12 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?

They obviously had been infiltrated by the Greek philosophers, as mentioned in Acts 17. Paul had been preaching a strong message to them, and they had been listening. But he had to mention the resurrection. One cannot preach Christ without mentioning the resurrection. Some Christians even today shy away from it, fearing the very reaction given by the Athenians, 17:32. They began to mock Paul when he mentioned it. Then they basically unplugged the microphone. They stopped him, and said, thanks, but maybe we can listen to you some other time. Goodbye Paul.

Very few people in this world have ever witnessed a resurrection. No one has seen a resurrection like Jesus' and the one he describes for us. All resurrections in the Bible times, and if there be any today, are simply bodies coming back to life, like as we know it. Jesus' resurrection was also a transformation. Yours will be too. And people will laugh at you when you talk about it to them, unless the Spirit has prepared their heart for you. Even in civilized Athens there were a few who came to Jesus at that event.

So this poison of unbelief and the wisdom of men and the cynicism of men and the intellectualism of men had infiltrated the church. And some were beginning to spread it. By the way, that kind of unbelief in anything miraculous past or present, is still in Christianity. But according to Paul in that verse we started with, it is not in the true church. No one who truly knows Christ - and that is the church - denies his or their own resurrection. That is an entrance requirement!

13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. Obviously. Now follow the rest of the logic:

14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.

Vain. Worthless. You can have your prosperity Gospel without the resurrection. You can have your self esteem Gospel without the resurrection. You can teach a moral Gospel without the resurrection. But you cannot have the Gospel of Christ without the resurrection of Christ. Your faith is empty. You have a sign outside that announces "church" but there's no true church there. You wear the title of "Christian" but inside your heart where Christ should be, is nothing but you and your ideas about God. Your religion is made up, imaginary.

And the preacher can preach with the greatest of eloquence but if he does not include the resurrection in his message of salvation, his words carry no weight, no eternity, no Christ.

15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up--if in fact the dead do not rise.

Paul now expresses the apology he would have to make. He would have to go to all the churches he started, and tell them, I made a mistake. I misunderstood. God never really said that Jesus rose from the dead. The other apostles might have seen something that looked like that, but really, Jesus is still in the grave. I am so sorry to have misled you. That is, if these false Corinthians were really true. If the Greek philosophy was really correct.

16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. He repeats himself for emphasis.

17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!

Not only did you believe a lie, but you are still lost! No forgiveness is available. You're going to Hell, if Jesus did not rise from the dead!

With that point, we might confuse some Christians today. I think we understand when we say, Jesus died for our sins. That idea has been around a long time. We believe that Jesus' sacrifice was needed to appease a holy God. We believe blood had to be shed, the perfect blood of a perfect Lamb. The pictures of the Old testament sacrifice are clear here. Animals died. Blood shed.

But none of those animals came back to life. The Jews believed their sins were rolled back, until the next time they had to bring a sacrifice. But no sacrificer was told to expect a resurrection of their sacrifice. Why did Jesus have to rise from the dead in order for our sins to be forgiven?

What if Jesus had remained in the tomb, what then? What if He were in the tomb even now? How would this affect our salvation?

Of course it is an awful thing to suggest. Jesus promised several times that He would rise, though the disciples never understood His comments. I have given you above the prophecies that pointed to the resurrection of Messiah. But we are still left with "why?"

We know that God cannot remain in a tomb. God cannot be left to decay. Of course that is one reason He had to rise.

But there is more. There is the law of sin and death. If Jesus had remained in the tomb, and was there now, would it not be a confession of God that this Man who died really was just another sinner? And how could another sinner take away my sins? Could just any man die for me?

More still: It is the resurrected Christ, through His Spirit, that enters the heart and life of a believer, sanctifying and forgiving Him, on the basis of the blood shed. No resurrection means this Christ is not in you, saving, forgiving, making holy, leading you into paths of righteousness.

And of course, Jesus conquered the consequences of sin by rising from the grave. Not only sin is defeated, but death itself now is defeated too.

Indeed, "you are still in your sins" without the resurrection. Preach the full message of Jesus.

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

Fallen asleep is Paul's way of saying, "have died." The Bible does not teach "soul sleeping." Paul elsewhere says that when we (our soul) are absent from the body, we are present with the Lord. At the resurrection our body and soul will be united. John sees the souls of martyrs in Revelation 6, and they, the souls, are crying out, Lord, how long? They are at rest with Jesus, but not sleeping.

So Paul's expression only has to do with death, and what appears to be sleep. Our bodies do indeed fall asleep, never to be seen in that same state again.

If Christ has not been raised from the dead, conquering sin and death, then the people who died thinking they were saved were not really saved at all. They have simply died like every other man died, and will suffer the consequences of sin, which is death and eternal punishment.

19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

People who do not from the heart believe in resurrection, both Jesus' and ours, have only their mortal life to enjoy all that there is. This is why you see people going after money. They have nothing else. Death is the end. Some are going after fame and success. This life is all there is. Gotta make it to the top and be remembered by the ones who come after me. They have nothing else. Death is the end. Some are pleasure crazed, not realizing that at the right hand of Jesus are pleasures forever. But they must have pleasure now. This life is all there is. They have nothing else. Death is the end.

Of course, the Christian does not live for these things. I hope no one here is living for any of those things. Christians are called to deny themselves the things of this world. Christians are taught to take up a cross and follow Jesus to a place of death. Martyrdom. Sacrifice. Poverty. Pain and suffering. And then, according to those Corinthian Christians, that's it. Just like the world. This life is all there is. We have nothing else. Death is the end. 30, 50, 70 years of extremely difficult circumstances, then that's it! How miserable it must be to be a Christian. If there is no resurrection.

Come to think of it, that seems to be the attitude of many Western believers. One would think that many really do not believe there is anything in the next life, when we see them going after all the benefits of this life.