1Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, 2by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also. 9For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11Whether then it is I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.
12Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised. 14If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith also is in vain. 15Yes, we are also found false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ, whom he didn’t raise up if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead aren’t raised, neither has Christ been raised. 17If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. 18Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable.
20But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruit of those who are asleep. 21For since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man. 22For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s at his coming. 24Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God the Father, when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy that will be abolished is death. 27For, “He put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when he says, “All things are put in subjection”, it is evident that he is excepted who subjected all things to him. 28When all things have been subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.
29Or 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? 30Why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour? 31I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 32If I fought with animals at Ephesus for human purposes, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, then “let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33Don’t be deceived! “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.” 34Wake up righteously and don’t sin, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
35But someone will say, “How are the dead raised?” and, “With what kind of body do they come?” 36You foolish one, that which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies. 37That which you sow, you don’t sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, maybe of wheat, or of some other kind. 38But God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own. 39All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. 40There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial differs from that of the terrestrial. 41There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.
42So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable. 43It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.
45So also it is written, “The first man Adam became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46However, that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual. 47The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven. 48As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let’s also bear the image of the heavenly. 50Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can’t inherit God’s Kingdom; neither does the perishable inherit imperishable.
51Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. 53For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55“Death, where is your sting?
Hades, where is your victory?”
56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia and the birthplace of the Apostle Paul, appears five times in the Bible, each reference in the Book of Acts (9:11, 30; 11:25; 21:39; 22:3). In Acts 21:39, Paul accurately described Tarsus as "no mean (literally 'insignificant' or 'undistinguished') city." Paul accurately capsulated the importance of Tarsus in his day, as it was one of three cities (along with Athens and Alexandria) with vaunted medical schools and, according to Strabo, boasted an intellectual climate surpassing even Athens and Alexandria in culture and learning (Geog. 14.5.131).
Tarsus' natural features promoted its commercial growth. Located on both sides of the Cydnus River, twelve miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea, the city was accessible to sea-going vessels, allowing for extensive maritime trade. Located twenty-five miles south of the Cilician Gates, the only major pass through the Taurus mountain range, the city, commercially, was called a place where "east meets west." Although by legend the city was founded by Perseus and Hercules, the site was likely colonized by Ionian Greeks (some surmise that Tarsus is Tarshish, one of the sons of Javan, founder of the Greeks; Gen 10:4). The first written historical record is in the Assyrian annals of Shalmaneser III (859-824 B.C.), who referenced Tarsus on the Black Obelisk as a conquest. The city is also mentioned in the Assyrian annals of Sennacherib (704-681 B.C.) and the Spartan historian-general Xenophon (Anabasis 1.2), who described the city as prosperous. Alexander thwarted the scorched-earth policy of the Persians initiated by Memnon, the Macedonian mercenary, by preventing the Persians from burning the city in 333 B.C., during his march through Asia Minor toward the Battle of Issus. Passing from Alexander's hegemony to the Seleucid dynasty, the city was renamed Antioch on the Cydnus under Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.).
Pompey annexed the city for Rome in 67 B.C., with the famed Cicero serving as proconsul from 51-50 B.C. In the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey in 47 B.C., Tarsus renamed itself "Juliopolis." As the city sided with Mark Antony over Cassius, Antony rewarded it with "free city" status - exemption from taxation. Here Antony first courted Cleopatra in 41 B.C., where she arrived on her vessel arrayed as Aphrodite.
Tarsus' sophisticated and varied culture provided Paul the rearing and training to have the versatility to reach both Jew and Gentile, both the educated and mean, aristocrat and tradesman, eastern and western, and rich and poor. Tarsus was a center of Greek Stoic philosophy, hosted the latest in the arts, such as Cilician poets, was an east-west crossroads of trade, and whose citizens possessed Roman rights and citizenry. All this, combined with learning Jewish theology and Law at the feet of Gamaliel in Jerusalem (Acts 22:3), meant Paul was uniquely equipped with a level of remarkable versatility, both to comprehend and to communicate the Gospel, fructifying a powerful Apostleship (cf. 1 Cor 15:10).