May 1, 2005

BAPTIZED FOR THE DEAD

1 Corinthians 15:29-34

 

   “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? And Why stand we in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily” (1 Cor. 15:29-31).

   The wording above is, at best, not clear and, at worst, misleading. Part of the problem comes from differences in the Greek Texts. We suggest the following. “Else what shall they do which are baptized? It is for the dead, if the dead rise not at all. Why are they then baptized for them? Why stand we in jeopardy every hour? Daily I die, by your boasting, brethren, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

   Paul continues the supposition that Christ be not risen from verse 19, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied.” To that supposed futility is added the extreme loss of risking everything to be identified with dead people who have “perished.” Water baptism, although diminishing, was still part of God's program at this time. It prefigured the cleansing of forgiveness and of God imparting a new heart in resurrection, “a new heart will I give you” (Ezek. 36:26). Why would anyone be baptized. Were the outlook so bleak, would anyone in his right mind “stand...in jeopardy every hour?” Yet, “Daily I die,” and he boasts on their behalf in the Lord. Such boasting would make no sense “if the dead rise not.”

   “If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus , what advantages it me, if the dead rise not?” He does not mean he fought with animals in the stadium, but men whose behavior was beastial. Other writers of that time had written similarly comparing human behavior with wild animals. As a Roman citizen, Paul would never have been thrown to animals. Further supposing “the dead rise not,” Paul borrowed from Isaiah 22:13, “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” If there is no resurrection, we need not die because of service to an unrisen Savior, One against Whom the “gates of hades” have indeed prevailed. If the commercial be correct, “we only go around once,” we might as well get all the gusto here an now! Thank God, “But now is Christ risen from the dead” (15:20)!

 

Ivan L. Burgener