Studies › Thematic › Resurrection as Paul’s Through-Line
Part 2 of 4
ἀπαρχὴ τῶν κεκοιμημένων — firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep

Resurrection as Revelation

In Corinth, resurrection functions as diagnostic and discipline—exposing rival wisdoms, restoring the value of bodies, and reforming community life by future hope.

Part 2 — 1 Corinthians: Resurrection as Diagnostic and Discipline

Claim: In 1 Corinthians, Paul treats the resurrection not as a late add-on but as the diagnostic center that exposes what kind of community the Corinthians are becoming—and the discipline that reforms their life together.

Corinth is a city obsessed with status, visibility, rhetorical brilliance, and competitive honor. The church has absorbed these values and baptized them as “spirituality.” Paul does not begin by policing behaviors. He begins by asking what story is shaping their imagination.

Gentle correction: It is tempting to read 1 Corinthians as a collection of unrelated problems. Paul reads it as a single crisis of wisdom—a community living as if the resurrection future does not govern the present.

The Diagnostic Power of Resurrection

Paul repeatedly returns to one question: What kind of “wisdom” is actually shaping you?

Symptoms Paul addresses
  • Factionalism and leader-branding (chs. 1–4)
  • Sexual exploitation and lawsuits (chs. 5–6)
  • Status disputes over food and freedom (chs. 8–10)
  • Performative worship and gift-ranking (chs. 11–14)
  • Confusion or denial of bodily resurrection (ch. 15)
Underlying diagnosis
  • A cross-less definition of power
  • A disposable view of bodies
  • A present-only vision of success
  • A spirituality disconnected from love

The resurrection exposes these distortions by reasserting God’s verdict on Jesus: the crucified one is the risen Lord. Any wisdom that cannot make sense of that verdict is, by definition, false.

"And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you." — Romans 8:11

Christ Mysticism Without God?

Thiselton, drawing on Moffatt, suggests the Corinthians had developed a "Christ mysticism which loosened the nexus between God and Christ." Surrounded by mystery cults devoted to Serapis and Asclepius, they appropriated a "Lord Jesus cult" mindset without sufficient reverence for the supreme God over the universe. Jesus had become their passionate focus—but God had drifted from view.

This may explain the strange phrase "I follow Christ" in 1:12, listed alongside faction-forming party slogans. Paul's response throughout: everything comes from God, through Christ, and God will be "all in all" (15:28).

Anchor Texts (LLT-SSE)

1 Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that y’all are God’s temple,
and that God’s Spirit dwells among you?
1 Corinthians 15:14, 20
If the Messiah has not been raised,
then our proclamation is empty,
and your faith is empty.
But now:
the Messiah has been raised from the dead,
firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

These anchor texts frame the entire letter: the community is God’s dwelling now, because resurrection life is already active among them.

Resurrection as Discipline: Reforming Community Life

1) Status is relativized

If God raises the crucified Messiah, then boasting collapses. Leadership is not a ladder but a vocation of service. Resurrection discipline trains the community to stop competing and start building.

2) Bodies are honored

Bodily resurrection means bodies matter now. Sexual ethics, economic exploitation, and legal aggression are no longer private matters—they are questions about what kind of body the church is becoming.

3) Love governs spirituality

Gifts are not markers of spiritual rank. They are tools for resurrection formation. Love is not an interruption to power—it is the power appropriate to a people destined for resurrection.

4) The future disciplines the present

Paul’s climactic argument in chapter 15 does not merely comfort the grieving. It stabilizes the entire letter: because resurrection is coming, present labor, restraint, and faithfulness matter.

Why Paul insists on resurrection

Without resurrection, ethics collapse into pragmatism. With resurrection, faithfulness becomes reasonable—even when it looks foolish by Corinthian standards.

Chapter 15: The Crown of the Epistle

Scholarly Voice — Karl Barth (via Lucy Peppiatt): "Chapter 15 forms not only the close and crown of the whole epistle, but also provides the key to its meaning from which light is shed onto the whole, and it becomes intelligible … as a unity."

Many readers treat 1 Corinthians 15 as a theological appendix—a separate treatise on resurrection added to the practical concerns of the letter. Peppiatt, following Barth and Thiselton, argues the opposite: chapter 15 is the pinnacle of Paul's argument, the interpretive key that makes sense of everything before it.

The Rhetorical Structure of 1 Corinthians 15

1–11: Narratio — The resurrection of Christ: foundational creed

12–19: First Refutatio — The denial of resurrection exposed

20–28: First Confirmatio — Consequences of Christ's resurrection

29–34: Arguments from Christian experience

35–49: Second Refutatio — The resurrection body

50–57: Second Confirmatio — Victory over death

58: Peroratio — Conclusion for the Corinthians

The Problem Beneath the Problem

The Corinthians believed in Jesus' resurrection—but some denied the general resurrection of the dead. Peppiatt notes: "The key issue has to do with being pneumatikos. The Corinthians are convinced that by the gift of the Spirit, and especially the manifestation of tongues, they have already entered into the spiritual, 'heavenly' existence that is to be."

A Disposable View of Bodies

Gordon Fee observes: "Only the body, to be sloughed off at death, lies between them and their ultimate spirituality. Thus they have denied the body in the present, and have no use for it in the future." This explains why Paul addresses sexual ethics, eating practices, and bodily gifts alongside resurrection—they are all connected.

Gordon Fee — The Doctrine of Creation: "At stake is the biblical doctrine of creation." What was created is good, and humanity is created very good. The body isn't going to be obliterated and annihilated—it's going to be transformed. This is why Paul uses katargéō (annulled, destroyed) for death and the powers, but never for the body. The body is good.

The Seed Metaphor: Continuity and Transformation

Paul's analogy of the seed (15:35–49) addresses both continuity and transformation. A seed that is planted dies—but what grows is recognizably connected to what was sown. The resurrection body is not a replacement but a transformation:

Sown in…
  • Decay (corruption)
  • Dishonor (ἀτιμία)
  • Weakness
  • A natural body (ψυχικόν)
Raised in…
  • Immortality (incorruption)
  • Glory (δόξα)
  • Power
  • A spiritual body (πνευματικόν)

This is not escape from the body but transformation of the body. The same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead is already at work in believers—and that work is not bypassing bodies but taking them up into Christ.

Honor-Shame and the Cross

Peppiatt emphasizes the honor-shame dynamics at play in Corinth. The city was a thriving Roman colony where honor was pursued through patronage, rhetorical brilliance, and public status. The church had absorbed these values.

What Earned Honor in Corinth
  • Patronage: Public giving, sponsoring buildings or statues
  • Oratory: Rhetorical skill, philosophical reputation
  • Connections: Association with high-status teachers
  • Visibility: Spiritual gifts as status markers

Paul's message of a crucified Messiah was, by Corinthian standards, shameful. The resurrection does not erase that shame—it redefines it. God vindicates the crucified one, overturning the entire honor-shame calculus. This is why Paul can say: "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong" (1:27).

Resurrection reorders status: If God raises the shamefully executed Messiah, then boasting in human credentials collapses. The Corinthian factions ("I am of Paul," "I am of Apollos") are exposed as a regression to pre-resurrection logic.

Five Problems, One Gospel

Scholarly Voice — BibleProject (Visual Commentary): "The letter reads like a collection of short essays on different topics but there are core ideas that unite all of the pieces together. In each section Paul describes the problem, then responds to that problem with some part of the story of the gospel... This letter is all about learning to think about every area of life through the lens of gospel."

The five sections of 1 Corinthians aren't random pastoral advice. Each addresses a different symptom, but Paul's response is always the same: the gospel of the crucified and risen Messiah.

The Letter's Structure

Chs. 1–4: Divisions → The cross subverts status

Chs. 5–7: Sexual sin → Bodies will be raised

Chs. 8–10: Food disputes → Love denies itself

Chs. 11–14: Chaotic worship → Build up the body

Ch. 15: Resurrection denial → The foundation of everything

Why Resurrection Is the Climax

The BibleProject notes: "The resurrection was Jesus' victory over death and evil, it's a source of life and power for us now in the present, and it's a promise of future hope for the whole world. It's because of the resurrection that we have a reason to be unified around Jesus. It's the reason we have motivation for sexual integrity. It's the source of power for loving other people more than ourselves."

The Gospel Is Not Moral Advice

"The gospel is not just moral advice or a recipe for private spirituality. It's an announcement about Jesus that opens up a whole new reality. And that's what 1 Corinthians is all about—seeing every part of life through the lens of that gospel."

From Corinth to Pastoral Formation

In Corinth, resurrection exposes distortions and disciplines excess. In the Pastoral Letters, the same resurrection logic becomes formative—shaping leaders, teaching, and public credibility over time.

Continue to Part 3 →
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Sources & Further Reading

Academic references for the 1 Corinthians resurrection study

Primary Commentaries

Fee, Gordon D. The First Epistle to the Corinthians. NICNT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987.
Chapter 15 Body Theology Primary source for "doctrine of creation" emphasis and over-realized eschatology analysis
Thiselton, Anthony C. The First Epistle to the Corinthians. NIGTC. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.
Exegesis Rhetoric Christ mysticism insight; rhetorical structure of chapter 15

Theological Studies

Barth, Karl. The Resurrection of the Dead. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1933.
Chapter 15 "Close and crown of the whole epistle" — key to the letter's unity
Wright, N.T. The Resurrection of the Son of God. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.
Biblical Theology Comprehensive resurrection theology in Second Temple and NT context

Course Materials

Peppiatt, Lucy. 1 Corinthians Class Notes. Module 8: The Resurrection and Christian Faith. Westminster Theological Centre, 2024.
Framework Honor-Shame Primary framework for resurrection as diagnostic and discipline
Peppiatt, Lucy. Women and Worship at Corinth: Paul's Rhetorical Arguments in 1 Corinthians. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2015.
Rhetoric Rhetorical analysis of Paul's argumentation strategies

Video Resources

BibleProject. "1 Corinthians: Animated Overview & Visual Commentary." Available at bibleproject.com
Structure Overview "Five problems, one gospel" framework; resurrection as climax

Additional Resources

Hays, Richard B. First Corinthians. Interpretation Commentary. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1997.
Pastoral Accessible theological interpretation for teaching contexts

Note on Sources: This study draws primarily on Lucy Peppiatt's integration of Fee, Thiselton, and Barth to read 1 Corinthians as a unified argument with resurrection at its center—not as a collection of unrelated pastoral advice.

Citation Format: Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition

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