Introduction
Last week Paul introduced the gospel narrative: Jesus died, rose, and appeared to the disciples. This week we are hearing why Paul is going into that narrative. For some reason the Corinthians seem to think that the resurrection didn’t happen and/or that the resurrection of the dead (at the end of the age) isn’t going to happen. So, let’s go into that cultural context a bit for a second.
Corinthian Context
Ben Witherington III writes, “Ancient pagan religion had little or nothing to do with attempts to obtain everlasting life, or to be ‘saved’ in the Christian sense. The ‘salvation’ most ancients were looking for was salvation from disease, disaster, and death. The term redemption referred to a very mundane release from the bondage of slavery, not from the personal bondage of sin. When a slave went to a temple looking for ‘redemption,’ what he or she was looking for was manumission. When a petitioner went up to the mountain to the oracle at Delphi, what they asked to be kept safe from were things like danger in travel, or danger in giving birth, or release from disease or debt or deliverance from a rival who was threatening them. In other words, ‘salvation’ in the pagan mind almost always referred to something happening in this world, in this life, of direct material benefit.”[1]
We take it for granted these days that doing things for the purposes of the afterlife would be on people’s minds in the early church. In fact, even 500 years later, we Lutherans are still trying to encourage less of that concern because we are saved by grace and not through our own work or actions. But what Witherington is explaining is that wasn’t even in the realm of imagination for some of the Corinthians. Only some in the Greek culture thought there was an immortality of the soul (a shadow of the self) that would go to Hades (not to be confused with the Christian idea of hell). And many did not even believe in that.[2]
So, Paul has a bit of an uphill climb here. Some commentators believe that Paul has convinced them of Jesus’ resurrection but not of the bodily resurrection.[3] However, given that Paul is beginning with the resurrection appearance argument, I think he is trying to convince some of the Corinthians of both.
But there’s one more piece of this that cultural context muddies the waters too.
Paul’s use of “died” is often figurative. In the Greek, it is already figurative. In 15:18 “those who have died in Christ” can literally be translated as “fallen asleep.” This adds to the complexity of the context and the argument. Is Paul talking about the physical death of the human body? Or is Paul talking about the spiritual death of dying to sin and being raised in a new life with Christ (a rebirth/born again situation)?
Truthfully Paul will only get murkier in next week’s passage. But the safe Lutheran answer is it’s a “both/and.”
Life after Death
In the missing section between now and next week we get two sections that suggest this “both/and.”
15:21For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; 22 for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
First, it’s a shame we don’t read this section of 1st Corinthians because it’s beautiful. It gives the feeling of Romans and Revelation. But in this section, we are hearing language of the end of the age and the Day of the Lord. Paul is giving assurance that there is a resurrection at the end times. A resurrection like Christ, where the last enemy to be destroyed is death. Death the last thing that separates us from God, will be destroyed, and all will have resurrection life in the life to come.
But that’s not only what Paul is talking about.
15:32And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour? 31I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters, as my boasting of you—a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32If with merely human hopes I fought with wild animals at Ephesus, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised,
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
33 Do not be deceived:
“Bad company ruins good morals.”
34 Come to a sober and right mind, and sin no more; for some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
The argument here is a little vague out of context. Is Paul saying that he puts himself at risk of dying every day because he is confident in the resurrection? Yes. And he is also saying that because there is a resurrection to come, it means we should live life in good standing and judgment all the more in this life.
Because of the Corinthian cultural perspective of no afterlife, they seem to believe that because they have found faith in the Christian Church, they’ve reached paradise. And so, let us feast and be merry, getting drunk and not having a care in the world (see Paul’s critique of this in 11:17-34).
But Paul is stating that life now does matter because they are a part of a larger Body of Christ. And they are called to welcome in new members to the Body of Christ. And because when we turn our lives over to Christ, we are to live in a manner like Christ (1 Corinthian 4:16). The Gospels take this further by saying ‘love God and love neighbor’ and John takes it further by saying ‘love one another as I (Christ) have loved you.’
Preaching Possibility
The Great Both/And, Cheap Grace
Like the last two weeks, we might think this section is actually overly contextual. The Corinthians have specific cultural perspectives about the afterlife and how to live once you’re “saved.” And because they’re so specific, they have little application for us today who live in a very different time and place. And yet, somehow, we have been having this same conversation for 2000 years.
‘If we are saved by grace through faith, why does it matter what we do now?’
‘If the afterlife is paradise, why should I care about living for tomorrow?’
‘If Christ died for our sins, why does my sin matter? Isn’t it just erased?’
‘Is the kingdom here? Or do we have to wait until the end times?’
Whether it’s Sunday School, confirmation, adult forums, post worship conversations, or Seminary theology classes, these questions get asked time and time again. Dietrich Bonhoffer essentially writes an entire book on the matter of these questions in “The Cost of Discipleship” and the notion of cheap grace.
For some denominations that stress ‘works righteousness’ (living morally upright and doing good for the kingdom of God) as a means of salvation, this becomes less of an issue. But for Lutherans and many mainline protestant denominations, being “saved by grace and not by works” has led to our quietism. And it’s the same quietism as the Corinthians.
Why do I need to care about making sure other people are at the Lord’s Supper if I am here and having a good time? Why do I need to care about other people finding Christ? Why do I need to care about being good and doing good if I am saved by grace? Why do I need to hear about justice, I just come to Church to be comforted?
These questions are still with us today. They are in our pews today. While many Lutherans and Christians will say that one should live a righteous and honorable life, there are many of us who forget we are Christian as soon as we walk out the Church doors. Bonhoeffer writes,
“Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks’ wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap? … Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”[4]
If Church is more of a country club or a party than it is about hearing love, faith, hope, for God and neighbor, then it’s probably about Cheap Grace. If it leads folks to boast of themselves and put others down, it’s probably about cheap grace. If it only speaks of the glory of God and never the sacrifice and weakness of the crucified Christ, then it’s probably cheap grace.
So, how are we supposed to live as Christians? Bonhoeffer continues,
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him. Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.[5]
We of course think of the disciples when we read these words from Bonhoeffer. Peter, Andrew, James, and John, leaving everything behind (dropping their nets) to follow Christ in the Gospel. But this is Paul’s story too. Paul has dropped everything to work for Christ. He left behind his home, old beliefs, and even previous churches. He writes to Corinth because his love of Christ and for the sake of ‘building up’ the Body of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 8:1; 10:23; 14:4). But to nuance Bonhoeffer’s strong language, Paul is called to be an apostle. Peter, Andrew, James, and John are called to be apostles of the Church. To build the Church by planting the Church. That is not expected of all of us.
And so, we recall the learnings of the spiritual gifts and the greater gifts. If we are Christians, called to live into the costly grace of Christ, then we live (here and now) striving for the greater gifts of hope, faith, and love, and build up the Church (the Body of Christ) with the gifts of the Spirit that we are given. We are not called to be Paul. But like Paul, we are called as believers of Christ (by the grace of God), to build up the Body Christ through the gifts entrusted to us by the Spirit of God.
[1] Ben Witherington III, A Week in the Life of Corinth, (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2012), 121.
[2] Witherington, 121.
[3] The Jewish Annotated New Testament, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 311.
[4] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship, (New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1979), 45, 47.
[5] Bonhoeffer, 47-48.
Micah Krey 
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