Romans 5:12, which states that death entered the world as a result of Adam’s sin), their whole view of the nature of man and of death became distorted and the doctrine of immortal emergence (together with many other errors) resulted.
“Behold, I shew you a mystery”
The word “mystery” in the New Testament signifies a teaching which had been previously hidden but was now being revealed through Spirit-gifted apostles and prophets (Eph.3:1-6). As has been mentioned above, it is necessary in this section to appreciate that the “we” to whom the apostle refers are the saints – the called and chosen ones; enlightened rejectors of the truth are not being considered in this context. Paul has clearly shown in the epistle that God will destroy the man who defiles his temple (3:17); that “the unrighteous (brother) shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (6:9); that the weak brother may perish through the inconsiderate actions of others (8:11) and that he himself might become a castaway (9:27). But for those who overcome and endure to the end there is a glorious prospect which he now unfolds in the closing verses of this chapter.
“Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” – in order to defuse Greek thought patterns on the evil nature of the body, Paul begins by showing that there must be a physical change to the body before there can be entrance into the kingdom:
“we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body…” (Phil.3:20-21).
These bodies are corruptible – as most of us are only too well aware – and must first be changed. Throughout this section, however, there is an emphasis on the fact that although there will be a change from mortal to immortal, from corruptible to incorruptible, the immortal and incorruptible person will still be Paul or Apollos or Cephas.
“We shall be changed”
– but the personality and character which makes each of us the individual that we are will not be destroyed. Isaac will no longer have a fleshly weakness for venison, David will not desire a beautiful woman; for those defects of our nature will be done away – but the individuals in the kingdom will be Isaac and David, having put off this earthly tabernacle (2 Pet. 1:14), being clothed upon with their house which is from heaven (2 Cor.5:2).
“We shall not all sleep”.
There is a great contrast between the doubts of the Corinthian brethren and the certainty of the apostle:
“We SHALL not all sleep, but we SHALL all be changed … the dead SHALL be raised … we SHALL be changed … this corruptible MUST put on incorruption then SHALL be brought to pass the saying that is written …”.
For Paul the resurrection and the subsequent change from the natural body to the spiritual body was a certainty. This was one of the driving forces which kept him going through all the afflictions which came upon him: “If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead” (Phil.3:11). Do we have the same certainty, the same conviction? We believe the same truth, and it ought to engender in us a similar burning desire for the resurrection and the things of the Kingdom.
“Death is swallowed up in victory”
Although the quotation here is from Isaiah 25, there is, I suggest, a hint of the events in the palace of Pharaoh when the rod of Aaron which became the symbol of deliverance for Israel “swallowed up” the serpent rods of the magicians of Egypt (Ex.7:10-12). In its dual role as rod and serpent it prefigures Jesus who, as God’s appointed deliverer, partook of the Adamic nature and through this was able to destroy the seed of the serpent.
The context of the quotation which Paul makes from Isaiah 25 is the same as that of the quotation from Isaiah 22 which appears in verse 32 – the reign of Hezekiah and particularly the Assyrian invasion and the king’s illness. God was a strength to the poor of Israel besieged in Jerusalem when the blast of the Assyrian army was against the wall (v.4). The Assyrian, and particularly his king, was brought low – even to death (v.5), while the people liberated from the city rejoiced in the good things of the harvest which they could now eat (v.6).
At Jerusalem was destroyed the overshadowing power of Assyria which threatened all nations in the region (v.7). The king who was about to die was raised up and went into the house of the LORD on the third day; his tears were wiped away and all people of the earth glorified the God of Israel and brought gifts to his king (v.8 + 2 Chron.32:23). How appropriate, therefore, will be the next words in the prophecy in the mouths of the saints in. the day of resurrection and immortality:
“Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation”(v.9).
We should have a degree of this joy now as we wait for him – but how much greater will be our joy in the day of his appearing?
“Thanks be to God”
Once more in verse 56 there is a link between death and sin – reinforcing the points made above in opposition to the Clean Flesh theory. The strength of sin was shown when the law was given, for the apostle wrote elsewhere:
“I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet” (Rom.7:7).
Just as Paul rejoiced in that passage in Romans: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord …”, so he does here, being delivered from the bondage of the law and sin to freedom in Christ. The victory is not only Christ’s – through our association with him it is given to us and we can overcome and be set down with him in his throne, even as he overcame and is set down with his Father in His throne (Rev. 3:21).
For those in Corinth who had moved away from the hope of the gospel and abandoned the teaching of Paul on the resurrection of the dead, their labour was in vain – “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” was the best they could do. How different it was (and is!) for those who hold fast to this truth. Our labour is not in vain in the Lord, therefore Paul exhorts us to be steadfast and immovable – not just doing the work of the Lord, but abounding in it and looking for the day of resurrection and victory.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One