1 Corinthians 15:29 Commentary and Bible Study

This idea seems to be introduced quite suddenly. It is really a continuation of verses 22 and 23, ‘For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.’ Then there is the wonderful passage about the very end, and after that we come back to the apostle’s reasoning about the reality of the resurrection. He has presented, earlier on, a number of arguments to demonstrate that the resurrection is not only true, but it is essential doctrine, and it is the great heart of the Christian message. But now he is trying to convince the Corinthians that they should feel strongly about the people who are taking away from the resurrection. Here in verse 29 is a most interesting example – ‘Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead?’Now, it isn’t easy to know exactly what the apostle Paul means by this, but I think the best interpretation is that which runs along these lines. It appears that at Corinth, and perhaps in all the ancient churches, they had a very beautiful practice when baptisms took place, of remembering Christians who had died. They would surely remind those being baptised that baptism was a picture of conversion. We are united with Christ by the Spirit into his death and into his resurrection, as is taught in Romans 6. I am buried in baptism, picturing death to my old life; I rise from the baptismal waters, picturing rising to a new life in Christ. Baptism doesn’t do this. Baptism doesn’t do anything. It is simply a picture of this. In my baptism I say, ‘My old life is dead and gone. I now have a new life with Christ.’ So, it is death and resurrection.But it may be that in the early churches they emphasised death and resurrection in an even wider sense, and they would say to the people, ‘You are being baptised to follow in the stead of those who have gone before you – people who witnessed; people who made sacrifices for Jesus Christ; people who suffered for him. And now those people have been called home, and you are risen up in their stead. So, live worthily; live as they lived.’ It would seem, perhaps, that they added this dimension to baptism; which is very wholesome and very noble.The apostle Paul says, ‘Don’t you feel strongly about those who deny the resurrection? Look at those who are baptised to follow in the stead of those who gave their lives to Jesus Christ, a new generation. If you don’t believe in the resurrection, you don’t believe it was worthwhile for anyone to give their life to Jesus Christ. They are dead, finished, gone. There has been no resurrection of Christ from the dead; he did not conquer death; but neither is there eternal life for his people, those who are alive today or those who have departed from this world. ‘Else what shall they do which are baptized [with regard to] the dead’ would be a better translation, ‘if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized [with regard to] the dead?’ You are following in the footsteps of others; and their sacrifice was worthwhile. They didn’t enrich themselves; they lived for Christ. Now they are in glory with him, in the paradise of Christ, and yet you have got people in your midst who don’t think that any of that is true. That is a scandal, that you honour them as full members of the church, and they are not disciplined. That seems to be the reasoning, and we can understand the force of it.