What is the meaning of 1 Corinthians 15:16? For if the dead are not raised Paul opens with a conditional statement that exposes the error of those in Corinth who denied a future bodily resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:12). • Scripture consistently teaches that God will raise His people physically—Job rejoiced that “in my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:26), Jesus promised that “all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come out” (John 5:28-29), and Paul affirmed “there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked” (Acts 24:15). • Denying this promise undermines the entire redemptive storyline: Abraham looked to a heavenly city (Hebrews 11:10), David expected to “awake with Your likeness” (Psalm 17:15), and believers today await the moment when “the Lord Himself will descend…and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). • The phrase “are not raised” shows that without God’s intervening power, death would have the final word—contradicting Jesus’ claim, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Then not even Christ has been raised Paul presses the logic to its unavoidable conclusion: if no resurrection exists at all, Christ Himself must still be in the tomb. • Christ’s resurrection is inseparably linked to ours; He is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Firstfruits guarantee the full harvest that follows (Leviticus 23:10-11). • Scripture records eyewitness testimony to the risen Lord—“God raised Him up, releasing Him from the agony of death” (Acts 2:24), the angel’s proclamation “He is not here; He has risen” (Matthew 28:6), and the apostolic affirmation that He was “declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection” (Romans 1:4). • If Christ were not raised: – Preaching would be empty (1 Corinthians 15:14). – Faith would be futile and believers would still be in their sins (vv. 17-18). – Hope would evaporate, leaving us “pitied more than all men” (v. 19). • But because He lives, we are born again “to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3) and walk “in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). summary Paul’s single sentence dismantles the notion that the resurrection is optional. If no dead are raised, Christ remains dead; yet He is alive, therefore all who belong to Him will rise. Our confidence in eternal life, forgiveness, and future glory rests solidly on the historical, bodily resurrection of Jesus—the cornerstone that guarantees our own. |
    |