Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? New Living Translation If the dead will not be raised, what point is there in people being baptized for those who are dead? Why do it unless the dead will someday rise again? English Standard Version Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Berean Standard Bible If these things are not so, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? Berean Literal Bible Otherwise what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why also are they baptized for them? King James Bible 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? New King James Version Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead? New American Standard Bible For otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? NASB 1995 Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? NASB 1977 Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? Legacy Standard Bible Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? Amplified Bible Otherwise, what will those do who are being baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people even baptized for them? Christian Standard Bible Otherwise what will they do who are being baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are people baptized for them? Holman Christian Standard Bible Otherwise what will they do who are being baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are people baptized for them? American Standard Version Else what shall they do that are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? Contemporary English Version If the dead are not going to be raised to life, what will people do who are being baptized for them? Why are they being baptized for those dead people? English Revised Version Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? GOD'S WORD® Translation However, people are baptized because the dead [will come back to life]. What will they do? If the dead can't come back to life, why do people get baptized as if they can [come back to life]? Good News Translation Now, what about those people who are baptized for the dead? What do they hope to accomplish? If it is true, as some claim, that the dead are not raised to life, why are those people being baptized for the dead? International Standard Version Otherwise, what will those people do who are being baptized because of those who have died? If the dead are not raised at all, why are they being baptized because of them? Majority Standard Bible If these things are not so, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for the dead? NET Bible Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they baptized for them? New Heart English Bible Or else what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? Webster's Bible Translation Else what will they do, who are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? Weymouth New Testament Otherwise what will become of those who got themselves baptized for the dead? If the dead do not rise at all, why are these baptized for them? World English Bible Or else what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead aren’t raised at all, why then are they baptized for the dead? Literal Translations Literal Standard VersionSeeing what will they do who are immersed for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why are they also immersed for the dead? Berean Literal Bible Otherwise what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why also are they baptized for them? Young's Literal Translation Seeing what shall they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? why also are they baptized for the dead? Smith's Literal Translation For what shall they do being immersed for the dead, if in fine the dead rise not? and why are they immersed for the dead? Catholic Translations Douay-Rheims BibleOtherwise what shall they do that are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not again at all? why are they then baptized for them? Catholic Public Domain Version Otherwise, what will those who are being baptized for the dead do, if the dead do not rise again at all? Why then are they being baptized for them? New American Bible Otherwise, what will people accomplish by having themselves baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they having themselves baptized for them? New Revised Standard Version Otherwise, what will those people do who receive baptism on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Translations from Aramaic Lamsa BibleElse, what shall they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? Aramaic Bible in Plain English Otherwise, what shall those do who are baptized for the sake of the dead, if the dead do not live again? Why are they baptized for the sake of the dead? NT Translations Anderson New TestamentFor else, what shall those do, who are immersed for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why, then, are they immersed for the dead? Godbey New Testament Then what shall they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead rise not at all, why are they also baptized for them? Haweis New Testament Else what will they do who are baptised? for the dead, if wholly dead they rise no more. Why are they then baptised for the dead? Mace New Testament If it be not so, what can they effect who are baptized for the dead? if the dead rise not at all, why are they then baptized for the dead? Weymouth New Testament Otherwise what will become of those who got themselves baptized for the dead? If the dead do not rise at all, why are these baptized for them? Worrell New Testament Else what will those do who are immersed for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are they even immersed for them? Worsley New Testament Besides, what shall they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why then are they baptized for the dead? Additional Translations ... Audio Bible Context The Order of Resurrection…28And when all things have been subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put all things under Him, so that God may be all in all. 29If these things are not so, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30And why do we endanger ourselves every hour?… Cross References Romans 6:3-5 Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? / We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life. / For if we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. Colossians 2:12 And having been buried with Him in baptism, you were raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. Galatians 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 1 Peter 3:21 And this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Acts 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on His name.’ Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Mark 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Romans 6:8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. 2 Timothy 2:11 This is a trustworthy saying: If we died with Him, we will also live with Him; Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you. Philippians 3:10-11 I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, / and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 1 Thessalonians 4:14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. / And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” Ezekiel 37:1-14 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones. / He led me all around among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, and indeed, they were very dry. / Then He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones come to life?” “O Lord GOD,” I replied, “only You know.” ... Treasury of Scripture 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? what. 1 Corinthians 15:16,32 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: … Romans 6:3,4 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? … Matthew 20:22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. Jump to Previous Baptised Baptism Baptized Behalf Dead Mean Otherwise Raised Resurrection Rise ThemselvesJump to Next Baptised Baptism Baptized Behalf Dead Mean Otherwise Raised Resurrection Rise Themselves1 Corinthians 15 1. By Christ's resurrection,12. he proves the necessity of our resurrection, 16. against all such as deny the resurrection of the body. 21. The fruit, 35. and the manner thereof; 51. and of the resurrection of those who shall be found alive at the last day. If these things are not so, This phrase refers to the preceding discussion in 1 Corinthians 15 about the resurrection of the dead. Paul is addressing doubts about the resurrection, emphasizing its foundational importance to Christian faith. The resurrection is a core doctrine, as seen in earlier verses where Paul outlines the gospel message (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? Persons / Places / Events 1. Paul the ApostleThe author of 1 Corinthians, addressing the church in Corinth about the resurrection of the dead. 2. Corinth A major city in ancient Greece, known for its diverse population and various religious practices, including some that may have influenced the Corinthian church. 3. The Corinthian Church The recipients of Paul's letter, struggling with various theological and moral issues, including misunderstandings about the resurrection. 4. The Dead Refers to those who have died, central to the discussion of resurrection in this chapter. 5. Baptism A Christian sacrament of initiation and purification, symbolizing the believer's faith in Christ's death and resurrection. Teaching Points Understanding ContextRecognize that 1 Corinthians 15:29 is part of a larger argument about the resurrection. Paul uses this verse to challenge the Corinthians' understanding and practices, urging them to consider the implications of their beliefs. The Importance of Resurrection The resurrection is central to Christian faith. Without it, practices like baptism lose their significance. Believers are called to live in the hope and power of the resurrection. Baptism's Symbolic Meaning Baptism symbolizes our identification with Christ's death and resurrection. It is a public declaration of faith and a commitment to live a new life in Christ. Avoiding Misinterpretations Be cautious of interpretations that suggest practices not supported by the broader biblical context. The focus should remain on the resurrection's transformative power. Living in Light of the Resurrection The hope of resurrection should influence how we live daily, encouraging us to pursue holiness, share the gospel, and find comfort in the promise of eternal life.(29) Else.--We can well imagine the Apostle pausing, as it were, to take breath after the splendid outburst of mingled rhetoric and logic which we find in 1Corinthians 15:23-28; or perhaps even postponing until some other day the further dictation of his Epistle, when he could calmly resume his purely logical argument in favour of the doctrine of the Resurrection. Then there will not appear such a startling or inexplicable abruptness in the words with which this new argument is commenced. "Else"--i.e., if there be no resurrection--what shall they who are baptised for the dead do? If the dead be not raised at all, why are they then baptised for the dead? Such is the proper punctuation, and not as in the English version, which joins the clause, "if the dead rise not," with the preceding instead of with the following portion of the verse. Also the word translated "rise," is "are raised." This is an argumentum ad hominem. The practice known as baptism for the dead was absurd if there be no resurrection. To practise it and to deny the doctrine of the resurrection was illogical. What shall they do? i.e., What explanation shall they give of their conduct? asks the Apostle. There have been numerous and ingenious conjectures as to the meaning of this passage. The only tenable interpretation is that there existed amongst some of the Christians at Corinth a practice of baptising a living person in the stead of some convert who had died before that sacrament had been administered to him. Such a practice existed amongst the Marcionites in the second century, and still earlier amongst a sect called the Corinthians. The idea evidently was that whatever benefit flowed from baptism might be thus vicariously secured for the deceased Christian. St. Chrysostom gives the following description of it:--"After a catechumen (i.e., one prepared for baptism, but not actually baptised) was dead, they hid a living man under the bed of the deceased; then coming to the bed of the dead man they spake to him, and asked whether he would receive baptism, and he making no answer, the other replied in his stead, and so they baptised the 'living for the dead.'" Does St. Paul then, by what he here says, sanction the superstitious practice? Certainly not. He carefully separates himself and the Corinthians, to whom he immediately addresses himself, from those who adopted this custom. He no longer uses the first or second person; it is "they" throughout this passage. It is no proof to others; it is simply the argumentum ad hominem. Those who do that, and disbelieve a resurrection, refute themselves. This custom possibly sprang up amongst the Jewish converts, who had been accustomed to something similar in their own faith. If a Jew died without having been purified from some ceremonial uncleanness, some living person had the necessary ablution performed on them, and the dead were so accounted clean.Verses 29-34. - Arguments from the practices and lives of Christians. The three arguments used in these verses are: If there be no resurrection: 1. Why do some of you get yourselves baptized on behalf of your dead friends? 2. Why do we face lives of daily peril? 3. How would it be otherwise possible to resist Epicurean views of life? Verse 29. - Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, etc.? This clause can have but one meaning, and that its obvious one, namely, that, among the many strange opinions and practices which then prevailed, was one which was entirely un-warranted-but which St. Paul does not here stop to examine - of persons getting themselves baptized as it were by proxy for others who had died. Doubtless some of the deaths alluded to in 1 Corinthians 11:30 had happened to persons who had been cut off before they were actually baptized; and their friends had as it were gone through the rite in their stead, in the hope of extending to them some of its benefits. It is argued that St. Paul could not possibly mention such a practice without reprobation; but that is an a priori assumption not warranted by St. Paul's methods (see 1 Corinthians 10:8; 1 Corinthians 11:6). He always confines his attention to the question immediately before him, and his present object is merely to urge a passing argumentum ad hominem. There is nothing at all surprising in the existence of such an abuse in the medley of wild opinions and wild practices observable in this disorganized Church. It accords with the known tendency of later times to postpone baptism, as a rite which was supposed to work as a charm. We also find that the actual practice of baptism on behalf of the dead lingered on among Corinthians (Epiph., 'Haer.,' 28:7) and Marcionites (Tertullian, 'De Resurrect.,' 48; 'Adv. Marc.,' 5:10). Tertullian accepts the words in their obvious sense in his 'De Praeser. Haer.,' 48, but accepts the absurdity of "the dead" meaning "the body" ("pro mortuis tingui est pro corporibus tingui") in his book against Marcion (5:10). St. Chrysostom tells us further that the proxy who was to be baptized used to be concealed under the bier of the dead man, who was supposed to answer in his name that he desired to be baptized. How perfectly natural the custom was may be seen from the fact that among the Jews also a man dying under ceremonial pollution was cleansed by proxy. The "interpretations" of this verse are so numerous that it is not even possible to give a catalogue of them. Many of them are not worth recording, and are only worth alluding to at all as specimens of the wilful bias which goes to Scripture, not to seek truth, but to support tradition. They are mostly futile and fantastic, because they pervert the plain meaning of the plain words. It is a waste of time and space to give perpetuity to baseless fancies. Such are the notions that "for the dead" can mean "for our mortal bodies" (Chrysostom); or "for those about to die" (Estius, Calvin, etc.); or "over (the sepulchres of) the dead" (Luther); or "to supply the vacancies left by the dead" (Le Clerc, etc.). Equally unwarrantable are the "explanations" (?) which make those who are being "baptized" mean those who are "passing through a baptism of suffering" (!). Not a single argument which is worth a moment's consideration can be urged in favour of any one of these, or scores of similar views. If we are to get rid of everything that is surprising on the ground that it is "immensely improbable," we may as well discard Scripture at once, and reconstruct early Christian history out of our own consciousness. It has been very usual to represent it as we think that it ought to have been, and not as it was. The disuse of this vicarious baptism among orthodox Christians may have been due to the discouragement of it by St. Paul when he went to Corinth, and "set in order" various erroneous customs (1 Corinthians 11:34). Greek If [these things are] not so,Ἐπεὶ (Epei) Conjunction Strong's 1893: Of time: when, after; of cause: since, because; otherwise: else. From epi and ei; thereupon, i.e. Since. what τί (ti) Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Accusative Neuter Singular Strong's 5101: Who, which, what, why. Probably emphatic of tis; an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what. will those do ποιήσουσιν (poiēsousin) Verb - Future Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural Strong's 4160: (a) I make, manufacture, construct, (b) I do, act, cause. Apparently a prolonged form of an obsolete primary; to make or do. who οἱ (hoi) Article - Nominative Masculine Plural Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the. are baptized βαπτιζόμενοι (baptizomenoi) Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural Strong's 907: Lit: I dip, submerge, but specifically of ceremonial dipping; I baptize. for ὑπὲρ (hyper) Preposition Strong's 5228: Gen: in behalf of; acc: above. the τῶν (tōn) Article - Genitive Masculine Plural Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the. dead? νεκρῶν (nekrōn) Adjective - Genitive Masculine Plural Strong's 3498: (a) adj: dead, lifeless, subject to death, mortal, (b) noun: a dead body, a corpse. From an apparently primary nekus; dead. If εἰ (ei) Conjunction Strong's 1487: If. A primary particle of conditionality; if, whether, that, etc. [the] dead νεκροὶ (nekroi) Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural Strong's 3498: (a) adj: dead, lifeless, subject to death, mortal, (b) noun: a dead body, a corpse. From an apparently primary nekus; dead. are not raised ἐγείρονται (egeirontai) Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Plural Strong's 1453: (a) I wake, arouse, (b) I raise up. Probably akin to the base of agora; to waken, i.e. Rouse. at all, ὅλως (holōs) Adverb Strong's 3654: Adverb from holos; completely, i.e. Altogether;, everywhere; not by any means. why τί (ti) Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Accusative Neuter Singular Strong's 5101: Who, which, what, why. Probably emphatic of tis; an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what. are [people] baptized βαπτίζονται (baptizontai) Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Plural Strong's 907: Lit: I dip, submerge, but specifically of ceremonial dipping; I baptize. for ὑπὲρ (hyper) Preposition Strong's 5228: Gen: in behalf of; acc: above. them? αὐτῶν (autōn) Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons. Links 1 Corinthians 15:29 NIV1 Corinthians 15:29 NLT 1 Corinthians 15:29 ESV 1 Corinthians 15:29 NASB 1 Corinthians 15:29 KJV 1 Corinthians 15:29 BibleApps.com 1 Corinthians 15:29 Biblia Paralela 1 Corinthians 15:29 Chinese Bible 1 Corinthians 15:29 French Bible 1 Corinthians 15:29 Catholic Bible NT Letters: 1 Corinthians 15:29 Or else what will they do who (1 Cor. 1C iC 1Cor i cor icor) |
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