As Christians, we believe in and celebrate the bodily resurrection of Jesus. We also rejoice in knowing that because of His resurrection, we will experience a bodily resurrection. But what would life be like had God not raised Christ from the dead?
There is no more beautiful treatment of the resurrection in the New Testament than in the fifteenth chapter of the book of First Corinthians. Responding to those in Corinth who denied the idea of bodily resurrection, Paul takes us on a mental journey down the road of what life would be like had Christ not been raised.
“Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:12-19)
Let’s break down what Paul is telling us.
If Christ had not been raised:
1. Our Message is Meaningless (1 Corinthians 15:12-14)
Christians love truth. We gather in church weekly and ask our pastors to preach truth. We want to base our lives on truth. We know that truth doesn't enslave us but frees us, just as Jesus said in John 8:31-32, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” When Jesus was praying for us just before His arrest and crucifixion, He prayed to the Father, "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth" (John 17:17). Therefore, we are people of the Word and truth. But Paul states that everything we say is in vain if Jesus had stayed in the grave. We preach Christ resurrected, and if the hallmark of our message is untrue, everything else is meaningless.
2. Our Leaders are Liars (1 Corinthians 15:15)
If Jesus had not been raised, every Christian who has ever testified about Christ in your life - every Sunday school teacher, faithful grandmother, or preacher you have ever sat under who preached the gospel faithfully - is a liar. They are liars, and they are basing their lies on the lies passed down to them all the way back from the very first apostles. If Christ had not been raised, nothing we have heard from our leaders can be trusted.
3. Our Faith is Futile (1 Corinthians 15:16-17a)
One of the threats to the gospel in our culture is reducing Jesus to the guy you simply let in to improve your life. Yes, Christ makes our lives richer and fuller. But what about when we suffer? What about when life isn’t good, or we don’t feel particularly spiritual? What about when health and wealth don’t come, or when doing the right thing costs us? In these moments, we need faith that holds.
We do not follow Jesus because He can improve our lives. We must follow Him because He is Lord. Christ is King, and His resurrection proved it. He is the only one to enter a grave and leave it, never to reenter it. But if He never left the grave, our faith in Him is futile.
4. Our Forgiveness is Fiction (1 Corinthians 15:17b)
While we do not have any problem connecting the cross to our sins, we must not disconnect the resurrection from the removal of sin. Jesus indeed died for our sins, but His death would have had no effect had He not overcome the penalty of our sins. Romans 6:23 reminds us, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." The only way the gift of God could be eternal life is because the one who paid the debt for our sins entered the result of sin, which is the grave, and then came out of it. If Jesus paying for our sins is captured in His words from the cross, "It is finished," the resurrection is the Father declaring, "Amen, it is finished." But if Christ never left the grave, we are forever lost in our sins.
5. Our Dead are Damned (1 Corinthians 15:18)
We have all experienced the pain of burying someone we love. But the hope of Christians is that when someone we love dies in Christ, our separation - while it can be sudden and feel severe - is only temporary. We hurt with the hope that the moment our loved one passes, they are in the presence of Jesus. And the same bodily resurrection He experienced is promised for us and those who have died before us. One day, we will see our risen and victorious King, and we will see our loved ones again.
If Christ had not been raised? Paul states that the dead have "perished” - not meaning that they died never to exist again. He means they died to exist without the presence of God.
6. Our Hope is Heartbreaking (1 Corinthians 15:19)
Paul goes on to state that if there is any group of people to feel sorry for, it is Christians if Jesus is still in the grave. In other words, if there was no resurrection, and we sacrifice for Him, suffer for Him, honor Him, and say no to the pleasures of this world that are off limits due to the damaging effect of sin, we ought to be pitied. We might as well do the best we can and have some fun because this is it. We have no future hope.
But the good news is that Christ has been raised and lives forevermore! And because we know He is no longer in the grave, even in our times of suffering and doubt, we can choose to trust Him. Even in sorrow, we can know a better day is coming. Even when following Him comes at a cost, we can know it is worth it. Our message has meaning. Our leaders were not lying to us. Our faith is not futile. Our forgiveness is not fiction. Our dead in Christ are with the Lord, and we will be joined with them again. And because of the resurrection of Christ, no one needs to feel sorry for any blood-bought child of the King. Our future is beyond anything you can ever describe.
Jesus was raised from the dead, and that assurance should change everything - undergirding how we approach every decision we make, every relationship we are in, and every season of suffering. How will you let the hope and the truth that Christ has been raised and you will one day be raised with Him impact your life today?