1 Corinthians 15:15-19 meaning

In 1 Corinthians 15:15-19, Paul completes the chain of consequences that follow if the dead are never to be resurrected: the apostles become false witnesses, faith is worthless, believers remain in their sins, the dead in Christ have perished, and Christians are the most pitiable of all people. He presses the hypothesis to its end, that if Christ is not raised from the dead then those who believe in Jesus are living in vain. They have signed up for a life of devotion and suffering to serve others and in the end it won't matter. Paul ends this section with the assertion If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied (v 19).

Paul begins the argument that will lead to this conclusion, intended to bolster the truth of the resurrection, by saying that if there is no resurrection from the dead then Paul is a false witness, and should not be listened to: Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised (v 15).

Paul argues that if the dead are not raised (v 15), the apostles are false witnesses of God (v 15). This links back to the argument he made in 1 Corinthians 15:13 that if there is no bodily resurrection from the dead, then Christ is not risen from the dead. And both verse 15 and 1 Corinthians 15:13 link back to the opening statement of Chapter 15 where Paul appealed to what was likely a well-accepted creed of the faith which emphasized Christ's bodily resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). This creed relies on the eyewitness of the apostles to have seen the risen Christ.

If then the resurrection deniers are accurate, then the apostles lied. They made up a testimony. So, in making up a lie about God, they testified against God, ascribing to Him a mighty act He never performed. Under the Law of Moses, false witness broke the ninth commandment (Exodus 20:16) and carried the penalty the false witness sought to inflict (Deuteronomy 19:16-19).

Paul stakes the apostles' integrity, and their standing before God, on the factual truth of the resurrection. The very creed that summarized the Christian faith is founded on this apostolic witness. The apostles claimed to have seen, touched, and eaten with a risen man (Luke 24:39-43, Acts 10:41). If He stayed dead, or was a ghost, they lied about God and, therefore, testified against Him.

In appealing to apostolic authority Paul includes himself, but as we saw in 1 Corinthians 15:5 he presented as evidence for his case against the deniers that Jesus "appeared to Cephas [Peter], then to the twelve," referring to Jesus's apostles. If their claim is true that Christ did not raise bodily, then all the apostles are frauds and blasphemers. Paul now repeats the argument of 1 Corinthians 15:13 for emphasis: For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised (v 16).

If there is no bodily resurrection, a principle consistent with Greek philosophical thought, then Christ did not raise from the dead. That is a direct logical connection. It is simply a fact that if there is no resurrection, then Christ Himself did not resurrect. Conversely, if Christ did raise, then resurrection is real. The Greeks preferred the idea of an immaterial afterlife. Their philosophy was that evil dwelt in the material/physical, therefore it was a benefit to be rid of it.

Paul agreed with the notion that what he called our "flesh" is something we will be blessed to be rid of: "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not" (Romans 7:18).

But Paul also taught that the body was something that could be directed to live apart from sin (Romans 6:12). So, Paul saw the "flesh" as a fallen nature that had nothing good in it, but he did not agree with the Greeks that bodies/materiality was inherently bad. Rather, our bodies are fallen and in need of redemption (Romans 8:23). The resurrection is that redemption made complete.

Paul elevates the material evidence. Jesus appeared in a resurrected body. He was seen by the twelve (1 Corinthians 15:5). He was seen by five hundred at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6). That means bodily resurrection is real, whether the Greeks like it or not. Paul’s argument is that the deniers can't have it both ways--that can't say Jesus rose but we will not. If there is no resurrection for us, then Christ did not raise. And if Christ did not raise, we are still in our sins.

When Paul later describes the resurrected body that believers in Jesus can look forward to, he calls it a "spiritual body" as opposed to a "natural body." The Greek word translated "natural" is used sometimes in the sense of "worldly"--being of this world, the fallen world (James 3:15, Jude 1:19). The Greek word translated "spiritual" is generally used of the divine world. The resurrected body will be of a physical nature but in a kingdom that is redeemed and not of this world; it will be of a new world that is filled with righteousness (2 Peter 3:13).

In 1 Corinthians 15:44, Paul likens physical death to a seed that is buried in the ground then brings forth an abundance of life. Death leads to life. No resurrection, no life. If we do not resurrect, then Christ did not resurrect.

This then leads to this section's conclusion: and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins (v 17).

If Christ is not raised, then the good news becomes bad news. Rather than glad tidings that we are delivered from our sins, we have only the terrible news that we are still in our sins. There is, therefore, nothing in which to believe. Faith is useless, if it is faith in something that is untrue. Such faith is worthless.

The consequence for sin is death (Genesis 2:17, Romans 6:23). If Jesus is not raised, then death is not satisfied. If Jesus died and did not raise, then Jesus is still dead. Therefore, death has not been overturned. The sting of death is sin (1 Corinthians 15:56). If death is not overturned, neither is sin.

Resurrection defeats death. As Paul will exclaim later in this chapter, "Death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Corinthians 15:53-57). The victory is in Christ, and His victory is victory over death. Death was defeated through Jesus's resurrection, and His resurrection assures the resurrection of all who believe.

If our faith in Jesus does not deliver us from sins, then what good is it? Paul states it plainly: Your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins (v 17). Where 1 Corinthians 15:14 called faith in an unrisen Christ as being empty of content, this verse declares it void of effect.

The resurrection is God's public verdict on the cross, all sin was paid for on the cross (Colossians 2:14). Jesus "was delivered over because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification" (Romans 4:25). Romans 4:25 asserts that our opportunity to be declared right in God's sight through faith required both Jesus's offering of Himself to die as well as being raised to life. Paul's assertions in this chapter align with Romans 4:25, as Paul explains clearly that if Christ is not raised from the dead then every sinner who trusted Him would stand where he stood before, guilty and unforgiven.

The deniers' hypothesis then reaches into the church's own graves, if Christ was not bodily resurrected then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished (v 18). The gentle, sleeping euphemism for death, fallen asleep (also used in 1 Corinthians 15:6), turns bitter under the false view Paul is contesting that maintains there is no bodily resurrection. The metaphor of sleep presumes an awakening.

If we are not delivered from our sins through Christ because He was not raised, then we will be estranged from God in the age to come. That means everyone ends up in the Lake of Fire, because no one's name will be written in the Book of Life (Revelation 20:15). All will perish if Christ was not raised. But God is not desirous that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). And, thankfully, the truth is that Christ was raised (as Paul will vigorously assert in 1 Corinthians 15:20).

Paul closes the door for any who hold to Greek philosophical thought and take the position that the resurrection will be spiritual only, that no body will be involved. Paul asserts that if Christ's resurrection was only spiritual, then it was ineffectual for taking away our sin. Therefore, believers who have died have perished.

Paul shows that a denier's position reaches into every grave the church has ever wept over. Hope for the lost is in vain if Christ did not raise from the dead. If Christ did not raise: Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished (v 18). To perish spiritually is to remain separated from God.

Hope for believers we loved is gone if Christ did not raise from the dead. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied (v 19). Paul endured immense persecution for the sake of the gospel (2 Corinthians 11:24-27). He did all this for the promise of a prize (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Philippians 3:14). He did it for an eternal weight of glory promised for those who endure as faithful witnesses (2 Corinthians 4:17). If Christ is not raised, then all this labor is for nothing. Which is why Paul would of all men most to be pitied.

In the next verse, Paul asserts unequivocally that Christ has, in fact, raised from the dead. This is, fortunately, the true reality that renders moot all the possible problems dealt with in this section.