16. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised;
17. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is mere delusion [futile, fruitless], and you are still in your sins [under the control and penalty of sin];
18. And further, those who have died in [spiritual fellowship and union with] Christ have perished (are lost)!
19. If we who are [abiding] in Christ have hope only in this life and that is all, then we are of all people most miserable and to be pitied.
20. But the fact is that Christ (the Messiah) has been raised from the dead, and He became the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep [in death].
21. For since [it was] through a man that death [came into the world, it is] also through a Man that the resurrection of the dead [has come].
22. For just as [because of their union of nature] in Adam all people die, so also [by virtue of their union of nature] shall all in Christ be made alive.
23. But each in his own rank and turn: Christ (the Messiah) [is] the firstfruits, then those who are Christ's [own will be resurrected] at His coming.
24. After that comes the end (the completion), when He delivers over the kingdom to God the Father after rendering inoperative and abolishing every [other] rule and every authority and power.
25. For [Christ] must be King and reign until He has put all [His] enemies under His feet. [Ps. 110:1.]
26. The last enemy to be subdued and abolished is death.
27. For He [the Father] has put all things in subjection under His [Christ's] feet. But when it says, All things are put in subjection [under Him], it is evident that He [Himself] is excepted Who does the subjecting of all things to Him. [Ps. 8:6.]
28. However, when everything is subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also subject Himself to [the Father] Who put all things under Him, so that God may be all in all [be everything to everyone, supreme, the indwelling and controlling factor of life].
29. Otherwise, what do people mean by being [themselves] baptized in behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?