I’m working on 1 Corinthians 15 at the moment, and a number of interesting things keep striking me. Significantly, I’m considering what might have been meant by those who said that there was no resurrection of the dead.
Many commentators seem to think that this can be explained by reasoning that the resurrection-deniers in Corinth preferred the idea of the immortality of the soul to the idea of the raising of bodies: The chief problem, it is said, is a Greek distaste for physicality. However, I find this problematic for a few reasons:
- Of the six generally agreed upon sections in ch15, only one carries the theme and terminology of bodies – vv35-49… and within this section, it’s only from 35-44 that bodies are central.
- I don’t see why a problem with resurrection based on a general distaste for physicality wouldn’t have been dealt with by Paul in the 18 months that he had spent in Corinth
- The most consistent problem in ch15 seems to be a distaste for death itself – and indeed, a Corinthian distaste for cruciformity has pervaded the whole letter…
Here in the climactic chapter, Paul brings his response to Corinthian cruciphobic pride to a fitting conclusion: Those who are proudly claiming that there is no resurrection of the dead need to learn that, on the contrary, there is no resurrection of the living: They are called to embrace the labour of cruciformity, knowing that human death is the pre-requisite for the divine gift of resurrection.
This is interesting. Cruciformity seems to have a strong place in a lot of Paul’s stuff.
Could this be that they believed that the resurrection was something they had already experienced, that they were already living the final eschatological experience? 4:8 could be understood as referring to that teaching, cf 2 Thessalonians 2:2. Paul might even have been understood as promoting this idea in 11:30 where he suggests that believers who have died did so because of sin. And similar teaching seems to be around today in different quarters, among both full preterists (like Stephen Douglas) and (as I have just commented) extreme “Latter Rain” charismatics. Against such teaching Paul argues that there is a real future resurrection in a physically quite different body. That seems at least to be a possible way of understanding what is being said here.
Brian: Yeah I think so… Michael Gorman’s book ‘Cruciformity’ is a thought-provoking read in this regard.
Peter: This is certainly another possibility. I do think that Paul emphasises the futurity of the resurrection, against the ‘over-manifest’ spirituality of the Corinthians. Whether that over-manifest spirituality extended to consciously believing the resurrection had already occurred, I’m not so sure – the thing that makes me hesitant is that Paul doesn’t say “Some of you say that the resurrection has already happened” but rather “Some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead”…. But the interpretation you mention is one I’ll need to look further into as I keep thinking about this amazing chapter.
Matthew, I’ve got to think on that one. My belief was that Paul was responding to those who denied the resurrection of the dead altogether, and so a proxy baptism would be meaningless.
[...] which bases the resurrection appearances in visions, and sees the empty tomb as later narrative. Matthew at Cryptotheology muses on the Corinthians “There is no resurrection from the [...]
I am a student theology and ethic,i need more information on this
especially paul respons
Hi Barnes… I don’t know exactly what you’re after, but I imagine you have to do an essay on Paul’s response to the issue of the resurrection of the dead in 1 Corinthians. Here are a few thoughts (also applicable to any other students who end up here):
- Don’t neglect the major commentaries. That means: Commentaries by Anthony Thiselton, Gordon Fee, Hans Conzelmann, Wolfgang Schrage (I forget if this has an English version or not), Joseph Fitzmeyer, David Garland, Richard Hays, Ben Witherington…
- Using bibliographies from Thiselton (2000) and Fitzmeyer (2008), see if there are journal articles or books worth using. In particular, you’ll find stuff on this topic by Wedderburn, Insawn Saw, Litfin, Harris, Winter, etc etc etc
- Don’t be tempted to quote websites – anything that is not yet published by a reputable publisher is not worth quoting in the scholarly study of theology. Of course, you may learn from discussions on the internet, but make sure your main materials are much more substantial than that
- Don’t go to the secondary sources before you spend a lot of time on the primary source – that is, 1 Corinthians itself. If you have Greek, then go to the trouble of studying chapter 15 in the Greek, and remember the key principle of good exegesis: rampant curiosity
[...] which bases the resurrection appearances in visions, and sees the empty tomb as later narrative. Matthew at Cryptotheology muses on the Corinthians “There is no resurrection from the [...]
to never have to live again, no heaven no hell, just eternal nothingless is bliss!!!!