Consequences of Denying the Resurrection

I Corinthians 15:12–19
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This verse stands as a focal point around which the first nineteen verses revolve (v. 12). “Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead” directs our attention to the first eleven verses. “How say some among you that there is no resurrection?” This question looks ahead to verses thirteen through nineteen. Paul has established first of all that resurrection is an essential fact of the gospel. He now tabulates the logical consequences of denying the resurrection. Most Greeks did not believe that a person’s body would be resurrected after death. They thought the soul would enter some eternal state but not the body. Christianity, by contrast, affirms that the body and soul will be reunited after the resurrection. There were people in Corinth who were saying there was no resurrection. Paul presents logical consequences of denying the resurrection:

1. If there is no resurrection, then Jesus Christ is still in the grave (v. 16).
2. If He is not raised, there is no gospel to preach (v. 17).
3. If there is no gospel, then you have believed in vain and you are still in your sins (v. 17).
4. If there is no resurrection, then believers who have died have no hope (v. 18).

Faith in a dead Savior means that our religious beliefs are of no value. If our hope in Christ does not take us beyond this life, then “we are of all men most miserable” (v. 19).

Application

If I do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the Bible teaches, my belief about everything else is meaningless. I serve a living and not a dead Christ.