15:1  Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand,

15:2   by which also you receive salvation, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

15:3   For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

15:4   and that He became buried, and that God raise Him on the third day according to the Scriptures,

15:5   and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

15:6   After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep;

15:7   then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles;

15:8   and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

15:9   For I consider myself the least of the apostles, and not fit to receive the calling as an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

15:10   But by the grace of God I have turned into what I have turned into, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

15:11   Whether then it came from me or them, so we preach and so you believed.

15:12   Now if we preach Christ, that He God has raised Him from the dead, how do some among you say that no resurrection of the dead will occur?

15:13   But if we have no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has undergone resurrection;

15:14   and if Christ has not undergone resurrection, then we preached in vain, your faith also has proved vain.

15:15   Moreover people can charge us as false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead will not undergo resurrection.

15:16  For if the dead do not rise, not even Christ has risen;

15:17   and if Christ has not risen, your faith proves worthless; you still remain in your sins.

15:18  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

15:19   If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we of all men should receive pity.

15:20   But now Christ has risen from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.

15:21  For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.

15:22   For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ God will make alive.

15:23   But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who belong to Christ at His coming,

15:24   then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.

15:25   For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.

15:26   The last enemy that He will abolish we recognize as death.

15:27  For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET But when He says, " All things He put in subjection," it has become evident that He remains excepted who put all things in subjection to Him.

15:28   When all things become subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will subject Himself to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may become all in all.

15:29   Otherwise, what will those do who receive baptism for the dead? If the dead do not rise at all, why then do they baptize for them?

15:30   Why do we find ourselves also in danger every hour?

15:31   I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

15:32   If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead do not come to life, LET US EAT AND DRINK, FOR TOMORROW WE DIE.

15:33   Do not deceive yourselves: "Bad company corrupts good morals."

15:34   Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God I speak this to your shame.

15:35   But someone will say, "How do the dead rise? And with what kind of body do they come?"

15:36   You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies;

15:37   and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which will eventually form, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.

15:38   But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.

15:39   All flesh does not have the same composition, but one flesh appears in men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish.

15:40   There appear also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly manifests itself one way, and the glory of the earthly manifests itself another way.

15:41   There exists one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

15:42   So also resembles the resurrection of the dead It becomes sown in a perishable body, it becomes raised in an imperishable body;

15:43   it becomes sown in dishonor, it becomes raised in glory; it becomes sown in weakness, it becomes raised in power;

15:44   it becomes sown a natural body, it becomes raised a spiritual body. If a natural body exists, there will also emerge a spiritual body.

15:45   So also the scriptures say, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL " The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

15:46   However, the spiritual does not come first, but the natural; then the spiritual.

15:47   The first man comes from the earth,earthy; the second man comes from heaven.

15:48   As exists the earthy, so also exists those who consists of the earthy; and as exists the heavenly, so also exist the heavenly.

15:49   Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.

15:50   Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

15:51   Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all undergo change,

15:52   in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and God will raise the dead imperishable, and we will undergo change.

15:53   For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

15:54  But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that the scriptures say, " LIFE SWALLOWS DEATH UP in victory.

15:55   " O DEATH, WHERE DO YOU FIND YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE DOES YOUR STING OCCUR?"

15:56  The sting of death comes from sin, and the power of sin comes from the law;

15:57   but thanks goes to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

15:58   Therefore, my beloved brethren, remain steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that you toil not in vain in the Lord.