1 Corinthians 6:14 teaches that the God who raised Jesus from the dead will also raise believers by that same power. The verse is a promise about the future resurrection of Christians, and it grounds a practical argument about how we should live with our bodies now. The apostle Paul wrote it to the church in Corinth, a busy port city where believers were tempted to treat physical life as unimportant.
Now God raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power.
1 Corinthians 6:14 (WEB)
What 1 Corinthians 6:14 Means
The verse begins with “God raised up the Lord.” Paul points to the resurrection of Jesus as a completed act of God. The phrase tells the reader that death did not have the last word over Jesus, and that the Father vindicated the Son. Paul does not argue for this here. He simply assumes it as the foundation of Christian hope.
The second half, “will also raise us up by his power,” moves from Jesus to the believer. The word “also” links the two events. What God did for Jesus, God will do for those who belong to him. The power is God’s own, not something the believer produces. That is why the promise gives comfort rather than pressure.
The verse does not describe the timing or every detail of the resurrection body. It does not explain how the dead are raised or what the new body will be like. Paul addresses those questions at length in 1 Corinthians 15. Here his point is narrower: the God who raised Jesus has committed himself to raising us too, and that certainty shapes how we treat our bodies in the present.
The Context of 1 Corinthians 6:14
First Corinthians is a letter Paul wrote to a church he had founded, responding to reports of divisions, lawsuits between believers, and confusion about moral conduct. In chapter 6 he addresses a slogan that some in the congregation seem to have used to justify sexual immorality: “All things are lawful for me.” Paul answers that freedom in Christ is real but must be governed by what helps and what enslaves. He also points out that the body is meant for the Lord, not for sin.
Verse 14 sits in the middle of that argument. Just before it, Paul says the body belongs to the Lord. Verse 14 supplies the reason: the Lord’s own body was raised, and ours will be raised as well. Just after it, Paul asks whether members of Christ should be joined to a prostitute. Read in that setting, the resurrection promise becomes a reason to honor the body now, because the body has a future with God.
Key Phrases in 1 Corinthians 6:14
1 Corinthians 15:20
But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep.
(WEB)
This verse calls Christ the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. It expands the promise of 6:14 by showing that Jesus’s resurrection is the first and guaranteed harvest of the resurrection to come for all believers.
Romans 8:11
But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
(WEB)
Paul writes here that the Spirit of God who raised Jesus will also give life to our mortal bodies. It parallels 1 Corinthians 6:14 closely, pairing the power that raised Jesus with the hope that believers will share in that life.
A Short Prayer From 1 Corinthians 6:14
Lord, you raised your Son Jesus from the dead, and you have promised that you will raise us by your power. Thank you that our future does not rest on our own strength or record. Help me to see my body as something that belongs to you and has a place in your plans. Where I have treated my life as my own to spend carelessly, turn my heart back to you. Strengthen me to honor you in the way I live today, trusting that you hold what comes after. Amen.
