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¹ And I make known to you, brothers, the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you also received, in which you also have stood,² through which you are also being saved, if you hold fast [to] the word—what I proclaimed as good news to you—unless you believed in vain.³ For I delivered to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Writings,⁴ and that He was buried, and that He has risen on the third day according to the Writings,⁵ and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve,⁶ afterward He appeared to above five hundred brothers at once, of whom the greater part remain until now, and some also fell asleep;⁷ afterward He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.⁸ And last of all—as to the untimely birth—He also appeared to me,⁹ for I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Assembly of God,¹⁰ and by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace that [is] toward me did not come in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God that [is] with me;¹¹ whether, then, I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.

¹² And if Christ is preached, that He has risen out of the dead, how [do] certain among you say that there is no resurrection of [the] dead?¹³ And if there is no resurrection of [the] dead, neither has Christ risen;¹⁴ and if Christ has not risen, then our preaching [is] void, and your faith [is] also void,¹⁵ and we are also found [to be] false witnesses of God, because we testified of God that He raised up the Christ, whom He did not raise if then dead persons do not rise;¹⁶ for if dead persons do not rise, neither has Christ risen,¹⁷ and if Christ has not risen, your faith is vain, you are yet in your sins;¹⁸ then, also, those having fallen asleep in Christ perished;¹⁹ if we only have hope in Christ in this life, we are to be most pitied of all men.

²⁰ And now, Christ has risen out of the dead—He became the first-fruits of those sleeping,²¹ for since through man [is] death, also through Man [is] a resurrection of the dead,²² for even as in Adam all die, so also in the Christ all will be made alive,²³ and each in his proper order: Christ, a first-fruit, afterward those who are the Christ's in His coming,²⁴ then—the end, when He may deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when He may have made all rule useless, and all authority and power.²⁵ For it is necessary for Him to reign until He may have put all the enemies under His feet.²⁶ The last enemy is done away with—death.²⁷ For He put all things under His feet, and when one may say that all things have been subjected, [it is] evident that He is excepted who subjected all things to Him,²⁸ and when all things may be subjected to Him, then also the Son Himself will be subject to Him, who subjected to Him all things, that God may be the all in all.²⁹ Seeing what will they do who are immersed for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why are they also immersed for the dead?³⁰ Why do we also stand in peril every hour?³¹ I die every day, by the glorying of you that I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.³² If I fought with wild beasts in Ephesus after the manner of a man, what [is] the advantage to me if the dead do not rise? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!³³ Do not be led astray; evil communications corrupt good manners;³⁴ wake up, as is right, and do not sin; for some have an ignorance of God; I say [it] to you for shame.

³⁵ But someone will say, "How do the dead rise?"³⁶ Unwise! You—what you sow is not quickened except it may die;³⁷ and that which you sow, you do not sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, it may be of wheat, or of someone of the others,³⁸ and God gives a body to it according as He willed, and its proper body to each of the seeds.³⁹ All flesh [is] not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another of fishes, and another of birds;⁴⁰ and [there are] heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but one [is] the glory of the heavenly, and another that of the earthly;⁴¹ one glory of sun, and another glory of moon, and another glory of stars, for star differs from star in glory.⁴² So also [is] the resurrection of the dead: it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption;⁴³ it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;⁴⁴ it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body; there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body;⁴⁵ so also it has been written: "The first man Adam became a living creature," the last Adam [is] for a life-giving spirit,⁴⁶ but that which is spiritual [is] not first, but that which [was] natural, afterward that which [is] spiritual.⁴⁷ The first man [is] out of the earth—earthly; the second Man [is] the LORD out of Heaven;⁴⁸ as [is] the earthly, such [are] also the earthly; and as [is] the heavenly, such [are] also the heavenly;⁴⁹ and according as we bore the image of the earthly, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.⁵⁰ And this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood are not able to inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the corruption inherit the incorruption.

⁵¹ Behold, I tell you a secret: we indeed will not all sleep, but we will all be changed;⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, in the last trumpet, for it will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed;⁵³ for it is necessary for this corruptible to put on incorruption, and this mortal to put on immortality;⁵⁴ and when this corruptible may have put on incorruption, and this mortal may have put on immortality, then will be brought to pass the word that has been written: "Death was swallowed up—to victory;⁵⁵ Where, O Death, your sting? Where, O Death [[or Hades]], your victory?"⁵⁶ And the sting of death [is] sin, and the power of sin the Law;⁵⁷ and to God—thanks, to Him who is giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ;

⁵⁸ so that, my beloved brothers, become steadfast, unmovable, abounding in the work of the LORD at all times, knowing that your labor in the LORD is not vain.