Alan Lewis
Elon, North Carolina
October 2024
12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (I Corinthians 15:12-19 NIV)
The Church of Corinth was the church with problems. This church had all kinds of problems. It was a carnal church. It was a worldly church. The first problems that Paul deals with in this book are moral problems.
Most of the book deals with the moral problems. Members of the church were visiting prostitutes, sleeping with their step mammas, getting drunk at communion, fighting with other Christians and taking them to court.
That is important today. We still have churches today with Christians who live immoral lives, and, in many cases, the church does absolutely nothing. They actually defend them. They call evil good and good evil. In other churches, it is the leaders who live immoral lives.
At the end of the book, Paul deals with a different kind of problem. It is not a moral problem but a doctrinal problem. The Corinthians believed false doctrines.
That raises the question. Do we believe in any doctrinal errors? We may not believe in the same error that the Corinthians believed about the resurrection of the body, but we may believe in other doctrinal errors.
Are we more influenced by society and peer pressure or by Scripture? Are we conformed to this world or is our mind transformed, as Paul says in Romans 12?
The two problems of this church were that they lived wrong, and they thought wrong. In many cases, one leads to the other. Bad thinking leads to bad living
If you believe the wrong thing about morality, it will affect how you live. You will think wrong is right and right is wrong. You will not have a proper view of morality. That will affect life decisions.
If you believe the wrong thing about the sanctify of life, it will affect how you live. If you don’t believe that life is sacred and disposable, it will affect some of the decisions you make.
At the end of this book, Paul corrects the false theology of the Corinthians. The Corinthians had some false ideas about food offered to idols. They believed they could walk in a pagan temple and eat meat offered to an idol, since idols are not real.
Paul said, “No. That is idolatry. The idol may not be real, but demons are, and you are fellowshipping with demons when you do that. You are offering things to demons.”
The Corinthians had some false ideas about spiritual gifts. They believed the most important gifts were the flashy gifts. They believed that nothing was more important than the gifts. Paul said that love is more important. Paul said that without love, your gifts are completely useless.
We have some Christians today who still have false ideas about spiritual gifts. There are some crazy Christians. It is not just the extreme Pentecostals who have crazy ideas.
There are extremes on both sides. Some say that every Christian should have the gift of healing. Some say that no Christian should have the gift of healing. That gift died out with the apostles.
In I Corinthians 15, Paul deals with another topic, the resurrection of the body. It is a long chapter. It deals with one topic. It is all about resurrection.
There are some great chapters of the Bible. There are great chapters on creation in Genesis. There are great chapters on heaven in Revelation. There is a great chapter on love in I Corinthians 13. This is the great resurrection chapter.
Error of the Corinthians
What was the big error of the Corinthians? What error did Paul address in this chapter? There are a lot of doctrines that people deny today. Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity. They say that word is not in the Bible.
They deny the deity of Christ. They say that Jesus is not God. Liberals deny the Virgin Birth. All of those are clear teachings of the Bible. The Bible is clear that Jesus is God. It is clear that He was born of a virgin.
The Corinthians denied the resurrection of the body. They did not deny that Jesus rose from the dead, but they denied that they would rise from the dead.
We see that in I Corinthians 15:12. But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? (NIV). That is what some were saying.
They believed the exact opposite of the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the exact opposite. They believe that they will one day be physically resurrected but deny that Jesus rose from the dead bodily. They believe that just his spirit arose.
Biblical Doctrine
The issue is not what the Corinthians say or don’t say, it is what God says. It does not matter what this person or that person says. It does not matter what this Christian or that Christian says about something. The only thing that matter is what does the Bible say about the topic.
The Bible says a lot about the resurrection. It is all through the Bible. It is found in the OT. It is found in the NT. Jesus taught it. Paul taught it. Daniel taught it. Job taught it. David taught it. Samuel taught it. Isaiah taught it. Ezekiel taught it.
The Bible teaches that everyone is going to die. Death is universal (except for believers who will be alive when Jesus returns). Everyone will die and everyone who dies will one day be resurrected.
The Bible not only says that some will be resurrected it says that everyone will be resurrected. Every sinner will one day be resurrected. Every mass murderer and serial killer (Hitler, Stalin, Jack the Ripper, Osama Bin Laden, Jim Jones). Every saint will one day be resurrected.
Everyone who has died will one day be resurrected, believers and unbelievers. They will be resurrected and judged. Where does the Bible teach the resurrection? Let’s look at some biblical support for this doctrine.
1) Job believed in the resurrection.
In Job, we have this question, If a person dies, will they live again? (Job 14:14). I know that my redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand on the earth 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in MY FLESH I will see God; 27 I myself will see him WITH MY OWN EYES—I, and not another (Job 19:25-27 NIV)
2) David believed in the resurrection.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption” (Psalm 16:9,10 NIV).
That was a prophecy of Jesus but it applied to David. God was not going to leave his body in Sheol. It was one day going to be resurrected.
3) Samuel believed in the resurrection.
The LORD brings death and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and raises up (1 Samuel 2:6 NIV).
4) Isaiah believed in the resurrection.
But your dead will live; THEIR BODIES WILL RISE. Those who live in the dust WILL WAKE UP and shout for joy! For your dew is like the dew of dawn, and the earth will give birth to the dead. (Isaiah 26:19 NIV)
5) Ezekiel believed in the resurrection.
God took that prophet to the middle of a valley full of human skeletons. This valley was full of human bones, old bones, old dry human bones. God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to these bones and they will come to life.
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” (Ezekiel 37:4-6 NIV)
I am going to open your graves and RAISE YOU UP FROM YOUR GRAVES and bring you back to the soil of Israel. 13 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and RAISE YOU UP FROM YOUR GRAVES , O my people. (Ezekiel 37:12-13 NIV)
6) Daniel believed in the resurrection.
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2 NIV).
He said that everyone will receive a resurrection, but not everyone will be saved. Some will raise to everlasting shame.
7) Paul believed in the resurrection.
Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.” 7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things. (Acts 23:6-8 NIV)
I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. (Acts 24:15 NIV)
8) Jesus believed in the resurrection.
He called Himself “the Resurrection and the Life” and then raised Lazarus from the dead.
He debated the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection. They said that there will be no resurrection (Matthew 22:23). They are wrong.
Jesus said clearly that there will be a resurrection. In fact, He is the one who will raise everyone from the dead. People will hear His voice and come to life.
Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. (John 5:28-29 NIV)
I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:11-12 NIV)
Now, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all dead when Jesus said this. Jesus said, in the future, some from all over are going to sit down and eat with them in the kingdom. They are going to join them at a feast. That implies resurrection.
The Corinthian Error
That leads to several important questions. If this doctrine is a clear biblical doctrine, why didn’t the Corinthians believe it? What does this say to us today?
They didn’t believe this clear doctrine of the Bible for the same reason that Christians today do not believe some things that are clearly taught in Scripture. There are Christians like that.
“It is possible to be a Christian and be in error. It is possible to be a Christian and not have perfect theology.”[1] There are Christians who believe all kinds of goofy things. Most of them are in California.
There are Christians who do not believe what the Bible says about homosexuality. There are Christians who do not believe what the Bible says about marriage. There are Christians who do not believe what the Bible says about gender.
There are Christians who do not believe what the Bible says about divorce and remarriage. There are Christians who do not believe what the Bible says about abortion. Most in the black church support abortion. The ones which do not support it are the exception.
How is that possible? Jesus told the Sadducees why they did not believe in the resurrection.
That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him.
25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”
29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. (Matthew 22:23-29 NIV)
There are two major reasons why Christians are in error today. One, they do not believe the Scriptures. Some of them are just ignorant. They do not know what they teach. You can sit in many churches and not learn what the Scriptures teach. Some know what they teach but don’t believe them.
There is another reason. They are deceived. They are influenced by what the world says. They are influenced by what society says about things like gender and marriage more than what the Bible says.
That is exactly what happened to the Corinthians. They were more influenced by their culture. They were Greek. Greece was where the greatest philosophers in history came from (Aristotle, Plato, Socrates).
Many of the Corinthians just adopted Greek philosophy. They believed what they said about the resurrection. They were overly influenced by the philosophy of the day.
What did Greek philosophy teach? The Greeks taught that the body is evil. They thought that matter is evil. Is that biblical? No.
God created a physical material world and called it good but they believed that matter is evil. They called the body a tomb. They saw it as a prison of the soul.
The Greeks welcomed death. They believed that death opened the prison doors. They believed that death released and liberated your soul from your body.
Now we can laugh at the dumb Corinthians, but we can do the exact same things today. We are not Greek, but we are American. We can become more American than Christian. We can be overly influenced by our western, American culture.
The Bible tells us not to be conformed to the world. It says not to do everything that is socially acceptable, because what the world says is right, what society says is perfectly fine to do, is not necessarily what God says is right. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts.
Paul’s Answer
The Corinthians said that there is no resurrection from the dead. They said that people can’t rise from the dead. That is contradicted by history. Jesus rose from the dead.
If you say that men can’t rise from the dead, then you have to say that Jesus did not rise from the dead. Paul says, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead” (I Corinthians 15:20 NIV).
If Jesus rose from the dead, we will raise from the dead. His resurrection is a guarantee of our resurrection. Jesus had an Easter experience. We will too.
God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. (I Corinthians 6:14 HCSB)
We know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and present us with you (II Corinthians 4:14 HCSB)
And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in you (Romans 8:11 HCSB).
Results of Denying the Resurrection of Jesus
1. If Christ did not raise from the dead, our preaching is VAIN (I Corinthians 15:14).
If Jesus did not raise from the dead, then preaching about Christ is useless. Evangelism is a big waste of time. Paul devoted his entire life to preaching the gospel. If Christ is not risen, then Paul has been wasting his time.
2. If Christ did not raise from the dead, our faith is VAIN (I Corinthians 15:14, 17).
Christianity stands or falls with the resurrection. If Jesus rose from the dead, Christianity is true. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the whole Christian faith is destroyed.
Christianity is worthless. The skeptics are right. Close the doors and sell the church. All of the missionaries should come home.
Paul says if Jesus did not rise, your Christian faith is vain. It is worthless. It does you absolutely no good. It accomplished nothing. It saves no one. A dead Christ cannot save anyone. If there is no resurrection, there is no redemption.
If there is no resurrection, sinners will have to stand before a holy God who hates sin and must judge it. Without the resurrection, we are without hope. The resurrection is the proof that we have that God accepted Christ’s payment for our sins (Romans 4:25).
3. If Christ did not raise from the dead, Christians are FALSE witnesses (I Corinthians 15:15).
Paul uses courtroom language here. A false witness is someone who goes into the courtroom and under oath commits perjury. Paul is saying that if Jesus did not rise from the dead, all of the apostles are liars.
They concocted a story that they knew was false. They went and preached to the world that he rose from the dead and that they had personally seen him when they know that he did not. If that is not true, that would make Peter and Paul liars.
It would put the apostles in the same category as Joseph Smith and Muhammad. It would make them false teachers and deceivers. If there is no resurrection, Christians are just con artists.
4. If Christ did not raise, those who died believing in Christ have PERISHED (I Corinthians 15:18).
What does that mean? It means that they went to Hell. They not only lived all their lives in sin, but the dying ones have perished. They stood before God as a sinner and without a savior. There is no hope even for Christians who died. You will never see them again. They are gone forever.
5. If Christ did not raise, people should feel SORRY for us (I Corinthians 15:19).
If Jesus did not rise from the dead, why would Christians be pitied by the world? They are not just wrong; they are stupid. They are not only deluded and deceived but are risking their life and being martyred for a lie.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HtnImnKqXQ&t=269s
