In rehearsing the gospel he preached at Corinth — Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection on the third day — Paul reminded the brethren that they had received that gospel, stood in it, and were saved by it. He further reminded them that the gospel he preached did not differ from what the twelve apostles preached: “Whether it be I or they, so we preached and so you believed” (1 Corinthians 15:11). The apostle then asked, “Now if Christ is preached that he hath been raised from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection from the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:12).
This error was not confined to those outside the church. The apostle was specific: “among you.” It was a serious “illness,” and Paul spent the balance of the chapter showing the consequences of this teaching and answering questions that would likely arise about the resurrection: “What will we be?” and “What kind of body will we have?”
The apostle showed how serious the teaching “there is no resurrection from the dead” was. It negated the value of the gospel. Paul preached at Corinth that Christ had been raised from the dead. But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ had not been raised. As the apostle continued, the preaching of the gospel was in vain, and the faith of the Corinthians who had believed that message was vain also. Furthermore, Paul’s preaching — and that of the other apostles — would have made them false witnesses of God: they had testified that God raised Christ from the dead, which He had not done if there is no resurrection of the dead. Were that not enough, believers would still be in their sins. But the consequences of that doctrine did not affect only Christians at Corinth; they affected all those who had earlier believed and had died. They had perished. And those consequences reach forward 2,000 years to us. If Christ has not been raised, our faith in His resurrection is vain and our lives are futile. Paul observed, “If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable” (1 Corinthians 15:19).
The apostle did not leave his readers in a state of despair. He hastened to assure them: “But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the first fruits of them that sleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). But how could Paul be so certain? He knew what he saw on the Damascus road: a light brighter than the noonday sun, shining round about him, before which he fell to the earth. He knew what he heard: a voice crying out, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” He knew that when he asked, “Who art thou, Lord?” the voice answered, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.” He knew that God had empowered him to write the Scriptures. He knew that God had enabled him, through the laying on of his hands, to give others miraculous gifts to work signs and wonders. He knew that God had empowered him to work many miracles himself, including raising a young man from the dead. He knew that the things he had once valued he now regarded as dung, and that he counted all things but loss for the blessings God bestowed upon him. He was prepared — and finally did give up his own life — rather than deny that Jesus had been raised from the dead. In his own words: “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
Denying that Christ was raised from the dead strips us of all hope. Belief in the resurrection of the dead, and service to the risen Christ, comfort and strengthen us in this life and form the foundation of our hope for the life to come.
How blessed the statement: “Now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the first fruits of them that sleep”!
Jim McDonald