1 Corinthians
Chapter 15
1 1 2 Now I am reminding you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand.
弟兄们！我愿意你们认清，我们先前给你们传报的福音，这福音你们已接受了，且在其上站稳了，
2 Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
假使你们照我给你们所传报的话持守了福音，就必因这福音得救，否则，你们就白白地信了。
3 3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures;
我当日把我所领受而又传给你们的，其中首要的是：基督照经上记载的，为我们的罪死了，
4 that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures;
被埋葬了，且照经上记载的，第三天复活了，
5 that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
并且显现给刻法，以后显现给那十二位；
6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
此后，又一同显现给五百多弟兄，其中多半到现在还活着，有些已经死了。
7 After that he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
随后，显现给雅各伯，以后，显现给众宗徒；
8 Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me.
最后，也显现了给我这个像流产儿的人。
9 For I am the least 4 of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
我原是宗徒中最小的一个，不配称为宗徒，因为我迫害过天主的教会。
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God (that is) with me.
然而，因天主的恩宠，我成为今日的我；天主赐给我的恩宠没有落空，我比他们众人更劳碌；其实不是我，而是天主的恩宠偕同我。
11 Therefore, whether it be I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
总之，不拘是我，或是他们，我们都这样传了，你们也都这样信了。
12 5 But if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?
我们既然传报了基督已由死者中复活了，怎么你们中还有人说：死人复活是没有的事呢？
13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither has Christ been raised.
假如死人复活是没有的事，基督也就没有复活；
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then empty (too) is our preaching; empty, too, your faith.
假如基督没有复活，那么，我们的宣讲便是空的，你们的信仰也是空的。
15 Then we are also false witnesses to God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised.
此外，如果死人真不复活，我们还被视为天主的假证人，因为我们相反天主作证，说天主使基督复活了，其实并没有使衪复活，
16 For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised,
因为如果死人不复活，基督也就没有复活；
17 and if Christ has not been raised, 6 your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.
如果基督没有复活，你们的信仰便是假的，你们还是在罪恶中。
18 Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
那么，那些在基督内死了的人，就丧亡了。
19 If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.
如果我们在今生只寄望于基督，我们就是众人中最可怜的了。
20 7 8 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
但是，基督从死者中实在复活了，做了死者的初果。
21 9 For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being.
因为死亡既因一人而来，死者的复活也因一人而来；
22 For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,
就如在亚当内，众人都死了，照样在基督内，众人都要复活；
23 but each one in proper order: Christ the firstfruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ;
不过各人要依照自己的次第：首先是为初果的基督，然后是在基督再来时属于基督的人，
24 then comes the end, 10 when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power.
再后才是结局；那时，基督将消灭一切率领者、一切掌权者和大能者，把自己的王权交于天主父。
25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
因为基督必须为王，直到把一切仇敌屈伏在他的脚下。
26 11 The last enemy to be destroyed is death,
最后被毁灭的仇敌便是死亡；
27 12 for ＂he subjected everything under his feet.＂ But when it says that everything has been subjected, it is clear that it excludes the one who subjected everything to him.
因为天主使万物都屈伏在他的脚下。既然说万物都已屈伏了，显然那使万物屈伏于他的不在其内。
28 When everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself will (also) be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.
万物都屈伏于他以后，子自己也要屈伏于那使万物屈伏于自己的父，好叫天主成为万物之中的万有。
29 13 14 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?
不然，那些代死人受洗的是作什么呢？如果死人总不复活，为什么还代他们受洗呢？
30 15 Moreover, why are we endangering ourselves all the time?
我们又为什么时时冒险呢？
31 Every day I face death; I swear it by the pride in you (brothers) that I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.
,
弟兄们，我指着我在我们的主基督耶稣内，对你们所有的荣耀，起誓说：我是天天冒死的。
32 If at Ephesus I fought with beasts, so to speak, what benefit was it to me? If the dead are not raised: ＂Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.＂
我若只凭人的动机，当日在厄弗所与野兽搏斗，为我有什么益处？如果死人不复活，＂我们吃喝罢，明天就要死了。＂
33 Do not be led astray: ＂Bad company corrupts good morals.＂
你们不可为人所误：＂交结恶友必败坏善行。＂你们当彻底醒寤，别再犯罪了。
34 Become sober as you ought and stop sinning. For some have no knowledge of God; I say this to your shame.
你们中有些人实在不认识天主了：我说这话是为叫你们羞愧。
35 16 17 But someone may say, ＂How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come back?＂
可是有人要说：死人将怎样复活呢？他们将带着什么样的身体回来呢？
36 18 You fool! What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies.
糊涂人哪！你所播的种子，若不先死了，决不得生出来；
37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be but a bare kernel of wheat, perhaps, or of some other kind;
并且你所播种的，并不是那将要生出的形体，而是一颗赤裸的籽粒，譬如一颗麦粒，或者别的种粒；
38 but God gives it a body as he chooses, and to each of the seeds its own body.
但天主随自己的心意给它一个形体，使每个种子各有各的本体。
39 19 Not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for human beings, another kind of flesh for animals, another kind of flesh for birds, and another for fish.
不是所有的肉体都是同样的肉体：人体是一样，兽体又是一样，鸟体另是一样，鱼体却又另是一样。
40 There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the brightness of the heavenly is one kind and that of the earthly another.
还有天上的物体和地上的物体：天上物体的华丽是一样，地上物体的华丽又是一样；
41 The brightness of the sun is one kind, the brightness of the moon another, and the brightness of the stars another. For star differs from star in brightness.
太阳的光辉是一样，月亮的光辉又是一样，星辰的光辉另是一样；而且星辰与星辰的光辉又有分别。
42 20 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible.
死人的复活也是这样：播种的是可朽坏的，复活起来的是不可朽坏的；
43 It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful.
播种的是可羞辱的，复活起来的是光荣的；播种的是软弱的，复活起来的是强健的；
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one.
播种的是属生灵身体，复活起来的是属神的身体；既有属生灵的身体，也就有属神的身体。
45 So, too, it is written, ＂The first man, Adam, 21 became a living being,＂ the last Adam a life-giving spirit.
经上也这样记载说：‘第一个人亚当成了生灵，’最后的亚当成了使人生活的神。
46 But the spiritual was not first; rather the natural and then the spiritual.
但属神的不是在先，而是属生灵的，然后才是属神的。
47 The first man was from the earth, earthly; the second man, from heaven.
第一个人出于地，属于土，第二个人出于天。
48 As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly, and as is the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly.
那属于土的怎样，凡属于土的也怎样；那属天上的怎样，凡属天上的也怎样。
49 Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image 22 of the heavenly one.
我们怎样带了那属于土的肖像，也要怎样带那属于天上的肖像。
50 23 24 This I declare, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
弟兄们，我告诉你们：肉和血不能承受天主的国，可朽坏的也不能承受不可朽坏的。
51 25 Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed,
看，我告诉你们一件奥秘的事：我们众人不全死亡，但我们众人却全要改变，
52 in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
这是在顷刻眨眼之间，在末次吹号筒时发生的。的确，号筒一响，死人必要复活，成为不朽的，我们也必要改变，
53 For that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility, and that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality.
因为这可朽坏的，必须穿上不可朽坏的；这可死的，必须穿上不可死的。
54 26 And when this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written shall come about: ＂Death is swallowed up in victory.
几时这可朽坏的，穿上了不可朽坏的；这可死的，穿上了不可死的，那时就要应验经上所记载的这句话：‘在胜利中，死亡被吞灭了。’
55 Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?＂
‘死亡！你的胜利在哪里？死亡！你的刺在哪里？’
56 The sting of death is sin, 27 and the power of sin is the law.
死亡的刺就是罪过，罪过的权势就是法律。
57 But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
感谢天主赐给了我们因我们的主耶稣基督所获得的胜利。
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
所以，我亲爱的弟兄，你们要坚定不移，在主的工程上该时常发愤勉力，因为你们知道，你们的勤劳在主内决不会落空。
Footnotes
1 [1-58] Some consider this chapter an earlier Pauline composition inserted into the present letter. The problem that Paul treats is clear to a degree: some of the Corinthians are denying the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor 15:12), apparently because of their inability to imagine how any kind of bodily existence could be possible after death (1 Cor 15:35). It is plausibly supposed that their attitude stems from Greek anthropology, which looks with contempt upon matter and would be content with the survival of the soul, and perhaps also from an overrealized eschatology of gnostic coloration, such as that reflected in 2 Tim 2:18, which considers the resurrection a purely spiritual experience already achieved in baptism and in the forgiv, eness of sins. Paul, on the other hand, will affirm both the essential corporeity of the resurrection and its futurity. His response moves through three steps: a recall of the basic kerygma about Jesus' resurrection (1 Cor 15:1-11), an assertion of the logical inconsistencies involved in denial of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:12-34), and an attempt to perceive theologically what the properties of the resurrected body must be (1 Cor 15:35-58).
2 [1-11] Paul recalls the tradition (1 Cor 15:3-7), which he can presuppose as common ground and which provides a starting point for his argument. This is the fundamental content of all Christian preaching and belief (1 Cor 15:1-2, 11).
3 [3-7] The language by which Paul expresses the essence of the ＂gospel＂ (1 Cor 15:1) is not his own but is drawn from older credal formulas. This credo highlights Jesus' death for our sins (confirmed by his burial) and Jesus' resurrection (confirmed by his appearances) and presents both of them as fulfillment of prophecy. In accordance with the scriptures: conformity of Jesus' passion with the scriptures is asserted in Matthew 16:1; Luke 24:25-27, 32, 44-46. Application of some Old Testament texts (Psalm 2:7; 16:8-11) to his resurrection is illustrated by Acts 2:27-31; 13:29-39; and Isaiah 52:13-53:12 and Hosea 6:2 may also have been envisaged.
4 [9-11] A persecutor may have appeared disqualified (ouk . . . hikanos) from apostleship, but in fact God's grace has qualified him. Cf the remarks in 2 Cor about his qualifications (2 Cor 2:16; 3:5) and his greater labors (2 Cor 11:23). These verses are parenthetical, but a nerve has been touched (the references to his abnormal birth and his activity as a persecutor may echo taunts from Paul's opponents), and he is instinctively moved to self-defense.
5 [12-19] Denial of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:12) involves logical inconsistencies. The basic one, stated twice (1 Cor 15:13, 16), is that if there is no such thing as (bodily) resurrection, then it has not taken place even in Christ's case.
6 [17-18] The consequences for the Corinthians are grave: both forgiveness of sins and salvation are an illusion, despite their strong convictions about both. Unless Christ is risen, their faith does not save.
7 [20] The firstfruits: the portion of the harvest offered in thanksgiving to God implies the consecration of the entire harvest to come. Christ's resurrection is not an end in itself; its finality lies in the whole harvest, ourselves.
8 [20-28] After a triumphant assertion of the reality of Christ's resurrection (1 Cor 15:20a), Paul explains its positive implications and consequences. As a soteriological event of both human (1 Cor 15:20-23) and cosmic (1 Cor 15:24-28) dimensions, Jesus' resurrection logically and necessarily involves ours as well.
9 [21-22] Our human existence, both natural and supernatural, is corporate, involves solidarity. In Adam . . . in Christ: the Hebrew word adam in Genesis is both a common noun for mankind and a proper noun for the first man. Paul here presents Adam as at least a literary type of Christ; the parallelism and contrast between them will be developed further in 1 Cor 15:45-49 and in Romans 5:12-21.
10 [24-28] Paul's perspective expands to cosmic dimensions, as he describes the climax of history, the end. His viewpoint is still christological, as in 1 Cor 15:20-23. 1 Cor 15:24, 28 describe Christ's final relations to his enemies and his Father in language that is both royal and military; 1 Cor 15:25-28 insert a proof from scripture (Psalm 110:1; 8:6) into this description. But the viewpoint is also theological, for God is the ultimate agent and end, and likewise soteriological, for we are the beneficiaries of all the action.
11 [26] The last enemy . . . is death: a parenthesis that specifies the final fulfillment of the two Old Testament texts just referred to, Psalm 110:1 and Psalm 8:7. Death is not just one cosmic power among many, but the ultimate effect of sin in the universe (cf 1 Cor 15:56; Romans 5:12). Christ defeats death where it prevails, in our bodies. The destruction of the last enemy is concretely the ＂coming to life＂ (1 Cor 15:22) of ＂those who belong to Christ＂ (1 Cor 15:23).
12 [27b-28] The one who subjected everything to him: the Father is the ultimate agent in the drama, and the final end of the process, to whom the Son and everything else is ordered (24.28). That God may be all in all: his reign is a dynamic exercise of creative power, an outpouring of life and energy through the universe, with no further resistance. This is the supremely positive meaning of ＂subjection＂: that God may fully be God.
13 [29-34] Paul concludes his treatment of logical inconsistencies with a listing of miscellaneous Christian practices that would be meaningless if the resurrection were not a fact.
14 [29] Baptized for the dead: this practice is not further explained here, nor is it necessarily mentioned with approval, but Paul cites it as something in their experience that attests in one more way to belief in the resurrection.
15 [30-34] A life of sacrifice, such as Paul describes in 1 Cor 4:9-13 and 2 Cor, would be pointless without the prospect of resurrection; a life of pleasure, such as that expressed in the Epicurean slogan of 1 Cor 15:32, would be far more consistent. I fought with beasts: since Paul does not elsewhere mention a combat with beasts at Ephesus, he may be speaking figuratively about struggles with adversaries.
16 [35-58] Paul imagines two objections that the Corinthians could raise: one concerning the manner of the resurrection (how?), the other pertaining to the qualities of the risen body (what kind?). These questions probably lie behind their denial of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:12), and seem to reflect the presumption that no kind of body other than the one we now possess would be possible. Paul deals with these objections in inverse order, in 1 Cor 15:36-49 and 1 Cor 15:50-58. His argument is fundamentally theological and its appeal is to the understanding.
17 [35-49] Paul approaches the question of the nature of the risen body (what kind of body?) by means of two analogies: the seed (1 Cor 15:36-44) and the first man, Adam (1 Cor 15:45-49).
18 [36-38] The analogy of the seed: there is a change of attributes from seed to plant; the old life-form must be lost for the new to emerge. By speaking about the seed as a body that dies and comes to life, Paul keeps the point of the analogy before the reader's mind.
19 [39-41] The expression ＂its own body＂ (1 Cor 15:38) leads to a development on the marvelous diversity evident in bodily life.
20 [42-44] The principles of qualitative difference before and after death (1 Cor 15:36-38) and of diversity on different levels of creation (1 Cor 15:39-41) are now applied to the human body. Before: a body animated by a lower, natural life-principle (psyche) and endowed with the properties of natural existence (corruptibility, lack of glory, weakness). After: a body animated by a higher life-principle (pneuma; cf 1 Cor 15:45) and endowed with other qualities (incorruptibility, glory, power, spirituality), which are properties of God himself.
21 [45] The analogy of the first man, Adam, is introduced by a citation from Genesis 2:7. Paul alters the text slightly, adding the adjective first, and translating the Hebrew adam twice, so as to give it its value both as a common noun (man) and as a proper name (Adam). 1 Cor 15:45b then specifies similarities and differences between the two Adams. The last Adam, Christ (cf 1 Cor 15:21-22) has become a . . . spirit (pneuma), a life-principle transcendent with respect to the natural soul (psyche) of the first Adam (on the terminology here, cf the note on 1 Cor 3:1). Further, he is not just alive, but life-giving, a source of life for others.
22 [49] We shall also bear the image: although it has less manuscript support, this reading better fits the context's emphasis on futurity and the transforming action of God; on future transformation as conformity to the image of the Son, cf Romans 8:29; Philippians 3:21. The majority reading, ＂let us bear the image,＂ suggests that the image of the heavenly man is already present and exhorts us to conform to it.
23 [50-57] These verses, an answer to the first question of 1 Cor 15:35, explain theologically how the change of properties from one image to another will take place: God has the power to transform, and he will exercise it.
24 [50-53] Flesh and blood . . . corruption: living persons and the corpses of the dead, respectively. In both cases, the gulf between creatures and God is too wide to be bridged unless God himself transforms us.
25 [51-52] A mystery: the last moment in God's plan is disclosed; cf the notes on 1 Cor 2:1, 7-10a. The final trumpet and the awakening of the dead are stock details of the apocalyptic scenario. We shall not all fall asleep: Paul expected that some of his contemporaries might still be alive at Christ's return; after the death of Paul and his whole generation, copyists altered this statement in various ways. We will all be changed: the statement extends to all Christians, for Paul is not directly speaking about anyone else. Whether they have died before the end or happen still to be alive, all must be transformed.
26 [54-55] Death is swallowed up in victory: scripture itself predicts death's overthrow. O death: in his prophetic vision Paul may be making Hosea's words his own, or imagining this cry of triumph on the lips of the risen church.
27 [56] The sting of death is sin: an explanation of Hosea's metaphor. Death, scorpion-like, is equipped with a sting, sin, by which it injects its poison. Christ defeats sin, the cause of death (Genesis 3:19; Romans 5:12).