24. Then the end will come. Christ will destroy all rule, authority and power. He will hand over the kingdom to God the Father.
25. Christ must rule until he has put all his enemies under his control.
26. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
27. Scripture says that God "has put everything under his control." (Psalm 8:6) It says that "everything" has been put under him. But it is clear that this does not include God himself, who puts everything under Christ.
28. When he has done that, the Son also will be under God's rule. God puts everything under the Son. In that way, God will be all in all.
29. Suppose no one rises from the dead. Then what will people do who are baptized for the dead? Suppose the dead are not raised at all. Then why are people baptized for them?
30. And why would we put ourselves in danger every hour?
31. I die every day. I really mean that, brothers and sisters. Here is something you can be sure of. I take pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done for you through my work.
32. Did I fight wild animals in Ephesus for only human reasons? Then what have I gotten for it? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, because tomorrow we will die." (Isaiah 22:13)
33. Don't let anyone fool you. "Bad companions make a good person bad."
34. You should come back to your senses and stop sinning. Some of you don't know anything about God. I say this to make you ashamed.
35. But someone might ask, "How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have?"
36. How foolish! What you plant doesn't come to life unless it dies.
37. When you plant something, it isn't a completely grown plant that you put in the ground. You only plant a seed. Maybe it's wheat or something else.
38. But God gives the seed a body just as he has planned. And to each kind of seed he gives its own body.
39. All earthly creatures are not the same. People have one kind of body. Animals have another. Birds have another kind. Fish have still another.
40. There are also heavenly bodies as well as earthly bodies. Heavenly bodies have one kind of glory. Earthly bodies have another.
41. The sun has one kind of glory. The moon has another kind. The stars have still another. And one star's glory is different from that of another star.
42. It will be like that with bodies that are raised from the dead. The body that is planted does not last forever. The body that is raised from the dead lasts forever.
43. It is planted without honor. But it is raised in glory. It is planted in weakness. But it is raised in power.