The Apostle Paul addresses a number of problems that were plaguing the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians: divisions, sexual immorality, Christians taking other Christians to court, and confusion about the Lord’s Supper and spiritual gifts (and there are more!). However, it seems that he saves the biggest and the most important problem for last, as he confronts some false teaching concerning resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 – namely, that there is no resurrection of the dead (1 Corinthians 15:12).
Saying this problem was the most important of all the ones addressed in the letter is not meant to diminish the significance of the other problems. Rather, it highlights the fact that this concerns truths that stand at the heart of the Christian faith. Belief in the resurrection – both Christ’s resurrection and our future resurrection at his return – are found among the truths proclaimed in the Apostles’ Creed. Thus, rejecting the idea outright is actually a rejection of the Christian faith.
Because our beliefs impact our lives and actions, failing to rightly grasp this truth also has detrimental effects on our choices and values in life. In fact, some scholars have argued that this misunderstanding about the resurrection may be at the root of many, if not all, of the other issues plaguing the church. I’m not sure if we can pinpoint this as the cause of all or know enough about some of the particular problems Paul addresses to make that statement, but I do see a link between the denial of the resurrection as potentially an underlying cause for some of the behaviors and attitudes found in Corinth.
The length of Paul’s discussion and the significance of the topic warrants consideration greater than can be offered in a single post, so I’ll focus this post on Paul’s words about the resurrection of Christ in this context; then in the next post I will talk more about what Paul says about the nature of the resurrection that we will experience. But before doing so, it would be good to offer a little more information on the teaching or ideas that Paul seems to be confronting here.
Why Paul Has To Talk About The Resurrection
Because of the importance of the resurrection for the Christian faith noted above, we may be surprised to hear that some in the Corinthian church seemed to be believing (and maybe even teaching) that there is no resurrection. Something we should remember is that the Apostles’ Creed would not have been written at this point, so the Corinthians couldn’t point back to it to say that this was out of accord with the essentials of the faith. That said, something that Paul does seem to do in this passage is point them back to the gospel message that he proclaimed in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 and spend some time highlighting the place of Jesus’ resurrection in that teaching. Thus, a point that Paul makes is that they should know better.
In addition, it isn’t necessarily clear if the people were explicitly denying the resurrection as a whole or if they were just ignoring the reality – as the idea of resurrection wasn’t one that was accepted or respected in the ancient world (see Acts 17:32 and the response in Athens – not too far from Corinth). People may have stressed the present implications of the gospel message for transformation so much that it seemed that there was no place for the idea of the resurrection in their preaching. Whether it was explicit or implicit, it seems that there was teaching that could be construed as denying the reality of the resurrection – which Paul then goes on to push back against by pointing to its importance in the Christian faith.
Why Jesus’s Resurrection Is Essential
The first point that Paul makes is that this teaching that denies the resurrection is out of accord because it would deny the reality of Jesus’s resurrection. In 15:12, Paul says, “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised” (CSB). The point he makes in these words is that if there is no resurrection of the dead, then we can’t say that Jesus was raised; such a belief is needed to affirm Jesus’s resurrection. This is such an important point that Paul makes it again later in the passages (see 15:15-16).
The resurrection of the dead is essential for the resurrection of Jesus, and Paul then goes on to say that the resurrection of Jesus is essential for the Christian faith, as if Christ was not raised then “our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith” (15:14). Paul and the apostles proclaiming it would be liars (15:15), both of Christ’s resurrection but also of the promise that there is forgiveness of sins through him. In such a case, Pauls says our faith would be worthless because we would not be forgiven of our sin (15:17) and that we are to be pitied (15:19). A reason for such pity is tied to the way Christ’s resurrection gives us hope for our resurrection, which is something that Paul will talk about later in the passage and we will in the next post. The bottom line of these words is that if you take away the promise of the resurrection and the idea that Jesus rose from the dead, our faith unravels.
Why We Can Be Confident It Happened
Paul grounds the truth of Christianity in the reality of Jesus’s resurrection, which raises the question of why we can be confident that this really happened – as it is a truth that is pretty remarkable when you think about it (dead people don’t come back to life). I’ve written other posts about that topic, but here I want to focus on the fact that Paul set up this passage in a way that should provide confidence in its reality. In 1 Corinthians 15:5-8, he lists a number of people that Jesus rose and appeared to. Both the number of people listed and their identity is notable. He notes Cephas (Peter) and the 12 (the Apostles). These figures might be viewed as likely to want to believe Jesus rose or could have made it up, but we also have to remember that the gospels point to them not hoping for it or even believing it when it first happened; Jesus appeared to people who did not expect it. Then in 15:6, Paul notes that Jesus “appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep.” The fact that so many people would hallucinate or imagine something at the same time is very unlikely, and Paul even points out that you could go and check with some of them about it at the time of his writing. Paul then lists James – the brother of Jesus who was not a believer during Jesus’s life and probably the least likely person to think he would be the Savior – as well as other apostles and himself (15:7-8). It would also be good to note that these took place on many different occasions; it was not just a single moment but one that happened over many days (elsewhere in the Bible, we see it was over 40 days).
This is not a short list or a secretive thing, but something that happened with wide verification that led to its proclamation. Therefore, Paul emphasizes reasons to believe it happened before going on to show its centrality to the Christian faith as a way to refute the false teaching that was spreading.
Therefore, this is a teaching that we should not only affirm and remember, but can and must embrace and defend today. Only if Jesus rose from the dead do we have the promise that our sins are forgiven. At the same time that we stress the reality of his resurrection – and the hope that it produces – we should also remember the reason for his resurrection, both in terms of the cruel and painful death Jesus suffered and that the reason for that was in place of our sins. Therefore, in addition to the reality of Christ’s death giving us hope, it should also invite us to be able to suffer in this present world and to recognize and confess our sins. Let us remember not just that the resurrection of Jesus is so important but also why it is – letting it shape the way we live out our faith as we wait in hope for our resurrection, the reality and nature of which Paul also makes clear in this passage.
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