1 Corinthians 15:32
If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
The fighting with beasts at Ephesus was the fanatical mob that clamored for Paul's life, whom he likened to furious wild beasts. He thought his useful life might be ending and that he was about to die for his faith, but God preserved him, and that deliverance gave him hope that his work was not finished. The verse belongs to Paul's teaching on the literal resurrection of the dead.
If the dead do not rise there is no future existence or reward and no lasting advantage in enduring danger and hardship or in practicing self-denial, so one might as well live for eating and drinking before death ends life. Expectation of the resurrection is the great reward for self-control, even though temperate living also promotes usefulness and happiness in this life. The chapter's teaching on the resurrection is central to Christian hope and practice, giving believers reason for diligence, obedience, and cheerfulness. Confidence in immediate glory at death can obscure the hope of the resurrection.
The call to eat and drink because of coming death expresses the attitude of those who lightly value the redemption purchased by Christ and are ready to sacrifice their heirship to heaven for perishable things of earth. It means living for the present with no thought or care for the future, controlled by inclination, choosing the gratification of depraved appetite over the heavenly blessings promised only to the self-denying and God-fearing. It describes virtually despising God and heaven, clinging even among professed Christians to indulgences injurious to health that benumb the sensibilities of the soul, taking offense at the duty to be cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and to perfect holiness, and turning from the way to eternal life because it is strait. It is selling the birthright for sensual indulgence as with Esau, sacrificing health, enfeebling mental faculties, and forfeiting heaven for mere temporary pleasure that weakens and debases, with an awakening too late to recover the loss in the day of God.