1 COR. THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 79 15: 29.

If the dead are not raised at all,

Why, then, are they purified for such an end? And why do we expose ourselves to danger every hour?

Every day am I facing death.

By my boasting over you,

Which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, brothers, I assert it.

If merely as an ordinary man

I fought with strong and cruel enemies at Ephesus, What is the use of it?

If the dead are not raised,

Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.

Do not deceive yourselves.

Evil company corrupts good morals. Rouse yourselves, as you ought to do, And stop your sinning,

For some are ignorant of God. I am talking to you in this way To rouse you to shame.

But some one will say: How are the dead going to be raised?

And with what kind of a body are they going to come?

You foolish fellow !

What you, yourself, sow does not spring into life,

Unless it dies.

And what you sow, is not the future body,

But bare grain,

It may be of wheat,

Or of some other kind.

But God gives it a body just as he sees fit,
And to each of the seeds its own body.
Not every kind of flesh is the same.
But there is one kind peculiar to men.
Another peculiar to beasts,

Another to birds,

Another to fishes.

There are also bodies peculiar to the heavens,

And bodies peculiar to the earth.

15: 37.

'But the brightness of the heavenly bodies is one thing,

And that of the earthly bodies another.

The sun has its brightness,

The moon has its,

The stars have theirs.

For star differs from star in brightness.

It is the same, also, with the resurrection of the dead.

It is sown in a state of corruption. It is raised in a state of incorruption.

It is sown in an offensive condition.

It is raised in a condition of preeminent dignity. It is sown in a state of weakness.

It is raised in a state of power.

1 COR. 15: 44.

LAW OF ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT.

81

It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body,
There is also a spiritual body.
And so it is written :

The first man, Adam, became a living soul.
The last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

Yet the spiritual is not first,

But the natural, and then the spiritual.

The first man is from the earth, and made of earth.

The second man is from heaven.

As is he who is made of earth,

Such are those also who are made of earth.

And as is he who is of heavenly origin,

Such are those also who are of heavenly origin.

And as we have borne the image of him who is made of earth,

We shall also bear the image of him who is of heavenly origin.

But this I have to say, brothers:

That flesh and blood cannot share in the Kingdom of God.

Nor does corruption share in incorruption. Listen! I have a secret truth to tell you.

We shall not all sleep,

But we shall all be changed,

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,

15:52.

At the last trump.

For the trumpet will sound,

And the dead will be raised incorruptible,

And we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption,
And this mortal must put on immortality.

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,

And this mortal shall have put on immortality. Then will take place the saying which is written: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O Death, is thy victory!

Where, O Death, is thy sting!

It is sin which gives death its sting,

And it is the law which gives sin its power. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory, Through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, then, my dear brothers,

Become fixed in your purpose, immovable,
Always abounding in the work of the Lord,
Since you know that your labor
Is not in vain in the Lord.

Now about the collection for those devoted to Christ, you also do just as I directed the Churches in Galatia to do. On the first day of the week let each one of you lay by what he can afford, so that

1 COR. 16: 2.

PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS.

83

no collection need be taken when I come. And when I come, I will send whomever you approve by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. And if it seems worth while for me to go also, they shall go with me.

I will visit you when I shall have passed through Macedonia. For I am passing through Macedonia, and, it may be, I shall make a stay with you, and perhaps spend the winter, so that you may give me your help and send me on my journey wherever I may be going. For I do not wish just now to pay you merely a passing visit. For I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But now I intend to stay at Ephesus till the Harvest Festival. For a great and promising opportunity has presented itself, and there are many opposing me.

If Timothy comes, see to it that you give him no cause for anxiety. For he is doing the Lord's work as I am. So let no one despise him. Help him and send him on his way to me in peace. For I am looking for him with the brothers who bring this letter.

Now about Apollos, our brother, I wish to say, that I urged him very much to come to you with our brothers, and it was not at all his wish to come now, but he will come when he gets an opportunity.

Keep on the watch. Stand firm in the faith.