"Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?"
1st Corinthians 15:29

I stumbled on this verse again today while reading. At just a cursory reading, even in context, this verse is quite problematic. I can see why it gets misinterpreted and used to back up false doctrinal practices. The LDS organization uses this verse for example to validate their practice of proxy baptism for dead people to posthumously enter their names into membership.

The verse is problematic because we know Paul wrote it and it doesn't jibe with his theology and his view of baptism. You might run into some exegetical problems with the meanings of the words, baptize, for and even dead. A plain reading of the text suggests to me that either some of the Corinthians or some Christians somewhere in Paul's experience were baptizing dead people, thinking or hoping that the practice might have a magical effect on the souls of the departed who had not been baptized in life. We can't know what they might have had in mind, whether the practice would bring the departed to the resurrection and eternal life or for some other purpose.

Did these believers believe that water baptism was a requirement for entrance into the kingdom of God? If anything, Paul went to great lengths in his writings to assure believers that the performance of rites did not secure the favor of God. That such a sacramental stance was wrong is evidenced by the way Paul saw no need to rebuke baptism for the dead, because the main point he chose to drive home was the resurrection. Paul knew that if the Corinthians or whoever it was were to deny the resurrection, they would also have to deny that baptizing for the dead had any value of any kind.