1 Corinthians15chapter 15

Educated Greeks could accept the soul surviving death — many hoped for it — but the body was widely regarded as a prison or a burden, and getting it back was no one's idea of good news. That is the resistance Paul is meeting, and it explains why he spends so long on what kind of body is raised.

The summary he passes on — that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, was raised on the third day, and appeared to Cephas, then the twelve, then five hundred at once — uses the formal language of handing on a tradition he had himself received. Most scholars regard it as a creed already in use well before this letter, which puts it remarkably close to the events.

His remark that most of the five hundred were still alive is an invitation to check. Naming living witnesses was a standard way of grounding a claim.

The seed illustration answers the practical objection. A farmer sows a bare grain and gets something with a different body; continuity and transformation are both true, and nobody expects the wheat to look like the seed.

"Baptized for the dead" is one of the genuinely obscure lines in the New Testament. Dozens of explanations have been offered since the early church and none commands agreement; Paul mentions the practice in passing without endorsing or explaining it.