1Cor 15:30-31 | KingComments | STEP | . After he had spoken from the fullness of his heart about the future government of Christ, Paul returns to his argument in , which he left off in . He puts forward a new argument to emphasize further the importance of the resurrection. That argument is baptism. It may seem far-fetched to you, but you will see how much baptism is related to resurrection. Now, do you remember what baptism means? In Romans 6 you read that baptism represents a burial ( ). Through baptism you show that you are buried with Christ, Who died for you. Someone who is buried, does not exist anymore to this world. By being baptized you make known that you want to follow the Lord Jesus right through a world that has rejected Christ. Baptism makes you a follower of Him. If you want to do that consistently, you will be treated by the world just as the world has treated Him. The Lord Jesus has said that the people of the world have persecuted Him and that they will persecute His disciples as well ( ). From the moment you are baptized, you do not want to live for yourself anymore, but for Him Who died and was buried for you. You are not the first who has been baptized. I assume that you are baptized; if not, what is keeping you from being baptized? If you are baptized you’re standing in a long, long line of people who preceded you. All who have been baptized, form, as it were, an army that is in a hostile area. They all want to follow the Lord Jesus right through oppression and enmity. The world is still the area where satan has authority. That will change when the Lord Jesus comes, as you have seen in . But in this time you can be sure that you are a no one, which means that you are despised and rejected. This enmity can even reach the point that believers get killed. This causes empty places in the army. How wonderful it is then when new followers of Christ are baptized and added to fill up the places and to join the army. You understand that I make this comparison with the army only from a spiritual point of view. What does this all have to do with the resurrection? I suggest you read carefully. There it is about believers who have died and about others who are still alive and are baptized. The believers who died, have ceased to follow a rejected Christ and to live a life of contempt and despising. Others, of whom you are one, have got to know the Lord Jesus, were baptized and filled the empty places. They now walk behind Him, while they take part in the contempt and the despising involved. What advantage does that all have, however, when there is no resurrection? The prospect of resurrection persuades people to abandon an easy-going and pleasant life, and to choose freely for a way of humiliation and mockery. At the resurrection there will be a reward for all deprivation suffered. Then God will restore everything we have abandoned for His sake. You can look at the Lord Jesus. He has, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross and despised the shame ( ). In Hebrews 11 believers are mentioned who “were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection” ( ). I would suggest you read the whole of chapter (Hebrews 11) in that light. . Paul was familiar with that too! He was talking about others in . In he talks about himself. The conditions he lived in were far from rosy. He was “in danger every hour”, and said: “I die daily.” That is not exaggerated. It was maybe in the eyes of the Corinthians and therefore he empowered his words by pointing at their boast. What did their boast consist of? What was it they were boasting of? Whatever they were boasting of it was something they surely received through the preaching of the gospel. Therefore their boast was his boast and which he had in Christ. In addition to that, he says “our Lord”. Here he connects the Corinthians to himself as submitted to a common Lord. . Paul had to face death very often. This is the daily pattern of life for one who follows his Lord and Master closely. To him who makes efforts to declare Christ in every way and at every occasion, there is no ‘end of work time’, no entertainment program with appetizers. Paul was constantly aware on which ground he found himself. To him this world was a temporary place. He had to go through it and he did that with a clear mission. He expected to receive his rest and reward at the resurrection. As long as he had no part in that yet, his life was a struggle and a battle. The people who threatened him, he compared with wild beasts. They were cruel and rude people who wanted to see blood. What happened to him in Ephesus is written in the book of Acts ( ). What you read there is absolutely not a small thing. Just imagine the case that thousands of people are revolting against you because you preached the gospel to them! Would it be a strange thing for you to fear for your life? People become like beasts when whipped up as a mass. Wars past and present prove it to be true. But what is the advantage of jeopardizing your life like that when dead are not raised? Then you’d better enjoy life today, for tomorrow you may be dead. Even people who grasp out of life all they could, are quite aware that there will be a moment for them to die. The thing is, that they think that it will only be tomorrow and not today. They always think they can postpone this fatal moment. They think: ‘I may die tomorrow, therefore I want to get the most out of life today.’ . That seems quite logical and it is when you do not believe that resurrection is a reality. But because there is a resurrection for sure, this argument is a deception. Do not be deceived! Do not listen to people who think and live like that. Do not associate with them! He who does, will fall into the same pattern of life like them. . The apostle warns the Corinthians to “become sober-minded”, which means not influenced by a certain spirit of thinking. More often Christians are called to be sober ( ). People who live without God, fool themselves and others that they are sober. They keep both feet on the ground and they only deal with the things they can see, they think. If you believe, you are not sober, but vague, they argue. Don’t believe a word they say. Those are people who “have no knowledge of God” and therefore do not consider Him. The reality is the other way around. He who is sober listens to what God has to say in the Bible and acts accordingly. Then you live how you supposed to and do not sin. Having no knowledge of God is common to unbelievers. Here, however, believers are addressed. If this had to be said about us, we should be deeply ashamed of ourselves. This ignorance is no lack of knowledge of God due to the fact that you have only known Him for a short time. A child of God has an anointing from the Holy One and knows all ( ). That means that such a person has received the Holy Spirit and therefore is able to sense whether something is according to the will of God or not, without the necessity of quoting a certain verse from the Bible. Of course you will read a lot in the Bible to learn more about God. The ignorance that is meant here, regards believers who should have known better, but who have gone astray due to associating with wrong people. Take note of this word and do not associate with people, whether unbelievers or ‘believers’, who want you to believe things that are in contrast with what God has said. That will also keep you from a life that dishonors God. Now read 1 Corinthians 15:29-34 again. Reflection: Do you think that a life with the Lord is worthy of all the hardships that are described in these verses?

‏ 1 Corinthians 15:30-31

I Die Daily

1Cor 15:29. After he had spoken from the fullness of his heart about the future government of Christ, Paul returns to his argument in 1Cor 15:29, which he left off in 1Cor 15:19. He puts forward a new argument to emphasize further the importance of the resurrection. That argument is baptism. It may seem far-fetched to you, but you will see how much baptism is related to resurrection.

Now, do you remember what baptism means? In Romans 6 you read that baptism represents a burial (Rom 6:3-4). Through baptism you show that you are buried with Christ, Who died for you. Someone who is buried, does not exist anymore to this world. By being baptized you make known that you want to follow the Lord Jesus right through a world that has rejected Christ. Baptism makes you a follower of Him.

If you want to do that consistently, you will be treated by the world just as the world has treated Him. The Lord Jesus has said that the people of the world have persecuted Him and that they will persecute His disciples as well (Jn 15:20). From the moment you are baptized, you do not want to live for yourself anymore, but for Him Who died and was buried for you.

You are not the first who has been baptized. I assume that you are baptized; if not, what is keeping you from being baptized? If you are baptized you’re standing in a long, long line of people who preceded you. All who have been baptized, form, as it were, an army that is in a hostile area. They all want to follow the Lord Jesus right through oppression and enmity. The world is still the area where satan has authority.

That will change when the Lord Jesus comes, as you have seen in 1Cor 15:20-28. But in this time you can be sure that you are a no one, which means that you are despised and rejected. This enmity can even reach the point that believers get killed. This causes empty places in the army. How wonderful it is then when new followers of Christ are baptized and added to fill up the places and to join the army. You understand that I make this comparison with the army only from a spiritual point of view.

What does this all have to do with the resurrection? I suggest you read 1Cor 15:29 carefully. There it is about believers who have died and about others who are still alive and are baptized. The believers who died, have ceased to follow a rejected Christ and to live a life of contempt and despising. Others, of whom you are one, have got to know the Lord Jesus, were baptized and filled the empty places. They now walk behind Him, while they take part in the contempt and the despising involved.

What advantage does that all have, however, when there is no resurrection? The prospect of resurrection persuades people to abandon an easy-going and pleasant life, and to choose freely for a way of humiliation and mockery. At the resurrection there will be a reward for all deprivation suffered. Then God will restore everything we have abandoned for His sake.

You can look at the Lord Jesus. He has, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross and despised the shame (Heb 12:1-2). In Hebrews 11 believers are mentioned who “were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection” (Heb 11:35). I would suggest you read the whole of chapter (Hebrews 11) in that light.

1Cor 15:30-31. Paul was familiar with that too! He was talking about others in 1Cor 15:29. In 1Cor 15:30-31 he talks about himself. The conditions he lived in were far from rosy. He was “in danger every hour”, and said: “I die daily.”

That is not exaggerated. It was maybe in the eyes of the Corinthians and therefore he empowered his words by pointing at their boast. What did their boast consist of? What was it they were boasting of? Whatever they were boasting of it was something they surely received through the preaching of the gospel. Therefore their boast was his boast and which he had in Christ. In addition to that, he says “our Lord”. Here he connects the Corinthians to himself as submitted to a common Lord.

1Cor 15:32. Paul had to face death very often. This is the daily pattern of life for one who follows his Lord and Master closely. To him who makes efforts to declare Christ in every way and at every occasion, there is no ‘end of work time’, no entertainment program with appetizers. Paul was constantly aware on which ground he found himself. To him this world was a temporary place. He had to go through it and he did that with a clear mission.

He expected to receive his rest and reward at the resurrection. As long as he had no part in that yet, his life was a struggle and a battle. The people who threatened him, he compared with wild beasts. They were cruel and rude people who wanted to see blood. What happened to him in Ephesus is written in the book of Acts (Acts 19:23-41). What you read there is absolutely not a small thing. Just imagine the case that thousands of people are revolting against you because you preached the gospel to them! Would it be a strange thing for you to fear for your life? People become like beasts when whipped up as a mass. Wars past and present prove it to be true.

But what is the advantage of jeopardizing your life like that when dead are not raised? Then you’d better enjoy life today, for tomorrow you may be dead. Even people who grasp out of life all they could, are quite aware that there will be a moment for them to die. The thing is, that they think that it will only be tomorrow and not today. They always think they can postpone this fatal moment. They think: ‘I may die tomorrow, therefore I want to get the most out of life today.’

1Cor 15:33. That seems quite logical and it is when you do not believe that resurrection is a reality. But because there is a resurrection for sure, this argument is a deception. Do not be deceived! Do not listen to people who think and live like that. Do not associate with them! He who does, will fall into the same pattern of life like them.

1Cor 15:34. The apostle warns the Corinthians to “become sober-minded”, which means not influenced by a certain spirit of thinking. More often Christians are called to be sober (1Pet 4:7). People who live without God, fool themselves and others that they are sober. They keep both feet on the ground and they only deal with the things they can see, they think. If you believe, you are not sober, but vague, they argue.

Don’t believe a word they say. Those are people who “have no knowledge of God” and therefore do not consider Him. The reality is the other way around. He who is sober listens to what God has to say in the Bible and acts accordingly. Then you live how you supposed to and do not sin.

Having no knowledge of God is common to unbelievers. Here, however, believers are addressed. If this had to be said about us, we should be deeply ashamed of ourselves. This ignorance is no lack of knowledge of God due to the fact that you have only known Him for a short time. A child of God has an anointing from the Holy One and knows all (1Jn 2:20). That means that such a person has received the Holy Spirit and therefore is able to sense whether something is according to the will of God or not, without the necessity of quoting a certain verse from the Bible. Of course you will read a lot in the Bible to learn more about God. The ignorance that is meant here, regards believers who should have known better, but who have gone astray due to associating with wrong people.

Take note of this word and do not associate with people, whether unbelievers or ‘believers’, who want you to believe things that are in contrast with what God has said. That will also keep you from a life that dishonors God.

Now read 1 Corinthians 15:29-34 again.

Reflection: Do you think that a life with the Lord is worthy of all the hardships that are described in these verses?