(avg. read time: 5–10 mins.)
The final aspect of Paul’s theology of resurrection that we will examine here is how it relates to ethics, particularly in terms of his moral vision of the cruciform life. Paul follows his crescendo in v. 57 with a final exhortation delivered as a consequence of the whole preceding argument (hence the use of ὤστε for the only time this chapter), which also serves to underline all of Paul’s preceding ethical instructions in this letter. This ethical instruction relies on the assumption of continuity of the present life with the resurrection life, that there is a relationship between what faithful believers do now and the vindication of the same at the final judgment. The fact that what Paul says in v. 58 immediately follows upon what he says in v. 57 underlines how resurrection to everlasting life is predicated on participating in the victory of God in Christ.
An argument that began with an affirmation of Christ’s resurrection now fittingly ends with exhortation emerging from union with Christ. For if Christ has been raised in victory over death, so will those in Christ be raised in victory over death. And if those in Christ will be raised, that means that what believers do “in Christ” in this life matters, as Paul assures his audience that “your labor is not fruitless in the Lord.” Indeed, just as present creation has continuity with the new creation in that the new creation will be the present creation transformed, the fruit that present labor will bear will last on the other side of death. What one does in Christ and by the Spirit, sharing in Christ’s victory, will somehow be maintained in the new creation through faith, hope, and love, as Paul indicates also in 13:13.
But each aspect of this closing exhortation requires further exploration. First, Paul provides dual synonymous imperatives to his audience to be steadfast (ἑδραῖοι) and immovable (ἀμετακίνητοι). The former term often referred either to something sitting or someone standing firm, or indeed to an object that was considered immovable (e.g., in a cosmological setting). The latter term was rarely used before Paul (e.g., the adverbial form in Aristotle, Eth. nic. 1105a.33), and it seems that he influenced its use in the vast majority of literature thereafter. But it too refers to that which is immovable, permanent, or fixed. In Christian literature, both terms would be used for referring to the qualities of perseverance and the unflappable firmness of one’s faith.
Second, Paul instructs his audience to be always abounding in the work of the Lord. What is “the work of the Lord”? Based on Paul’s argument thus far, it refers to the work that advances the gospel. When Paul refers to his own work in this chapter, he refers not to his general Christian life, but specifically to his work in proclaiming the gospel (vv. 30–32). Such work of advancing the gospel and establishing believers would seem to fit best the OT equivalents of this phrase, where “work(s) of the Lord” most often refers to God’s own work either in creation (Pss 103:22; 104:24; 107:24; 138:8; 145:10; Prov 8:22; cf. Sir 16:26; 42:15–17; Sg Three 35), for his people (Exod 34:10; Pss 28:5; 33:4; 46:8–11; 92:4–5; 107; 111; Isa 5:12; Jer 51:10; cf. Sir 39:14, 16, 33; Pr Azar 4, 20), or in making his people (Isa 19:25; 45:11; 64:8). On the occasions where phrases like this apply to humans, they refer to humans doing works the Lord has commanded (1 Chr 26:30; Jer 48:10; cf. Bar 2:9; 1 Esd 5:58). This is also how Paul portrays his ministry in Rom 15:17–19.
This imperative to be abounding in the work of the Lord is also reminiscent of Paul’s instruction to be abounding for the edification of the Church in 14:12. The use of this phrase and similar ones also uphold this view. Paul refers to the Corinthians as “my work in the Lord” (9:1) and he describes himself and Timothy as doing the work of the Lord (16:10). In Rom 14:20 Paul says that Christian concord and the integrity of the kingdom are the work of God. He also describes Epaphroditus as risking his life for the work of Christ (Phil 2:29–30). Outside of Paul, the most similar phrases refer to the work of God in fostering faith in the one whom God has sent, namely Jesus (John 6:28–29; 9:3–4). Perhaps most significantly in this letter, Paul refers to himself and other proclaimers (such as Apollos) as co-workers of God (3:9) in a context where Paul also indicates the continuation of human works in the new creation subsequent to the final judgment (3:8–15). One also sees here that Paul is not referring to works in general, but specifically to the work of building for the Church, including by proclaiming the gospel and edifying those who are already part of the gospel community. In other words, they are not only works that acknowledge that Jesus Christ is one’s personal Lord, but works that affirm that he is “our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In the cases of both 1 Cor 3 and 15, it is fair to say that the implication is that the works of the Christian life are of a character that will last into the new creation by the will of God. but one must distinguish the implications of what Paul writes from the reference of what Paul writes. Concerning the latter, the evidence indicates that the work of the Lord refers not to everything the Christian qua Christian does, but it refers more specifically to God’s work of growing the Church (both in terms of expansion and maturation) and the human participation in the same. But this reference does not undermine the possibility of the further implication that the Christian’s way of life will resonate into the new creation, for it is the faithful life that God will vindicate and validate by enabling it to go on forever in his presence.
Third, the basis for these instructions is what Paul summarizes as “knowing that your labor is not fruitless in the Lord.” As in the previous clause, the sense of “labor” here (κόπος) refers to the two-sided work of growing the Church (1 Cor 3:8; 2 Cor 6:5; 10:15; 11:23, 27; 1 Thess 1:3; 2:9; 3:5; 2 Thess 3:8). Interestingly, this promise resonates with one from a new creation text in Isa 65:23 where God promises that those who labor in the new creation will never labor in vain. But the promise here is that the labor performed now will not be fruitless. This is reminiscent of Paul’s statement in v. 10 that God’s grace towards him was not fruitless, using the same term as here (κενός). It is also a reversal of the use of this term in v. 14, as Jesus’s resurrection shows that the faith is not insubstantial, and so they can likewise expect that the work they do in the capacity of that faith has substance to it, substance which will bear fruit on the other side of death in the reality of resurrection.
Paul does not tie resurrection to any specific element of praxis. It is rather part of the webbing that links all matters of praxis together into a cohesive whole. Without it, as Paul illustrates in vv. 12–19, everything else about the Christian worldview he represents and seeks to form falls apart, for it claims to be formed around the God who raises the dead, his risen Son, and his life-giving Spirit. Because Christian praxis arises in a context of the resurrection of Jesus in the past and the resurrection of believers in the future, resurrection is not some theological add-on feature or merely a supporting belief for living in one way as opposed to another. Rather, Christian praxis emerges from union with the risen Christ by the Holy Spirit and operates with the goal of sharing in that resurrection in the eschaton.
One of the ways in which resurrection belief has this holistic function in relation to praxis is in its connection to the divine confirmation of the praxis at the final judgment (as briefly reviewed in Part 1). Resurrection to everlasting life is linked here, as elsewhere (though not as pronouncedly as in other NT texts), to final judgment, and therefore it is also inextricably linked to praxis. Final judgment is what will confirm, in the must public of fashions, that what one does in this life matters. More specifically, resurrection to everlasting life will enable those who are justified in that final judgment to continue the justified, sanctified, and glorified life forevermore. What one does in building up the body of Christ in the present, far from being fruitless, will bear fruit that never withers. This is so because the people who receive this verdict receive the verdict of Christ, whom God affirmed and confirmed against all attempts to deny him by putting him on the cross.
While the link with final judgment connects with praxis by showing its endpoint, resurrection also contextualizes praxis in its function as a synecdoche for union with Christ. Paul has appealed to the worldview foundation of incorporative, identifying, and participatory union with Christ throughout the letter in connection with his exhortations to the audience. While it is less tied to particular ethical instruction here than elsewhere in the letter, Paul still invokes it as a framework for the Christian life, as a basis for forming expectations and Christian character by appeal to this vision of union. As Paul has outlined throughout the letter, as well as in his prior instruction for the Corinthians, certain praxis fits this union with Christ, while other praxis does not. Only the former is compatible with the promise of resurrection to everlasting life promised to those who are “in Christ.”
Paul combines both the previous points in his implications that resurrection vindicates the cruciform ministry of the gospel that he and his fellow workers embodied. He, the other apostles, and those who worked more closely with Paul all subjected themselves to suffering, even to the point of courting fatality daily, to proclaim the gospel of the crucified and risen Lord. The cruciform ministry is worth all trouble the present age can throw its way if it leads to the same end as the crucified Lord in resurrection. If there is no resurrection, it is as worthwhile as any other pursuit, which is to say, not at all. The ministry would be emptied of all its claimed substance, becoming a mere occupation of the limited time of ineluctably mortal life. On the other hand, if one is to expect the resurrection, that expectation provides a basis for being steadfast and immovable in faithfulness, persevering in perpetuity in the work the God who raises the dead has given his people to do.