Baptism for the Dead?

Study Guide Episode 6 1 Corinthians 15:29 is one of the strangest verses in the New Testament: "What will those do who are baptized for the dead?" Most explanations assume a vicarious baptism for the deceased, but every ancient source for that practice comes centuries after Paul. In this episode of A Strange and Beautiful Kingdom, David Parcher goes back to what "baptized" actually meant in Paul's world. We trace immersion from the Israelite mikveh through the Community Rule at Qumran to John the Immerser. We look at corpse impurity and why death was treated as a defilement. Then we read Paul's question again. He may be asking what the living gain from immersion if there is no resurrection, not what the dead gain. Along the way: Paul's quotation of the playwright Menander and why Paul calls death "the last enemy." A good listen for anyone interested in Second Temple Judaism, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Paul's letters, or what the Bible's hardest verses mean without being explained away.