Day 235: The danger of bad company – 1 Corinthians 15 vs 29 - 34
In vs 20 Paul had said: “Christ HAS been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Now he continues from vs 29 by saying: “Otherwise what will they do who are being baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are people baptized for them? 30-32 Why are we in danger every hour? I face death every day, as surely as I may boast about you, brothers and sisters, in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus as a mere man, what good did that do me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die! 33-34 Don't be deceived: 'Bad company corrupts good morals'. Sober up and stop sinning; for some people are ignorant about God. I say this to your shame.” 1 Corinthians 15:20, 29-34 (From the Christian Standard Bible)
Paul was dealing with the problem of some Christians in Corinth who denied that our bodies will be raised from death when Jesus Christ returns. He pointed to the resurrection of Christ's body was proof that physical resurrection is real. On the other hand, it seems some believers there also had a custom of being baptized on behalf of the dead. We don't know what that custom was but it may have been a proxy baptism for those who had come to faith but passed away before they had been baptized. Paul simply points out their inconsistency. The more important part of his argument is in vs 30-32. What is the point he makes there?
Essentially it is that there is no point in going though all the hardships and dangers that preaching the gospel often leads to, if what was being preached was not actually true. May as well just live for the here and now because death ends it all. He was quoting from Isaiah 22:13 where the people of Jerusalem had adopted that attitude when they realized they were soon to be destroyed by an advancing army. It's the cry of hopelessness and despair by people who have no future.
This leads us to the important warning Paul gives in vs 33-34. What should we learn from those words?
The obvious message is that if we hang around with people who speak nonsense and do wrong things there's a danger that our lives can become as foolish and as foul as theirs. He probably used the phrase 'sober up' in its symbolic sense, but it's certainly true that if we hang around with those whose ambition in life is to get drunk regularly, our morals will quickly crumble.
But it's ‘intellectual bad company’ that he is especially warning against. The belief that life is meaningless and there's no future for any of us, so we should live as we please while we can, is common in the world today. It's a 'philosophical' view that is taught even in well known Universities, as well as coming across in movies and music, especially rap songs. It's an outlook on life that easily takes hold of those who don't believe in Christ's return and of a bodily resurrection. So it's the last sentence of our reading that should call us to action. Paul said to the Corinthians: “Sober up and stop sinning; for some people are ignorant about God. I say this to your shame.”
If Christians forsake the truth of the resurrection we are leaving people in their ignorance of God, and of God's word. Daniel 12:2 speaks of a time when “many who sleep in the dust of the earth will wake up. Some will have life that lasts forever, but others will have shame and will suffer much forever.” And in John 5:28-29 Jesus himself said: “Don’t be surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment.”
Sadly, there are people who said they were followers of Christ but who got caught up in the wrong company of people who were sceptical about the Bible, and they took on the fashions and fads of the world's changing opinions. So they no longer have a message that is worth living for, and certainly not worth dying for. Oh let us hold firmly to the gospel we received, and let us tells others when we can that there will certainly be a resurrection of our bodies – to eternal life, or to eternal wrath.