The assumption that Romans 6 and 1 Corinthians 15 reflects a borrowing of ideas from Graeco-Roman mystery initiations is not the likeliest explanation of these texts nor does justice either to recent studies of the mysteries nor to the difficulty in reinterpreting --resurrection-- to refer to a spiritual state which the baptized enjoyed in the present. Spiritual phenomena may have shown early Christians in the Graeco-Roman world that they had --life, -- but not --resurrection.-- --Dying with Christ-- has other roots than the mysteries and the latter should not be interpreted in the light of Paul, but dying and coming to life again is a theme common to a great many rites of passage.