{"id":17229,"date":"2021-08-30T22:00:27","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T05:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1corinthians-15_20-28-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-08-28T23:03:22","modified_gmt":"2021-08-29T06:03:22","slug":"1corinthians-15_29-34","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1corinthians-15_29-34\/","title":{"rendered":"Baptism And The Hope Of Resurrection"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Corinthians 15:29-34 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is\u00a01 Corinthians 15:29-34. Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 15:29-34 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour?
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I die every day–I mean that, brothers–just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
\n33\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
\n34\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God–I say this to your shame.<\/em><\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 15:29 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n29\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 29: \u00a0Welcome to one of the more controversial verses in the Bible.\u00a0 When Paul writes about people being “baptized for the dead”, what does he mean?\u00a0 Paul seems to be describing a practice where a Christian would get baptized for an unbaptized dead person (perhaps a relative, an ancestor, or a friend).\u00a0 This is the only place in Scripture that refers to this practice.\u00a0 Now it is highly questionable whether getting baptized on behalf of an unbaptized dead person has any effect at all.\u00a0 Baptism of course is a personal decision.\u00a0 We can’t save someone from their sins or secure their place in heaven by getting baptized on their behalf.\u00a0 Some scholars even see Paul as being sarcastic and rhetorical in verse 29, as if to say, “What good is it to get baptized for the dead?” \u00a0For all these reasons, baptizing for the dead is not something you see practiced widely in churches\u00a0today, if at all.
\nStill, verse 29 shows us how important baptism was to the early church and how seriously the early church took Jesus’ command to get baptized.\u00a0 Baptism is not an option for believers, but a command from Jesus himself (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16).\u00a0 In fact, if you’re not willing to get baptized even though you have the opportunity to do so, you need to question whether you really believe in Jesus.\u00a0 If I say, “Jesus I want to follow You”, and Jesus says, “Okay.\u00a0 Go and get baptized”, and I say, “Well, let me think about it, or let me wait until my circumstances are more perfect”, then you need to question whether your heart is really set on following Jesus, or if you’re actually following something else more closely.<\/p>\n

So if you have received Christ as your Saviour and have not yet been baptized, your next step is to get baptized!\u00a0 I encourage you to do so as soon as possible before it’s too late.<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 15:30-32 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n30\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour?\u00a0<\/em>
\n31\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>I die every day–I mean that, brothers–just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u00a0<\/em>
\n32\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 30 to 32:\u00a0\u00a0Over and over Paul would risk his life to bring the gospel to people who had not yet heard the message that God loves them and sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for their sins.\u00a0\u00a0By preaching the Gospel, which was illegal in many places that Paul went, Paul was placing his life in danger every day.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s because Paul believed with all his heart that people are lost for eternity with Jesus.<\/p>\n

But if there is no resurrection, Paul says in verses 30-32, there is no point to him or anyone else risking their lives for Jesus Christ.\u00a0 As he writes in verse 32, \u201cIf I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0We might as well live the way the rest of the world does, living for pleasure and without eternal hope (\u201cLet us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die\u201d \u2013 v32b).\u00a0 But because of Jesus\u2019 resurrection, we have hope for eternity and we see our lives in a different light.\u00a0\u00a0Now our greatest joy comes from living in, with and for Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 15:33-34 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n33\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”\u00a0<\/em>
\n34\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God–I say this to your shame.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 33-34: \u00a0It appears that at least some of the Corinthian Christians were starting to be influenced by people who did not believe in the reality of Jesus\u2019 resurrection and who lived for nothing more than eating and drinking (v32).\u00a0\u00a0Paul warns his church not to be so misled (v33) and \u201ccome back to your senses\u201d (v34).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When we don’t live with resurrection hope, we’ll allow anyone — even people of bad character — to influence us (v33).\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019ll stop thinking straight (v34) and we settle for far less than God’s best for our lives.\u00a0 That’s why Paul keeps emphasizing the importance of Christ’s resurrection and our own future resurrection.\u00a0 It’s because resurrection hope changes not just how we see life but how we live it as well.<\/p>\n

May you follow Christ’s command to get baptized and live every day with the hope of resurrection.<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, I pray for those reading this GAME sharing today who have trusted You as their Saviour but have not yet been baptized,\u00a0\u00a0May they take that next step of faith by getting baptized soon.\u00a0\u00a0And for all of us reading this GAME sharing today, may the reality of Your resurrection renew our vision about how we should live and why.\u00a0\u00a0May we see life today through the lens of Your resurrection.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is\u00a01 Corinthians 15:29-34. Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 15:29 (NIV)\u00a0
\n29\u00a0Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verse 29: \u00a0Welcome to one of the more controversial verses in the Bible.\u00a0 When Paul writes about people being “baptized for the dead”, what does he mean?\u00a0 Paul seems to be describing a practice where a Christian would get baptized for an unbaptized dead person (perhaps a relative, an ancestor, or a friend).\u00a0 This is the only place in Scripture that refers to this practice.\u00a0 Now it is highly questionable whether getting baptized on behalf of an unbaptized dead person has any effect at all.\u00a0 Baptism of course is a personal decision.\u00a0 We can’t save someone from their sins or secure their place in heaven by getting baptized on their behalf.\u00a0 Some scholars even see Paul as being sarcastic and rhetorical in verse 29, as if to say, “What good is it to get baptized for the dead?” \u00a0For all these reasons, baptizing for the dead is not something you see practiced widely in churches\u00a0today, if at all.
\nStill, verse 29 shows us how important baptism was to the early church and how seriously the early church took Jesus’ command to get baptized.\u00a0 Baptism is not an option for believers, but a command from Jesus himself (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16).\u00a0 In fact, if you’re not willing to get baptized even though you have the opportunity to do so, you need to question whether you really believe in Jesus.\u00a0 If I say, “Jesus I want to follow You”, and Jesus says, “Okay.\u00a0 Go and get baptized”, and I say, “Well, let me think about it, or let me wait until my circumstances are more perfect”, then you need to question whether your heart is really set on following Jesus, or if you’re actually following something else more closely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17229"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17230,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17229\/revisions\/17230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}