Paul writes 1 Corinthians 15 to a church confused about the resurrection — some saying it had already happened spiritually, others denying any bodily resurrection at all. Paul does not give them a metaphor. He gives them a fact: Christ is risen, and that fact is the prototype for what will happen to every believer's body. The chapter ends in this triumphant taunt at death itself.

From the writers we read together

Clay Jones

professor of Christian apologetics, author of Why Does God Allow Evil?

Jones makes a careful argument that no theodicy is complete without the resurrection. Any explanation of evil that stops at this side of the grave is too small to bear what suffering actually weighs. Paul does not minimize the sting of death — he announces that the sting has been pulled out.

If you have stood beside a casket recently, this verse is not a slogan. It is the only thing tough enough to be true on that side of the dirt. Death has been swallowed up. The victory belongs to the One who walked back out of the tomb — and to everyone who is buried with him.