1 Corinthians 15:34

The Corinthians needed to think correctly. Rather than living for the present, as their pagan neighbors were undoubtedly encouraging them to do, they needed to stop sinning and fulfill their present purpose, namely, propagating the gospel. It was a shame that they had neighbors who still had no knowledge of God since they had much knowledge of God (1 Corinthians 1:5; 1 Corinthians 8:1).

"Since salvation finally has to do with being known by and knowing God (1 Corinthians 13:12), what makes the Corinthians’ persisting in sin so culpable is that it keeps others from the knowledge of God (1 Corinthians 15:34). [Note: Fee, "Toward a . . .," p. 40.]

It may be that Paul was also using irony to refer to the "spiritual" viewpoint of the Corinthians. The appearance of "knowledge" here again raises that possibility since, as we have seen, "knowledge" fascinated the Corinthians. Paul had also spoken something to their "shame" earlier (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:5). If he meant to be ironic, the apostle was probably putting down those responsible for taking the church in the dangerous direction that it had gone. He would have meant that his readers should sober up and stop sinning because some of them did not have the truth, which was to their shame.

These ad hominem (experiential) arguments do not prove beyond doubt that God will raise the bodies of people from the dead, but they support Paul’s stronger historical (1 Corinthians 15:1-11), logical (1 Corinthians 15:12-19), and theological (1 Corinthians 15:20-28) arguments in the preceding sections. They show that Christians generally and the apostle in particular believed in the Resurrection deeply. It affected the way they lived, as it should. [Note: For an introduction to reincarnation, which denies resurrection, see H. Wayne House, "Resurrection, Reincarnation, and Humanness," Bibliotheca Sacra 148:590 (April-June 1991):131-50.]