Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)
An earlier verse states, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15:19). If Jesus Christ was not raised, and if there is no resurrection, then our faith is in vain. If there is no resurrection, then there is no salvation, and there is no truth or permanence in our religion.
We ought to note that Paul is not depending on a pragmatic argument when it comes to the fact of the resurrection. There is a common mistake that Christians make in debate. They say, for example, “If there is no God to establish an absolute ethical standard, then all things are permissible, even child molestation and genocide.” Some non-Christians may balk at this, but this argument does not demonstrate that there is an absolute ethical standard, and sets itself up for a simple rebuff of “So what?” Although all is not lost by this point, this kind of argument carries insufficient force and invites unnecessary trouble. We should not say that there is a God because murder is wrong; rather, we should say that murder is wrong because there is a God who says so.
Paul has already stated that the Christ was raised from the dead “according to the Scriptures.” Revelation is the foundation of his doctrine. The resurrection was predicted by the prophets, confirmed by Christ, and then witnessed by his disciples, once to more than five hundred people at the same time (v. 1-11). After this the apostle does not use a pragmatic argument to prove the resurrection. Rather, by saying that faith is in vain if the resurrection had not happened, Paul exposes the absurdity in claiming to believe the gospel, claiming to be a Christian, and in rejecting the resurrection at the same time (v. 12-19). If a person rejects the resurrection, then he cannot claim that he believes the gospel, because the gospel says that Christ was raised from the dead. He cannot claim to be a Christian, because a Christian is one who believes that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures. He cannot claim to have any hope, because the hope of the gospel rests on the resurrection of Christ.
Then in verse 58, Paul reverses the thought of verse 19 and closes the topic with a positive application. This life is full of value and meaning, and our work is not in vain, because Jesus has indeed been raised from the dead, and because his people will also be raised to heavenly life, with a body like unto his glorified frame. “If only for this life we have hope in Christ,” then there is no hope at all, because even the hope that we think we have would be false. On the other hand, on the basis of the resurrection, the apostle affirms value for the present life. Our hope begins in this life and continues to the next, but there is hope now because there is a later. That is, hope and value in this life are anchored not in the present but in the future, in the fact that there is a future.
Unlike evolutionists and materialists, Christians know to think ahead. We look forward, and if there is nothing there, then we realize that nothing is worthwhile now. The propagation of the species is not enough if the individual cannot survive and if the species is going to eventually perish. Nothing has inherent value and present meaning if there is no future. Non-Christians usually lack such wisdom. They grit their teeth and trudge forward anyway, toward nowhere, toward nothing. This is not courage but foolishness. There is no reason for love, for valor, or for any effort to do anything. “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die'” (v. 32). Those unbelievers who think ahead a little do not like what they see, and so they commit suicide.
It is evident that a focus on the next life, the resurrection life, does not deflate our motivation for making the best of this life. In fact, such a focus is the only proper foundation for present motivation, since it is on this basis that Paul writes, “you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” He distinguishes between the present and future, the natural and the spiritual, and teaches us to focus on the heavenly things, the things of God and not the things of men. Thus he says, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). And in another place, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2).
There are those who worry that this heavenly perspective can be pushed too far and result in the neglect of our present responsibilities and an illegitimate disdain for the things of this life. Their misguided attempt to provide a corrective has produce some destructive doctrines and interpretations. For example, one writer alleges that Colossians 3:2 refers not to a spatial contrast between the earthly and the heavenly but an ethical contrast instead. But this interpretation ends in heresy because the previous verse states that “Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” Thus his ethical interpretation is at least an indirect denial of the ascension of Jesus Christ. Paul refers to a spatial relationship, and the ethical is only an implication of the spatial.
Another motive for the concern with “excessive” heaven-mindedness appears to be the justification of activities, relationships, policies, and desires that some individuals wish to pursue. The Bible indeed says, “For everything God created is good” (1 Timothy 4:4), but there Paul refers to food and marriage, that nothing is in itself ritually or religiously unclean. Contrary to the way this has been applied, it is not a straightforward endorsement for sports, movies, and capitalism.
Likewise, a favorite verse of theirs is “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Sometimes it is as if they think that, if you say that you are doing it for the glory of God, then you can pursue pretty much anything you want. Rather than a principle that provides definite guidance and purpose, and even some restrictions, it has become a slogan for “holy” licentiousness.
Read the passage – what does it mean to eat for the glory of God? “But if anyone says to you, ‘This has been offered in sacrifice,’ then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience’ sake – the other man’s conscience, I mean, not yours” (10:28-29). To eat for the glory of God means that sometimes you do not eat at all, that you refrain from eating. The passage does not mean that you can glorify God in every area of life if you will only have a certain attitude; instead, it means that sometimes you must give it up and withdraw. Thus in many instances the teaching would translate into a restriction or a prohibition, and not a license to pursue. Paul makes a similar point in Romans 14: “I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself,” but “If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love.” To eat for the glory of God often means self-denial, not self-indulgence or enjoyment.
Even if “Everything is permissible,” Paul says, “not everything is beneficial.” And even if “Everything is permissible,” “not everything is constructive” (1 Corinthians 10:23). It is true that “everything God created is good,” and some have taken this to mean that all of life is holy, that all activities are holy, and that all vocations are holy, even as holy as the gospel ministry. The Bible never suggests such a thing. But echoing this line of thinking, one writer asserts that because we are all priests in Christ, all occupations are holy. However, no priest can be a holy prostitute, a holy drug dealer, a holy human trafficker, or a holy assassin for hire. This seems rather obvious, but the false doctrine, once it is tenaciously assumed to be biblical, and even a pillar of orthodoxy necessary for Christian engagement with the world, blinds a person to its absurd implications.
The Bible never suggests that an occupation like accounting, although there is nothing inherently sinful or unclean about it, is just as holy as things like prayer and preaching. In fact, all biblical evidence points to the contrary. It is true that we should do all things for the glory of God, including accounting, and painting, and competing in sports, if some of these things are to be done at all. And doing these things for the glory of God sometimes means that we must give them up for more important – and more holy – things, like the ministry of the gospel. The concern is that professional ministers would be set up as an elite company among the believers. Yet the solution is not to banish the handling of the word of God to the level of scrubbing toilets, but to note that since all believers are priests in Christ, all believers are allowed, encouraged, and even required to handle the word of God, and to deal with holy things.
“Everything God created is good,” but some things are more spiritual. “Everything God created is good,” but some things are more beneficial, more constructive, and more enduring. Even when it comes to food, “everything God created is good,” but some items are more nutritious. So even if all things are acceptable, and nothing is unclean in itself, let us pursue the more excellent things, and stop using the goodness of creation as an excuse to pursue selfish ambitions and petty hobbies, to glorify ordinary careers, or to even sanctify evil activities and interests. As a Christian, you can pursue holy and spiritual things whenever you want, but do not call whatever you want holy and spiritual, or even equally holy and spiritual as the gospel ministry, just because you happen to enjoy it. If you want to do something, just do it, but stop trying to convince the rest of us that you are doing God a favor.
If the religious establishment withholds the Bible from the believers, the solution is not to assert that all books are equally holy, and that believers should read whatever is available to them without worry or jealousy – any book that divine providence arranges for you will do. This way of thinking is entirely wrongheaded, but it is not that different from the remedy that has been proposed. Instead, the proper solution is to declare that all believers are permitted to read this uniquely holy book. Books are not unclean in themselves, but there is one Book that is more holy than any other. Likewise, foods and hobbies and vocations may not be unclean in themselves, but there are things that are more important, more holy, and more spiritual than others, and doing some things for the glory of God sometimes means to suspend them, so that we may give place to the greater things.
Thus the problems of the elite clergy, the neglect of present responsibilities, and the denial of the goodness of the creation have been attacked from the wrong angle. Paul’s own teaching does not produce these effects. Rather than inventing something that the Bible does not teach as a remedy, we only need to reinforce the original teaching. That is, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we know that the resurrection of the saints will follow, and this instills value and meaning to our present life, because we know that our labor in the Lord is not in vain.