'Why do we (emphatic) also stand in jeopardy every hour? I swear by that glorifying in you, brothers, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If after the manner of men I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.'
His second argument (or continuation of the first) is based on the fact that being ready to suffer and die for the Gospel is folly if the view of these particular Corinthians is right. If the spirit already has its place in the spirit world, and the body is not to be raised, but to be cast off, why bother about physical life at all. Why not just enjoy it while waiting for the body to fall away?
But his own behaviour and that of his fellow-teachers is in contrast with this. Why do they gladly suffer as they do? It is because of their concern for people as people, and because of their belief in the importance of the body and its purity, because of their belief in the resurrection of the dead, and of their own resurrection, that he and his companions are prepared to face death daily, yes even hourly, as they are doing.
'I swear by that glorifying in you, brothers, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.' Paul rejoiced and gloried in the fact that he had founded the church at Corinth, as they well knew, and he now uses this recognised fact as a form of oath to stress the dangers he faced at Ephesus. He swore by that most precious thing that things were such that he faced death daily.
His was not a life of ease. ‘Fighting with beasts at Ephesus' almost certainly indicates the savagery he has had to face in Ephesus from men who opposed the Gospel. So it is clear that during his time in Ephesus his life was constantly in danger. And yet he continued boldly preaching the Gospel, because he was confident that should he die he would finally experience the resurrection of the body. Thus he cared not what they did to his body. And he was concerned that others too might enjoy a similar resurrection.
'If after the manner of men ---.' If he simply faced mortal danger for the same things and for the same reasons for which men would do it, it would be no gain to him at all. In fact it would be folly in his view to face daily the possibility of death for such reasons. To him it was only belief in the resurrection of the dead that justified it. But if these Corinthians were right what he was doing was folly.
'If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.' Indeed, he says, if there is no resurrection of the body why not just enjoy life to excess, for then the Gospel has nothing about it that is worth sacrificing for. If the body is simply bound for the grave why not then reflect the same hopeless and frivolous attitude as was reflected in the besieged men of Judah in Jerusalem at the time of Sennacherib (Isaiah 22:13)?
No, the whole behaviour of he and his fellow-teachers was proof of the resurrection of the body. They considered that the behaviour of the body was important because that had been set apart for Christ. (This argument might not have carried much weight with the die-hards, but Paul has in mind those who are still open to considering all the facts, and who still favoured him and his ministry).