1 Corinthians 15 - EasyEnglish Bible 2024（EASY）

Chapter 15Christ died and God raised him up to live again

1My Christian friends, I want you to remember the good news that I taught to you. You received it from me and you continue to trust it as a true message.

2Because of that good news, God will save you. But you must continue to trust the message that I told you. If you do not, you have believed it for nothing.

3I received the good news from Christ, and I told that message to you. I told you the most important things:

Christ died as a sacrifice for our sins. The Bible already said how that would happen.

4People buried his dead body. On the third day after that, God raised him up to live again. The Bible speaks about that too.

5After that, Christ appeared to Peter. Later, he appeared to his 12 disciples.

6And after that, he appeared to more than 500 believers at the same time. Most of those 500 people are still alive, but some of them have died.

7Then Christ appeared to James. Later he appeared to all the apostles.

8After all these people had seen him, Christ also appeared to me. I was like someone who was born at the wrong time.

9Among all the apostles, I am the least important. I caused a lot of trouble for God's church. So I do not deserve for people to call me an apostle.

10But God was very kind to me. He helped me to become a different person. And because God has been so kind to me, the result has been great. I have worked harder than all the other apostles. But I could not do that work myself. No, I could only do it because God is kind and he helped me.

11So, all of us apostles teach the same good news about Christ. That is the message that you have believed. It does not matter which of us told it to you, whether it was me or someone else.

Christians will live again after death

12We all teach this message: God raised Christ up after his death. But some of you say that dead people do not live again.

13Anyone who says that is wrong. If dead people do not live again, Christ also did not rise up after his death. He would still be dead.

14And if God did not raise Christ up, it would be useless for us to teach you. There would be nothing for you to believe.

15We would have been telling lies about God, because we told you that God raised Christ up after his death. But if dead people do not live again, it means that God did not raise Christ.

16So, if dead people never rise to a new life, even Christ himself did not rise after his death.

17And if Christ did not rise, then you have believed a false message. God would still say that you are guilty, because of your sins.

18Also, think about those people who believed in Christ but they have already died. If dead people do not rise to a new life, those people would have no life with God.

19As believers, we trust Christ to give us a new life after death. But if we only trust him to help us in this life, we should be very sad. Everybody should be very sorry for us, more than for anyone else.

20But God did raise Christ up after his death. We know that is true! Christ rose up to go to God in heaven. He was the first, so we know that believers who die will also rise up.

21All people die because of what one man did. That man was Adam. And it is because of another man that people can rise up after death to a new life. That man is Christ.

22As people, all of us belong to Adam's family. So all of us must die. In the same way, all people who belong to Christ will live again after death.

23But it must happen like this: first of all, Christ became alive again after his death. Then, when Christ returns, his people will also rise to new life.

24After that, the end of everything will happen. Christ will win against every ruler and power and authority. Then he will give the kingdom to God the Father, for him to rule.

25Christ himself must rule as king until he has won against all his enemies.

26The last enemy that he must destroy is death.

27The Bible says, ‘God has put all things under his authority.’ But it is clear that the words ‘all things’ do not include God himself. No, because it is God who put all things under Christ's authority.

28When God has put all things under Christ's authority, then God's Son, Jesus Christ, will put himself under his Father's authority. Then God will have complete authority over all things, everywhere.

29Think about this. Some of you have let people baptize you on behalf of believers who have already died. But if dead people do not rise up to a new life, there is no reason to baptize anyone on their behalf.

30Also, think about us! All the time we are in great danger.

31Yes, every day I come near to death! Why do I tell you this? It is because I am proud of you. I am proud because we all belong to Christ Jesus our Lord.

32At Ephesus, people attacked me like wild animals and I fought against them. But that would be worth nothing to me if dead people do not rise to a new life. If dead people do not live again, then we could say:

‘We will have a big feast today,

because tomorrow we will all be dead.’

33Do not let anyone deceive you. Remember this:

‘If you become a friend of bad people,

you also will live in a bad way.’

34So start thinking properly! Stop doing wrong things! Some of you do not really know God. I am saying this to make you feel ashamed.

Christians will have new bodies after they die

35One of you may ask, ‘How does God raise dead people, to make them alive again? What kind of body will they have?’

36Do not think like a fool! When you plant a seed in the ground, it has to die first. Then it can become alive again and grow into a new plant.

37You put a seed into the ground. It might be wheat or it might be another kind of seed. You do not put into the ground the whole plant that the seed will become.

38But God makes that seed become a plant. Each plant has its own special body that God has chosen for it.

39Also, living things do not all have the same kind of body. People have one kind of body. Animals have a different kind of body. Birds and fish also have a different kind of body.

40There are also things up in the sky that are different from the things here on the earth. The things in the sky are beautiful in a different way from the things on the earth.

41The sun is beautiful in a special way. The moon is also beautiful in a special way, but it is different from the sun. The stars are beautiful too. Each star is beautiful in its own special way.

42It will be like that when God raises a dead person to a new life. We bury the dead person's body in the ground and it becomes spoiled. But when God raises it up, it will live for ever.

43When we bury the body, it is not beautiful. But when God raises it up, it will be very beautiful. When we bury the body, it is weak. But when God raises it, it will be strong.

44What we bury in the ground is a human body. But the body that God will raise up is a spiritual body. There is a human body that belongs to this earth. There also has to be a spiritual body that belongs to heaven.

45The Bible says, ‘The first man, Adam, became a person who received life.’ But Christ is like the final Adam. He is a spirit who gives life to people.

46The spiritual body does not come first. No, what is human comes first. Then what is spiritual comes after that.

47God used soil from the ground to make the first man, Adam. But the second man came from heaven.

48People who live on the earth have bodies like the first man. People in heaven have bodies like the man who came from heaven.

49At this time, God has given us bodies that look like the first man. One day we will have bodies that look like the man who belongs in heaven.

50I tell you this, my Christian friends. Our weak human bodies cannot go to heaven, to join God in his kingdom there. Our human bodies will die. They cannot share in something that will continue for ever.

51Listen to me. I will explain a great secret to you. Not all of us will die, but God will change all of us.

52It will happen in a short moment, when the last trumpet makes a sound. When that trumpet makes its sound, God will raise up the believers who have died. He will give us bodies that can never die. In that way, he will change all of us.

53It must happen in that way. Our bodies that are becoming spoiled must change. They must change into bodies that will never become spoiled. Our bodies that are dying must change into bodies that will never die again.

54God will give us new bodies like that. When this happens, what is written in the Bible will become true:

‘God has won against death.

He has destroyed it completely!’

55‘Death, you can no longer win!

Death, you no longer have any power to hurt us!’

56Death only has power to hurt us because of our sins. And it is the authority of God's Law that gives power to sins.

57But we thank God! Because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we win against death and its power.

58So, my Christian friends that I love, you must continue to be strong in your spirits. Do not let anything move you away from your faith. Continue to work hard as you serve the Lord. You know that whatever you do for him will not be useless.