1 Corinthians 15:29 
Context| NET © | Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? 1 If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they baptized for them? |
| NIV © | Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptised for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptised for them? |
| NASB © | Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? |
| NLT © | If the dead will not be raised, then what point is there in people being baptized for those who are dead? Why do it unless the dead will someday rise again? |
| MSG © | Why do you think people offer themselves to be baptized for those already in the grave? If there's no chance of resurrection for a corpse, if God's power stops at the cemetery gates, why do we keep doing things that suggest he's going to clean the place out someday, pulling everyone up on their feet alive? |
| BBE © | Again, what will they do who are given baptism for the dead? if the dead do not come back at all, why are people given baptism for them? |
| NRSV © | Otherwise, what will those people do who receive baptism on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? |
| NKJV © | Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead? |
| KJV | |
| NASB © | |
| GREEK | |
| NET © [draft] ITL | |
| NET © | Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? 1 If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they baptized for them? |
| NET © Notes |
1 sn Many suggestions have been offered for the puzzling expression baptized for the dead. There are up to 200 different explanations for the passage; a summary is given by K. C. Thompson, “I Corinthians 15,29 and Baptism for the Dead,” Studia Evangelica 2.1 (TU 87), 647-59. The most likely interpretation is that some Corinthians had undergone baptism to bear witness to the faith of fellow believers who had died without experiencing that rite themselves. Paul’s reference to the practice here is neither a recommendation nor a condemnation. He simply uses it as evidence from the lives of the Corinthians themselves to bolster his larger argument, begun in 15:12, that resurrection from the dead is a present reality in Christ and a future reality for them. Whatever they may have proclaimed, the Corinthians’ actions demonstrated that they had hope for a bodily resurrection. |
