According to the reading of the original which is adopted, this passage bears an indicative or an imperative meaning. If imperative, then it is an admonition to cultivate and perfect in our character and life, even now upon earth, the moral and spiritual image of the Divine Lord. If indicative and future, then it is an assertion that, in the coming time, the time of celestial glory, Christians shall bear the image of the heavenly.

I. WHOSE IMAGE IS THIS? The answer to this question cannot be doubtful. The heavenly One, whose image Christians are to reflect, can be none other than the Divine Lord himself. There is a measure in which this resemblance is attained even upon earth, and many admonitions are addressed to Christians, to cultivate moral resemblance to their great and glorious Head. But in the future state hindrances to assimilation shall be removed; and "we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). As St. Paul expresses it elsewhere, we shall be "changed into the same image." So that the apostles agree as to what shall constitute the peculiar privilege and glory of the coming state of felicity.

II. IN WHAT DOES THIS IMAGE CONSIST?

1. It is a spiritual likeness, consisting not in the similarity of form or feature, but in that of character, of moral life.

2. It is a likeness in true holiness. God's holy Child or Servant, Jesus, is the model of all purity and perfection, and to be like Christ is to be holy even as he is holy.

3. It corresponds to God's original intention as to what man should be. He at first created man in his own image; and although that image was marred by sin, grace restores it; and the great Father and Lord of all beholds his original conception realized in the regenerated and glorified humanity.

III. BY WHOM IS THIS IMAGE PARTICIPATED?

1. Properly speaking, it will be apparent in all those who by Divine grace are brought upon earth to the enjoyment of Christian character and privilege, and who are led safely home to glory. It is the family likeness by which the spiritual children are identified.

2. There is a wider sense in which all the holy intelligences who people heaven may be considered as bearing this image. There are those who have not borne the image of the earthly, who from their creation have been citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, in whom appear the spiritual lineaments which are the mark of a Divine parentage and the earnest of a blessed immortality.

APPLICATION. That this image may be borne in all its brightness and beauty hereafter and above, its first rudiments must be traced here. The life of faith, obedience, and aspiration is the divinely appointed preparation for the glories and felicities of heaven. And no religion is of worth which does not form and cherish the spiritual likeness which alone can qualify for the employments and the society of heaven. - T.

I. THE GENERAL LAW.

1. This carries with it its own proof: for, obviously, darkness might as well become light, or death life, as that which is corrupt rise into the incorruptible. On this point St. Paul is earnest and absolute. The exception of ver. 51 is only an apparent one. Those who are alive when Christ comes will nevertheless be changed (ver. 52).

2. Note the significance of this law. Flesh and blood is a Scripture term for the lusts and. passions of our lower nature. Jewish readers would instantly apprehend its force. To them "the blood was the life"; and therefore it was shed in sacrifice. It was the seat of passion and desire, of all that is lawless and irregular; and therefore they were not permitted to partake of it. Their conception finds utterance to-day in such phrases as, "His blood is up," or, "A hot-blooded fellow." St. Paul uses the term here as the symbol of this life, these lusts, these corruptions, which cannot inherit incorruption.

3. Mark the different use of the phrases "flesh and blood" and "flesh and bones" in the New Testament. "Flesh and blood" cannot inherit; the incorrupt and heavenly kingdom, but "flesh and bones" may and do. After His resurrection Christ had flesh and bones (Luke 24:37-39); and Christians are

"members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones" (Ephesians 5:30). Christ's blood as the symbol of life has been shed for the redemption of the world: as the symbol of corruption, it is poured out, exhausted. "Flesh and bones" may still be retained even when the natural becomes a spiritual body; but the life that pulses through it is that of a higher than mortal existence.

II. THE TRUTHS AND HOPES WHICH UNDERLIE IT.

1. The truth for which St. Paul contends is not the immortality of the soul, but the resurrection of the body. Centuries before Christ the Greeks had believed that the souls of the departed survived the pangs of death. But these souls were not themselves, they were but their shades. Elysium was as thin and unsubstantial in its avocations and joys as the poor ghosts that tenanted it. And as nature shrinks from disembodiment, the Greeks were accustomed to offer rich garments on the tombs of heroes, if so be that, being thus clothed, they might not be found naked, and a Corinthian queen is said to have appeared to her husband after death, entreating him to burn dresses for her as a covering for her disembodied spirit. We may smile at all this, but none the less we are touched by this naive childish testimony to the universal dread of disembodiment, the universal desire to be clothed upon with some vesture whether of earth or heaven. To men gazing thus sadly into the future St. Paul's strong hearty words must have been as health to the sick. So, then, they were not to become disembodied spirits, but to be clothed upon with a body more exquisitely attuned to the faculties and energies of their spiritual life!

2. In our Lord's risen body we have the express type of the spiritual bodies we are to wear.(1) The body which His disciples recognised was essentially the same although it had undergone a mysterious change. What that change was St. Paul hints in the phrase, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Consequently we find that they did not instantly recognise Him when He came to them. They knew Him only as He was pleased to make Himself known. He was not bound by material laws. He is found present, no one knows from whence. He passes away, no one knows whither (John 20:19; Luke 24:31; Acts 1:9). In the person of Christ we see the whole man — body, soul, and spirit — raised from the grave. We see all the intelligent and passionate faculties of the soul held in perfect subjection to the higher claims of the spirit. The body is not simply restored to its pristine vigour and purity, but lifted To a higher and more spiritual pitch. It is not unclothed, but clothed upon. "The corruptible has put on incorruption, the mortal has put on immortality."(2) And this is the change that must pass on us, if indeed "Christ be in us, the hope of glory." Like Him we are to put on immortality and incorruption: not to break with the past, nor to lose our identity; not to be changed beyond our own recognition or that of our friends, but to be purged from the corruptible and baser elements of our nature, to be redeemed from our bondage to sense, and its laws; to be transfigured, that the spirit which Christ has quickened in us may dwell in a quick spiritual body — a body that shall not check, nor thwart, nor dull, but perfectly second and express, the untiring energies of our higher and renewed nature. As a man awaking for a moment from a mortal trance, so we may wake from the sleep of death, and say, nothing is lost, but, ah, how much gained!

(S. Cox, D.D.)

I. THE KINGDOM INTENDED.

1. Not the kingdom of Christ on earth.

2. But the kingdom of God in glory, which is heavenly and eternal.

II. THE UNFITNESS OF MAN FOR IT.

1. His nature is morally corrupt.

2. Physically it is earthly and corruptible.

III. THE CHANGE NECESSARY.

1. A new birth.

2. A resurrection.

(J. Lyth, D.D.)

Paul here speaks of a bodily transformation that is —

I. INDISPENSABLE (ver. 50). "Flesh and blood," i.e., our mortal nature, cannot inherit the heavenly world. He does not say why — whether the state of the atmosphere, or the means of subsistence, or the force of gravitation, or the forms and means of vision, or the conditions of receiving and communicating knowledge, or the nature of the services required. "Flesh and blood" can no more exist yonder, than the tenants of the ocean can exist on the sun-burnt hills. In such corporeal transformations there is nothing extraordinary, for naturalists point us to spheres of existences where they are as regular as the laws of nature.

II. CERTAIN (ver. 51). "Mystery" here does not point to the unknowable, but to the hitherto unknown, viz., that "we shall all be changed." "We shall not all sleep."

1. Some will be living when the day dawns. "As in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man, they ate, they drank," etc.

2. Both those who will be living and those who will be sleeping in the dust will undergo corporeal transformation.

III. INSTANTANEOUS (ver. 52). "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night," etc.

IV. GLORIOUS (vers. 53, 54). The transformation is from mortality to immortality, from the dying to the undying; "death will be swallowed up in victory." The idea may be taken of a whirlpool or maelstrom that absorbs all that comes near it.

(D. Thomas, D.D.)

I. OUT OF THE NATURE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, which is —

1. Heavenly.

2. Spiritual.

3. Incorruptible.

4. Divine.

5. Holy.

II. OUT OF THE IMPERFECTION OF THE HUMAN BODY, which is —

1. Earthly.

2. Sensual.

3. Corruptible.

4. Sinful.

III. OUT OF THE PURPOSE OF GOD.

1. It is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom.

2. The body of flesh and blood cannot inherit it.

3. Therefore it must be subject to a marvellous change.

(J. Lyth, D.D.)

I. CORRUPTION.

1. Implies dissolution.

2. Is on earth a natural law.

3. Overtakes man in consequence of sin.

4. Includes decay, disease, death, decomposition.

II. INCORRUPTION.

1. Implies immortality.

2. Is the distinguishing feature of the heavenly world.

3. Results from the immediate presence and power of God.

4. Secures purity, happiness, immortal vigour, eternal life.

III. THE INCOMPATIBILITY OF THE TWO.

1. Is obvious.

2. Hence the absolute necessity of a change not only in man's moral but physical condition.

3. To be effected in the resurrection.

4. That man may inherit eternal life.

(J. Lyth, D.D.)

I. THE GREAT CHANGE.

1. Its nature.

(1)The resurrection of the dead.

(2)The transformation of the living.

2. When and how effected.

(1)At the last trump.

(2)In a moment.

(3)By the power of God.

3. Its absolute certainty.

II. THE TRIUMPH.

1. Death swallowed up in victory.

2. Hence the exultation of the redeemed over death and the grave.

III. THE MEANS OF PARTICIPATION IN IT. The victory is —

1. The free gift of grace.

2. Through Christ.

3. By the destruction of sin.

IV. THE PRACTICAL LESSON,

1. Steadfastness.

2. Abundant toil.

3. Confident hope.

(J. Lyth, D.D.)

I. OUR LIFE ON EARTH IS FULL OF CHANGE. Every hour brings changes and chances. The sun which rises to shine on happy children's faces, bright with laughter, sets over a desolate home. Have you ever seen the famous picture of "The Railway Station"? That, or the reality, will show you any day what "a tangle" life is. There you will see youth and age, joy and sorrow, success and failure, hope and despair, going their several ways in the great journey of life.

II. BUT THE GREATEST CHANGE OF ALL IS YET TO COME. There will be a change —

1. In our bodies. The poor, worn-out clothing of flesh which was laid in the grave to decay, will be no longer needed. As the trees are clad with new clothing in the spring-time, so will our souls be at the great spring-time of the Lord's coming. As the beggar forgets his rags when wrapped in soft raiment, so shall we doubtless forget our poor bodies, or remember them only as a dream when one awaketh. Here they are constantly getting out of repair. When we are changed, we may believe it will be always well with us in body.

2. In our minds and feelings. We shall be improved by the lessons we learn, just as we see a child altered by wise and careful schooling. The man of science has a world of knowledge and beauty open to him which the unlearned does not dream of. So in the school beyond there must be a still wider world of which the cleverest men know nothing. Then our mind, no longer warped by prejudice, will understand rightly; then "we shall know even as we are known." We shall see clearly what seemed so dark and perplexing before. We shall understand how some of God's dealings with us, which appeared so strange and hard, were the best of blessings for us.

III. THE CHANGE WILL BE VERY GREAT, BUT WE ,SHALL BE FITTED FOR IT.

IV. THE CHANGE WILL NOT MAKE US FEEL LONELY. In that land none are strangers. Sometimes when one is going to emigrate, I have asked him if he did not expect to feel very strange and lonely, and the answer was, "Oh no, I have friends waiting for me there." And so with us.

V. THOUGH THE GREAT CHANGE COMES THEN, THERE MUST BE A CHANGE IN US NOW. Our most constant, prayer should be, "Give me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew a right spirit within me."

(H. J. W. Buxton, M.A.)

This is one in which you will be, not merely spectators, but parties concerned. It is an event the most certain. It is a solemnity that is continually drawing near. Note —

I. THE UNION THERE IS AMONG THE FOLLOWERS OF THE REDEEMER. "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed."

1. Of the number of this universal Church, some "sleep." Death is often an alarming subject, and to reduce this dread we should do well to view it;as Scripture does as a departure — a going home — a sleep. Man is called to labour, and "the sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much." So Christians must "work while it is day," etc. But then they will "rest from their labours." Sleep is a state from which you may be easily awakened; and, lo!" all that are in their graves shall hear Christ's voice, and come forth."

2. Many will be found alive. The earth's inhabitants will not be gradually consumed till none are left: the world will be full; and all the common concerns of life will be pursued with the same eagerness as before. And, "as it was in the days of Noah," etc. Many of the Lord's people too will be found alive; and perhaps they will be much more numerous than at any former period.

II. IN WHAT MANNER WILL THIS BE DISPOSED OF? "We shall all be changed." We are always varying now. But what a change is here from time to eternity, from earth to heaven, from the company of the wicked to the presence of the blessed God: from ignorance to knowledge; from painful infirmities to be "presented faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy!" But the change principally refers to the body: "for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God," etc. Enoch and Elias, though they did not die, passed through a change equivalent to death. The same change which will be produced in the dead by the resurrection will be accomplished in the bodies of the living by this transformation; and of this we have the clearest assurance (vers. 42-44).

III. THE EASE AND DESPATCH WITH WHICH ALL THIS WILL BE PERFORMED. "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." What a view does this give us of the dominion and power of God! Think of the numbers that will be alive — all these metamorphosed in one instant. And "why should it be thought a thing incredible?" "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"

IV. THE SIGNAL. "At the last trump," etc. When the Lord came down on Horeb to publish the law, "the voice of the trumpet waxed exceeding loud." By the sound of the trumpet the approach of kings has been announced. Judges in our country enter the place of assize preceded by the same shrill sound. And those who have witnessed the procession well know what an awe it impresses, and what sentiments it excites. Will the last trump call you to "lamentation, and mourning, and woe"? or will its language be, "Lift up your heads with joy, for your redemption draweth nigh"? Conclusion: He who will then be the Judge, is now the Saviour. He will then say to the wicked, "Depart" — but He does not say so now to any — His language is, "Come."

(W. Jay.)

It is said when Lord Nelson was buried at St. Paul's Cathedral, all London was stirred. As the funeral procession passed on, it moved amid the sobbing of a nation. Thirty trumpeters stood at the door of the cathedral with musical instruments in hand, and when the illustrious dead arrived at the gates of St. Paul's Cathedral these thirty trumpeters blew one united blast; but the trumpets did not wake the dead. He slept right on. What thirty trumpets could not do for one man, one trumpet will do for all nations.

The blowing of trumpets at particular seasons was a statute for Israel. The trumpet was to be blown on the solemn feast day, to assemble the people together, to direct their march when the camp was to be moved, they were to be sounded over the burnt-offerings, and at the new moons, and when the year of jubilee arrived to proclaim liberty, also to summon the people to war. To this St. Paul alludes, when he says, "If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?" All this was typical of the trumpet of the gospel which is to resound till all are warned to flee from the wrath to come (Psalm 89:15). But there is another trumpet we must all hear.

I. THE MANNER OF ITS SOUND.

1. Sudden. Our Lord intimates this (Matthew 24:38, etc.). The destruction of Jerusalem was a fit representation of this, it was awfully sudden. When the trumpet sounds to judgment there shall be the giddy and profane pursuing their unhallowed pleasures. In a moment! in the twinkling of an eye, the trumpet shall sound! Oh! to be found watching, waiting, praying, ready. "Blessed is that servant who, when his Lord cometh, shall be found so doing."

2. Universal. It shall re-echo in heaven, reach every corner of earth, and penetrate the dark abyss of hell. Every soul shall hear it that ever lived in the world from the days of Adam to the period when the last infant shall be born, the king and the peasant, the righteous and wicked, etc. You who dislike the sound of the gospel; you who neglect the great salvation; you, formal professor, and self-righteous pharisee; you, hypocrite with the mask of religion — all must hear it.

3. Final. It is the close of all things the termination of our probation. There is a period when you shall hear of salvation, when you shall attend the sanctuary, when you shall read the Bible and surround the sacramental table for the last time.

II. THE IMPORT OF ITS ACCENTS. The Sound shall proclaim —

1. The end of. time. How solemn the thought! Now we have the seasons in regular succession, times of business, recreation, devotion, etc. But soon time shall be no longer. The river of time will be emptied in the ocean of eternity. Oh! then, now seize it, and sail in the ship of the gospel, and you shall be safely conducted by the Divine Pilot till you glide safely into an ocean of bliss, that knows not the ruffle of a wave.

2. The resurrection of the dead.

3. The approach of the Judge. It shall be glorious. How unlike His first advent. The scene will be majestic beyond description. How great the designs of His coming! Not to present an atoning sacrifice, but to hold the last assize. He shall come to explain the mysteries of His providence, to display the riches of His grace, in the consummation of the happiness of His people, to vindicate His justice in the everlasting destruction of His foes.

III. THE SOLEMNITY OF ITS RESULTS.

1. The final triumphs of the righteous.

2. The eternal punishment of the wicked.

(Ebenezer Temple.)

I. WHAT ARE WE TO UNDERSTAND BY THE SOUNDING OF THE TRUMPET? That this will announce our Saviour's coming to judgment is frequently asserted (Matthew 24:31; 1 Thessalonians 4:16). As at the giving of the law, so at the judging of men according to that law, God shall cause some such sound to be uttered as shall be heard over the whole world, and summon all men to appear before His judgment-seat, and when this sounds then shall the dead be raised.

II. WHO ARE THOSE DEAD THAT SHALL BE RAISED AT THE SOUND OF THIS TRUMPET?

1. There is a threefold life: natural, the union of the soul to the body; spiritual, the union of Christ to the soul; eternal, the communion of the soul with God. Answerable to this there is a threefold death.(1) Natural, when the soul and body are divorced from one another.(2) Spiritual, which is the separation of the soul from Christ. Though many by grace are redeemed from this, yet all by nature are subject to it. And as all by nature are subject to it, so do most by practice still lie under it. Dead as to all sense of sin, as to all spiritual graces, as to all heavenly comforts, as to that life of faith which the children of God are quickened with.(3) Eternal, the separation of the soul from God; and you that lie under the spiritual death of sin must either get yourselves quickened by the life of faith in Christ, or else except by eternal death to be separated from the Lord of Life.

2. Which of these shall be raised? All of them, and yet it is the naturally dead which are chiefly to be understood here.

III. HOW SHALL THE DEAD BE RAISED? When the trumpet shall sound by the power of the most high God, every man's body being made fit to receive its soul, the soul shall immediately be united to it, and so we, even the very self-same persons that now we are, shall be raised to answer for what we have done here.

IV. HOW DOTH IT APPEAR THAT THE DEAD SHALL THUS BE RAISED?

1. From Scripture (Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2; John 5:28, 29; Matthew 22:31, 32).

2. From reason.(1) Christ has been raised.(2) The soul is immortal, and it is against all reason that one essential part of man should be continued in its being, and the other should be turned to nothing.(3) Justice requires that they that are co-partners in vice and virtues should be co-partners also in punishments and rewards. Though a sin would not be a sin without the soul, yet it would not be committed without the body. The body could not sin unless the soul consented; the soul would not sin so often unless the body tempted.

V. HOW SHALL THEY BE RAISED INCORRUPTIBLE? The apostle here treats of principally the resurrection of the saints, who shall be raised incorruptible.

1. In their souls, which being wrought up into an exact conformity to the will of God, will be emptied of all corruptions, and blessed with all perfections.

2. In body. As our souls shall be void of all corruptions, so shall our bodies be of all imperfections, for these our vile bodies shall be made like unto Christ's glorious body. What is sown a natural shall be raised a spiritual body; it shall not any longer be a clog to us in the performance of duties to God; but it shall be as quick, agile, and subservient as if it was advanced beyond the degree of a body, and had commenced a soul.

3. In their happiness. There shall be no crosses in their relations, no losses in their possessions, no disgrace in their honours, no fears in their preferments, no irregularities in their affections, no sorrow in their joys, no darkness in their light, not one drop of misery in the whole ocean of happiness they shall enjoy.

VI. WHAT IS MEANT BY WE SHALL BE CHANGED? There will be a change in —

1. Our opinions. We shall think otherwise of most things. Here we are apt to look upon sin as amiable, and grace as not desirable; but then we that once esteemed all things before God, shall look upon God as to be esteemed above all things.

2. Our conditions. A Dives in this may become a Lazarus in the other world; and a Lazarus here, a Dives there.

(Bp. Beveridge.)

Adam, Cephas, Corinthians, James, Paul, PeterCorinth, EphesusAble, Blood, Bodies, Brethren, Brothers, Can't, Corruption, Death, Flesh, God's, Imperishable, Incorruptibility, Incorruption, Inherit, Kingdom, Mortal, Perishable, Possible, Reign1. 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.

1 Corinthians 15:50

     2377   kingdom of God, entry into
     6166   flesh, sinful nature
     9311   resurrection, of Christ

1 Corinthians 15:35-54

     5136   body

1 Corinthians 15:42-50

     6139   deadness, spiritual

1 Corinthians 15:42-54

     4010   creation, renewal

1 Corinthians 15:42-55

     9110   after-life

1 Corinthians 15:48-57

     5467   promises, divine

1 Corinthians 15:49-53

     8206   Christlikeness

1 Corinthians 15:50-52

     2345   Christ, kingdom of

1 Corinthians 15:50-53

     9105   last things

1 Corinthians 15:50-55

     6696   necessity

1 Corinthians 15:50-56

     9122   eternity, and God

1 Corinthians 15:50-57

     6645   eternal life, nature of

The Image of the Earthly and the Heavenly
Eversley, Easter Day, 1871. 1 Cor. xv. 49. "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." This season of Easter is the most joyful of all the year. It is the most comfortable time, in the true old sense of that word; for it is the season which ought to comfort us most--that is, it gives us strength; strength to live like men, and strength to die like men, when our time comes. Strength to live like men. Strength to fight against the temptation which …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

Third Sunday after Easter Second Sermon.
Text: First Corinthians 15, 20-28. 20 But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; then they that are Christ's, at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have abolished all rule and …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Fourth Sunday after Easter
Text: First Corinthians 15, 35-50. 35 But some one will say, How are the dead raised? and with what manner of body do they come? 36 Thou foolish one, that which thou thyself sowest is not quickened except it die: 37 and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall be, but a bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other kind; 38 but God giveth it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh; but there is one flesh of men, …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Fifth Sunday after Easter
Text: First Corinthians 15, 51-58. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 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. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Eleventh Sunday after Trinity Paul's Witness to Christ's Resurrection.
Text: 1 Corinthians 15, 1-10. 1 Now I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, wherein also ye stand, 2 by which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except ye believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 and that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures; 5 and that …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Small Duties and the Great Hope
'But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you; for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. 10. And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more; 11. And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; 12. That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing. 13. But I would not have …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Christian and the Scientific Estimate of Sin
"Christ died for our sins."--I COR. XV. 3. Nothing is more characteristic of Christianity than its estimate of human sin. Historically, no doubt, this is due to the fact that the Lord and Master of Christians died "on account of sins." His death was due, as we have seen, both to the actual, definite sins of His contemporaries, and also to the irreconcilable opposition between His sinless life and the universal presence of sin in the world into which He came. But it is with the Christian estimate …
J. H. Beibitz—Gloria Crucis

Outward and Inward Morality
OUTWARD AND INWARD MORALITY I Cor. xv. 10.--"The Grace of God." Grace is from God, and works in the depth of the soul whose powers it employs. It is a light which issues forth to do service under the guidance of the Spirit. The Divine Light permeates the soul, and lifts it above the turmoil of temporal things to rest in God. The soul cannot progress except with the light which God has given it as a nuptial gift; love works the likeness of God into the soul. The peace, freedom and blessedness of all …
Johannes Eckhart—Meister Eckhart's Sermons

April the Sixth First-Hand Knowledge of Christ
"Last of all He was seen of me also." --1 CORINTHIANS xv. 1-11. And by that vision Saul of Tarsus was transformed. And so, by the ministry of a risen Lord we have received the gift of a transfigured Paul. The resurrection glory fell upon him, and he was glorified. In that superlative light he discovered his sin, his error, his need, but he also found the dynamic of the immortal hope. "Seen of me also!" Can I, too, calmly and confidently claim the experience? Or am I altogether depending upon another …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

April the Seventh if Christ were Dead!
1 CORINTHIANS xv. 12-26. "If Christ be not risen!" That is the most appalling "if" which can be flung into the human mind. If it obtains lodging and entertainment, all the fairest hopes of the soul wither away like tender buds which have been nipped by sharp frost! See how they fade! "Your faith is vain." It has no more strength and permanency than Jonah's gourd. Nay, it has really never been a living thing! It has been a pathetic delusion, beautiful, but empty as a bubble, and collapsing at …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Sudden Conversions.
"By the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain."--1 Cor. xv. 10. We can hardly conceive that grace, such as that given to the great Apostle who speaks in the text, would have been given in vain; that is, we should not expect that it would have been given, had it been foreseen and designed by the Almighty Giver that it would have been in vain. By which I do not mean, of course, to deny that God's gifts are oftentimes abused and wasted by man, which …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

Paul's Estimate of Himself
'By the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain.'--1 COR. xv. 10. The Apostle was, all his life, under the hateful necessity of vindicating his character and Apostleship. Thus here, though his main purpose in the context is simply to declare the Gospel which he preached, he is obliged to turn aside in order to assert, and to back up his assertion, that there was no sort of difference between him and the other recognised teachers of Christian truth. He …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Unity of Apostolic Teaching
Whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.'--1 COR. xv. 11. Party spirit and faction were the curses of Greek civic life, and they had crept into at least one of the Greek churches--that in the luxurious and powerful city of Corinth. We know that there was a very considerable body of antagonists to Paul, who ranked themselves under the banner of Apollos or of Cephas i.e. Peter. Therefore, Paul, keenly conscious that he was speaking to some unfriendly critics, hastens in the …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Certainty and Joy of the Resurrection
'But now is Christ risen from the dead ... the first fruits of them that slept.'--1 COR. xv. 20. The Apostle has been contemplating the long train of dismal consequences which he sees would arise if we only had a dead Christ. He thinks that he, the Apostle, would have nothing to preach, and we, nothing to believe. He thinks that all hope of deliverance from sin would fade away. He thinks that the one fact which gives assurance of immortality having vanished, the dead who had nurtured the assurance …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Remaining and Falling Asleep
'After that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.'--1 COR. xv. 6. There were, then, some five-and-twenty years after the Resurrection, several hundred disciples who were known amongst the churches as having been eyewitnesses of the risen Saviour. The greater part survived; some, evidently a very few, had died. The proportion of the living to the dead, after five-and-twenty years, is generally the opposite. …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Death of Death
'But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. 21. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.... 50. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, (for the trumpet shall sound;) and the dead shall …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Power of the Resurrection
'I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; 4. And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.'--1 COR. xv. 3, 4. Christmas day is probably not the true anniversary of the Nativity, but Easter is certainly that of the Resurrection. The season is appropriate. In the climate of Palestine the first fruits of the harvest were ready at the Passover for presentation in the Temple. …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

On the Atonement.
"How that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures."-1 Cor. xv. 3. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."-2 Cor. v. 21. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."-Rom. v. 8. "The Lord is well pleased for his Righteousness' sake: he will magnify the law and make it honorable."-Isa. xlii. 21. "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, …
Charles G. Finney—Sermons on Gospel Themes

Victory Over Death.
Preached May 16, 1852. VICTORY OVER DEATH. "The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."--1 Cor. xv. 56, 57. On Sunday last I endeavoured to bring before you the subject of that which Scripture calls the glorious liberty of the Sons of God. The two points on which we were trying to get clear notions were these: what is meant by being under the law, and what is meant by being free from the law? When …
Frederick W. Robertson—Sermons Preached at Brighton

Thoughts on the Last Battle
When I select such a text as this, I feel that I cannot preach from it. The thought o'ermasters me; my words do stagger; there are no utterances that are great enough to convey the mighty meaning of this wondrous text. If I had the eloquence of all men united in one, if I could speak as never man spake (with the exception of that one godlike man of Nazareth), I could not compass so vast a subject as this. I will not therefore pretend to do so, but offer you such thoughts as my mind is capable of …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

"Alas for Us, if Thou Wert All, and Nought Beyond, O Earth"
We will try and handle our text this morning in this way. First, we are not of all men most miserable; but secondly, without the hope of another life we should be--that we are prepared to confess--because thirdly, our chief joy lies in the hope of a life to come; and thus, fourthly, the future influences the present; and so, in the last place, we may to-day judge what our future is to be. I. First then, WE ARE NOT OF ALL MEN MOST MISERABLE. Who ventures to say we are? He who will have the hardihood …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 10: 1864

A Leap Year Sermon *
"One born out of due time."--1 Corinthians 15:8. PAUL THUS DESCRIBES himself. It was necessary that Paul, as an apostle, should have seen the Lord. He was not converted at the time of Christ's ascension; yet he was made an apostle, for the Lord Jesus appeared to him in the way, as he was going to Damascus, to persecute the saints of God. When he looked upon himself as thus put in, as it were, at the end of the apostles, he spoke of himself in the most depreciating terms, calling himself "one born …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 46: 1900

Resurgam
I propose this morning, as God shall enable, to listen to that voice of spring, proclaiming the doctrine of the resurrection, a meditation all the more appropriate from the fact, that the Sabbath before last we considered the subject of Death, and I hope that then very solemn impressions were made upon our minds. May the like impressions now return, accompanied with more joyous ones, when we shall look beyond the grave, through the valley of the shadow of death, to that bright light in the distance--the …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860

28TH DAY. A Joyful Resurrection.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "This corruptible must put on incorruption."--1 COR. xv. 53. A Joyful Resurrection. Marvel of marvels? The sleeping ashes of the sepulchre starting at the tones of the archangel's trumpet!--the dishonoured dust, rising a glorified body, like its risen Lord's? At death, the soul's bliss is perfect in kind; but this bliss is not complete in degree, until reunited to the tabernacle it has left behind to mingle with the sods of the valley. But tread lightly on that grave, …
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

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