Some Thoughts on Paul's Mention of the Corinthian Practice of Baptism on Behalf of the Dead (1 Corinthians 15:29)

1 Corinthians 15:29 — “Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead?”

Verse 29 of 1 Corinthians 15 is one of the most peculiar verses in the New Testament. Paul’s statement about this Corinthian practice raises a major interpretive problem which has plagued the church from the beginning–“what is this business of baptizing people on behalf of those who have already died?” There is no comparable statement anywhere in the Old or New Testaments. Conzelmann calls verse 29 the most hotly disputed text in the entire epistle.[1] He may be right. One prominent New Testament scholar counted thirty different interpretations, while another counted forty.[2] Still another commentator, who must have had better research assistants than the others, identified over 200 interpretations of this unexpected passage.[3] Yet, putting all the variety of interpretations aside, Paul’s reason for mentioning this practice is crystal clear. If there is no bodily resurrection of the dead at the end of the age, why then are people being baptized for the dead? The Corinthian practice (whatever it is) makes no sense whatsoever, if there is no resurrection.

Most of the proposed answers to this practice assert that this is some sort of vicarious baptism on behalf of the dead–recently departed or otherwise. One widely held view is that according to the second clause of the verse, (“baptized for them”–hupere) people were being vicariously baptized in the place of those who had already died, presumably without having been baptized before death. This particular baptism was being done so that the benefits of baptism would apply to people who had already died without themselves being baptized so as to protect them from the demonic, or claim for them a place in the afterlife.[4] This would reflect the Corinthian’s struggle to properly understand spiritual things, especially what happens at death.

Another view holds that this refers to baptism of bodies of the recently dead as a sort of a baptismal confession. This fits with one reading of the grammar and was widely held among the Greek Fathers. Calvin’s view is related but with a twist. The baptism spoken of here occurs on the deathbed when someone who has not yet been baptized falls ill, and death appears certain. Calvin rejects the other views on the grounds that Paul does not condemn the practice of such a baptism, which the apostle surely would have done if the Corinthians were in error about this practice.[5] Schreiner holds to a similar view, but thinks a proxy was baptized in the place of the dying.[6] These views may fit with Paul’s comments in Romans 6:3-16 and especially Romans 8:10– “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”[7]

Another prominent view holds that the dead are baptized in the hope that they will be reunited with their departed loved ones in heaven.[8] Yet another view holds that this a reference to martyrs, who were “baptized into the ranks of the dead through their death in service of Christ.[9] Harrison Perkins posits that Paul is possibly referring to orphaned children, who as members of the covenant of grace, were baptized on the basis of the faith of their deceased parents.[10]

Leon Morris concludes that since strange things happened in Corinth, he is content to assert that Paul is describing some sort of vicarious baptism and leaves the matter there.[11] Fee offers a number of conjectures, but concludes that in the end we do not know.[12] I lean toward Calvin’s view, but as Morris and Fee are willing to admit, we really can do nothing more than guess.

Some heretical groups like the Marcionites of the second century, or the Mormons of today have taken Paul’s comment as an endorsement of the practice of baptizing the dead through some sort of proxy baptism–someone is baptized on behalf of the dead person so that the dead person received the benefits of baptism they otherwise would have missed.[13] The act of baptizing the living on behalf of the dead never became an accepted Christian practice and there is nothing here–other than Paul’s mention of it in passing–which implies that it should be.

The circumstances in Corinth may be similar to the confusion among the Thessalonians who wondered whether or not those who died before Christ returned might miss out on the resurrection. There is no other mention of this practice in the New Testament, nor in any other Christian literature of the first century. Whatever else we may say about baptism on behalf of the dead, Paul does not prescribe the practice by merely mentioning it in connection with an erroneous denial of the resurrection.

The bottom line is that Paul’s purpose in mentioning the practice is merely to expose the inconsistency of those Corinthians who do this but then deny the future resurrection of believers.

Taken from the Blessed Hope Podcast, “Christ Has Been Raised” — Season Three/Episode Twenty-Seven (1 Corinthians 15:20-34)

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[1] Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians, 275.

[2] Thiselton, 1 Corinthians, 1240. These are effective summarized by Thiselton in pages 1242-1249.

[3] Morris, 1 Corinthians, 215.

[4] Garland, 1 Corinthians, 716-717.

[5] Calvin, The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, 328-331.

[6] Schreiner, 1 Corinthians, 317; Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God, 338.

[7] Garland, 1 Corinthians, 717-718.

[8] Garland, 1 Corinthians, 717-718; Thiselton, 1 Corinthians, 1248-1249.

[9] J. Murphy-O’Connor, “Baptized for the Dead” (1 Corinthians XV. 29) Review bibliques 88 (1981), 532-543).

[10] https://heidelblog.net/2024/07/babies-and-baptisms-for-the-dead-another-look-at-1-corinthians-1529/

[11] Morris, 1 Corinthians, 215.

[12] Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, 767.

[13] Morris, 1 Corinthians, 214.