“And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins,” 1 Corinthians 15:17

1. ‘Your faith is vain’

The LORD Jesus, and all of Scripture had declared that the Lord Jesus would not only lay down His life, but that God would not suffer His soul to see corruption, and would rise again the third day (Matthew 12:40, 16:21, Luke 24:46-47, I Corinthians 15:3,4). Faith, to be true, must have a trustworthy object and must be proven to be founded on the truth. Had not Christ risen, He would have been proven a liar, and His work then a sham, and those who believed on Him, followed Him, and pointed others to Him as the only Savior would have been proven to be liars and untrustworthy as well.

2. ‘Ye are yet in your sins’

As vital as faith in Christ’s work, so the effect of what Christ said He would accomplish. His purpose in coming, living, and dying, was to be the just satisfaction for guilty sinners who God purposed to save from eternity. Romans 4:25 declares that His DEATH was essential for the putting away of sin, but His resurrection as proof that sin had been put away, and that those for whom He died were subsequently justified. Those who preach justification from eternity, declaring that the elect were always justified, confound the historic unfolding of God’s redemption, and the essential need for Christ to die first, and satisfaction made first, in order for God to justify. Here, the Scriptures declare that had Christ not risen, sin would have remained. Therefore, the converse is true, that until Christ died, and there had been just satisfaction for sin, evidenced by the resurrection of Christ from the dead, the sin had not been removed. How important then is the cross work of Christ, not only in His death, but His resurrection, to ACCOMPLISH the salvation of God’s elect. The elect were unjustified until Christ died(1 Peter 3:18). However, upon completion of Christ’s death, justice was satisfied, and by His resurrection, the Good News is that those for whom He died are NOW fully, freely, and forever declared righteous. As one beloved one of the LORD so aptly declared, ‘My sin which took Him to the cross, could not keep Him in the grave!’

Hallelujah! What a Savior!