Sermon Tone Analysis

*1 Corinthians 15:12-15… *Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?* *13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.

15 Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we witnessed against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised.

*Commentary*

            In the previous 11 verses Paul made at least five convincing and undeniable arguments for the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

But it appears that among the Corinthians there were some trouble-makers who denied the reality of the dead rising.

This was a common belief among pagans of that day – even among certain Jews like the Sadducees (cf.

Matt.

22:23).

Not only did the OT speak of a resurrection from the dead (Job 19:26; Dan.

12:2) but Paul had already proven that Christ’s resurrection was certain, thus also proving the general truth of a resurrection.

So v. 12 just summarizes the first 11 verses concerning Christ’s resurrection from the dead, and it condemns the trouble-makers who were saying otherwise.

In v. 13 Paul gives the first of four results if in fact Christ had not been resurrected.

First, if the pagans of the day were right in believing that there is no resurrection from the dead (i.e.

you live, you die, it’s over) then “not even Christ has been raised.”

In other words, if it were true that no one comes back to life after they die, then Jesus Christ could not have been raised from the dead either.

But since Paul had already proven that he had been raised to life following his death the argument for no resurrection was actually no argument at all.

Second, in v. 14, if Christ has not been raised, then the Christian message (“our preaching”) “is vain” (empty, fruitless, having no effect).

The preaching of Christians that the Son of God was crucified on a cross and raised to life after three days would be no less ridiculous than believing that cows can fly.

If Christ wasn’t raised from the dead, preaching about its truth would be a worthless endeavor.

Third, in v. 14, if Christ was not raised from the dead, then “your faith also is vain.”

The faith of believing such an event like the resurrection would be an empty faith if the object of our faith was in fact still dead.

For it is preposterous to believe in something that is not based upon truth.

Of course the resurrection was based on truth, so it’s not a blind faith (credulity), it’s a faith founded on fact – the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Fourth, if the dead are not raised to life in a phenomenon known as the resurrection, then those who preach such are liars.

Anyone who espouses an event as truth which isn’t really truth is a liar.

And if the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a lie, then anyone who preaches that it’s true is a liar.

He would furthermore have blind faith, an empty and worthless message, and he would also not be raised to life when he himself passes away into the eternal state of death.

*Food for Thought*

            Of course there are many today who don’t believe in a resurrection following their deaths.

Atheists and agnostics believe that life on earth is all there is; no God, no sin, no salvation, and no life after death.

But the evidence of Christ’s resurrection is wide open for anyone who dares to investigate the event.

You see, those who witnessed the event wrote about it, and their lives and their deaths attest to its truth.

Everything we believe about the past is based upon eyewitnesses and evidences that give proof.

Why treat the resurrection any different?

If it’s true then it’s the single most important event in the history of the world.

We must preach it.

*1 Corinthians 15:16-19… *For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.

18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

*Commentary*

            Verses 16-17 restates what Paul said in v. 13, that if dead people don’t come back to life after death then Christ himself has not been raised from the dead.

And a dead Christ would be disastrous for those who place their faith in him.

A dead Christ would mean that Christians are still in their sins and no better off than unbelieving pagans.

Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death, and without a Messiah to fulfill his own predictions about himself being handed over for the sins of mankind, and subsequently coming back to life, Christianity dies.

It dies because death would be permanent and sin would not be forgiven.

God atoned for the sins of the Israelites through blood sacrifices in the OT, but through the death of Jesus Christ He atoned for the sins of all mankind, forgave the sins of those who placed their faith in him, and when Christ was resurrected from the grave three days later Christianity was inaugurated and validated.

Verse 18 introduces another hypothetical problem in the event that Christ did not rise from the dead: “Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.”

The phrase “fallen asleep” is a euphemism for death, and Paul is basically saying that all the saints gone before, if in fact Christ didn’t rise from the dead, are nothing but fertilizer under the earth’s surface.

They perished without hope if Christ was not resurrected.

All those wonderful saints listed in Hebrews 11 (Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Samson, Samuel, David, and the prophets) would be nothing more than dry bones lying in the ground if Christ had not been resurrected.

Of course this would include not only the saints of the past but of those still living today who have dedicated their lives to serving the God who died in their place and rose again to set them free.

Verse 19 sums up who Christians are without a risen Christ: “men most to be pitied.”

For if Jesus Christ is only worthy of hope in our present life on the earth, because he hypothetically didn’t rise from the dead, then those who hope in him for the next life are sad and misguided people indeed – men to be pitied above all others.

It would mean that the forgiveness Christians count on in this present life is not only false, but it also means that the hope that Christians also have for their future life with Christ is also false.

For if Christ did not rise from the dead then there can be no life after death for believers given that Christ too is not alive in eternity.

And anyone who believes such would be as pitiful a person as one believes that there is no God, that evolution created all things, and that life has no real meaning.

The Christian faith stands or falls on Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

To deny the resurrection is to deny the Christian faith.

*Food for Thought*

            Belief in Christ’s resurrection is really quite simple.

The evidence for that resurrection is overwhelming.

It’s the evolutionists, atheists, and agnostics who reject “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” that prevents them from believing in the God of miracles and salvation.

But for those who accept Christ’s resurrection based upon the facts and upon their faith in God they are blessed greatly.

Christ’s resurrection from the dead includes not only a lifetime of forgiveness and a fullness of life on the earth, but it also entails an eternal future in heaven with our Creator and Savior.

It includes a resurrection for us following our physical death just like Christ’s.

Since he was raised from the dead and sits today at the right hand of the Father making intercession for his children let us rejoice greatly and fall on our faces before him.

*1 Corinthians 15:20-22… *But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.

22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.

*Commentary*

            Beginning in v. 20 Paul leaves behind the ridiculous notion that Christ wasn’t resurrected after his death and burial.

The “but now” is emphatic in the Greek text, and he reiterates the truth that Christ “has been raised” – a verb tense in Greek that signifies a past completed action with current and future ramifications.

Unlike all other so-called “prophets” (i.e., Buddha, Mohammed, etc.), Christ is not in a tomb to be visited; he’s alive, and he is the “first fruits of those who are asleep.”

Before the Jews would harvest their crops they would bring a representative sample of their crops to the priest as an offering to the Lord (Lev.

23:10).

The full harvest was not full until the first fruits had been offered.

So too was Christ’s own resurrection from the dead.

It was the first fruits of the resurrection “harvest” of true believers.

Christ’s resurrection from the dead was an offering of himself to God the Father on behalf of all who believe.

And he was the first to be raised from the dead among those who are “asleep” – those who have died.

Now there were a few people in the Bible whom Jesus raised to new life after their deaths (i.e., the son of the widow of Nain, Jairus’ daughter, and Lazarus), but they died again.

Jesus, on the other hand, was the first of all those who were once dead to rise again and live forevermore.

Verses 21-22 speaks of the death for all humans that came about through Adam’s disobedience in Genesis 3 along with the resurrection that Christ brings to all humans on account of his own resurrection.

Why do people die?

Simply because this is man’s fate from his mother’s womb due to the sin of Adam in his disobedience to God.

But in the same way that Adam brought death to the human race, Jesus Christ brought resurrection to them.

Verse 22 says that in Adam “all die,” and it uses a present tense verb to signify that death is continuous, something that all humans will experience.

But for those who are in Christ they “shall be made alive.”

This is a future verb tense, but the passive voice of the verb means that those being made alive is an act performed by another.

It isn’t the choice of the believer, rather it’s the choice of God.

Even though in Adam “all” die, signifying that every single person who draws a breath, “all” will not be made alive through Christ’s resurrection.

The “all” in this instance is reserved for those who have been born again, not every single human who ever lives as in the case of Adam’s sin.

As MacArthur has commented, “The ‘alls’ are alike in that they both apply to descendants.

Every human being is a descendant of Adam, and therefore the first ‘all’ is universal… Only those who trust in Jesus Christ, however , are his descendants (as illustrated in John 8:44), and the second ‘all’ therefore applies only to the saved.

It is only ‘all’ the fellow sons of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ who shall be made alive” (see also Gal. 3:26, 29; 4:7; Eph.

3:6).

*Food for Thought*

             As for Jesus being the “first fruits,” Warren Wiersbe says, “As the Lamb of God, Jesus died on Passover.

As the sheaf of first fruits, He arose from the dead three days later on the first day of the week.

When the priest waved the sheaf of the first fruits before the Lord, it was a sign that the entire harvest belonged to Him.

When Jesus was raised from the dead, it was God’s assurance to us that we shall also be raised one day as part of that future harvest.

To believers, death is only ‘sleep.’

The body sleeps, but the soul is at home with the Lord (2 Cor.