Growing up I heard the warning to be careful who I run around with, because bad company corrupts good character. Which certainly proves true. Paul referenced this line from the Greek poet Menander in regards to a theological dispute rather than a moral one. Because it’s also the case that bad theology corrupts good character.

A debate in the Corinthian church centered on whether the bodily resurrection of Jesus really occurred. Perhaps it was metaphorical, or magical, or only a soul-raising. Paul struck hard at the dissenters: If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile…Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

If the dead are not raised, Paul continued, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. In other words, if there’s no resurrection then our faith is flaccid, all we have is the here and now, and we might as well party.

If Jesus is not risen from the dead, then his teachings miscarry. He claimed to be God, and if he was only a liar or maybe a lunatic, then no need to follow his ways. The biblical basis for good character collapses.

But a resurrected, living Jesus changes all that. Bad theologians (amateur and professional) among us continue to dispute the physical resurrection of Jesus. But Paul describes them as ignorant of God, and warns us to be careful which theologians we run around with.

Our theology matters. The truth is found in the Scriptures. He is risen, which sets our lives on a trajectory far beyond the here and now.

1 Corinthians 15 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Filip Mishevski