12Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
14And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
15Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
16For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
17And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
18Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
19If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
20But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
21For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
24Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
26The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
28And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
29Else 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?
The verse you referenced, v.29, has nothing to do with baptism of dead people. It is saying the Jesus is resurrected and that those who are baptized are not baptized because of a dead man, but because of the very much alive Son of God. There are some stand alone verses in the Bible, but this is not one of them. Throwing out context does nothing but confuse and deceive, even when it's not intentional.
Those who awaited the Messiah but died before He came cannot be baptized by anything we do; God has taken care of them, as He knows who would've believed and who wouldn't have. The dead cannot be prayed into or out of Heaven or Hell.
But we are bound by the law of charity to pray that all be saved.
“The verse you referenced, v.29, has nothing to do with baptism of dead people.”
Right it has to do with baptism FOR dead people. Proxy baptism, not dunking corpses.
Greek philosophy held that the material world was inherently corrupt, and so the saints in Corrith had trouble accepting the idea of a physical resurrection. In the chapter Paul is beating them over the head with the literalness of a physical resurrection, and in doing so he points to the practice of baptism for the dead indicating that such a practice would be inconsistent with the idea that there would not be a physical resurrection.
It only makes sense to cite it that way if it is a valid Christian practice. If it was a heathen practice his argument would be logically invalid, and you can bet the Greek saints would spot that. For the saints in Corrinth to be rejecting the resurection indicates they have strayed fairly far. The word ‘they’ would refer to other saints who the Corinthian saints knew had not abandoned the practice in the false idea that there would be no resurection.