1 Corinthians 15:29 BSB

1 Corinthians 15:29

If these things are not so, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

Else what shall they do that are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them?

KJV

Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?

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Commentary

1 voice

John Gill

1697–1771

Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748)

Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead,.... The apostle here returns to his subject, and makes use of new arguments to prove the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and reasons for it from the baptism of some persons; but what is his sense, is not easy to be understood, or what rite and custom, or thing, or action he refers to; which must, be either Jewish baptism, or Christian baptism literally taken, or baptism in a figurative and metaphorical sense.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

Who are baptized for the dead - Perhaps baptized in hope of blessings to be received after they are numbered with the dead. Or, "baptized in the room of the dead" - Of them that are just fallen in the cause of Christ: like soldiers who advance in the room of their companions that fell just before their face.

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

But it is, I believe, and instance perfectly singular for hoi nekroi to mean no more than one dead person; it is a signification which the words have nowhere else. And the hoi baptizomenoi ( the baptized ) seem plainly to mean some particular persons, not Christians in general, which yet must be the signification if the hoi nekroi ( the dead ) be understood of our Saviour.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

Else what shall they do ... - The apostle here resumes the argument for the resurrection which was interrupted at 1Co 15:19. He goes on to state further consequences which must follow from the denial of this doctrine, and thence infers that the doctrine must be true. There is, perhaps, no passage of the New Testament in respect to which there has been a greater variety of interpretation than this; and the views of expositors now by no means harmonize in regard to its meaning.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

18 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
Ἐπεὶ	Epei	Otherwise	G1893 →
τί	ti	what	G5101 →
ποιήσουσιν	poiēsousin	will they do	G4160 →
οἱ	hoi	who	G3588 →
βαπτιζόμενοι	baptizomenoi	are baptized	G907 →
ὑπὲρ	huper	for	G5228 →
τῶν	tōn	the	G3588 →
νεκρῶν;	nekrōn	dead?	G3498 →
εἰ	ei	If	G1487 →
ὅλως	holōs	at all	G3654 →
νεκροὶ	nekroi	[the] dead	G3498 →
οὐκ	ouk	not	G3756 →
ἐγείρονται·	egeirontai	are raised;	G1453 →
τί	ti	why	G5101 →
καὶ	kai	also	G2532 →
βαπτίζονται	baptizontai	are they baptized	G907 →
ὑπὲρ	huper	for	G5228 →
αὐτῶν;	autōn	them?	G846 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
1 Corinthians 15:32
If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
leads to
- Isaiah 22:13
  But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
- Luke 12:19
  Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
- Isaiah 56:12
  “Come, let me get the wine, let us imbibe the strong drink, and tomorrow will be like today, only far better!”
Through
Matthew 20:22
“You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus replied. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” the brothers answered.
leads to
- Luke 22:42
  “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
- Matthew 26:42
  A second time He went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cup cannot pass unless I drink it, may Your will be done.”
- John 18:11
  “Put your sword back in its sheath!” Jesus said to Peter. “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?”
- Matthew 26:39
  Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.”
- Mark 14:36
  “Abba, Father,” He said, “all things are possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.”