Resurrection
1 Corinthians 15:51-57
Paul · ~55 AD · Status: Future · Confidence: 60%
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
King James Version · the opening — all 7 verses are below
The mystery of the instant transformation of believers at the resurrection, Paul's most detailed rapture/resurrection passage.
Read the whole passage — all 7 verses (KJV)
15:51Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
15:52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
15:53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
15:54So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
15:55O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
15:56The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
15:57But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Fulfillment References
1 Thessalonians 4:16 Revelation 11:15 Philippians 3:21
How Traditions Read This Prophecy
Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalThe apostolic hope: at the last trump the dead in Christ rise incorruptible and the living are changed in a moment. The same Jesus who said 'I am the resurrection, and the life' (John 11:25) — the one God manifest in flesh — raises and transforms His own. The victory over death is 'through our Lord Jesus Christ' (v. 57), the one saving Name into which we are baptized (Acts 2:38).
JewishBodily resurrection (techiyat ha-metim) is a core article of faith (Dan. 12:2; Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1). Paul, trained a Pharisee, writes from this hope, though Judaism does not attach it to Jesus.
CatholicA primary witness to the resurrection of the body and the transformation of the living at Christ's coming — the body 'raised incorruptible' (cf. the Catechism).
ProtestantThe classic resurrection-and-rapture text — 'we shall all be changed' at the last trump. Interpreters divide over whether this trumpet equals 1 Thess. 4:16 (one event) or is distinct, shaping pre-, mid-, and post-tribulational views.
AcademicPaul's apocalyptic eschatology; the 'mystery' (mysterion) and trumpet imagery draw on Jewish apocalyptic. Most scholars hold Paul expected the change of both dead and living at an imminent end.
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