29. Otherwise what shall they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized in their behalf?
Paul now addresses the practice of those people who are being baptized for the dead. He confronts only those few people who observed this practice, for he uses the pronoun they and not you in this text. We assume that Paul vigorously denounced such actions; there is no evidence that churches in the apostolic era ever practiced baptism for the dead.
In the third century, Tertullian comments on this verse and remarks that Paul disapproved of the practice of being baptized for the dead. One hundred years later, Chrysostom described a bizarre procedure of some Marcionite dissenters who baptized a person who had suddenly died without the sign of baptism. He, too, voiced his disapproval and even declared the Marcionite practice superstitious.78
Throughout the centuries, explanations for verse 29 have been numerous and varied; many of them concern the phrases baptized for the dead and baptized in their behalf. In spite of all the exegesis, a satisfactory solution appears to be elusive. I am not presenting a résumé of every possible suggestion; instead I mention several attempts to clarify the text.
1. Living members of the church were baptized vicariously for those believers who had died but had not received the sacrament of baptism. But what is the point of this practice, when believers at death are immediately glorified in the presence of the Lord? What will they gain by being baptized by proxy?
2. The Greek preposition hyper (for) in the phrase for the dead is interpreted to mean “above the graves of the dead.” This explanation and the one that takes the preposition hyper to signify “for the sake of the dead” both refer to representative baptisms. However, the practice of “vicarious baptism requires us to think of the Corinthians’ faith in baptism as magical at worse [sic] or mechanical at best.”79
3. Unbelievers sympathetic toward Christians who had died requested baptism on behalf of the dead and then expected to be in their company at the resurrection.80 The question remains whether these baptismal candidates expressed faith in Jesus Christ.
4. The phrase baptized for the dead echoes a similar phrase, “praying for the dead” (see II Macc. 12:40).81 But the teachings of Christ and the apostles never include uttering prayers for the dead. The echo aside, these two phrases have nothing in common.
5. The literal interpretation of the word baptized is replaced by a metaphor. For example, Jesus asked James and John if they could drink the cup that he had to drink or be baptized with the baptism that he would be baptized with (Mark 10:38; see also Luke 12:50). Jesus used the concept baptism as a metaphor for his imminent suffering and death on the cross. Is Paul by analogy conveying a symbolic meaning of the text so that the expression the dead signifies death? The text then should read “being baptized by experiencing death.” Without disparaging the significance of a martyr’s death, I think that this interpretation veers away from the message of the text.
6. Catechumens who were at the point of death asked for baptism. They had already accepted Christ in faith but because of disease or accident felt the nearness of death and requested baptism.82 The problem is that this interpretation of the Greek preposition hyper is contrived.
7. As a last resort, conjectures are suggested. One hypothesis is to emend the last part of verse 29 to read “they are baptized in our behalf” instead of “they are baptized in their behalf” (italics added). The use of the first person plural creates a parallel between verse 29 and verse 30, “Why are we also in danger every hour?”
Another hypothesis is to find a Greek verb similar to that of to do: “what shall they do.” The proposal is made that the Greek verb to believe (“what shall they believe”) was the original text and eventually was changed to the verb to do.83
Conjectures, however, are highly subjective and should be regarded as nothing more than suggestions. Indeed, we would be better off to admit that the text is unclear and noncommunicative than to accept a superficial hypothesis.
Let us now return to the text itself and examine its individual sentences and clauses.
a. “Otherwise what shall they do who are baptized for the dead?” The word otherwise calls attention to the preceding segment (vv. 20–28) that speaks about the implications of the resurrection of Christ for the believers. If this resurrection were not so, Paul argues, what comments do those people have who are being baptized for the dead? Their willingness to be baptized is utterly pointless if the dead do not rise from their graves. The present tense of the Greek participle being baptized indicates that the baptismal candidates are active participants. They are baptized for a group called “the dead.” The general rule is that without the definite article in Greek, the expression the dead signifies the dead in general. With the definite article, the term means Christians who have died.84 Conclusively, Paul thinks of those believers who await the day of resurrection.
b. “If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized in their behalf?” The first clause lists a condition that is contrary to fact, for in the preceding verses Paul has proved the veracity of the resurrection. In other words, he tells his readers that some of them may deny the resurrection, yet God’s people will rise from the dead. For the sake of argument, Paul states this fact as untrue. He wants the deniers to answer the question why people are baptized for the dead. The two sentences of this verse display parallelism to stress the issue that the practice of being baptized for the dead is pointless when the dead do not rise from the grave.
What is the meaning of this verse? Even though many scholars suggest a literal interpretation as a vicarious baptism, the objections are formidable. In all humility I confess that the sense of this text escapes me; verse 29 remains a mystery.