1 Cor. 15:28. That God may be all in all.
That is, so that everything might depend on the Father; so that no one would think that there are two beginnings, unoriginate and separate. For when the enemies are under the feet of the Son, and the Son does not resist the Father, but, as is fitting for a Son, submits to the Father, then, of course, God and the Father will be all in all. Some, however, say that by this, that is, by the subjection of all things, is meant the cessation of evil. For when there is no sin, it is evident that God will be all in all. Then many of us will no longer give themselves over to impure impulses and passions, having nothing divine in themselves or having little of it, but we shall all be godlike, we shall all contain God within ourselves, and Him alone. For God will be everything for us: both food and drink and clothing and thought.
1 Cor. 15:29. Otherwise, what shall they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead do not rise at all, then why are they also baptized for the dead?
The Marcionite heretics, when someone among them dies without baptism, hide a living person under the bed of the deceased, approach the bed and ask the dead man whether he wishes to be baptized; the one hidden under the bed answers from there that he does, and thus they baptize him in place of the deceased. Then, when they are accused of this, they say in their own defense that the apostle said so, and they cite, the fools, this saying. But this is not so. Then how is it? Those wishing to be baptized all recite the Creed, and in it there are also these words: "I believe in the resurrection of the dead." So he says: those who believed in the future resurrection of dead bodies and were baptized in such hope—what will they do when they have been deceived? Why, after all, do people even get baptized for the sake of the resurrection, that is, the expectation of the resurrection, if the dead do not rise?
1 Cor. 15:30. Why do we also face dangers every hour?
If you do not accept as proof of the resurrection the verbal confession which those being baptized make, then you have witness in deeds as well. For all of us, the apostles, constantly suffer afflictions. And if there were no resurrection, for what reason would we endure afflictions? For what pleasure? For if someone resolves to endure afflictions even out of vainglory, he resolves to do so once. But the hourly endurance of afflictions, as we endure, serves as the greatest proof of confidence in the resurrection.
1 Cor. 15:31. I die daily: I affirm this by the boasting in you, brethren, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In the words "we are in danger" (1 Cor. 15:30), he pointed to dangers, but here he puts forward something even greater, namely daily death. How then did he die every day? By his resolve and readiness for it, and by enduring such afflictions that brought death upon him. "I protest by your boasting," that is, I testify by your progress, in which I boast: for the progress of disciples constitutes a boast for the teacher. Then, referring this to Christ, he says: "which I have in Christ Jesus." For this is His work, not mine. Very wisely he reminds them of this: just as I boast in your progress, so I will be covered with shame if you remain in doubt to the end and do not believe in the resurrection.
1 Cor. 15:32. Speaking in human terms, when I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what advantage was it to me?
How much, he says, was possible for men, I fought with beasts; but what of it, that God snatched me out of danger? What benefit is it to me, if there is no resurrection? By fighting with beasts he means the struggle with the Jews and the silversmith Demetrius (Acts 19:23–24 and following). For how did they differ from beasts?
1 Cor. 15:32. If the dead do not rise? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!
If the dead do not rise, and there will be no blessedness there, then let us at least enjoy the good things in this present life; let us eat and drink. For in this alone is profit. He brought these words from the prophet Isaiah (Is. 22:13) in mockery of the foolishness of those who do not acknowledge the resurrection.
1 Cor. 15:33. Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
He turns his speech to exhortation. Meanwhile he covertly accuses them of foolishness and frivolity; for this is what he expresses by the word: "be not deceived." By "good manners" he means manners that easily yield to deception; he shows at the same time that others are drawing them into such reasoning.
1 Cor. 15:34. Sober up, as is proper, and do not sin; for, to your shame I say, some among you do not know God.
As he speaks to drunkards: "become sober; as you ought," that is, for benefit; for one can be sober unrighteously as well, for example, for the commission of evil. "And do not sin," he says. It is from this that you do not believe in the resurrection. For those who are conscious of evil in themselves do not agree to acknowledge the resurrection out of fear of punishment. Those who do not believe in the resurrection "do not know God." For they do not know the omnipotence of God. He did not say: you do not know, but: "they do not know," in order to soften the accusation. "I speak this to your shame." Since he had reproved them for quite a long time, he now consoles them: I said this, he says, not out of enmity and not as a reproach, but for shaming, so that when you are ashamed and reason as you ought, to bring you to correction.
1 Cor. 15:35. But someone will say: how are the dead raised? and with what body do they come?
He did not say: you say, in order that the speech might be more acceptable, when he would be examining the words as if of other unbelievers. Two subjects were called into doubt: one — the manner of the resurrection, how a body that has once decayed will rise; the other — in what body they will rise, in the present one or some other. By the example of the seed he resolves both perplexities.
1 Cor. 15:36. Foolish one! What you sow is not made alive unless it dies.
The solution is borrowed from what is obvious and happens among them every day. Therefore he also calls them foolish, because they do not know such a clear matter. What, he says, "you sow," you — a corruptible being: how then do you doubt about God? "It is not made alive (ου ζωοποιεΐται)," he says, "unless it dies"; he used words applying not to seeds, but to bodies. For he did not say: otherwise it will not grow, if it is not destroyed, but: "it is not made alive," if it does not die. See how he gave the speech a reverse form. It seemed incomprehensible to them how we shall rise after death; but he, on the contrary, says that we shall rise precisely because we die. For it would have been impossible to be made alive otherwise, if there were no death.
1 Cor. 15:37. And when you sow, you do not sow the body that shall be, but a bare grain, whatever it may be, of wheat or of some other kind.
Two, it is said, were the perplexities: one — how they will rise, the other — in what body. The first, how they will rise, he resolved; namely: through death, as also a seed. Now, having explained in what body they will rise, he resolves the other perplexity as well. He says that the very same body will rise, that is, a body of the very same essence, but in a brighter and more glorious form. The heretics say that the same body will not rise, for this, they say, is what the apostle expresses when he says: "not the body that shall be." But the apostle does not say this, but what? That what you sow as a seed is not such as it will be, not bright and glorious, but bare, yet the stalk grows up in beauty; and it is not entirely the same, because what was sown was not a stalk, that is, not with a stem, but a "bare grain"; but neither is it entirely different, because this stalk is not from another grain, but from this bare one.
1 Cor. 15:38. But God gives it a body as He wills.
If God gives the body, then why do you still inquire in what body we shall be raised, and not believe in the resurrection, hearing of the power and will of God? For God will raise the destroyed body, only He will raise it more glorious and more spiritual. This can be observed also in seeds, because a germinated seed comes up better than the one that was cast into the earth.
1 Cor. 15:38. And to each seed its own (ίδιον) body.