If Paul did not have Ecclesiastes in mind when he wrote 1 Corinthians 15, and I believe he did, his words nevertheless are in stark contrast to those of the Teacher (Qoheleth) of Ecclesiastes.(1) Here are sections from Ecclesiastes 2 and 1 Corinthians 15 to compare.
Ecclesiastes 2:17 So I hated life because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
18 I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to my successor, 19 and who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.
…22 What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? 23 For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.
24 There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? (NRSV)
1 Corinthians 15:32b If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (2)
… 54 When this perishable body puts on imperishability and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (NRSV)
I love Ecclesiastes, and that love increases every year. Qoheleth was a realist, not a pessimist, and certainly not a nihilist. He knew that death was certain. That knowledge shaped his view of all one’s life, including labor. The wise die just as fool’s die! Where’s the fairness in wisely and successfully working throughout your life, only to have a fool take it all when you die and bring it all to ruin? That is, for the Teacher, vanity or vaporous and meaningless. If only death didn’t have the last word! Because, for him, it did, one should enjoy the pleasures in life, such as food, drink, and, yes, work itself. Those pleasures are God’s gifts to us in this all too brief life.
Paul certainly knew Ecclesiastes, but also knew something Qoheleth did not know—indeed could not have known. Jesus was raised from the dead! For those in Christ, everything has changed! Death doesn’t have the last word, after all. At the end of the age, we shall rise with Christ and we, not death, will have the victory.
So, what about now? Much labor is still vain, amounting to wood, hay, and stubble (1 Corinthians 3:12). But true labor for our risen Lord, endures through the ages.
So, if you celebrated labor unions and improved workers’ conditions, good. As for labor, itself, it has been central to our existence from before the fall. Both Qoheleth and Paul understood this. We, from the earliest Christians until this day, can believe that in the risen Messiah, our work for Him, far from vaporous, produces solid “treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20 NRSV).
Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Tim Kelley
(1) As David was credited for Psalms, so Solomon was credited for our Biblical wisdom literature. The writer of Ecclesiastes briefly assumes the persona of Solomon for his own purposes, but not for deception. It can only appear to be deceptive in English. The Hebrew of Ecclesiastes is a form centuries later than the Hebrew used in Solomon’s day. We can also see the evolution of language in English. One would not identify a play in modern English as one written by William Shakespeare, even if written in his name.
(2) Paul may be quoting Epicurean philosophers but also see Isaiah 22:13, as well as Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 and 5:18-20.