1 Corinthians 15:12-19

Date: April 27, 2025

Title: Resurrection of the Dead

Passage: 1 Corinthians 15:12-19

Announcements:

1 - Prayer night.

2 - Q&A - May 11th.

V. 1-11: The essential role of the resurrection in the proclamation of the gospel.

The historical credibility of the resurrection is established by the numerous people who bore witness to the resurrected Christ.

Looking at a passage that has to do with the worthlessness of our faith, if Christ was not raised from the dead.

INTRODUCTION

Bible teaches that in the beginning there was a fall.

One of the consequences of this original fall of man is that it resulted in a disorientation of man’s thoughts.

After the fall, our minds became corrupt.

Not only with respect to the sinful things we can think about in the privacy of our hearts.

Our minds became corrupt in terms of the way we actually think about the world in which we live.

Don’t think clearly. We misinterpret evidence. We make obvious mistakes. We come to irrational conclusions. We make ridiculous assumptions. We base our arguments on absurd premises. We fail to reason logically.

This is a result of the fall of man! We do stupid things, like worship the creature rather than the Creator! It makes absolutely no sense, but in our flesh we do it anyways.

Part of the work of redemption is to have our thinking faculties renewed, so that our ability to reason rationally, consistently, and logically would become more in line with the way things actually are—more in line with truth.

Sometimes we need people to help us out with that.

One such person whose helped me out quite a bit is Jason Lisle.

Christian apologist. Ultimate Proof of Creation. Refutes the arguments for evolution and athiesm without getting into all the complexities of science.

He’s not oppossed to that. He does it for a living. An astrophysicist—has a PHD in that particular field of science.

This book shows how great minds can make great mistakes.

When the invariable laws of logic that govern the universe are ignored, mistakes are bound to happen. False conclusions will be reached.

To think aright about a particular matter, we want to do our best to make sure we’re not committing logical fallicies and that we’re not failing to see the necessary implications of the views to which we hold, if we take it to it’s logical end.

This not only applies, when it comes to interpreting the world in which we live.

It also applies to theology!

It applies to the Bible!

Now are there going to be mysteries that we cannot fully resolve in our finite minds?

Absolutely!

Difference between mystery and contradiction.

Mysteries are beyond our understanding.

Contradictions, however, are contrary to the nature of God. Unacceptable.

We got to trace out the implications of what we’re confessing to believe, lest we are forced into holding a position we don’t really want to believe is true.

In our passage, that’s precisely what we see Paul doing.

Using some basic logical reasoning to expose the wrong-headed thinking of the Corinthians for what it is.

Helping them see the logical incoherence of their perspective.

Showing how their inadequate understanding has devastating implications on their lives and future!—Implications no Christian would want to believe!

They were failing to make the connection.

Paul’s going to connect the dots for them.

That they would see how insufficient their view of the resurrection must be!

Clearly this is what Paul is doing.

In V. 12-19, Paul catalogues a series of negative consequences that would follow, if in fact their view of the resurrection of the dead were true.

Before he fleshes out all those implications for them, he first sets the stage by asking a fundamental question that demands an answer.

The Resurrection of the Dead

1 Cor 15:12, “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?”

“Some” = Not all the Corinthians were doubting the idea of resurrection.

A good number were.

Weren’t necessarily doubting the idea that Christ rose from the dead.

Denying that Chrstians would physically rise from the dead.

“Resurrection of the dead” = The believing dead.

V. 13 indicates the “resurrection of the dead” pertains to believers because they’re distinguished from Christ.

Read V. 13.

If believers are not raised, than not even Christ has been raised.

Focus here is on the denial of the resurrection of Christians.

Reason Paul spoke about the historicity of the resurrection of Christ in V. 1-11 was to lay down the foundations for developping a whole theology of resurrection.

1 Cor 15 is primarily about showing the implications the resurrection of Christ has on all those who belong to Him.

The Corinthians weren’t so much denying the former inasmuch as they were denying the latter.

They may have conceded that the resurrection of Christ was unique

According to Paul, you can’t do that.

One necessarily follows the other.

If you negate one, you must negate the other.

If believers aren’t gonna be raised, than it’s inconsistent to say Christ has been raised because He’s the representative of His people.

That’s why, to deny the general resurrection of the dead requires you to deny the specific resurrection of Christ.

What’s true of Him is true of you—you’re united to Christ.

You can’t affirm the one while simultaneously denying the other.

That doesn’t make sense.

This is a good form of reasoning Paul is utilizing.

It’s what we call an a priori argument.

It’s making a logical deduction from the premise that’s being argued for.

In other words, if A is true, then B must also be true.

If something has blue, it has color.

If something is circular, it’s round.

All bachelors are unmarried.

2 + 2 = 4.

These are examples of a priori statements of fact.

Same thing happens in the realm of scripture and theology.

Even Jesus will reason this way.

Make logical inferences on the basis of what is known to be true.

Simple example of this:

Matt 7:11, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

That’s a priori argument.

It’s a very coherent one.

If it’s the case that A is true, then surely B must follow.

If evil fathers give good good gifts… and we know that our heavenly Father is perfectly good, then surely He’s going to give better gifts than any evil earthly father could.

Heb 9:14, If the blood of bulls and goats sanctify for the purification of the flesh, “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

If there was a benefit offered through animal blood; surely there is a way better benefit offered through the blood of Christ.

There’s all kinds of examples of this in the Bible, and 1 Corinthians 15 is no expection, except that in this case, Paul’s reasoning is a little more theological—deeper, but certainly in the ballpark of their understanding.

The Corinthians should have understood the implications the resurrection of Christ had on them, but rather than connecting those dots, making that necessary association, they divorced Christ’s resurrection from their own!

Christ’s resurrection = physical

Our resurrection = spiritual.

(Note) What exactly they believed is uncertain.

If influenced by the Greek philosphy of the day:

Soul returns to God.

Body descends to the grave for good.

Viewed as a prison from which the soul needed to be released.

This was a truncated view of the resurrection because it was never God’s intent to save part of a person, but to save the whole person, which includes our bodies!

The resurrection of Christ should have made that clear!

Paul’s saying: if you want to maintain theological consistentcy, then think it through: if you’re going to argue there’s no bodily resurrection of the dead, then by necesiity you’re also going to have to argue that even Christ was not raised from the dead, and you don’t want to go that far do you?

If Christ has not been raised, everything begins to fall apart.

CONSEQUENCES

V. 14-19 / Outlines the consequences of such a position:

1 - Our Preaching is Vain:

Read V. 14.

If Christ hasn’t been raised, what I’m doing right now is useless.

There’s no point to preaching.

Teaching the Bible would be emptied of it’s power.

If Christ is still buried in the tomb outside Jerusalem, the reason for which we gather Sunday after Sunday would be meaningless.

That’s what Paul is saying.

Without the resurrection, his preaching, together with all the apostles would have been completely absurd.

Not only because their preaching would be without effect, but because they would have been misrepresenting God!

Read V. 15.

Showing how if the resurrection is a falsehood, it would imply that the message they were proclaiming as a fundamental tenet of the faith is a lie.

Reason being — The consequence for denying the bodily resurrection of the dead forces one to deny the bodily resurrection of Christ, and if Christ has not been raised, then the message they proclaimed (resurrection) couldn’t possibly have been one approved or authorized by God.

If this hypothetical scenario was true, then they would be misrepresenting God in the hishest degree because God cannot lie.

It would make them Imposters. False apostles. False teachers. Liars!

2 - Your Faith is in Vain:

Read V. 14.

Our faith is only as valid as the message on which it is founded.

Undercut the foundation, no longer do have anything to stand on.

We’d loose our footing.

Whether we realized it or not, our faith would be nothing but a superstitious belief that’ll lead us to the grave and keep us in the grave.

That’s how important the resurrection is!

If it didn’t take place, we’re just believing in fairytales.

Our faith wouldn’t be any better than a muslim, buddhist, mormon.

It’d be every bit as worthless as theirs.

The implications of denying the resurrection of Christ cannot be overstated.

If our faith is holding onto a dead savior, we are still left in our sins.

This is how serious the ramifications are!

No resurrection, no removal of sin.

Points that out in V. 17.

The inevitable conclusion to draw from Paul’s argument is that the justification of believers rests squarely on the resurrection of Christ!

Abraham’s faith was directed toward the God who had the power to raise the dead.

Romans 4:22–25, “That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”

Raised for our justification.

Don’t want to create a wedge between the death and resurrection of Christ, as though only one aspect of His work was necessary for our salvation.

The birth, life, death, resurrection are all constituent elements of great work of salvation He accomplished to secure our forgiveness and justification.

Through His incarnation, He was born without sin.

Through His life, He fulfilled the just requirements of the law.

Through His death, He bore the legal penalty for our sin.

Through His resurrection, He nullified the sentence of death and was vindicated by His Father to be the one and only, true, and righteous King.

Only by being in vital union with the risen Christ are we justified.

If you are united to a dead Christ, you are united to someone who couldn’t conquer sin but someone who was conquered by sin.

That’s not going to put you in a better position than anyone else, regardless of how much faith you have!

You can have great faith, but if such faith is attached to a dead savior, then the power of sin continues to reign over you because the wages of sin is death!

Death must be defeated. Conquered. Overcome.

If it’s not, then the power of sin remains.

How discouraging and depressing would it be to know that all your sins, remain?

If that were the case, then yea… as Paul says, your faith is futile.

It’s pointless. Worthless.

What’s the point of trusting in someone to save you from your sins if He couldn’t overcome it Himself?

That’s not going to help you out at all.

Won’t help you out in this life or the afterlife.

3 - Those who are Dead have Perished: V. 18

Read V. 18.

The Christian hope is one tied up with the resurrection of the body.

That’s why when a Christian dies, we may grieve, but we should not grieve as those who have no hope.

If Christ has not been raised, however, there no reason to hope at all.

Quite the opposite!

If Christ is not raised, there is no resurrection unto life. Period!

Bodies don’t go to heaven.

Souls don’t go to heaven!

Heaven is an impossibility.

The only thing that awaits us is death and destruction.

Paul’s forcing them to see the fallacy in their reasoning.

The idea that the souls of their loved ones who have died in Christ are in heaven, but won’t ever receive glorified bodies is a disjointed position that needs to be rejected.

Only two alternatives here:

1 - If Christ has been raised, then deceased Christians are alive and will live forevermore.

2 - If Christ has not been raised, then there’s no wholeness of life to be experienced following this one at all.

Condemnation, death, judgment.

Very simple syllogism:

No resurrection = Still left in your sins.

Still left in your sins = You will perish forever!

Perish in your sins = No hope beyond the grave.

Making us, out the stock of humanity, the most to be pitied.

4 - Most to be Pitied: V. 19

Read V. 19.

I’m sure we all know what it feels like to hope in something that never becomes reality.

It can be disheartening.

It’s always sad to see someone so devoted to something, investing in it, placing all their hopes in it, when you know they’re going to be left disappointed.

You feel sorry for them.

You have pity on them.

At least to a certain extent.

I suppose there’s mixed emotions.

On the one hand, you feel bad over the fact that their hopes and expectations were crushed.

On the other hand, you’re left baffled over why they would put so much stock in such a false & foolish hope.

Conclusion: ‘What a waste. What a worthless pursuit. Why would you give up so much, only to receive nothing in return!?’

If Christ has not been raised, that’s us, X 100!!

We would be the most to be pitied.

… To give up everything in this life—suffer—labor for the cause, only to discover that in the end, everything we hoped and dreamed of turned out to be nothing but a delusion!

How would that not make us the laughingstock of the world?

CONCLUSION:

Do you see why the resurrection of the dead is so important to affirm?

Once you deny it, the whole message of Christianity begins to fall apart piece by piece.

That’s why we need to care even about the small mistakes.

Sometimes a minor error that someone might hold to, may at first only seem to be a minor issue that isn’t that consequential, but when the logic of that error is consistently followed through, you begin to see that it could potentially become so much more consequential than you ever thought.

That’s what Paul is doing here for the Corinthians.

He’s using a cascade argument to expose the inconsistency of their position.

He’s done this in a masterway way.

Paul was a systmetician.

His logic was impeccable.

His theological rigour was next to none.

His grasp of the doctrine of the believer’s union with Christ was comprehensively work out.

In this passage, He has adequately and sufficiently shown how the denial of one truth, by necessity, must lead to the denial of another truth that you do not want to deny, otherwise you’re done for!

If the dead are not raised, Christ is not raised.

If Christ is not raised, the consequences are ruinous!

Our preaching is vain.

Our faith is in vain.

We’re found to be misrepresenting God.

We’re still in our sins.

We’re all going to perish.

We, above all, are most to be pitied.

You think the Corinthians re-examined their understanding of the resurrection after this? You better believe it.

If the dead are not raised, it ultimately results in there being no hope.

Flip that original premise around… everything turns in our favor!

If the dead are raised, Christ is raised!

If Christ is raised, our preaching is not without purpose.

Our faith is not meaningless.

We are not misrepresenting God.

We are not still in our sins.

We will not perish.

Our hope is well-grounded, not only for this life, but for what is to come in the life hereafter.

No need to have any pity for that. That’s a life worth treasuring.