Resurrection
Day 605, Wednesday, April 8
1 Corinthians 15:12-34
Paul turns his attention now to another apparent disagreement within the church at Corinth: resurrection. While those in the church would have agreed that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, not all agree that we, too, will be resurrected.
He makes several arguments for the importance of believing in resurrection. First, he makes the case that if resurrection itself is impossible, then Jesus could not have been resurrected. He also presents the restoration of life through Jesus as being a response to death coming through Adam. “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
The resurrection, Paul said, is for all believers, “But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.”
Verse 29 is confusing, as Paul asks about the usefulness of being baptized for the dead. Apparently it was a practice in the Corinthian church for people to be baptized on behalf of those who had died without baptism. Paul neither affirms or rejects the practice, but points out that it is meaningless if there is not resurrection.
The practive of being baptized for the dead has never been widespread in Christianity, but has shown up in various religious groups over the centuries. Latter-day Saints (Mormons) practice baptism on behalf of ancestors.

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Wednesday meditation

Psalms 106:32-39
By the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord, and trouble came to Moses because of them; for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses’ lips.
They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord had commanded them, but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to false gods. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves.

Prayer focus
Death has been defeated; we live in victory.