Scripture Helps

1 Corinthians 14–16

The Apostle Paul taught that the gift of prophecy is greater than the gift of tongues. The gift of prophecy is given so members can strengthen others spiritually. Paul was one of many witnesses of the reality of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ overcame death, everyone will be resurrected. The practice of baptism for the dead affirms that there will be a Resurrection. Resurrected bodies are incorruptible bodies and vary in their glory. Paul encouraged Church members to be generous as he collected donations for the poor in Jerusalem. He also encouraged the spiritually faltering Corinthian Saints to “stand fast in the faith” and do all things with charity.

Resources

• Background and Context

• Learn More

• Media

Note: The citation of a source not published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not imply that it or its author is endorsed by the Church or represents the official position of the Church.

Background and Context

1 Corinthians 14:1–6

What is the gift of prophecy?

The verb prophesy comes from a Greek word that means to “speak an inspired message” or to “reveal God’s will.” Although some people might assume that the gift of prophecy is reserved only for the Lord’s prophet, the scriptures reveal that this gift is available to all faithful followers of Christ, both men and women.

Elder Robert D. Hales taught:

“The gift of prophecy … is different from the priesthood office of prophet. The gift of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.

“The Apostle Paul taught that Christians should ‘desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy [meaning to testify of the Savior]’ (1 Cor. 14:1).

“President Joseph Fielding Smith (1876–1972) taught, ‘All members of the Church should seek for the gift of prophecy, for their own guidance’ (Church History and Modern Revelation, 2 vols. [1953], 1:201).”

Paul placed the gift of prophecy above the gift of tongues because to prophesy is to edify the Church. He declared that the gift of prophecy within the Church of Christ will have a powerful effect on believers and unbelievers, leading them to conversion.

1 Corinthians 14:2–22

What is the gift of tongues?

The spiritual gift of tongues is manifest when the Holy Ghost inspires individuals to “speak in, understand, or interpret unfamiliar languages.” The Apostles and others spoke with “other tongues” on the day of Pentecost. On this occasion, the gift of tongues was evident through God’s servants teaching the gospel in languages that were known to their listeners but unknown to the speakers. Another way the gift of tongues occurs is when a person is moved by the Spirit to speak in a language that is unknown to either the speaker or the hearers. This second manifestation of the gift of tongues seems to have been highly sought after by some members of the Church in Corinth. Paul cautioned that this form of the gift of tongues provided unbelievers with evidence of God’s power but did not teach or edify the Saints unless specific conditions were met.

1 Corinthians 14:34–35

Why did Paul say women should keep silent in church?

It is difficult to know the intent of Paul’s instructions without knowing the actual question or circumstances that prompted it. In any case, in Paul’s teachings earlier in this same epistle, he did not forbid women from praying or prophesying in church meetings. Some scholars feel that verses 34–35 are not original to Paul’s writing but are later additions.

The Joseph Smith Translation replaces the word speak with rule in both verses. This word change suggests the possibility that Paul was trying to correct a situation in which some Corinthian women were either being disorderly during worship services or seeking to take the lead from priesthood leaders.

What is clear from Restoration scripture and living prophets is the value of women’s participation in Church meetings to pray, preach, exhort, and testify. President Russell M. Nelson taught: “As a righteous, endowed Latter-day Saint woman, you speak and teach with power and authority from God. Whether by exhortation or conversation, we need your voice teaching the doctrine of Christ. We need your input in family, ward, and stake councils. Your participation is essential and never ornamental!”

1 Corinthians 15:1–12

Why did some Corinthian Saints struggle with the doctrine of the Resurrection?

It had been reported to Paul that some individuals in Corinth were teaching that there was no Resurrection of the dead. While Paul’s epistle does not explain the reason why, Church members may have been influenced by the teachings of both the Epicureans and Sadducees, who believed that there would be no postmortal life. Or perhaps the Saints had begun to incorporate ideas suggesting that the physical body held little value and would be discarded in the next life.

1 Corinthians 15:20, 23

How is Jesus Christ “the firstfruits” of the Resurrection?

According to the Law of Moses, a farmer was to dedicate his first bundle of grain stalks, the firstfruits of his harvest, as an offering to the Lord. This offering affirmed that God is the source of all blessings. The firstfruits were seen as a guarantee of the harvest to come. Paul drew upon the image of the “first of the firstfruits” as he described the Resurrection of the Savior. Just as a farmer’s firstfruits were the earliest of many crops to be harvested, Jesus Christ was the first of all beings to be resurrected. He opened the way for all to be raised from the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:29

Why did Paul refer to baptism for the dead?

This passage indicates that baptisms for the dead were performed during Paul’s time. He used the ordinance of baptism for the dead to affirm the reality of the Resurrection. Addressing Paul’s “challenging question,” President Howard W. Hunter said: “Why are you performing vicarious baptisms for those who are dead if there is no resurrection? History bears out the facts of the practice of baptizing for those who had died without the benefit of this ordinance. … There would be no sense in such ordinances except there be a resurrection. Nothing matters if there is not a resurrection; everything would end in the darkness of death.”

Knowledge of God’s plan for the redemption of the dead has been restored in our day. President Jeffrey R. Holland taught that “the practice of the living offering up saving ordinances on behalf of their kindred dead … [demonstrates with] splendor a loving God’s concern for every one of His earthly children no matter when they lived nor where they died.”

1 Corinthians 15:35–44

How are mortal bodies different from resurrected bodies?

Paul taught that a person’s resurrected body will differ from their mortal body. To illustrate this point, he spoke of planting a seed and eventually harvesting a whole plant. The planted seed is like a mortal body. A sprouted seed that develops into a plant is like a resurrected body. We now have earthly bodies, but in the Resurrection, we will have heavenly bodies. Our “natural body,” Paul declared, will become a “spiritual body” in the Resurrection. President Joseph Fielding Smith taught, “After the resurrection from the dead our bodies will be spiritual bodies, but they will be bodies that are tangible, bodies that have been purified, but they will nevertheless be bodies of flesh and bones, … and they shall become immortal and shall never die.”

1 Corinthians 15:39–44

What differences will there be between resurrected bodies?

Paul noted that there are differences between resurrected bodies, just as there are differences between the bodies of human beings and those of various kinds of animals. He also explained that in their glory and splendor, heavenly bodies differ from earthly bodies just as the sun, moon, and stars differ in glory.

In February 1832 the Prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon received a vision in which they saw three degrees of resurrected glory, beginning with those who receive a celestial reward:

“These are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all. …

“And again, we saw the terrestrial world, and behold and lo, these are they who are of the terrestrial, whose glory differs from that of the church of the Firstborn who have received the fulness of the Father, even as that of the moon differs from the sun. …

“And again, we saw the glory of the telestial, which glory is that of the lesser, even as the glory of the stars differs from that of the glory of the moon.”

After he received this vision, the Prophet Joseph Smith was inspired to modify 1 Corinthians 15:40 in this way: “Also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial, and bodies telestial; but the glory of the celestial, one; and the terrestrial, another; and the telestial, another.”

1 Corinthians 15:45, 47, 49–53

Who are the first Adam and last Adam?

Adam literally means “human.” It is the name given by God to “the first man.” Adam is also known as Michael. Because of the Fall of Adam and Eve, we received mortal bodies. Jesus Christ is “the last Adam” or “second man” because He was the first to be quickened (resurrected) and receive a glorified body. The actions of the first Adam (with the Fall) and Jesus Christ (with His Atonement and Resurrection) were both necessary for our salvation.

President Jeffrey R. Holland taught: “As one of His ordained witnesses, I declare … that Jesus of Nazareth was and is that Savior of the world, the ‘last Adam,’ the Author and Finisher of our faith, the Alpha and Omega of eternal life. ‘For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive’ [1 Corinthians 15:22], Paul declared.”

Learn More

The Resurrection

• Topics and Questions, “Resurrection,” Gospel Library

• Reyna I. Aburto, “The Grave Has No Victory,” Liahona, May 2021, 85–86

• Jeffrey R. Holland, “Where Justice, Love, and Mercy Meet,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2015, 104–6

• D. Todd Christofferson, “The Resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2014, 111–14

Women in the Church

• Russell M. Nelson, “A Plea to My Sisters,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2015, 95–98

• M. Russell Ballard, “The Essential Role of Women,” Liahona, Mar. 2021, 8–11

• 2024 Worldwide Relief Society Devotional, March 17, 2024, broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

• Topics and Questions, “Women in the Church,” Gospel Library

Media

Videos

“Resurrection of the Dead” (1:44)

“You Are the Women He Foresaw” (3:15)

Images

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

He Is Not Here, by Walter Rane

He Is Risen, by Greg Olsen

The Resurrection, by Harry Anderson

The Trumpet Shall Sound, by J. Kirk Richards

The baptistry of the Rome Italy Temple

Notes

1. 1 Corinthians 16:13.

2. Tremper Longman III and Mark L. Strauss, The Baker Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words (2023), entry 4395, page 1131.

3. See Numbers 11:26, 29; Judges 4:4; Joel 2:28–29; Luke 2:25–29; Acts 2:17–18; Doctrine and Covenants 46:22.

4. Robert D. Hales, “Gifts of the Spirit,” Ensign, Feb. 2002, 15.

5. Guide to the Scriptures, “Tongues, Gift of,” Gospel Library.

6. Acts 2:4.

7. See Acts 2:5–11.

8. See Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary (1971), 2:383.

9. See 1 Corinthians 14:19, 22, 26–28.

10. See 1 Corinthians 11:5.

11. See Harold W. Attridge and others, eds., The HarperCollins Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version, Including the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books (2006), 1952, note for 1 Corinthians 14:34–35; Michael D. Coogan and others, eds., The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version, 5th ed. (2018), 1657, note for 1 Corinthians 14:34–35.

12. See Joseph Smith Translation, 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 (in 1 Corinthians 14:34, footnote b and 14:35, footnote a).

13. See Richard D. Draper and Michael D. Rhodes, Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians, Brigham Young University New Testament Commentary (2017), 717.

14. Russell M. Nelson, “Spiritual Treasures,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2019, 79; see also M. Russell Ballard, “The Essential Role of Women,” Liahona, Mar. 2021, 9–11; Topics and Questions, “Women in the Church,” Gospel Library.

15. See 1 Corinthians 15:12.

16. See Draper and Rhodes, Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians, 759.

17. See Robert L. Millet, Becoming New: A Doctrinal Commentary on the Writings of Paul (2022), 97–98, 134. Some have suggested that the members of the Church in Corinth were influenced by early ideas that the “body is a tomb”(Greek sōma sēmas) and that the physical body was worthless and was not needed in the next life. These views were known in the first century, when Paul was writing to the Corinthians (see Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, trans. William Whiston [1875], 2.8.11).

18. See Leviticus 23:9–14; Deuteronomy 26:1–11.

19. See Coogan and others, The New Oxford Annotated Bible, 1658, note for 1 Corinthians 15:20.

20. Exodus 23:19.

21. See 1 Corinthians 15:20, 23; see also 2 Nephi 2:8–9.

22. See David L. Paulsen and Brock M. Mason, “Baptism for the Dead in Early Christianity,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies (2010), vol. 19, no. 2, 22–49. This is the only reference to the practice within the New Testament. However, other ancient texts show that baptism for the dead was practiced by early Christians.

23. Howard W. Hunter, in Conference Report, Apr. 1969, 137.

24. See Doctrine and Covenants 124:29–33; 128:12–18, 22; Church History Topics, “Baptism for the Dead,” Gospel Library.

25. Jeffrey R. Holland, “A Perfect Brightness of Hope,” Liahona, May 2020, 82.

26. See 1 Corinthians 15:37–38. Paul used a Greek word that literally meant “naked seed” (see Longman and Strauss, The Baker Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, entry 1131, page 538), teaching that our mortal body was like nakedness before putting on the glory of resurrection.

27. See 1 Corinthians 15:42–44.

28. Joseph Fielding Smith, in Conference Report, Apr. 1917, 63.

29. Doctrine and Covenants 76:70–71, 81.

30. Joseph Smith Translation, 1 Corinthians 15:40 (in 1 Corinthians 15:40, footnote a); italics indicate changed text. For more teachings about what kind of people will receive celestial glory in the Resurrection, see Doctrine and Covenants 76:50–70, 92–96; 88:22, 28–29.

31. See Longman and Strauss, The Baker Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, entry 120, page 421; see also Daniel 7:9, 13–14, 22; Doctrine and Covenants 116; 138:38.

32. See 1 Corinthians 15:45; Doctrine and Covenants 84:16.

33. See Doctrine and Covenants 27:11; 107:53–54.

34. See 1 Corinthians 15:45, 47.

35. See John 5:21; Doctrine and Covenants 88:17–20.

36. Jeffrey R. Holland, “Where Justice, Love, and Mercy Meet,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2015, 106.