The final section we looked at on Thursday (1 Cor 15:29-34) contains some of the most puzzling verses in the whole Bible (e.g. the reference to the baptism of the dead, described by Leon Morris as ‘a notorious difficulty’, with many interpretations possible.) The main thrust of this section is not difficult to understand, however. Paul makes it plain here that without the hope of the resurrection, so much of what we do simply would not make sense. Why would anyone risk danger and death if not convinced of the awesome truth of the message they were bringing? He talks of facing death daily, and passages such as 2 Cor 11:23-29 and 2 Cor 4:8-10 give us insight into the many troubles he faced. We may not know exactly to what he is referring when he talks about ‘wild beasts’ in Ephesus (1 Cor 15:32), but there can be no doubt that Paul faced both spiritual and physical danger many times (and knew the pain of desertion and betrayal, as Acts 19:23-24 and 2 Tim 4:14 make clear.) He faced such things with courage because of his hope in the resurrection of the dead: this future hope influenced his present living.
Without this future hope, life might as well be lived for pleasure and material comfort: ‘let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’ (1 Cor 15:32, quoting Is 22:13) Paul is so assured of the future hope we have, however, that he warns the Corinthians against being deceived into thinking that life is all about the here-and-now (see also Gal 6:7, James 1:16.) Deception involves being led astray, and Paul warns the Corinthians that this can happen if we keep dubious company (since ‘bad company corrupts good character’, the only non-biblical quotation used by Paul in the Bible, a quotation from a play by Menander.) Paul has already warned the Corinthians about this (see 1 Cor 5:11), and we do well to remember there is no room for complacency in this life journey. We are urged to ‘come to our senses’ (1 Cor 15:34), to ‘awaken to righteousness’, to ‘sober up’, to ‘wise up.’ Being ignorant of God is to our shame; Paul is effectively saying, ‘Some Christians can live like functional agnostics.’ “The crying shame of the church today is the glaring difference between what we believe and how we behave. There is little correlation between doctrine and deeds or creed and conduct with some Christians. High talk and no walk is a problem. We quote the Bible by the mile and live it by the inch.” (Grant Richison, http://versebyversecommentary.com/1-corinthians/1-corinthians-1530-32/) Paul is adamant that the hope we have through Christ’s resurrection is not just something that affects our future destinies; it should influence and shape how we live right now. As the Message version of these verses puts it, “It’s resurrection, resurrection, always resurrection, that undergirds what I do and say, the way I live.” (The Message)