1 Corinthians 15:29-32

29 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? 30 And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31 I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

“Let us eat and drink,

for tomorrow we die.”

-1 Corinthians 15:29-32

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In the early days of the church, there were a lot of strange and heretical (untrue) teachings.  The Apostle Paul mentions two here.  The first is that some of the people in Corinth believed that you can baptized dead people.  The second is that Jesus didn’t actually resurrect and that resurrection was impossible.

In this passage, Paul brings up a logical contradiction to those who wrongly believe in both falsities.  Why would you baptize dead people if you don’t eve believe they can be resurrected?

Today, we must also still be on guard with false teachings.  The issues of baptizing dead people and if resurrection real are no longer theological struggles within Christianity, but other issues are.  

For example, some people believe that if you follow God, you will become rich and never get sick.  We called the the Prosperity Gospel, which is totally unbiblical.  Jesus was the perfect human and he was monetarily poor and died like a criminal on a cross.

So we must be on the lookout for false teachings.  To do so, we must first be able to recognize true teachings and that means we need to read our Bibles.  If you’re reading this devos today, that’s a great start!