“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?” (1 Corinthians 15:29).

A difficult verse? Yes. Unexplainable and unknowable? I don’t think so.

On first glance, it sure seems to be, though, doesn’t it? And it certainly doesn’t help that this verse is the go-to verse for many cults that teach in baptizing the dead – that is, that salvation can be obtained for unbelievers if they are baptized posthumously by the living after their physical deaths.

There’s no doubt that the wording of 1 Corinthians 15:29 is very unique, and we know that there is no other passage that ever teaches such a concept of baptism for the physically dead. Logically, there is nothing Biblical about such a concept. Salvation is an individual endeavor entirely obtained through faith in Jesus Christ and can only be attained while that person is still alive.

So, let’s do our thing and investigate this verse as we look into the original Greek, using logic, Biblical supports, and rational thought to see if we can better understand what Paul is teaching here.

As always, we must begin with context. Below is the summary context passage related to 1 Corinthians 15:29.

“Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (1 Corinthians 15:12-14).

There were some in the church at Corinth who were teaching that there was to be no resurrection of the dead. Paul, as he should have been, was quite concerned that anyone would be teaching the body of Christ such false doctrine – especially since Christianity stands or falls on Christ’s resurrection from the dead – and he set about to straighten them out on their irrational thoughts on this subject.

With the context clearly established, let us continue on as we revisit our study text.

“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?” (1 Corinthians 15:29).

The first item of note for us to consider is Paul’s singling out the continued contextual theme of those who say that “the dead rise not at all.” Therefore, those who say that the dead rise not are the people for who this verse is addressed.

The second item of interest is that when I looked into the original Greek of this verse, the word translated “dead” at the end of the verse is not the Greek word for “dead.” In fact, the actual Greek word is 846 αὐτός “autos” and is an intensive pronoun. Most translations translate this Greek word in this verse as “them.”

In the Text Analysis, the literal rendering of 1 Corinthians 15:29 is as follows:

Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If at all [the] dead not are raised, why also are they baptized for them?

I found this very interesting and wanted to share this with the reader. But because this verse is used by the cults using the rendering of the King James, we will continue on with the King James Version for our study.

Here again is our study verse.

“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?” (1 Corinthians 15:29). (emphasis mine)

The Greek word translated “for” is 5228 ὑπέρ “huper” and means over, beyond, on behalf of, for the sake of, concerning. A primary preposition; “over”, i.e. (with the genitive case) of place, above, beyond, across, or causal, for the sake of, instead, regarding; with the accusative case superior to, more than — (+ exceeding, abundantly) above, in (on) behalf of, beyond, by, + very chiefest, concerning, exceeding (above, -ly), for, + very highly, more (than), of, over, on the part of, for sake of, in stead, than, to(-ward), very. In the comparative, it retains many of the above applications. [Definition Biblehub.com] (emphasis mine)

Being as the context is that of those who say there is no resurrection of the dead, I submit that a better translation for “for” would be “concerning” or “regarding.”

When applying the alternative translation of “concerning,” the verse would be rendered as such:

“Else what shall they do which are baptized concerning the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized concerning the dead?” (Alternative translation for “huper“)

As baptism is a visible symbolism of our death, burial, and resurrection with and in Christ, the phrase “concerning the dead” should direct our thoughts to our being dead, positionally, in Christ.

“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).

This might naturally link the thought of the believer to Paul’s great exposition on the mystery of the rapture and the resurrection of the dead in Christ:

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first“ (1 Thessalonians 4:16). (emphasis mine)

Additionally, every human being, upon birth, is born dead in our sins.

“Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Colossians 2:12-13). (emphasis mine)

Note also that we are “buried with Him in baptism,” denoting our being dead in Christ positionally and symbolically through the outward act of baptism.

Consider also that “… the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead“ (2 Corinthians 5:14). (emphasis mine) – literally, “therefore, all have died.”

When we contemplate Paul’s defense of the resurrection of both Christ and our future resurrection in Him in 1 Corinthians 15, and that because Christ “died for all” and “therefore, all have died” in 2 Corinthians 5:14, the phrases “Else what shall they do which are baptized concerning the dead, if the dead rise not at all” and “why are they then baptized concerning the dead?” makes much more sense.

If we are baptizing the dead in Christ (born dead into sin as we saw in Colossians 2:12-13, and physically alive, but dead, positionally, in Christ as we saw in Colossians 3:3), and there’s no resurrection, then our baptism is useless and in vain.

Now let’s look at the other alternative translation of “regarding.”

“Else what shall they do which are baptized regarding the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized regarding the dead?” (Alternative translation for “huper“)

In this example, we see the same thought being expressed. That is, when we baptize someone, we are baptizing them with regard to their position of being dead in Christ and their future resurrection in Him. If there is no resurrection, then why are we even bothering to baptize at all?!?

Gloriously, the ending of 1 Corinthians 15 is one of two beloved passages of the resurrection of believers who have since fallen asleep in Christ (died physically) and the rapture of the living still on earth when the Lord returns!

“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall 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 shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:51-55).

Everything concerning 1 Corinthians 15 has to do with the resurrection of the body of Christ. Our study text has to do with some within the church claiming that there is no resurrection. Paul’s entire teaching in this portion of 1 Corinthians 15 is set forth to refute this false teaching, and, gloriously, the remainder of the chapter is to assure all believers in Christ that, just as Christ was resurrected from the dead, then, so too, shall we!

Now, given all we have learned, let’s see if this verse has gained more meaning, understanding, and clarity for us.

“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?” (1 Corinthians 15:29).

Why do we and they – who were once dead in sin before salvation and are now dead, positionally, in Christ after salvation – get baptized at all if there is no resurrection? Why, indeed!

I pray this short study has helped you to better understand this somewhat difficult passage and that you may be able, with boldness and confidence, to share this information with those “missionaries” who knock on your door. Let’s invite these individuals into our houses and lead them to the real Jesus Christ, shall we?!?

May we all be Answering the Call of The Great Commission and giving an answer to every man and woman who so desperately needs Jesus and asks us, “Why Am I Here and What Is It All About?”

Keep reaching the lost for Christ while we still have time.

[Mark’s note: Please check out my newest article, The Lake of Fire and Salvation, that can only be accessed at FaithWriters.com.]

Love, grace, mercy, and shalom in Messiah Yeshua, and Maranatha!

➢ Email: mab10666@yahoo.com

➢ If you have not given your life to Jesus Christ and are seeking answers about God, Jesus Christ, the gospel, and salvation, please email me at mab10666@yahoo.com for information.

➢ I am still taking questions for the Questions from the Body of Christ series. If you or someone you know has a question pertaining to the Word of God – theology, difficult passages, eschatology, etc. – I would really like to hear from you.

➢ A listing of past articles may be found at my Article Listings on Rapture Ready or my Home Page on FaithWriters.

 

 

John 11:32-44, John 12:1, John 12:10, Acts 16:31, Romans 10:13, Acts 4:12,1 Peter 1:18-19

Summary: Jesus’ act of raising Lazarus from the dead is one of the most thrilling and wondrous passages in Scripture. It showed His undeniable authority over the last enemy of humanity and was a public display of His power.

The ultimate state of helplessness is death. Once it overpowers you, regardless of age, status, education, health, or situation, you are in no state either to conquer its grip upon you, nor do you have any control over anything that you had considered valuable or precious; for none of it can go with you to the cemetery or your cremation urn. This fearful specter, the fruit of our rebellion toward God thousands of years ago, patiently waits for everyone. The question is whether you are ready for its inevitable knock at the door and the eternal destination that awaits you (Luke 12:13-21, 16:19-31; John 5:28-29; Hebrews 9:27).

The Scriptures make it clear that you will not be the main ingredient for future crops of daisies nor a feast for worms, becoming a forgotten mass of bone, flesh, and corruption. We are the products of God’s creative love and have a purpose for being in this world, and He did not form us within our mother’s womb just to end up as a conglomeration of randomness and a roll of some cosmic pair of dice (Psalm 139:14-16).

The Lord Jesus did not declare before Martha and Mary that He was the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25-26) in order to give them a sense of false comfort and hope. What He will show in John 11 is that the last enemy of humanity, death itself, has nothing over the Sovereignty and power of Almighty God, who gives life, breath, and meaning to every person who walks the earth.

John 11 presents not only the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus, but it also is a living proof text of the claims that Jesus has made throughout the Gospels, telling His listeners that He has the power of life and is the conqueror of death.

He began His ministry by driving out the money changers in the Temple. The religious officials demanded to know why He had done so. He then gave them the illustration of tearing down the Temple that was His body and raising it up again (Mark 14:58; John 2:19-22). He also declared His authority in that He would raise everyone from the dead at the appointed time (John 6:10).

He had shown this power when He raised both the daughter of Jairus (Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56) and the son of the widow of Nain from the dead (Luke 7:11-17). There are always skeptics, however, who will read these passages of Scripture and dismiss them as nothing more than a case of resuscitation or merely part of the continuation of the Jesus “myth” that the authors of the Gospels added to give credence to their teachings that Jesus was God Incarnate. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let God be true and every man a liar (Romans 3:4). Let us examine the situation that Jesus faced that day when He stood before the grave of His friend.

First, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. The disciples of Jesus were all there to verify it along with the other events in Jesus’ ministry. The authors of Scripture, inspired by the Spirit of God, were bound by the truth of what they all knew, saw, and confirmed (Acts 17:11; Galatians 2:2; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:19-21). The Law of Moses, which had been taught to them as children and what was read each Sabbath in the synagogues, stated that no one could be convicted of a crime without the testimony of two or more witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6). Jesus taught that two or more witnesses were to go to erring brethren within the church for correction (Matthew 18:15).

Jesus’ own resurrection was verified by a number of witnesses, up to five hundred brethren at one time, and the apostle Paul encouraged the members of the church at Corinth to go and talk to the ones who were still alive for confirmation (1 Corinthians 15:1-8).

Luke opens his Gospel by telling Theophilus of the many witnesses he encountered and interviewed in order to have an accurate account (Luke 1:1-4). Peter, in his final days, wrote that he and the other disciples were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ majesty (2 Peter 1:16). What has been written in John is a true and verifiable account.

Second, they also knew when someone was dead and the procedures to take according to the Law (Leviticus 10:6, 21:1, 11, 22:4; Numbers 5:2, 6:6, 9:6, 19:11; Deuteronomy 21:23). While embalming of bodies had been a part of other cultures, such as Egypt (Genesis 50:2, 26), the Jews tended to prepare the body for burial that same day and place it in the respective tomb or cave where the other family members had been laid to rest (Matthew 26:12, 27:59; John 11:44; Acts 9:37). They added a series of spices within the wrappings to keep the body intact and to lessen the stench of decay that would occur quickly in the heat of Judea.

By the time the body was wrapped and placed in the tomb and then sealed, the idea of resuscitation or premature burial was settled. This person was dead, period. Forensic science has shown that after three hours, a corpse enters the state of rigor mortis, where it will stiffen and be inflexible for a time. After a period of 24-72 hours, the inner organs will begin to decompose rapidly, giving off a putrid odor (John 11:39). After a period of three days, this inner organ decay will intensify, and the flesh will have turned a shade of green with decay, and body fluids will seep out. By the time Jesus arrived on the scene, Lazarus’ body was in the stages of literally rotting away.

Jesus wept over Lazarus’ death for the fact that this was a dear friend (v.35) and that He hated what sin and the consequence of death had done to His creation (John 1:1-4; Colossians 1:16-18). This showed that Jesus was both God and man by displaying the emotions that encompass anyone who faced tragedy and sorrow, truly being one of us, never aloof or distant from the trials of life. He then prayed to the Father that He might show those at the tomb that He was truly sent from Him, and then He specifically commands Lazarus to rise and come out of the tomb, his body restored to full health and strength and into the arms of his sisters (vv.43-44).

The wrappings that had held a rotting corpse together were no longer needed, for Lazarus was alive, and this miracle could not be rebuked nor denied as he sat with the Master at the table for dinner (12:1-2). Everyone came to see him and the wondrous work that had been done by the Lord Jesus. Not everyone was celebrating. The chief priests, who had nothing but contempt for Jesus and His ministry, saw Him as a direct threat to their influence and power over the people of Judea. Instead of rejoicing over this obvious display of God’s might and mercy, they began to conspire on how they might KILL both Jesus and Lazarus, “because on account of him, many of the Jews went away, and believed in Jesus” (12:11). What gives here?

The chief priests were victims of “religion,” blind to their rituals, regulations, and traditions, and refused to have their eyes opened to the obvious fact that God Almighty lived among them in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it was a threat to their system.

Their malevolent attitudes also showed that even with someone coming back from the dead, they would not believe in Jesus and place their faith in Him, validating what He had taught in the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), and the conclusion where the rich man begged Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers and warn them of the hell that awaited them (16:27-28). Abraham told him that his brothers had access to the same Scriptures that he had while on earth, and it would not matter if Lazarus was to go back and warn them, for they would not believe that it was him (vv.30-31).

Jesus explicitly taught that the Scriptures give us all we need to know about both heaven and hell. We do not need to rely upon outside “testimony” nor the flights of fancy from “salvation sensationalists” who claim to take trips to heaven with the same frequency as some people do when going to the local big box stores to purchase groceries. Scripture presents the certainty of both physical and spiritual death, the eternal destiny of those who either prepare for it or reject it altogether, and the fact that we will all have to give an accounting of our lives before the Lord Jesus at His chosen time, like it or not.

I do not need secondhand information or goofy tales of “heaven” that lack a reverence for God and His holy nature, nor do these imaginary incidents display any sign of humility and the fact that God was merciful to them, sinners in need of a Savior.

In these final days of history, I rely solely on the promises of the Lord Jesus that He gave His life for me while I was His enemy (Romans 5:6-11) and that by His death on the cross and His resurrection, He has conquered death, hell, and the grave. Because He lives, my soul was brought back to life by His saving power and wondrous grace, and I have the assurance of eternal life in Him and a place in heaven, forever free from the sting of death and hell. He said to me, “Come forth!” out of my spiritual grave many years ago.

I pray that you would respond today to His call of salvation (Matthew 11:28-30; John 14:6; 2 Corinthians 6:2; Revelation 21:1-7).

——————-

Donald was born and reared in the authentic “Cajun Country” of southern Louisiana. He is a graduate of Louisiana College (B.A. in History Education/ Biblical Studies, 1984), New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div. In Christian Education, 1994), and Andersonville Baptist Seminary (Doctor of Ministry, Biblical Exposition, 2000). He has been in the Gospel ministry since 1986, serving as an evangelist, interim and supply pastor, hospital and rescue mission chaplain, high school and college teacher, and pastor in churches in Louisiana and Oklahoma.

In 2018 he began to devote his time to the rich field of internet and social media evangelism and outreach. In 2021 he became a member of the Oklahoma Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists, using his skills as a writer to contribute articles and sermons to websites such as Rapture Ready, Sermon Central, and Inspirational Christian Blogs. He also writes Bible studies and curricula for churches in southeast and central Asia and Africa, the locations of which are anonymous. He can be contacted at: donaldwhitchard@gmail.com for inquiries, information, and speaking/preaching engagements. HIs website is www.realitycityreverend.com. A copy of his resume is also available upon request.