The Hope of The Resurrection of Christ Offers

1 Corinthians 15

Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament (Chapter 15)

1 CORINTHIANS 15The Greeks did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. When Paul preached the resurrection at Athens, some of the people actually laughed at this doctrine (Acts 17:32). Their philosophers taught that the body was the prison of the soul, and the sooner the soul was set free in death, the better off a person would be. The Greeks looked upon the human body as a source of weakness and wickedness, and they could not conceive of a body that continued to exist after death. It was this kind of thinking that Paul had to deal with when he wrote this chapter.I. The Proofs of the Believer’s Resurrection (15:1–34)A. Historical proof (vv. 1–11).The Corinthians did not doubt the resurrection of Christ, so Paul began there in his argument for the resurrection of the human body. The resurrection of Christ is an historic fact proved by the message of the Gospel, the testimony of witnesses and the conversion of Paul himself. If there were no resurrection, there would be no salvation, for a dead Savior can save nobody! “Now,” argues Paul, “I know that you Corinthians believe in the resurrection of Christ, otherwise your faith is empty (vain). Christ was a man, and now He has a resurrection body. If He has a glorified body in heaven, why should we believers not have one also?” This is another aspect of the believer’s union with Christ: because He has been glorified, we shall also be glorified one day.B. Personal proof (vv. 12–19).Paul points to the Corinthians’ own personal experience. He had preached the Gospel to them, they had believed, and their lives had been transformed (6:9–11). But if the dead rise not, then Christ is dead, and that Gospel was a lie! Their faith was vain, and they were still in their sins! The Christian faith is good only if a person lives; there is no hope after death.