Jesus was raised or all is futile

JESUS WAS RAISED OR ALL IS FUTILE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
1 COR 15 :13-19 13 If there is no resurrectionof the
dead, then not even Christhas been raised. 14 And if
Christhas not been raised, our preaching is useless
and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then
found to be falsewitnesses about God, for we have
testifiedabout God that he raisedChristfrom the
dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are
not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then
Christhas not been raised either. 17 And if Christhas
not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in
your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallenasleep in
Christare lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in
Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
A Vain Faith

1 Corinthians 15:17
J.R. Thomson
It often happens that men acceptcertainnotions without realizing what they
involve. So it seems to have been with those Corinthian Christians who lent
too willing an earto the false teachers who denied the resurrectionof the
dead. The apostle was justified in pointing out to such that their surrender of
this greatdoctrine and revelationinvolved virtually the denial of the
resurrectionof Christ, and that this involved the denial of some of their most
cherishedbeliefs and hopes. What the Lord Christ was to them he was
because he was the risen and triumphant Saviour. To take awaytheir faith in
such a Saviour was to render their faith vain.
I. FAITH IN CHRIST'S DEITY LARGELY RESTS UPON THE FACT OF
HIS RESURRECTION.
1. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, his own recorded predictions would
have been falsifed. On severaloccasionshe had foretold that his violent death
should be followedon the third day by his resurrection. Had this not taken
place, his word would have been discredited, and all confidence in his Deity
would naturally have been destroyed.
2. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, he would have been proved inferior to
death. The argument of the apostle was a very powerful and effective
argument - that, being not only David's Son, but David's Lord, it was not
possible that he should be holden by death, that his body should see
corruption. But had he remained in the grave, a very different impression
concerning his nature would necessarilyhave been produced upon the minds
of his disciples, and the world could never have been convincedof his
Messiahshipand divinity.
II. FAITH IN CHRIST AS A SAVIOUR RESTS UPON THE FACT OF HIS
RESURRECTION.
1. This appears in the customary publication of the gospelby the inspired
apostles. Theypreachedthat Jesus was "raisedto be a Prince and a Saviour,
to give repentance unto Israel, and remissionof sins."

2. The resurrection of Christ is a tokenof the acceptance by the Father of that
redemptive work of Christ whereby forgiveness is securedto those who
believe. And it is the condition of the exercise ofthose mediatorial functions
which are still dischargedin the court of heaven, the presence ofGod.
3. The resurrection is a spiritual powerin the hearts of those who believe it, a
powerof newness ofmind, of holiness, of life immortal. They who die with
Christ unto sin, and are crucified with him unto the world, risen with Christ,
live in his heavenly and resurrection life.
III. FAITH IN CHRIST AS THE FIRSTFRUITS OF THE GENERAL
RESURRECTIONRESTSUPON HIS RISING FROM THE TOMB. There is
observable a marvellous contrastbetweenthe hopelessnessofthe heathen and
the confidence of Christians in the prospectof death. To those who believe the
gospel, the victory of Immanuel over death and the grave is the pledge of the
final triumph of the good, is their consolationwhenthey are bereaved of their
Christian kindred and associates, is their confidence and inspiration in the
prospectof their own departure to be with Christ. - T.

Biblical Illustrator
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
Observe
1 Corinthians 15:19
One life only an argument againstGod
J. Parker, D.D.
If human life, redeemed by Christ, be limited to this world, God has
committed a cruel mistake in creating man. The greatness ofman becomes a
terrible charge againstGod. He has createdappetites which He cannotsatisfy,
excited hopes which must perish, built a greatship and must destroyit
because He cannot create a sea in which it canfloat. What would be thought
of a man who built a splendid chariot and could not getit out of the
workshop? A man believes in Christ, and so becomes identified with all that is
known of purity, joy, and hope. He rejects the promises of the world; he gets
all that the world can give and finds that it is a stone, not bread; his whole life
becomes a hunger after something higher. Having thus developed he is told
that his grave is dug, and that into it must be thrown every dream, hope,
desire. This world is enoughfor creatures destitute of aspiration — for the
lion and the eagle. Theycannot hope, pray, aspire. One life only is an
argument against —
I. GOD'S GOODNESS. Takemen like the psalmists. They often sang as if
they had laid hold of eternallife. They declaredJehovahto be all their
salvationand all their desire. To all this God's answeris extinction. Cana
more revolting blasphemy be conceived?
II. HIS WISDOM. Couldnot man have been made so as to be satisfiedwith
the presentworld? We know how our generositymay become a pain and
temptation to those upon whom we have bestowedit. Our gifts may be large
enough to create dissatisfactionwith our daily lot, yet too small to secure
contentment with another. If it is not God's purpose to continue the
consciousnesswith which He has endowedus, He has, so to speak, overbuilt
Himself in creation. He should either have gone farther, or not so far.

III. HIS POWER. But herein is God unlike His creatures. Impair one of God's
attributes and you overturn the whole Godhead. Man may have special
excellencesand redeeming points of character;but in the case ofGod every
point must be of equal strength and glory. Suppose His goodnessto be infinite,
and His power limited; then He is Jehovahno more. When He createdman,
did He not know that His power was incomplete? Has He been taught the
insufficiency of His strength by results which He failed to foresee?
Conclusion:
1. We have before us, then, a strong presumptive argument in favour of
another and higher life. That life suggestsitselfas the required complement of
our presentexistence, and urges itself upon us in vindication of all that is
Divine in God. Whatever speculative difficulties may arise in connectionwith
immortality, the practical difficulties of the negative theory are
insurmountable.
2. The theory of our life only bears more vividly up m the mediation of Christ.
How bitter the irony of His appeals, how wastefulthe sacrifice ofHis life, if a
few pulsations be the measure of our existence. He spoke much of the life
eternal: did it all mean that His most loving followers must be blotted out of
existence? If so, His attempts at redemption aggravatedthe original injustice
of our creation.
3. Granted that you never doubted the existence of the future life, this
discussionis of the first importance. We may be calledupon to give to others a
reasonfor the hope that is in us, and we may feel more keenlythe obligations
which another life imposes on us to live nobly in this present world. If there is
another life —(1) In what relation does our presentexistence stand to it? Is it
disciplinary?(2) What will be its effectin regard to, the moral confusionand
restlessnessofour present existence. Here virtue is often undervalued and vice
successful. Is the glory of the Divine righteousness to shine through all the
obscurities of the Divine government? Christian hope answers, Yes!(3)Can
they be wise who exhaust themselves within the limits of the present world?
What a fool is the mere money-gatherer!How deluded is he who mistakes the
part for the whole.(4)Is not he the wise man who regulates the present by all
that is solemn and sublime in the future?

(J. Parker, D.D.)
Hope in this world only
D. Thomas, D.D.
I. WHAT THE TEXT IMPLIES.
1. That there is misery amongstmen on this earth. This is obvious. "Man is
born to trouble." But greatas it is —(1) It is not as greatas man deserves. All
suffering springs from sin. Misery does not grow out of the constitution of
things.(2) It is not as greatas man's happiness. For days and weeksof
affliction he has months and years of happiness.(3)It is not as great as the
goodit will ultimately work out.
2. That misery amongstmen exists in different degrees. Paulspeaksofthe
"mostmiserable." There is a great inequality of suffering here. There must
come a day for eternal justice to balance these accounts.
3. That the degree of misery is sometimes regulatedby hope. Paul speaks of
"hope" as having to do with making men "mostmiserable." Man is ever
living in the future; he seldom turns willingly to the past; his pastsins terrify
him, and even his past pleasures depress him. The present satisfies him not.
His home is in the future. It is obvious that a principle so powerful must exert
a wonderful influence, either for wealor woe. If the hope is directed to right
objects, and rightly founded, it will be as a firm anchor, holding his ship
securelyamidst the tumultuous billows of his stormy life. But should his hope
be not rightly directed and grounded, it is clearthat though it may afford him
for a time some amount of enjoyment, it will ultimately end in his confusion
and distress.
4. That the hope of a Christian, if false, will make him of "all men most
miserable."
II. WHAT THE TEXT MEANS.

1. Not—(1) That apart from the resurrection of Christ, man has no evidence
of a future state. All the Jews exceptthe Sadducees believedin the existence of
a future retribution; and Paul as a philosopher knew that human nature and
human history prophesied a future state.(2)Thaton the supposition that there
is no future life, the practice of virtue here would place man in a worse
condition than that of vice. This would not be true; the life of virtue as
embodied in Christianity would give a man considerable advantage evenin
this world.(3) That apart from a future state a godly life is not binding on
man. Were there no heaven, no hell, man's obligation to love his Maker"with
all his heart, soul, strength," would still remain.
2. Two things must be distinctly kept in mind in order fully to apprehend the
idea of the apostle.(1)Thathe is speaking of himself and his evangelical
contemporaries. The sufferings which they brought upon themselves in
consequence oftheir faith in Christianity, and their efforts to extend it
through the world, were unique in their enormity. In this age our faith in
Christianity, and our endeavours to propagate it, entail little or no
inconvenience.(2) Thathe supposes the disappointed to survive the discovery
of the delusion. The very first flash of the terrible truth, that there was no
future blessedness,would scathe their spirits into everlasting annihilation, and
there would of course be no misery at all in the case. We must suppose the
apostle therefore having the idea that there was a future state, in which he
should live in vivid memories of the past. Up to the time of discovery, however
greattheir suffering, Christians could not be "mostmiserable." An
enthusiast, whatever his physical affections, is happy; he revels amidst the
hallucinations of his own brain, and requires none of your pity if he survive
not the discovery of his delusion.
III. THESE SUPPOSITIONSENABLES US TO SEE THAT THE MISERY
OF WHICH THE APOSTLE SPEAKS IS THE MISERY OF A
TREMENDOUS DISAPPOINTMENT.Note —
1. The power which the blighted hope had obtained over the whole soul. There
are some hopes that take but a slight hold upon the heart: But there are hopes
like the tree that strikes its roots deep into the very fibre of our nature. When
such hopes are torn away, it is as the "giving up of the ghost." Imagine the

case ofa man who had thrown his whole being into Christianity, being met at
the moment when his hopes were at their zenith, and when his death was at
hand, with the conviction that all was a delusion; and you have a man of all
men "mostmiserable." Imagine that man still further fixed in a future state of
deep despair, and regarding himself as the hopeless victim of a life of folly.
Would he not say, Foolthat I have been in spending a whole life in aiming at
objects that were purely visionary. Had I been wise I should have adopted the
maxim, "Let us eatand drink, for to-morrow we die."
2. The deception which the blighted hope prompted its subjects to practise.
The apostle declares thaton the assumption that Christ rose from the dead,
they were "false witnessesofGod." Mostassuredlyif there be no future state
of blessedness,the whole life of the Christian is a living lie. His deceptionis —
(1) Earnest. He "counts not his life dear unto him," if he can only make men
participate in his creed.(2)Systematic. It is not an occasionalorspasmodic
effort; it is the organisedpurpose of his being. He rears temples, forms
societies, circulatesbooks,preaches discourses, in order to win men over to his
views.(3)Influential. He succeeds in his proselytism. Such is the deception
Christians practise on the hypothesis that there is no future life in Him. How
much would the memory of their deceptionheighten the misery of their
disappointment on the discovery of their own terrible mistake!The feeling
that they themselves had been deluded would be well-nigh intolerable; but the
feeling that they had deluded others would be crushing.
3. The destitution in which the departure of the hope would involve the soul.
Christianity works a most radicalchange in a man. It effects a
"regeneration."Under its influence man becomes "a new creation";old
things pass away, all things become new; what he once loved he loathes, what
he once sought he shuns, what he once valued he despises, whatthings were
gain to him he counts loss. On the discovery therefore of the delusion, he
would be left in possessionof tastes and desires for which there was no
provision. A thousand times worse is the state of such a soul than that of a
parched traveller, who, beneath the agonising fires of thirst, falls prostrate on
the Oriental sands, many leagues awayfrom the refreshing streams.
Conclusion:Thank God this is only hypothetic. The apostle does not speak as
if he had any doubt, but in order to bring out the glorious fact on which it

rests with greaterfire and force. "But now is Christ risen from the dead,"
etc.We have hope in a blessedfuture, and therefore —
1. When bereavementsnatches from our embrace the dearestobjects of our
heart, let us not sorrow as do others.
2. Let us not envy the wickedin their prosperity, but bear up with fortitude,
knowing that "our light afflictions which are but for a moment," etc.
3. Let us labour earnestly to indoctrinate all within our reachwith the soul-
saving principles of the everlasting word.
(D. Thomas, D.D.)
Life most miserable without hope in Christ
F. D. Maurice, M.A.
These words have been a cause ofmuch distress. Christians have felt that
their hope in Christ made this life joyful to them. No doubt the very name
"hope" implies a looking forward. But they do not find that the mere thought
of a change in their position constitutes their blessedness. "Lo, I am with you
always";"My peace I give unto you"; there, they say, is the secretof it.
Certainly they have a right to claim St. Paul in generalas the witness and
highest authority for their persuasion. "All things are yours," etc., he saidto
these very Corinthians. He speaks ofhimself as "rejoicing in tribulation." He
wished that Aguippa, Festus, and Bernice, and all who heard him, "were both
almost and altogethersuch as he was, exceptthose bonds." Was, then, that so
terrible an exception, that he regarded the worshippers of false gods less
miserable, as far as this life went, than he was? Doesanyone who knows
anything of St. Paul's life and words believe this? Those very bonds became a
cause ofexultation to him, because through them Christ's name was made
known in Rome. He counted, not some future promised felicity, but his office
as an apostle of the Gentiles, which causedhim to be the offscouring of all
things, the highestprivilege everbestowedupon a mortal. Is this a man who
was likely to say, "I am utterly miserable here; but I can endure my lot, for I

shall he well paid hereafter"? But if that is not the meaning of the words,
what is it?
1. The Corinthians had heard him say, "We are risen with Christ." A party of
them had built on this the conclusionthat their spiritual resurrection was all
that Christ had procured for them. St. Paul shows them that they were
turning this half-truth, not to the destruction of the other half merely, but of
itself. If they were not to rise in their bodies, Christ their Lord had not risen
in His body. The very ground of the spiritual resurrection, of which they
boasted, was their union with Him. God had justified them in Him. The new
doctrine, in effect, disclaimed, his relation betweenthem and Him. It left them
a setof poor, separated, unredeemed creatures;"yet in their sins." It was very
miserable to believe such a contradiction as this would be.
2. Christ had broken through the barriers of death, had brought the visible
and the invisible world into one. Those who said "The Resurrectiononly
concerns us here," establishedthis separationagain, and treatedDeath as to
all intents and purposes the ultimate ruler, Life as shut up within threescore
years and ten of conflict. This was to confound the dim hope of all nations.
When the sense ofpresent misery was very acute, there was a prophecy,
arising in some minds almost to a conviction, that the other side of death
might offer a compensation. Had not St. Paul a right to saythen "If we
possessallthat Christ came to give us, He has takenfrom us something which
He has not takenfrom any others. That which has never been altogethera
blank to them, in which there have been some bright Elysian spots, has
become entirely a blank to us." But it may be said, "The apostle speaks ofa
hope in Christ. What could such a hope have to do with dreams of Greeks or
Goths respecting an Elysium or a Walhalla? Being heathens, they certainly
could not hope in Him." But the principle which underlies all the apostle's
teaching is that when Christ took flesh and dwelt among men, He declared
Himself to be that King, whose manifestationin His own true and proper
nature all had been desiring. If this be so, I cannotimagine how he could
describe any hope which had ever been entertained by any human being,
exceptas a hope in Christ. The gods whom Greeks or Goths worshipped could
have kindled no hopes in them, only a vague, inconceivable dread. Whatever
hope they had came from a secretsource, a hidden root. The apostle, then,

might truly say, that if the Corinthians who professedto believe that Jesus
was the Christ, made His work upon earth an excuse for not looking beyond
the earth, they had parted with some of the hope in Christ which their
heathen brethren possessed.
3. But there is an ampler justification of the apostle's words. He had a much
deeper impressionof the misery of the world around him than any person
who did not believe in the gospelcouldhave had. The devil-worship and the
sin which prevailed was revolting to him who worshipped a God of love, and
who believed that the Spirit of Christ had come among men to make them
after His image. Feeling as he did their misery, it would absolutelyhave
crushed him if in this life only he had had hope in Christ, if he could have
measuredthe future of mankind merely by anything that he saw or had yet
experienced. The thought which we should often bring before ourselves as we
walk our streets, and as we read of what is doing in other parts of the world, is
— Are our hopes in Christ, for those whom we see perishing in filth, in
ignorance, in moral debasement, only hopes for this life? Is the wisdom of
rulers, the godliness ofteachers, the benevolence of societies, allwhich seems
to us to intervene betweenthem and utter, absolute ruin? Oh, then, surely we
must be of all men most miserable! To think of all the wickednesswhichis
crowdedinto the most fortunate cornerof this earth, and not to feel
something very like despair, is very difficult. It would be impossible, if we
were not encouragedandcommanded to place our hopes, not in what we are
doing, but in what Christ has done by His death, resurrection, ascension, and
gift of the Holy Spirit. If we think that nothing is given yet; that we are merely
to look for something to come, we are most miserable. If we think that all has
been given — that we have nothing to long for — we are most miserable. But
if we acceptthe signs and pledges of a perfectsacrifice made once for all, the
vision of Him who died once and reigneth for evermore will become brighter
and clearer.
(F. D. Maurice, M.A.)
"Alas for us, if thou wert all, and nought beyond, O earth

C. H. Spurgeon.
The apostle does not say that all men are now miserable if there be no hope of
the world to come. There are very many who never think of another life, who
are quite happy in their way. But he speaks ofChristian people, who are
known by this, that they have hope in Christ — hope in His blood for pardon,
in His righteousness forjustification, in His powerfor support, in His
resurrectionfor eternalglory.
I. WE ARE NOT OF ALL MEN MOST MISERABLE. He who shall affirm
that Christianity makes men miserable is an utter stranger to it. Forsee —
1. To what a position it exalts us! It makes us sons of God. Shall His foes have
mirth, and His own home-born be wretched? We are married unto Christ,
and shall our greatBridegroompermit His spouse to linger in grief? The
Christian is a king, and shall the king be the most melancholyof men?
2. What God has done for us! The Christian knows that his sins are forgiven.
And shall the pardoned offender be less happy than the man upon whom the
wrath of God abideth? Moreover, we are made temples of the Holy Ghost,
and are these dark, dolorous places? Our God is a God of love, and it is His
very nature to make His creatures happy.
3. Their actualjoy and peace. Our joy may not be like that of the sinner, noisy
and boisterous. "As the crackling of thorns under a pot" — a greatdeal of
blaze and much noise, and then a handful of ashes, and it is all over. The
Chiristian's joy does not depend upon circumstances. We have seenthe
happiest men in the most sorrowfulconditions. Every Christian will bear
wines that he has found his sad times to be his glad times, his losses to be his
gains, his sickness means to promote his soul's health. We canrejoice even in
death.
II. WITHOUT THE HOPE OF ANOTHER LIFE WE SHOULD BE OF ALL
MEN MOST MISERABLE. This is true, not merely of persecuted, and
despised, and poverty-strickenChristians, but of all believers. Note that the
Christian —

1. Has renounced those common and ordinary sources of joy from which
other men drink. We must have some pleasure. Well, then, there is a vessel
filled with muddy, filthy waterwhich the camels'feethave stirred: shall I
drink it? I see yonder a cool, clearstream, and I say, "I will not drink this; I
will drink of that." But if it be but the deceitful mirage, then I am worse off
than those who were content with the muddy water. So the Christian passes
by the pleasures of sin, because he says, "I do not care for them, my happiness
flows from the river which springs from the throne of Godand flows to me
through Christ — I will drink of that," but if that were proved to be a
deception, then were we more wretchedthan the profligate.
2. Has learned the vanity of all earthly joys. We have choseneternalthings
which are satisfying to the soul. Batit is the most unhappy to know that this
world is vain, if there be not another world abundantly to compensate forall
our ills. There is a poor lunatic in Bedlam plaiting straw into a crown which
he puts upon his head, and calls himself a king. Do you think that I would
undeceive him? Nay, verily. If the delusion makes the man happy, by all
means let him indulge in it; but you and I have been undeceived; our dream of
perfect bliss beneath the skies is gone for ever; what then if there be no world
to come?
3. Has had high, noble, and greatexpectations, andthis is a very sad thing for
us if our expectations be not fulfilled. I have knownpoor men expecting a
legacy, and the relative has died and left them nothing; their poverty has ever
afterwards seemedto be a heavier drag than before. Poverty is infinitely
better endured by persons who were always poor, than by those who have
been rich. The Christian has learned to think of eternity, of God, of Christ,
and if indeed it be all false, the best thing he could do would be to sit down
and weepfor ever.
4. Has learned to look upon everything here as fleeting. Well, this is a very
unhappy thing, if there be no world to come.
III. OUR CHIEF JOY IN THE HOPE OF THE WORLD TO COME. There
is —
1. Rest.

2. Victory.
3. Happiness.
4. Perfection.
IV. THUS THE FUTURE OPERATES UPON THE PRESENT. Here is a man
who has a machine for his factory. He wants steampower to work this
machine. An engineerputs up a steamengine in a shed at some distance.
"Well," saidthe other, "I askedyou to bring steampowerhere, to operate
upon my machine." "Thatis precisely," says he, "whatI have done. I put the
engine there, you have but to connectit by a band and your machine works as
fast as you like; it is not necessarythat I should put it just under your nose."
So God has been pleasedto make our hopes of the future a greatengine
wherewith the Christian may work the ordinary machine of every-day life, for
the band of faith connects the two, and makes all the wheels of ordinary life
revolve with rapidity and regularity. To speak againstpreaching the future as
though it would make people neglectthe present is as though somebody would
say, "There, take awaythe moon, and blot out the sun. What is the use of
them — they are not in this world"!Preciselyso, but take awaythe moon and
you have removed the tides, and the sea becomesa stagnant, putrid pool.
Then take awaythe sun, and light, and heat, and life; everything is gone. Do
you believe that apostles and martyrs would ever have sacrificedtheir lives
for truth's sake if they had not lookedfor a hereafter? In the heat of
excitement, the soldier may die for honour, but to die in tortures and
mockeries in cold blood needs a hope beyond the grave. Would yon poor man
go on toiling year after year, refusing to sacrifice his conscience forgain;
would yon poor needle-girl refuse to become the slave of lust if she did not see
something brighter than earth can picture to her as the reward of sin? The
most practicalthing in all the world is the hope of the world to come;for it is
just this which keeps us from being miserable; and to keepa man from being
miserable it is to do a greatthing for him, for a miserable Christian — what is
the use of him? But the man who has a hope of the next world goes about his
work strong, for the joy of the Lord is our strength.

V. THIS WILL LET US SEE CLEARLY WHAT OUR FUTURE IS TO BE.
There are some persons here to whom my text has nothing whatever to say.
Suppose there were no hereafter, would they be more miserable? Why, no;
they would be more happy. Do you see, then, this proves that you are not a
Christian; for if you were, the taking awayof a hereafterwould make you
miserable. Well, then, what have I to sayto you? Why just this — that in the
world to come you will be of all men most miserable. "What will become of
you?" said an infidel once to a Christian man, "supposing there should be no
heaven?" "Well," saidhe, "I like to have two strings to my bow. If there be no
hereafterI am as well off as you are; if there be I am infinitely better off."
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The importance of the Resurrection
Canon Liddon.
St. Paul, in this greatpassage, makesChristianity answerwith its life for the
truth of our Lord's resurrectionfrom the dead (ver. 14). If in this life only we
have hope in Christ, we have made a capital mistake, and are of all men most
miserable.
I. WHAT, THEN, IS THE HOPE RESPECTING A FUTURE WHICH WE
OWE TO OUR RISEN LORD? Is it the hope that we shall exist for ever? Is
our continuous existence hereafteraltogetherdependentupon faith in and
communion with the risen Christ? No, our immortality is not a gift of the
Redeemer;it is the gift of the Creator. Beliefin a future state does not begin
with Christianity. It is as deeply rootedin the human soul as belief in God. In
some sense it is wellnigh universal. The honour so widely paid to the graves of
ancestors is a natural expressionof belief in their survival after death. It was
this belief which made an ancient Egyptian deem the embalming of his
mummy the most important thing that could happen to him: it was this belief
which built, the pyramids, which rendered the Greek mysteries of Eleusis so
welcome to those upon whom the old popular religion had lost its power, and
which made greatthinkers, such as Plato, at leastin their higher moods,

capable of thoughts and aspirations which Christians, in all ages, have
welcomedas almostanticipating their own.
II. BUT TO WHAT SORT OF IMMORTALITYDOES THIS
ANTICIPATION POINT? It is not the immortality —
1. Of the race. How is this shadowysurvival entitled to the name of
immortality? A race of beings does not live apart from the individuals which
compose it.
2. Of fame. How many of us will have a place in the public memory and live in
history? For most of us life is made up of duties of so humble a kind that they
hardly have a place in our own memories from day to day, much less in those
of others. But if there is no life after death, what is to become of them, that is,
what is to become of this kind of immortality in the case ofthe greaterpart of
the human race? Is not this immortality only a perpetuation of inequalities
which disfigure our earthly life, and of which a future of absolute truth and
justice would know nothing?
3. Of our gooddeeds. To say that a man lives in his goodactions may be
Christian language (Revelation14:13). To this day the saints of the Bible
history live in the works which are recordedof them. But, there are actions in
all true and saintly lives which are knownonly to God, and which, so far as we
can see, have no certain consequenceshere. But if the soul perishes at death,
in what sense are they immortal? And are our gooddeeds our only deeds?
Have not our evil deeds — some of them — consequences;and do these
consequencespunish the agent, if he really perishes at death? Others than he
are punished. No;the immortality of our actions is not an immortality which
satisfies the yearnings of the heart of man, since this yearning is basedalways
and especiallyon its sense ofjustice.
II. WHAT, THEN, IS THE HOPE IN CHRIST WHICH REDEEMS
CHRISTIAN LIFE FROM THE FAILURE AND MISERY ALLUDED TO
IN THE TEXT. It is the hope, that through His precious death and His
glorious resurrection, our inevitable immortality will be an immortality of
bliss. Of course it is not denied that He has "brought life and immortality to
light." For multitudes before He came it was a vague and dreary anticipation:

He has made it a blessedand welcome certainty. He has familiarised us with
the idea that all live unto God (Luke 20:37, 38);and He has further taught the
future resurrection of the body, as completing the life beyond the grave (John
6:40). He thus has altogetherremoved the question from the regionof
speculationinto that of certainty, founded upon experience;since when He
rose from death He was Himself but the first-fruits from the dead. But the
hope in Christ is the hope of a blessedimmortality. This He has won for us by
His one perfect and sufficient sacrifice on the Cross, wherebyour sins are
blotted out, and the grace of His Spirit and His new nature is securedto us, so
as to fit us, by sanctification, for His eternalpresence. Apart from this
conviction, Christianity is a worthless dream; the efforts and sacrificesofthe
Christian life are wasted;we are the victims of a greatdelusion; we are of all
men most miserable. Conclusion:
1. There are signs in our day that faith in a future after death is less takenfor
granted than was the case a generationago. One of these signs is the increased
number of suicides all overEurope. There are not merely the pathetic suicides
of the very wretched, there are the suicides of votaries of pleasure, who having
exhausted all the facilities of enjoyment, throw it awaylike a toy which has
ceasedto please. Suicides like these mean that the opportunities for enjoyment
have in certain classesoutrun the powerto enjoy. Suicides are only possible
when through continuous enervation of the moral nature the awful realities of
immortality have been lost sight of: and their increase is a serious symptom of
what must be passing in large classes ofminds.
2. Much seems to show that in the modern world two entirely different beliefs
about man are confounded with eachother. According to one of these man is
really only the highest of the beasts that perish. Opposedto this idea is the
Christian belief that man differs from the lowercreatures altogether, except
in the fact that he owns a body, which is governed by the same laws as theirs.
For man, his body, insteadof being the substantive and central part of his
being, is an appendage. The soul of man no more dies when it leaves the body
than the musicalgenius which makes that orgando so much to aid the
devotion of God's people forfeits its knowledge and its skill when it ceasesto
touch the key-board. In man the central or substantive feature is the soul; and
of the life of the soul, this earthly life in the body is but a very small portion

indeed. It is relatedto what follows, as is a brief preface to a very voluminous
book:it throws light on what is to come;it is relatively insignificant. "The
things which are seenare temporal: the things which are not seenare
eternal."
(Canon Liddon.)
The penalty of piety and its promise
W. Clarkson, B.A.
These words
I. DEMAND EXPLANATION OF US.
1. Only the heavenly hope could compensate forthe severity of their earthly
experiences (2 Corinthians 6:11.). Speaking for himself, and having in view all
of every kind that he was enduring for the sake ofthe gospel, he felt that all
the peace and comfort which solacedothermen's lives were absent from his
own, and he concludedthat without that grand compensationwhich was in
store, he and they were the most to be pitied of all men.
2. In that case they were the victims of a miserable delusion. They were basing
their whole life on a faith which was a falsehood;they were building
everything on a rotten foundation; they were spending all their energies and
surrendering all their opportunities to teachmen that which their disciples
were bound to disbelieve (ver. 14). They might well be pitied as the dupes of a
dream.
II. PROVIDE SUGGESTIONS FOR US.
1. That there are consequencesattending unswerving faithfulness we must all
be prepared to meet. Notnow the lash or the dungeon. It may be the biting
sarcasmorthe polite irony, etc. But it must be that "all who will live godly in
Christ Jesus shallsuffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12).
2. That delusion is always pitiable. Men may be buoyed up by false hopes, and
it may seemat a superficial glance that the cherishing of the error is positively

gainful. But it is always better to walk in the light than to wanderin the
darkness. Theywho give way to plausible but unsound doctrine are to be
pitied, howeverfair in the face these doctrines may be, howeverexcellentbe
the spirit and intention of those that hold them.
3. That genuine piety has within it sources ofpure and lasting joy (1 Timothy
4:8; 1 Timothy 6:6); and if the "ManorSorrows" couldspeak of "His joy" so
may we.
(W. Clarkson, B.A.)
COMMENTARIES
BensonCommentary
1 Corinthians 15:19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ — We, who are
exposedto such a variety of dangers and sufferings, for his sake;we are of all
men most miserable — Ελεεινοτεροι, mostto be pitied; that is, if we look for
nothing beyond the grave. But if we have a divine evidence of things not seen;
if we have a hope full of immortality; if we now taste the powers of the world
to come, and see the crownthat fadeth not away; then, notwithstanding all
our presenttrials, we are more happy than all men. Some have argued from
this verse, that if there were no future state, piety and virtue would make men
more miserable in this world than they otherwise would be. But, as Dr.
Doddridge observes, it is evident the apostle is not speaking here of the case of
goodmen in general, if their hopes of future happiness should be
disappointed; but of the case ofthe first Christians, and especiallyofthe
apostles and other preachers of Christianity, amid the hardships and
persecutions to which they were continually exposed. If they had not known
that there was a state of immortal felicity and glory before them, and if they
had not been supported amid their various sufferings with a well-grounded
and lively hope of it, they must have been peculiarly miserable. Forbesides all

the external calamities to which they were exposed, they must have been
perpetually subjectedto the upbraidings of their own minds, for sacrificing
every view of happiness in this world or another, to advance what they knew
to be a pernicious falsehood. It must be observed, the apostle does not say,
that if there should be no resurrection of the body, the Christian could only
hope in Christ in this life; for if the soul be immortal, and may be happy after
its separationfrom the body, that would not follow. But he argues thus: If
Christ is not risen for our justification, we are yet under the guilt of sin, 1
Corinthians 15:17; and if so, both soul and body must perish after death, 1
Corinthians 15:18; and then the hope of Christians must terminate with this
life, which being more especiallyto many of them a life of misery, by reasonof
the sufferings to which their faith here often exposes them, they would of all
men be most miserable. Macknightconsiders the apostle as answering an
objection, which he supposes the readerto have made in his own mind,
namely, this: “The apostles know that Christ hath not risen, and that there
will be no resurrection of the dead, but they preachthese things for the sake
of some present advantage.” “To this Paul replies, If in this life only we have
hope, &c., we are of all men the most miserable — Because, by preaching
Christ’s resurrection, we expose ourselves to every possible presentevil, and if
there is to be no resurrectionof the dead, there is no future state in which we
can enjoy anything. This argument is levelled againstthe Sadducees,who,
believing the soul to be material, affirmed that it perishes with the body; and
will have no existence afterdeath, the body being never to be raised. The
apostle’s argument is equally conclusive on supposition that the soul is
immaterial, and that it will exist and enjoy [happiness] after death, although
the body is not raised. Forif the apostles were false witnessesand impostors,
they could look for no happiness from God after death.”
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
15:12-19 Having shownthat Christ was risen, the apostle answers those who
said there would be no resurrection. There had been no justification, or
salvation, if Christ had not risen. And must not faith in Christ be vain, and of
no use, if he is still among the dead? The proof of the resurrection of the body
is the resurrectionof our Lord. Even those who died in the faith, had perished
in their sins, if Christ had not risen. All who believe in Christ, have hope in

him, as a Redeemer;hope for redemption and salvationby him; but if there is
no resurrection, or future recompence, their hope in him can only be as to this
life. And they must be in a worse conditionthan the rest of mankind,
especiallyat the time, and under the circumstances,in which the apostles
wrote; for then Christians were hated and persecutedby all men. But it is not
so;they, of all men, enjoy solid comforts amidst all their difficulties and trials,
even in the times of the sharpestpersecution.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
If in this life only we have hope in Christ - If our hope in Christ shall not be
followedby the resurrectionof the dead and future glory, and if all our hopes
shall be disappointed.
We are ... - Doddridge, Macknight, Grotius, and some others, suppose that
this refers to the apostles only, and that the sense is, that if there was no
resurrection, they, of all people would be most to be pitied, since they had
exposedthemselves to such a variety of dangers and trials, in which nothing
could sustain them but the hope of immortality. If they failed in that they
failed in everything. They were regardedas the most vile of the human family;
they suffered more from persecution, poverty, and perils than other people;
and if, after all, they were to be deprived of all their hopes, and disappointed
in their expectationof the resurrection, their condition would be more
deplorable than that of any other people. But there is no goodreasonfor
supposing that the word "we," here, is to be limited to the apostles. For:
(1) Paul had not mentioned the apostles particularly in the previous verses;
and,
(2) The argument demands that it should be understood of all Christians, and
the declarationis as true, substantially, of all Christians as it was of the
apostles.
Of all men most miserable - More to be pitied or commiseratedthan any other
class ofpeople. The word used here (ἐληινότεροι elēinoteroi)means, properly,
more deserving of pity, more pitiable. It may mean sometimes, more wretched
or unhappy; but this is not necessarilyits meaning, nor is it its meaning here.

It refers rather to their condition and hopes than to their personalfeeling; and
does not mean that Christians are unhappy, or that their religion does not
produce comfort, but that their condition would be most deplorable; they
would be more deserving of pity than any other class of people. This would be:
(1) Because no other people had so elevatedhopes, and, of course, no others
could experience so greatdisappointment.
(2) they were subjected to more trials than any other class ofpeople. They
were persecutedand reviled, and subjectedto toil, and privation, and want,
on accountof their religion; and if, after all, they were to be disappointed,
their condition was truly deplorable.
(3) they do not indulge in the pleasures of this life; they do not give
themselves, as ethers do, to the enjoyments of this world. They voluntarily
subject themselves to trial and self-denial; and if they are not admitted to
eternal life, they are not only disappointed in this but they are cut off from the
sources ofhappiness which their fellow-men enjoy in this world - Calvin.
(4) on the whole, therefore, there would be disappointed hopes, and trials, and
poverty, and want, and all for nothing; and no condition could be conceivedto
be more deplorable than where a man was looking for eternallife, and for it
subjecting himself to a life of want, and poverty, persecution, and tears, and
should be finally disappointed. This passage,therefore, does not mean that
virtue and piety are not attended with happiness;it does not mean that, even
if there were no future state, a man would not be more happy if he walkedin
the paths of virtue than if he lived a life of sin; it does not mean that the
Christian has no happiness in "religion itself" - in the love of God, and in
prayer, and praise, and in purity of life. In all this he has enjoyment and even
if there were no heaven, a life of virtue and piety would be more happy than a
life of sin. But it means that the condition of the Christian would be more
"deplorable" than that of other people; he would be more to be pitied. All his
high hopes would be disappointed. Other people have no such hopes to be
dashed to the ground; and, of course, no other people would be such objects of
pity and compassion. The "argument" in this verse is derived from the high
hopes of the Christian. "Could they believe that all their hopes were to be

frustrated? Could they subject themselves to all these trials and privations,
without believing that they would rise from the dead? Were they prepared, by
the denial of the doctrine of the resurrection, to put themselves in the
condition of the most miserable and wretched of the human family - to
"admit" that they were in a condition most to be deplored?
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
19. 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
exposedto 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 resurrectionof Christ,
without which His death would be of no avail to us (Eph 1:19, 20; 1Pe 1:3).
The heathen are "without hope" (Eph 2:12; 1Th 4:13). We should be even
worse, for we should be also without presentenjoyment (1Co 4:9).
Matthew Poole's Commentary
The apostle here argueth the resurrectionof believers from a new head. It is
not reasonable forany to imagine, that those who believe in Jesus Christ
should of all others be the most miserable;but this they must be, if there be no
resurrectionfrom the dead. He enlargethupon this head or argument further,
1 Corinthians 15:30,31. The reasonofit is, because it must then follow, that
they could have no hope in Christ beyond this life; and the condition of the
apostles, andthe generality of Christians, at leastin those first and furious
times, was a most afflicted state and condition. The apostle was in jeopardy
every hour, 1 Corinthians 15:30, he died daily, 1 Corinthians 15:31. If any
say: How doth this follow? Fortheir souls might be in glory, though their
bodies, once dead, were not raised? It is answered:
1. That it still must hold as to their bodily, fleshy part.

2. That those who denied the resurrectionof the body, denied also the
immortality of the soul.
3. That Paul speakethupon the supposition of the Divine ordination; God
having so ordered it, that the death of Christ, without his resurrection, should
be of no avail to us to save either soul or body; and that our souls and bodies
should not be separately, but jointly, glorified upon their re-union in the end
of the world: 1 Peter 1:3, we are said to be begottento a lively hope by the
resurrectionof Jesus Christ from the dead.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
If in this life only we have hope in Christ,.... The objectof a believer's hope is
not any creature, man, or angel;nor any creature enjoyment, as goldand
silver; nor any creature righteousness, moral, legal, and civil; nor any
external privilege, or professionof religion; but Christ alone as a surety,
Saviour, and Redeemer;his person, blood, righteousness, sacrifice,and
fulness: and what they hope for in him are, all grace, and the supplies of it;
the forgiveness oftheir sins, the justification of their persons, eternallife and
salvation;grace here, and glory hereafter; for all which they have great
reasonand encouragementto hope in him; but if their hope in him was only in
this life, or whilst this life lasts;if they had not hope in death, that they should
live again, and after death for the resurrectionof their bodies; or if they
hoped in Christ only for the things of this life, or as the Arabic version
renders it, "if we from Christ, and by him, expect happiness in this world
only"; if our hope in him is bounded with this life, and confined to the things
of it, and does not reach to the things of another life, the things of eternity, the
invisible glories of another world, to be enjoyed in souland body;
we are of all men the most miserable; which may have respectnot only to the
apostles, thougheminently true of them, who had little of the comforts of this
life, being continually exposedto hardships and persecutionfor the sake of
Christ; were setforth as a spectacleto angels and men; were accountedthe
filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things; and suffered many
indignities, and greatreproach and affliction, and that for asserting the

doctrine of the resurrectionof the dead; but is also true of all others that hope
in Christ, and believe in him; for these not only deny themselves the pleasures,
honours, and profits of this world, but are exposedcontinually to the hatred,
reproach, and persecutionof it; they are chastisedby God as other men are,
that they may not be condemned with the world, and yet they must be
condemned, if Christ is not risen; they are harassedand distressedby Satan,
who follows them with his temptations and suggestions, whichare so many
fiery darts, which give them greatpain and uneasiness, whenothers are
unmolested by him; they groan under a body of sin they carry about with
them, and desire and long to be unclothed, that they might be clothed upon
with glory and immortality; and yet these very desires and earnestlongings
after a blessedeternity do but add to their misery, if there is no foundation for
them, and they will at last be frustrated: these are the sadconclusions, and
wretchedabsurdities that must follow, upon the denial of the resurrectionof
the dead, and of Christ.
Geneva Study Bible
{9} If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most
miserable.
(9) The third argument which is also takenfrom an absurdity: for unless there
is another life, in which those who trust and believe in Christ will be blessed,
they are the most miserable of all creatures, becausein this life they would be
the most miserable.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
1 Corinthians 15:19. Sad lot of the Christians (not simply of the apostles, as
Grotius and Rosenmüllerwould have it), if this οἱ κοιμηθέντες ἐν Χ. ἀπώλοντο
turn out to be true! “If we are nothing more than such, as in this life have
their hope in Christ,—not at the same time such, as even when κοιμηθέντες
will hope in Christ,[41]—thenare we more wretched,” etc. In other words: “If
the hope of the future glory (this objectof the Christian hope is obvious of
itself, 1 Corinthians 13:13;Romans 5:2), which the Christian during his

temporal life places in Christ, comes to nought with this life, inasmuch as
death transports him into a condition through which the Christian hope
proves itself to be a delusion,—namely, into the condition of ἀπώλεια,—then
are we Christians more wretched,” etc.
The correctreading is ΕἸ ἘΝ Τῇ Ζ. ΤΑΎΤῌ ἘΝ Χ. ἨΛΠ. ἘΣΜ. ΜΌΝΟΝ.
See the critical remarks. In ἘΝ Τ. ΖΩῇ ΤΑΎΤῌthe main emphasis falls upon
Τῇ ΖΩῇ, as the opposite of κοιμηθέντες (comp. Romans 8:38; 1 Corinthians
3:22; Php 1:20; Luke 16:25), not upon ΤΑΎΤῌ (so commonly); and ΜΌΝΟΝ
belongs to the whole ἘΝ Τ. Ζ. Τ. ἘΝ Χ. ἨΛΠΙΚΌΤΕς ἘΣΜΈΝ, so that the
adverb is put last for emphasis (Kühner, ad Xen. Anab. ii. 5. 14, ii. 6. 1), not
simply to ἐν τ. ζ. ταύτῃ, as it is usually explained: “If we are such as only for
this life (‘dum hic vivimus,’ Piscator)have placed their hope in Christ,”
Billroth. This trajectionof μόνον would be in the highest degree violent and
irrational. The perfect ἨΛΠΙΚΌΤΕς indicates the continued subsistence
during this life of the hope cherished;2 Corinthians 1:10; 1 Timothy 4:10, al.
See Bernhardy, p. 378;Ast, ad Plat. Legg. p. 408. Comp. the ἔολπα so frequent
in Homer; Duncan, Lex., ed. Rost, p. 368. That the hope has an end with the
present life, is not implied in the perfect (Hofmann), but in the whole
statementfrom εἰ on to ΜΌΝΟΝ. The participle againwith ἐσμέν does not
stand for the tempus finitum, but the predicate is brought into peculiar relief
(Kühner, II. p. 40), so that it is not saidwhat we do, but what we are (Hoffer).
Comp. as early as Erasmus, Annot. As regards ἐν Χριστῷ, comp. Ephesians
1:12; 1 Timothy 6:17; the hope is in Christo reposita, rests in Christ. Comp.
πιστεύειν ἐν; see on Galatians 3:26. Rückertis wrong in connecting ἘΝ Χ.
with ΜΌΝΟΝ (equivalentto ἘΝ ΜΌΝῼΤῷ Χ.): “If we in the course ofthis
life have placedour whole confidence on Christ alone, have (at the end of our
life) disdained every other ground of hope and despisedevery other source of
happiness, and yet Christ is not risen … is able to perform nothing of what
was promised; then are we the most unhappy,” etc. Against this may be
decisivelyurged both the position of μόνονand the wholly arbitrary way in
which the conditioning main idea is supplied (“and if yet Christ is not risen”).
According to Baur, what is meant to be said is: “if the whole contents of our
life were the mere hoping,” which, namely, never passes into fulfilment. But in

that way a pregnancyof meaning is made to underlie the ἨΛΠΙΚΌΤΕς,
which must have been at leastindicated by the arrangement: ΕἸ
ἨΛΠΙΚΌΤΕς ΜΌΝΟΝἘΣΜῈΝ Κ.Τ.Λ.
ἘΛΕΕΙΝΌΤΕΡΟΙΠΆΝΤ.] more worthy of compassionthan all men, namely,
who are in existence besides us Christians. Comp. the passages inWetstein.
Regarding the form ἐλεεινός, which is current with Plato also (in opposition to
Ast) and others, instead of ἘΛΕΙΝΌς,see Lobeck,adPhryn. p. 87;
Bornemann, ad Xen. Anab. iv. 4. 11, Lips. In how far the Christians—
supposing them to be nothing more than persons who build their hope upon
Christ so long as they live, who therefore after their death will see the hope of
their life concerning the future δόξα vanish away—are the most wretchedof
all men, is clearof itself from their distinctive position, inasmuch, namely, as
for the sake ofwhat is hoped for they take upon themselves privation, self-
denial, suffering, and distresses (Romans 8:18;2 Corinthians 4:17 f.;
Colossians 3:3), and then in death notwithstanding fall a prey to the
ἈΠΏΛΕΙΑ. In this connectionof the condition until death with the
disappointment after death would lie the ἐλεεινόν, the tragic nothingness of
the Christian moral eudaemonism, which sees in Christ its historicalbasis and
divine warrant. The unbelieving, on the contrary, live on carelesslyand in the
enjoyment of the moment. Comp. 1 Corinthians 15:32, and see Calvin’s
exposition.
[41] The conceptionof the ἐλπίς does not so coincide here with that of the
πίστις, as Lipsius assumes, Rechtfertigungsl. p. 209.
Expositor's Greek Testament
1 Corinthians 15:19 expresses the infinite bitterness of such a deception. In the
right order of words (see txtl. note), μόνονis attachedto ἠλπικότες (cf. Luke
24:21): “If in this life we have only had hope in Christ”—no present
deliverance from sin, no future inheritance in heaven—“we are more than all
men to be pitied”. for a hope without legitimate basis or ultimate fruition,

Christians have sacrificedall material good!(cf. 1 Corinthians 15:30 ff., 1
Corinthians 4:11 ff.; Hebrews 10:32-39, Luke 18:22, etc.). ἠλπικότες ἐσμὲν =
ἠλπίκαμεν(1 Timothy 4:10), with stress laid on the actual condition of those
who have formed this futile hope. ἐν Χριστῷ points to Christ as the ground of
Christian hope (cf. Php 2:19). ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ brings to mind all that the
Christian forfeits here and now—losing “this life” for the vain promise of
another, letting earth go in grasping at a fancied heaven; no wonder the world
pities us!—Ed[2333]ad loc[2334]answers wellthe censure passedon the Ap.,
as though he made the worth of goodnessdepend on its future reward: (1) P.
does not say“we are more worthless”—a goodman may be very “pitiable,”
and all the more because ofhis worth; (2) on Paul’s hypothesis (1 Corinthians
15:17), moral characteris undermined, while future happiness is destroyed,
by denial of the Resurrection.
[2333]T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians.2
[2334]ad locum, on this passage.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
19. we are of all men most miserable]Literally, more to be pitied than all men.
Becauseofthe sufferings and labours and persecutions they endured for a
creedwhich was false afterall. See notes on ch. 1 Corinthians 4:9-13.
Bengel's Gnomen
1 Corinthians 15:19. Εἰ, if) The statementof those topics which are discussed
at 1 Corinthians 15:20, etc., precedes this verse and 1 Corinthians 15:18 : and
in this verse, there is a statement of those topics, which are treated of at 1
Corinthians 15:29-34.—ἐν, in) ἐν, as far as concerns, i.e. if our hope in Christ
revolves so as to be fixed wholly within the bounds of this presentlife, only,
μόνον.—ζωῇ, life)Scripture does not readily call this life, life; oftener, it call it
αἰῶνα, the age:here it is spokenofafter the manner of men, as Luke 16:25.—
ἠλπικότες ἐσμὲν, we have hoped) we have believed with joyful anticipation of

the future.—ἑλεεινότεροι, more miserable) the comparative degree is here in
its strict sense:for if it had the force of the superlative, the article would have
been put before it: We are more miserable than all men: the rest, viz. all other
men, are not buoyed up with false hope, and freely enjoy the presentlife; we,
if the dead rise not, are foolishly buoyed up with false hope, and through
denying ourselves and renouncing the world, we lose the certain enjoyment of
the presentlife, and are doubly miserable. Even now Christians are happy,
but not in the things, by which the happiness of other men is maintained; and,
if we take awaythe hope of another life, our present spiritual joy is
diminished. Believers have immediate joy in God and therefore they are
happy; but if there be no resurrection that joy is greatly weakened. This is the
secondweighty consideration;the first is, that the happiness of Christians is
not placedin worldly things. By both of these weighty considerations,
happiness from the hope of the resurrectionis confirmed.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 19. - If in this life only we have hope in Christ. The word to which "in
Christ" should be joined is uncertain; the order st the original is, "If in this
life in Christ we have hoped only." The "only" seems therefore to qualify the
whole sentence:"If we have merely hoped in Christ, and that only in this
life." We are of all men most miserable; literally, we are more pitiable than all
men. The remark only has an absolute bearing when Christians really are
suffering from persecutions, as they did in St. Paul's day (2 Corinthians 1:5; 2
Timothy 3:12). But to some extent all Christians have to bear their cross, and
if all that they give up and suffer is sacrificedto a delusion, they deserve most
pity in one sense, becausetheyhave been most conspicuouslybefooled. In
another sense they are still the happiest of men; for their delusion, judged by
its fruits, is more blessedthan the dreary blank which is the only alternative.
Vincent's Word Studies
Only
To be takenwith the whole clause, atthe end of which it stands emphatically.
If in this life we are hopers in Christ, and if that is all. If we are not such as
shall have hope in Christ after we shall have fallen asleep.

PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
Sermon #47
FIRST CORINTHIANS
What If Christ Is Not Risen?
I Corinthians 15:12-19
On June 21, 1924, the SovietCongress issueda declarationat the death of
Lenin. It read, “His vision was colossal;his intelligence in organizing the
masses was beyondbelief; he was the lord of the new humanity; the savior of
the world.” This is quite a mouthful to say about any man, but notice the little
word “was.” In it we see the end of what some would call a greatman. Lenin
is a dead man, and the claims made about him will pass off the scene of
history in a few short years (if they have not already). A hundred years from
now no one will really care about a famous man named Lenin. Yet, almost two
thousand years ago, anotherdeclarationwas made at the tomb of Jesus. An
angelsaid, “He is not here, for He is risen!” Jesus is risen, not has risen. He is

alive. He is changing men and woman two thousand years after His death.
Why? Because Jesus Christ, not Lenin, is Lord of the universe and Savior of
the world because He was resurrectedfrom the dead and is alive today.
In spite of all the historicalevidence for the resurrectionof Christ, men still
wrestle with the question, “What if Christ is not risen?’ Perhaps in a weak
moment of faith a Christian might say to himself; “How do I know for sure
the resurrectionis true? What if it never happened? What if it is only a hoax?
Is it a piper's dream? Is it only wishful thinking?” These are normal doubts
that may come to a Christian at any time, especiallyif he or she is in a
spiritually low period. In a moment of doubt, we may reason, “Surely, if there
is no resurrectionof Christ, there is still the same loving God, the same
precious Jesus, with His practicalteachings and sacrificialdeath, and there is
still the hope of some kind of life after death." However, the Apostle Paul
would take a strong opposition to this kind of reasoning. He would argue that
the resurrectionof Christ is fundamental to true Christianity, and without
this true historicalfact, there is no Christianity at all.
What Paul will do in I Corinthians 15:12-19 is show the logicalconsequences
of denying the resurrectionof Jesus Christ. The “what if?” question is not just
a twentieth century problem; it was also a first century problem which
cropped up in the church at Corinth. In this sectionof Scripture, Paul’s whole
method of reasoning is, “What do we give up if the resurrectionis not true?
He argues from a negative point of view, assuming certainfalse
presuppositions to prove that Christ did rise from the dead and Christians,
too, shall rise from the dead. Paul's argument demands concentration, but he
devastates those who would say they are Christians and deny the literal,
bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
THE ILLOGICAL CONCLUSION OF THE CORINTHIANS 15:12

But if it is preachedthat Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some
of you say there is no resurrectionof the dead? These Corinthians had
wrongly concluded that there was no generalresurrectionof Christians at the
SecondAdvent of Christ.
It is not hard to understand why they would draw this conclusionif you
understand Greek philosophy. The Corinthians had succumbed to the fact
there would be no resurrection of Christians at the SecondAdvent because
this is what the unbelieving Greek philosophers taught. They held that the
spirit part of man survives after death in some eternal oblivion, but the body
goes to the grave and turns to dust, never to be raised. These philosophers
taught that the body was essentiallyevil and that it was a prison for the spirit
When death came, the spirit was freed and liberated from the sinful body
which was dead and forgotten. In one respect, a Greek could welcome death
because it was the liberation of the spirit from the body. The idea of a literal
resurrectionof the body was offensive to the natural Greek mind. These
Corinthian Christians had bought the reasoning that there was no bodily
resurrection. They were not denying life after death but were denying bodily
resurrection. Greek philosophers talkedof the resurrectionof the body as
“the hope of swine.”
It was ridiculous to think there was no resurrectionof Christians even though
Christ was raisedfrom the dead. He was proof positive that bodily
resurrectionis possible. Christ had been seenby the Apostles, individually
and collectively, by men and women, singly and in groups, and even by five
hundred people at one time. He was obviously raisedfrom the dead, and this,
of course, would necessitate a resurrectionof aft Christians because allshare
in his death, burial and resurrection. It was totally illogicalto deny the
resurrectionof all Christians if Christ Himself was raisedfrom the dead
because He was the "first fruits” of all resurrection.
LOGICALLY, IF THERE IS NO RESURRECTION, THEN CHRIST IS
NOT RAISED 15:13

If there is no resurrectionof the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
To deny a generalresurrectionof all Christians is to deny the specific
resurrectionof Christ. If human bodies do not survive death as the Greek
philosophers claimed, then Christ’s body did not survive death and there is no
resurrectionof Christ. It is impossible to argue that Christ rose but Christians
cannot either -- both will be resurrectedor neither will be resurrected.
If Christ is not raised, there is not the slightesthope of our resurrection;but if
Christ is risen, there certainly is the possibility that we can be raised as well.
What do we give up if we deny the resurrectionof Christ? We give up any
hope of any life after death because, forthe Christians, there is no life after
death apart from the resurrection. The resurrectionmakes a difference!
LOGICALLY, IF CHRIST IS NOT RAISED, THEN THERE IS NO
GOSPELMESSAGE AND FAITH IS EMPTY15:14
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
In verses 14-19, Paulshows the logicalconsequencesofdenying the
resurrectionof Jesus Christ.
He answers the question, “Whatif?” He attempts to show what life would be
like for the Christian if Christ had not been raised from the dead.
Paul makes it clearthat if Christ were not raised, then the apostolic message
was empty of content, without substance, totallyuseless. He preached that
Jesus Christ was Savior, Lord, Priestand King and that He came to die for
sinful men and give them eternal life here and bring them into His kingdom at
the SecondAdvent. But all Christ’s works, according to the apostolic message,
were validated by His resurrection from the dead.
If Christ be not raised, then Christian preaching is not real, not based on fact,
not basedon historical reality, and is absolutelymeaningless. If the
resurrectionis not true, then Christianity is a piper’s dream, a hoax, a mirage
and a bunch of wishful thinking by deluded people.

Take out the resurrection of Jesus, andthere is nothing left on which to rest
faith - only the decomposing corpse of an itinerant Jewishcarpenter-turned
rabbi (Prior, I Corinthians).
What do we give up if the resurrectionof Christ did not happen? We give up
Christian integrity. We must say that Christ, the Apostles, the great preachers
of the Church and all Christians have lied about Christ. All preaching of the
apostolic faith has been untrustworthy and a waste oftime. Yet, the
resurrectiondoes make a difference!
Furthermore, Paul tells us if Christ is not raisedfrom the dead, then our faith
as Christians is vain, empty, void of substance;that is, faith is placed in a
myth or an untruth. It is, therefore, not basedin a realChrist who lived, died
and was raisedfrom the dead, but faith is a psychologicalreligious experience
with no historical, real content. The whole Christian life is a worthless, useless
existential superstition and a meaningless deceptionif Christ be not raised
from the dead. Faith would be vain. Christianity would be a religious game.
Life would be reduced to grim, stark realities, with no hope.
What do we give up if we deny the resurrection? We give up a living faith
basedon historicalfact. For all practicalpurposes, we give up Christianity.
The resurrectiondoes make a difference!
LOGICALLY, IF CHRIST IS NOT RAISED, THEN THE APOSTLES ARE
LIARS 15:15-16
More than that, we are then found to be false witnessesaboutGod, for we
have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not
raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead an not raised, then
Christ has not been raisedeither. In the Book ofActs, the Apostles declared
the resurrectionof Christ with great authority and power. Acts makes

mention of the resurrection145 times. it was the focalpoint of early church
preaching. The messagewas, “He has risen; we have seenHim; He is Lord
and Savior!” If the resurrectionis not true, then the Apostles were the world’s
greatestliars. If there is no resurrection, they cannot be considered
trustworthy, honorable and sincere men, but deceivers. Theyare hypocrites
who have led multiple millions into gross darkness and greaterror. God
declaredthe resurrectionto be truth and apart of His plan for this world. But
if it did not occur,
the Apostles were preaching againstGod’s plans and purposes. However, the
Bible says God has declaredthe resurrection of Christ from the dead and the
Apostles and all Christians are in accordwith His plan and purpose in
declaring to men the resurrectedChrist. This was the apostolic message.
Isn’t it odd that many localchurches call themselves St. Thomas, or St.
Andrew or St.
Mark, using apostolic names, and yet many who make up these churches deny
the bodily resurrectionof Christ? This is real irony.
What do we give up if we deny the resurrection? We give up our friendship
with God and become His most ardent enemies because we are saying that He
has not raised Christ when He said He has raisedChrist. The resurrection
makes a difference!
LOGICALLY, IF CHRIST IS NOT RAISED, THEN CHRISTIANS ARE
YET IN THEIR SINS 15:17
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
-.
The resurrectionof Christ demonstratedhistorically that the sacrifice of
Christ for sin was sufficient and satisfactoryand acceptedby God. It was

God’s, “Amen,” to Christ’s, “It is finished.” Yet, if Christ be not risen, then
His death was invalidated. We are still in our sins. We still must face the anger
of a wrathful God. We will experience no mercy, no love, no compassion, no
forgiveness from God. When we stand before Him, we will geteverything that
we deserve for every evil action, thought or motive we have done or had if
Christ be not raised.
Faith is worthless if there is no resurrection. We are devoid of any salvation.
We have no King, no Lord of the universe and no Savior of the world.
If he was not raisedfrom the dead, he is not Lord of anything. If life here on
this earth is all there is, it makes no sense to base our hope on the groundless
promises of one who made empty assertions abouteternity. If the Christian
faith is thus basedon an empty gospeland a fraudulent savior, “anybody is
better off than the Christian.” (Prior, I Corinthians).
What do we give up if we deny the resurrection? We give up salvation. The
resurrectiondoes make a difference!
LOGICALLY, IF CHRIST IS NOT RAISED, THEN DEAD CHRISTIANS
HAVE PERISHED 15:18
Then those who have fallen asleepin Christ are lost. If Christ be not risen,
then all Christians who have died or will die have no hope after the grave. At
the moment of death, they shift discoverthey have been tricked, duped,
deluded, as they pass into everlasting torment. Without the resurrection,
there is no victory over sin and no triumph over death. Without the
resurrection, we have only despair in our lives; death will swallow up all.

If Christ be not risen, then all of our loved ones who have gone on to be with
the Lord (or that we thought went to be with the Lord), whom we had hoped
to meet again, we will
never see again. Our children, our parents, our relatives, our friends who
have died have all perished if there is no resurrection.
What do we give up if we deny the resurrection? We give up any hope of life
beyond the grave. Death, therefore, becomes the most dreaded event in a
person’s life because it ends life.
The resurrectionmakes a difference!
LOGICALLY, IF CHRIST IS NOT RAISED, THEN CHRISTIANS ARE TO
BE PITIED 15:19
If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we an to be pitied more than all
men. —A Christian is a person who has committed everything to the
resurrectedChrist. For Christ, he suffers; because ofChrist, he denies
himself; to Christ, he has given himself for service. Yet, if Christ be not risen,
then He is not Savior or Lord. No one, therefore, is to be pitied more than a
Christian because he or she has served, sacrificedand suffered for a Christ
who does not exist. Christians would be the most duped and gullible people on
the face of the earth. They have believed things that are not true and lived a
life for no real purpose. Besides allthat, the Christian has lost all that so-
calledworldly fun that he might have had in his lifetime if Christ be not
raised.
Christians are to be pitied if Christ is not raised, for, thinking they had the
truth, they have been deceived. They must, therefore, return to a life of
pessimism, despair and darkness. Without the resurrection, Christianity
crumbles, and the Christian is left in utter despair.

What do we give up if we deny the resurrection? We give up life with
meaning, purpose, hope and excitement. The resurrectiondoes make a
difference !
All the talk of Christ dying for our sins in accordancewith the scriptures
becomes meaningless,if in fact he stayed dead (Prior, I Corinthians).
I read recently about an elderly church-goerwho heard a modern skeptic talk
about the resurrectionon a radio program. She concluded that everything she
had believed about orthodox Christianity was unreliable, untrue or a hoax.
She, in despair, committed suicide.
CONCLUSION
There is a positive as wellas a negative logic to the resurrectionof Christ.
Since Christ is raised, then our preaching is not useless andempty, the
Apostles are true witnesseswho canbe trusted, our sins have been atonedfor
and we are forgiven, death has not triumphed over our loved ones and we will
see them again, and life has become meaningful and full of purpose.
Furthermore, since the resurrectionis true, then the Christian is the most
envied personon the face of the earth, for when he or she dies there will be
certainty that the souland spirit go immediately to be with Christ and will
return to unite with the resurrectedbody at the secondcoming of Christ Then
the resurrectedand glorified body will be with Christ for all eternity. This
conceptof resurrectioncan only bring hope, encouragementand anticipation
of this blessedevent, and the Christian can say, "O death, where is your
victory? 0 death, where is your sting?” Tertullian and later John Wesley
made an observationabout Christians. They said, “Our people die well.”

If you do not believe in Christ, I need to warn you that you too shall be
resurrectedsomeday, but it will be a resurrectionunto judgment and
damnation.
Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves
will hear his voice and come out—those who have done goodwill rise to live,
and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned (Jn. 5:28-29).
Will you be in the resurrectionunto life or the resurrection unto
condemnation? That will be determined on the basis of whether you have
receivedJesus Christ as your Savior for sin and as the resurrectedLord. If
you do that, then you will produce goodspiritual works and will be part of the
resurrectionunto life.
You cannot getto heaven without bowing to the resurrectedChrist who saves
any and all who come to Him by filth, asking Him for forgiveness ofsins based
on His finished work for sin at the Cross. Remember, the resurrectionis
God’s, “Amen” to Christ’s, “it is finished.”
WILLIAM BARCLAY
If Christ Be Not Raised(1 Corinthians 15:12-19)
15:12-19 If it is continually proclaimed that Christ has been raised from the
dead, how cansome among you saythat the resurrectionof the dead does not
exist? If the resurrectionfrom among the dead does not exist, then not even
Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then the

proclamation of the faith is emptied of its meaning, and your faith has been
emptied of its meaning too. If that is so we are shown to have home false
witness about God, because we witnessedabout God, that he raisedChrist,
whom he did not raise, if indeed the dead are not raised up. If the dead are not
raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised your
faith is worthless, you are still in your sins; and, if that is so, those who died
trusting in Christ have perished. If it is only in this life that we have hope in
Christ, then we are more to be pitied than all men.
Paul attacks the central position of his opponents at Corinth. They said flatly,
"Deadmen do not rise again." Paul's answeris, "If you take up that position
it means that Jesus Christ has not risen again;and if that be so, the whole
Christian faith is wrecked."
Why did Paul regarda belief in the Resurrectionof Jesus as so essential?
What greatvalues and greattruths does j, conserve? Itproves four great
facts, which can make all the difference to a man's view of life here and
hereafter.
(i) The Resurrectionproves that truth is strongerthan falsehood. According
to the Fourth Gospel, Jesus saidto his enemies, "Now youseek to kill me, a
man who has told you the truth." (John 8:40). Jesus came with the true idea of
God and of goodness;his enemies procured his death because they did not
want their own false view destroyed. If they had succeededin finally
obliterating him, falsehoodwouldhave been stronger than truth. On one
occasionthe Earl of Morton, regent of Scotland, sent for Andrew Melville, the
greatReformationleader. "There will never be quyetnes in this countrey,"
said Morton, "till halff a dissone of you be hangit or banished the countrey."
"Tushe!sir," said Melville, "threatenyour courtiers in that fashion. It is the
same to me whether I rot in the air or in the ground.... Yet God be glorified, it
will nocht ly in your power to hang nor exyll his treuthe!" The Resurrectionis
the final guarantee ofthe indestructibility of the truth.
(ii) The Resurrectionproves that goodis strongerthan evil. Again to quote the
Fourth Gospel, Jesus is representedas saying to his enemies, "You are of your
father, the devil." (John 8:44). The forces ofevil crucified Jesus and if there

had been no Resurrectionthese forces would have been triumphant. J. A.
Froude, the greathistorian, wrote, "One lesson, and only one, history may be
said to repeat with distinctness, that the world is built somehow on moral
foundations, that in the long run it is well with the good, and in the long run it
is ill with the wicked." Butif the Resurrectionhad not takenplace, that very
principle would have been imperilled, and we could never againbe certain
that goodnessis strongerthan evil.
(iii) The Resurrectionproves that love is strongerthan hatred. Jesus was the
love of God incarnate.
"Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine."
On the other hand, the attitude of those who procured his crucifixion was an
almost virulent hatred, so bitter that in the end it was capable of ascribing the
loveliness and graciousnessofhis life to the powerof the devil. If there had
been no Resurrection, it would have meant that the hatred of man in the end
conquered the love of God. The Resurrectionis the triumph of love over all
that hatred could do. This very beautiful poem sums up the whole matter.
"I heard two soldiers talking
As they came down the hill,
The sombre hill of Calvary,
Bleak and black and still.
And one said, 'The night is late,
These thieves take long to die.'
And one said, 'I am sore afraid,
And yet I know not why.'
I heard two women weeping
As down the hill they came,

And one was like a broken rose,
And one was like a flame.
One said, 'Men shall rue
This deed their hands have done.'
And one saidonly through her tears,
'My son! my son! my son!'
I heard two angels singing
Ere yet the dawn was bright,
And they were clad in shining robes,
Robes and crowns of light.
And one sang, 'Deathis vanquished,'
And one in goldenvoice
Sang, 'Love hath conquered, conquered all,
O heaven and earth rejoice!'"
The Resurrectionis the final proof that love is strongerthan hate.
(iv) The Resurrectionproves that life is strongerthan death. If Jesus had died
never to rise again, it would have proved that death could take the loveliest
and best life that ever lived and finally break it. During the secondworld war
a certain city church in London was all set out for harvest thanksgiving. In the
centre of the gifts was a sheafof corn. The service was neverheld, for, on the
Saturday night, a savage airraid laid the church in ruins. The months passed
and the spring came, and someone noticedthat, on the bomb site where the
church had stood, there were shoots ofgreen. The summer came and the
shoots flourished and in the autumn there was a flourishing patch of corn
growing amidst the rubble. Not even the bombs and the destruction could kill
the life of the corn and its seeds. The Resurrectionis the final proof that life is
strongerthan death.

Paul insisted that if the Resurrectionof Jesus was not a factthe whole
Christian message was basedon a lie, that many thousands had died trusting
in a delusion, that without it the greatestvalues in life have no guarantee.
"Take awaythe Resurrection," he said, "and you destroy both the foundation
and the fabric of the Christian faith."
CALVIN
Verse 14
14.Thenis our preaching vain — not simply as having some mixture of
falsehood, but as being altogetheran empty fallacy. For what remains if
Christ has been swallowedup by death — if he has become extinct — if he has
been overwhelmed by the curse of sin — if, in fine, he has been overcome by
Satan? In short, if that fundamental article is subverted, all that remains will
be of no moment. Forthe same reasonhe adds, that their faith will be vain,
for what solidity of faith will there be, where no hope of life is to be seen? But
in the death of Christ, consideredin itself, (35) there is seennothing but
ground of despair, for he cannot be the author of salvationto others, who has
been altogethervanquished by death. Let us therefore bear in mind, that the
entire gospelconsists mainly in the death and resurrectionof Christ, so that
we must direct our chief attention to this, if we would desire, in a right and
orderly manner, to make progress in the gospel — nay more, if we would not
remain barren and unfruitful. (2 Peter1:8.)
Verse 15

15.We are also found to be false witnesses. The otherdisadvantages, it is true,
which he has just now recounted, were more serious, as regards us — that
faith was made vain — that the whole doctrine of the gospelwas uselessand
worthless, and that we were bereft of all hope of salvation. Yet this also was no
trivial absurdity — that the Apostles, who were ordained by God to be the
heralds of his eternaltruth, were detectedas persons who had deceivedthe
world with falsehoods;for this tends to God’s highest dishonor.
The expression,falsewitnessesofGod, we may understand in two ways —
either that by lying they used the name of God under a false pretext, or that
they were detectedas liars, in testifying what they had receivedfrom God.
The secondof these I rather prefer, because it involves a crime that is much
more heinous, and he had spokenpreviously as to men. (36) Now, therefore,
he teaches that, if the resurrectionof Christ is denied, Godis made guilty of
falsehoodin the witnesses thathave been brought forward and hired by him.
(37) The reason, too, that is added, corresponds well — because theyhad
declaredwhat was false, not as from themselves, but from God.
I am at the same time well aware that there are some that give another
rendering to the particle κατα The old interpreter renders it against. (38)
Erasmus, on the other hand — concerning. (39)But, as it has also among the
Greeks the force of ἀπό, (from,) this significationappearedto me to be more
in accordancewith the Apostle’s design. For he is not speaking here of the
reputation of men, (as I have already stated, (40)) but he declares that God
will be exposedto the charge of falsehood, inasmuchas what they publish has
come forth from him.
Verse 17
17.Ye are yet in your sins For although Christ by his death atonedfor our
sins, that they might no more be imputed to us in the judgment of God, and
has

crucified our old man, that its lusts might no longer reign in us, (Romans 6:6;)
and, in fine, has
by death destroyedthe powerof death, and the devil himself, (Hebrews 2:14;)
yet there would have been none of all these things, if he had not, by rising
again, come off victorious. Hence, if the resurrection is overthrown, the
dominion of sin is set up anew.
Verse 18
18.Thenthey who are fallen asleep. Having it in view to prove, that if the
resurrectionof Christ is takenaway, faith is useless, andChristianity (41)is a
mere deception, he had said that the living remain in their sins; but as there is
a clearerillustration of this matter to be seenin the dead, he adduces them as
an example. “Of what advantage were it to the dead that they once were
Christians? Hence our brethren who are now dead, did to no purpose live in
the faith of Christ.” But if it is granted that the essence ofthe soul is immortal,
this argument appears, at first sight, conclusive;for it will very readily be
replied, that the dead have not perished, inasmuch as their souls live in a state
of separationfrom their bodies. Hence some fanatics conclude that there is no
life in the period intermediate betweendeath and the resurrection;but this
frenzy is easilyrefuted. (42) For although the souls of the dead are now living,
and enjoy quiet repose, yet the whole of their felicity and consolationdepends
exclusively on the resurrection;because it is well with them on this account,
and no other, that they wait for that day, on which they shall be calledto the
possessionofthe kingdom of God. Hence as to the hope of the dead, all is over,
unless that day shall sooneror later arrive.

Verse 19
19.Butif in this life Here is another absurdity — that we do not merely by
believing lose our time and pains, inasmuch as the fruit of it perishes at our
death, but it were better for us not to believe; for the condition of unbelievers
were preferable, and more to be desired. To believe in this life means here to
limit the fruit of our faith to this life, so that our faith looks no farther, and
does not extend beyond the confines of the present life. This statement shows
more clearly that the Corinthians had been imposed upon by some mistaken
fancy of a figurative resurrection, such as Hymeneus and Philetus, as though
the lastfruit of our faith were set before us in this life. (2 Timothy 2:17.) For
as the resurrectionis the completion of our salvation, and as to all blessings is,
as it were, the farthest goal, (43)the man who says that our resurrectionis
already past, leaves us nothing better to hope for after death. Howeverthis
may be, this passagegives atall events no countenance to the frenzy of those
who imagine that the soul sleeps as well as the body, until the day of the
resurrection. (44) They bring forward, it is true, this objection — that if the
soul continued to live when separatedfrom the body, Paul would not have
said that, if the resurrectionwere takenaway, we would have hope only in this
life, inasmuch as there would still be some felicity remaining for the soul. To
this, however, I reply, that Paul did not dream of Elysian fields, (45) and
foolish fables of that sort, but takes it for granted, that the entire hope of
Christians looks forwardto the final day of judgment — that pious souls do
even at this day restin the same expectation, and that, consequently, we are
bereft of everything, if a confidence of this nature deceives us.
But why does he say that we would be the most miserable of all men, as if the
lot of the Christian were worse than that of the wicked? Forall things, says
Solomon, happen alike to the goodand to the bad. (Ecclesiastes9:2.)I answer,
that all men, it is true, whether goodor bad, are liable to distresses in
common, and they feel in common the same inconveniences, and the same
miseries;but there are two reasons why Christians have in all ages fared
worse, in addition to which, there was one that was peculiar to the times of
Paul. The first is, that while the Lord frequently chastisesthe wicked, too,

with his lashes, and begins to inflict his judgments upon them, he at the same
time peculiarly afflicts his ownin various ways; — in the first place, because
he chastises those whomhe loves, (Hebrews 12:6;) and secondly, in order that
he may train them to patience, that he may try their obedience, and that he
may gradually prepare them by the cross for a true renovation. However it
may be as to this, that statementalways holds goodin the case ofbelievers It is
time, that judgment should begin at the house of God. (Jeremiah25:29; 1
Peter4:17 (46)) Again,
we are reckonedas sheepappointed for slaughter.
(Psalms 44:22.)
Again,
ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
(Colossians3:3.)
Meanwhile, the condition of the wickedis for the most part the more
desirable, because the Lord feeds them up, as hogs for the day of slaughter.
The secondreasonis, that believers, eventhough they should abound in riches
and in blessings of every kind, they nevertheless do not go to excess,and do
not gormandize at their ease;in fine, they do not enjoy the world, as
unbelievers do, but go forward with anxiety, constantly groaning, (2
Corinthians 5:2,) partly from a consciousnessoftheir weakness,and partly
from an eagerlonging for the future life. Unbelievers, on the other hand, are
wholly intent on intoxicating themselves with present delights. (47)
The third reason, which was peculiar, as I have said, to the age ofthe Apostle,
is — that at that time the name of Christians was so odious and abominable,
that no one could then take upon himself the name of Christ without exposing
his life to imminent peril. It is, therefore, not without goodreasonthat he says
that Christians would be the most miserable of all men, if their confidence
were confined to this world.

ALAN CARR
1 Cor. 15:12-20
WHAT IF THERE HAD BEEN NO RESURRECTION?
Intro: In the opening verses of this chapter, the Apostle Paul reminds us that
the doctrine of Christ's resurrectionfrom the dead is a vital and foundational
doctrine. In fact, he tells us that it is an essentialcomponentof the Gospelof
grace, v. 3-4. With that in mind, he proceeds to offer proof that Jesus did
indeed raise from the dead, v. 5-8. Apparently, there were some members of
the church in Corinth who doubted the truth of the resurrectionof the Lord
Jesus from the dead. In this chapter, Paul is writing to remind them that the
resurrectionis essentialto salvationand to any hope of Heaven. In an effort to
awakenthe Corinthian believers to the importance of the resurrection, he
paints a dismal picture of what life would be like if there had been no
resurrection. You see, if there had been no resurrection from the dead, then
we would be in sad shape this morning! As the Lord leads, lets take the time to
considerwhat would be true if there had been no resurrection.
I. V. 12-19 A BITTER ASSUMPTION
(Ill. If there was no resurrectionfrom the dead, then we have:)
A. V. 12-13 No Foundation- Paul reminds us that if there is no resurrection
from the dead then Jesus did not rise again, If He is dead, then everything we
believe in come crashing down around us. If there is no resurrectionfrom the
dead, then Jesus Himself is no better than the tens of thousands of others who
have claimed to be sent from God. If He did not rise, then His death was the
unfortunate end to a misspent life and His teachings are nothing more than
the raving of some maniacal madman! If it is true, and there is no
resurrectionfrom the dead, then the very system of belief that we cherish so
deeply is nothing more than just another religion that offers life and hope to
no one. If Jesus is still in that tomb today, then our way of life is a farce and

we are among the greatestoffools to have ever walkedupon this planet. For,
if Jesus is dead, then our systemof belief is dead, our foundations have
crumbled beneath us and we might as wellgo home right now!
B. V. 14-16 No Faith - In these three verses, the greatApostle moves to paint
an even more sobering portrait of how things would be if Jesus were indeed
dead today. He tells us three areas that are truly of base if Jesus is dead.
1. V. 14 Our Preaching Is Vain - Paul tells us that if Jesus is dead, then all the
preachers have wastedtheir words and time proclaiming the messageofthe
resurrection. Form the first witness, MaryMagdalene - John 20:2, to the
severalhundred mentioned in verses 5-8 of our text, to greatmen like
Spurgeon, Wesley, Sunday, Jones, Graham, Edwards, Talmadge, Moody,
Truit, Criswell, Evans, Carroll, and millions of others have been fools, if Jesus
did not raise from the dead!
2. V. 14 Our Faith Is Vain - Paul tells us that if Jesus is still dead, then we are
wasting our time serving Him and worshiping Him. If Jesus is really still dead,
then you would be just as welloff worshiping a rock, a tree or an image of
some type. If Jesus is still in the grave, then everything we do is false, phoney
and foolish! If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then all the preaching you
have listened to over the years is a lie, all your praying, serving, witnessing,
and church attendance have all been a waste ofyour time. If Jesus did not rise
from the dead then you are the victim of the most cruel hoax ever played on
humanity and the Christian faith is the greatestjoke ofall time.
3. V. 15 We Are False Witnesses - Paul tells us that al those who spread the
Christian message ofsalvationthrough the crucified and resurrectedJesus
are liars if Jesus did not in fact rise from the dead. Every time we open our
mouths to sing, to witness, to testify, to preach, or whatever we do in His
name, then we are liars if He did not rise from the dead.
(Ill. Just considerfor a moment what a leap of faith this is! Paul was a man of
wealth, socialstanding, influence and great education. Yet, he was willing to
throw all of that awayfor the cause of Jesus. He was beaten, imprisoned,
assaulted, stonedand left for dead, all for the name of Jesus. Here is a man
who was at one time dead-set againstChristians and Christianity. His single

purpose in life was to destroy everyone and everything associatedwith, "that
name!" For Paul to turn his back on everything he loved and then devote his
life to spreading a lie is simply too much to believe. If Paul did this, then he
was absolutelycrazy!)
C. V. 17 No Forgiveness -As if things couldn't get any worse, Paulnow tells us
that if Jesus isn't alive, then we are still lost, hell bound and still in our sins
this morning. The heart of the Gospelmessageis the greattruth that Jesus
Christ left Heaven above, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life and died on
the cross to pay for the sins of the world. It doesn't stop there! The Bible goes
on to saythat He rose againthe third day for our justification, Rom. 4:25. If
Jesus is still dead, then we cannot be justified and we are still lostin sin this
morning! If He is dead today, then we are still looking for a redeemer and we
are all headed to Hell!
D. V. 18-19 No Future - Paul now moves beyond this life to considerthings of
an eternal nature. He tells us that if Jesus is still dead, then we have no hope
for the future at all. Notice 2 terrible things that are true if Jesus did not rise
from the dead.
1. V. 18 Our Loved Ones Who Have Gone Before Are Gone Forever - One of
the blessings ofthe Christian life is the knowledge that one day, we will
participate in a reunion in Heaven which will include all those we have known
and loved who knew the Lord Jesus Christ. However, Paul tells us that if
Jesus did not rise from the dead, then every one who dies is forever lost.
Either we are like a dog and go to the grave, or we go to Hell to be forever
separatedfrom the Lord. If this is true, then there will be no Heaven, there
will be no gatherings on the other side. There will be no hope and there is no
future to anticipate. If Jesus is still dead, then we might as well live it up down
here and enjoy the time we have left. If Jesus is dead, then we are all but dust
and when we die, we are gone forever!
Heaven is a cruel joke, mom and dad are gone forever, sons and daughters are
gone, brothers and sisters are gone, grandparents are gone, if there is no
resurrectionfrom the dead.

2. V. 19 We Have Lived Our Lives In Vain - Paul is saying that if Jesus did
not rise from the dead, then every child of God has wastedhis/her life in living
for Jesus. We have a believed a lie and are headed to Hell! If the Bible lied
about the resurrectionof Jesus Christ from the dead, then you and I can
believe nothing this Book tells us! (Ill. Matt. 11:28;John 6:37; John 3:16; Heb.
13:5; Psa. 103:12;1 John 1:9 - All bitter, cruel lies if Jesus did not rise from
the dead!)
(Ill. All of this paints a pretty bleak picture for us. If there is no resurrection
from the dead, them we are all in real trouble and need to seek psychiatric
help to be delivered from the delusions that have gripped and enslaved our
minds. But, thank God, aren't you glad that Paul did not stopwriting with
verse 19? Verse 20 stands like a majestic lighthouse pointing the way to hope,
safetyand salvation.)
I. A Bitter Assumption
II. V. 20 A BLESSED ASSURANCE
(Ill. Paul states, for the record, the thrilling fact that Jesus did indeed rise
from the dead! He lives this morning just like the Bible says He does. The
storied penned by the Gospelwriters aren't just the ranting of deluded men,
but are in fact the truth of God and the means of salvationfor lost souls.
When the angeltold the womenthat Jesus was risen, his witness was true! He
lives! He lives! Now, because He lives, all of those negatives I spoke abouta
minute ago are transformed into positives. You see, before the first ray of
sunshine ever broke the darkness on that Sunday morning 2,000 years ago,
God had already stretchedforth His hand and had called the Son to some
forth from the grave. Then, the Father sent the angels to roll away the stone.
Not to let Jesus out, for He was alreadygone, the stone was rolled awayso
that you an I might look into the most sublime and powerful event the world
has ever known!Yes Jesus lives and now all our negatives have been placed in
the positive column. He lives therefore:
A. Our Foundation Is Firm - The bedrock doctrine of our faith is true. Jesus
lives and Christianity stands as the only valid means whereby a lost sinner can
reachthe God of Heaven.

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