First Corinthians 15:31
In the King James Version of the Bible it says in First Corinthians 15:31, "I protest by your
rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily." In this verse Paul gives one of the most
important principles concerning being a Christian and following Christ in this
world. He said, "I
die daily." It is interesting to
note that Paul said this in a context in which he was emphasizing the eventual
end of physical death. In verse 26 the Bible said that the last enemy that
shall be destroyed is death. It is talking about physical death, but here in
verse 31 Paul is talking about another kind of dying: dying to self.
This principle of dying to self is based
upon one of the teachings of Jesus. In John 12:24-25 Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I
say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides
alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit. He
that loves his life shall lose it; but he that hates his life in this world
shall keep it unto life eternal."
Sin is selfishness. When you are selfish,
you are sinful. It is the strong desires that come from within you that will
lead you into sin. Jesus told the Pharisees that it is what comes from within a
person that defiles them, and not what comes from without. Ultimately, it is
this same selfishness that will keep a person from coming with faith to the
Lord Jesus Christ. They will not come if they want something more than what God
has to offer. "He
that loves his life shall lose it."
One must be willing to give up what one otherwise would have had in order to go
with God. No one has ever been rightly related to God who could not say to the
Lord, "I will
go where you want me to go, and I will do what you want me to do."
Paul said, "I die daily." The first time that one comes to Jesus in order
to believe on Him is also the first time that one dies to oneself. No one can
truly come to Jesus for salvation, unless it is their intention to do His will.
Repentance involves turning from sin and self, and turning to the Lord to serve
Him. But Paul said, "I die daily." Even though you may be saved and born again, you
must be careful or your selfish nature will come over you and lead you astray
into a non-spiritual way. No one has arrived to the point where they no longer
need to "die
daily." Each day is a new
challenge to go one of two ways: the way of your own selfish nature or the way
of Christ; and Paul said that he had learned to die daily.
In every decision that you make of any
consequence, you will go one of two ways. You will either go your own way, or
you will go God’s way. Appearances can be deceiving. It will appear as though
you will lose if you go God’s way, and sometimes you will lose in the ways that
humans look at life in this world. But once things have gone full circle, the
wisdom of those who went with God will be manifest, and the truth of the
teaching of Jesus will once again be proven. "They that lose
their life shall find it." Your
greatest enemy will sometimes be your own selfishness. There are many who will
bear witness to the fact that things would have worked out so much better if
they only had gone God’s way at certain important times in their life, instead
of their own way.
Paul went God’s way, and Paul told the
Corinthians some of the things that he suffered because of following the will
of the Lord. Paul wrote in First Corinthians 15:32, "If after the manner of men I
have fought with beasts at
Without a doubt Paul was smart enough to
know that he would not have endured such things if he had retired to some small
village and spent his days studying the scriptures in a secluded monastery. But
when Paul went God’s way, God led him on a path in which Paul was exposed to
all of the dangers that existed in the Roman world of the first century. But
one of the reasons that Paul was willing to do the will of God and suffer such
things was because Paul knew that there would be a reward given for so doing.
Paul was motivated by the knowledge that there is a life after this life, and
the consequences of what you do in this life will continue on into eternity.
The explanation that Paul has been giving
in the last few verses is another proof of the truth of the resurrection. There
is little reason to live for God and go God’s way, and there is little reason
to learn to die to oneself if there is no resurrection from the dead. If there
is no resurrection from the dead, one might as well find some selfish
philosophy of life and live by it. "Eat, drink, and be
merry for tomorrow we die." Since
the time of the ancient Greeks, many people have held this philosophy and have
lived for pleasure and to satisfy their own self-centered desires. If the dead
do not rise, then you might as well join them and throw away the teachings of
Jesus and live according to license and pleasure.
But the dead will rise, and so the Bible
says in First Corinthians 15:33, "Be not deceived; evil communications corrupt good manners." Anyone is deceived who does understand that
the dead will rise. Anyone is deceived who does not make going God’s way their
highest priority. And anyone is deceived who does not understand that not only
can they be led astray by their own selfish desires, but also they can be led
astray by the bad influences of others. "Evil communications corrupt good manners." Human beings are social creatures, and even
when we are not aware of it, our behavior can be influenced in a powerful way
by others. Many people have been corrupted by following too closely to the
wrong crowd. You will not be able to follow the Lord in this world if you are
not capable of making your own decisions and setting your own standards. You
must be able to think independently. Your spiritual education is not complete
if you have not learned to think for yourself.
The same thing was taught 1,000 years
before Christ in the book of Psalms. The Bible says in Psalm 1:1, "Blessed is the man
that walks not in the council of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of the scornful."
If you are a believer in Jesus, then one of the reasons that God has you on the
earth is to be a witness to a lost world. Your goal should be to influence
others for good, instead of them influencing you for evil. You should never
join in with the people of the world in such a way that you forget what your
purpose should be around them. Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your
good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."
The Bible says in First Corinthians 15:34, "Awake to
righteousness and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this
to your shame." If everyone in the
world is going to hear the wonderful message of the love of God that is in
Christ Jesus, then every believer has a part to play and a work to do. No one
can do it alone. Paul could not reach everyone in his day. If all of the lost
people in ancient Greece were going to hear the gospel, then all of the
believers in Corinth had to be involved. That is why Paul said, "I speak this to
your shame."
When you consider the value of a human
soul, and when you think about what Jesus went through so that everyone could
be saved, then we must ask ourselves if we also should be ashamed in regards to
how many have heard the gospel in our day. Paul did not say how many did not
have the knowledge of God. He said, "some have not the knowledge of God." Everyone is important to God, and believers
should be involved with the goal that everyone hear the gospel of Christ.
Paul said, "Awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the
knowledge of God." If you are a
believer in Jesus, then your belief should be known by the way that you act and
the way that you live. It is very important to spread the gospel by what you
say. The Bible says in the book of Romans, "How shall they believe except the hear, and how shall
they hear except someone tell them the gospel?"
But there is one thing that is more important than what you say, and that is
what you do. As in many other things in life, for the spread of the gospel
actions speak louder than words. Some people eventually do more harm than good
because they put a lot of effort into preaching the gospel, but they do not put
nearly as much effort into living the way that Jesus taught. Jesus said, "Let your light so
shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who
is in heaven." He did not say that
they would listen to your words and glorify the Father, but that they would see
your good works and glorify the Father.
In verse 35 Paul returns to the main
subject of First Corinthians chapter 15: the resurrection from the dead.
Evidently a question concerning the resurrection had been raised in Corinth.
The Bible says in First Corinthians 15:35, "But some man will say, how are the dead raised up? And
with what body do they come?" Paul
answers this question in verses 36-41 by giving three examples from the natural
world that help to explain the difference between the body that we now have and
the resurrected body that we will one day have. There is the example of a seed,
the example of the different kinds of flesh on different animals in the world,
and the example of differences between the sun, the moon, the stars, and the
earth.
In First Corinthians 15:36-39 the Bible
says, "Thou
fool, that which you sow is not made alive, except it die: and that which you
sow, you sow not that body that shall be, but bear grain, it may chance of
wheat, or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as it has pleased Him,
and to every seed his own body."
Strong language, “thou fool,” is used for those who are contrary to one of the
most important doctrines concerning Jesus Christ: the resurrection from the
dead. If the wisest thing in the world is to go with God and believe what is
true about Him, then the most foolish thing in the world is to not believe that
which is true.
The physical and material are often an
illustration of that which is spiritual. Jesus Himself often used things from
nature to illustrate spiritual truth. He used the opening of a door and the
drinking of water from a well to illustrate salvation. He used the blowing of
the wind to illustrate the coming of the Spirit upon you. And He used the
catching of fish to illustrate the spread of the gospel to the lost souls of
the world. In one of his parables Jesus also used seed that is buried in the
ground as an example of something that is spiritual.
In this passage of scripture in First
Corinthians chapter 15 it is pointed out that a plant that grows from a seed
has a direct correlation to the seed, but is still quite different from the
seed itself. There will be a resurrected body somewhat in the same way that
there is a plant that grows from a seed. Your resurrected body will have a
direct relationship to the body that you now have. It will still be you, but it
will be quite different from the way you now are. Later on in this chapter some
of the differences will be pointed out.
The second example from the natural world
to explain the resurrection is given in First Corinthians 15:39. It says, "All flesh is not
the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts,
and another of birds." How can we
believe that there is a resurrected body, that must be so much different than
our earthly body? One thing to consider is that different kinds of animals have
very different bodies and the characteristics of their flesh can be very
different. The flesh of a bird or a fish is much different from that of a
mammal. In the light of this, it is not so hard to believe that there will be a
resurrected body with different characteristics than our present body.
In First Corinthians 15:40-41 is the third
example concerning the resurrection. It says, "There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial:
but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is
another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and
another glory of the stars: for one star differs from another star in glory." The human
body can be a wonderful thing in the bloom of youth and at the peak of its
strength and beauty. After all, it was designed by the mind of God. But as we
all know so well, the youth and the strength and the beauty have a glory that
lasts only for a time. Thanks to God another kind of glory will be given to it
one day: the glory of the resurrection. It will be a heavenly body and eternal.
God is not finished with the human race. He
has a wonderful future planned. Even death will be destroyed because of Jesus.
Jesus will undo the failures of Adam and the failures of the rest of us. Jesus
is the Savior of the world and the Savior of mankind. Have you been to Jesus
for the forgiveness of your sins? Have you given yourself to Jesus to follow
His teachings in this world? It is not too late to start, and if you do, you
will be a part of the glorious resurrection from the dead.
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Copyright; 2000 by Charles F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved