1 Corinthians 15:15-19 (WEL) Yes, and we are found [to be] false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised Christ whom he didn’t raise, if it is so that the dead don’t rise. 16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ isn’t risen. 17 If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. 18 Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If [it is] only in this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people the most pitiful.
V15 Yes, and we are found [to be] false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised Christ whom he didn’t raise, if it is so that the dead don’t rise.
The danger of being a false witness—1) disobedience to the Mosaic law (Exodus 20:16), 2) disobedience to the Law of Christ (Romans 13:9), 3) destroys witness for Jesus, 4) damages trust (Proverbs 11:9), 5) damages one’s reputation (Proverbs 6:14 and Proverbs 11:13), and 6) hurts others (Proverbs 26:28).
Speaking the truth (1 Timothy 2:7) is very important in witness for the one who cannot lie (Titus 1:2).
Speaking the truth is an action of love (1 Corinthians 13:6).
V16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ isn’t risen.
Jesus died physically. If there is no resurrection, there is no salvation, no hope, and no peace.
Felo AI on first-century Corinth and their beliefs about a bodily resurrection: “Greek philosophy, particularly Platonism and Gnosticism, was prevalent in Corinth. These philosophies often viewed the physical body as inferior or corrupt, emphasizing the soul’s immortality instead. Resurrection, in this context, was typically understood as a spiritual event rather than a physical, bodily one. This perspective likely contributed to some Corinthians rejecting the idea of a future bodily resurrection.”
V17 If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins.
The importance of Jesus’s resurrection: 1) proves He was sinless (Hebrews 4:15 and 1 Peter 2:22), 2) proves His prophecy was true (Matthew 12:40 and Mark 8:31), 3) proves the completion of His ministry as the Passover Lamb (John 19:30 and Hebrews 9:11-14), 4) proves hope for our resurrection (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14), 5) proves Jesus paid the penalty for our sins (1 Corinthians 6:20), and 6) proves our faith is not futile (1 Peter 1:3).
V18 Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
If there is no resurrection, then those who have died will not be in heaven.
Biblical Illustrator: “All the pious dead have perished.
- One phrase must be explained by the previous one; if Christ is not risen, they are yet in their sins. They died, and they told us that they were blood-washed and forgiven; but if Christ rose not from the dead, there is no saint who ever died, who has had any real hope; he has died under a delusion, and he has perished.
- If Christ be not raised, the godly dead are yet in their sins, and they can never rise; for, if Christ did not rise, they cannot.”
V19 If [it is] only in this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people the most pitiful.
Again emphasizing the importance of the truth of Jesus’s physical bodily resurrection.
(Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary) If our hopes in Christ were limited to this life only, we should be, of all men, most to be pitied; namely, because, while others live unmolested, we are exposed to every trial and persecution, and, after all, are doomed to bitter disappointment in our most cherished hope; for all our hope of salvation, even of the soul (not merely of the body), hangs on the resurrection of Christ, without which His death would be of no avail to us (Ephesians 1:19, 20; 1Pe 1:3). The heathen are “without hope” (Ephesians 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:13). We should be even worse, for we should be also without present enjoyment (1 Corinthians 4:9).
We learn:
- The supreme importance of Jesus’s resurrection.
- Our hope for our resurrection.
Questions:
- Do you believe that Jesus literally, physically rose from the dead?
- Do you have a hope in your resurrection?