Day 339

Raised from the Dead

Read: 1 Corinthians 15-16

Greek philosophers thought of the body as a prison from which the soul needed to be freed. They had difficulty with God’s plan, that the soul should inhabit a perfect body forever. Even after becoming Christians, many Greeks had a problem with this.

Paul tries to convince them by reminding them that the resurrection of Christ is the foundation for our salvation. Resurrection, therefore, must be good. While the new body will in many ways be like the old, it will also be much more wonderful. When Christ comes, Christians yet alive will have their bodies transformed into these wonderful new bodies, and those dead will be raised with these bodies. Thus death will be completely conquered.

It is typical of Paul that one moment he is talking about the great doctrine of resurrection and next he is asking for funds for a worthy cause. Since we will be raised from the dead, we are to abound “in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (15:58) and a good way of doing that is to gather on Sunday, the day of the resurrection, to have an offering for hungry people.

Paul’s closing words to this church with so many problems was, “Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (16:13-14). That is God’s Word to you.

PRAYER
Father, we thank you for our present experience of salvation, knowing the best is yet to come. In Jesus’ name. Amen.