In the earlier verses of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul had established that Jesus’ resurrection is central to the gospel. Without His resurrection, there will be no salvation nor gospel.

In 1 Corinthians 15:12-23, Paul addressed two resurrections: that of the dead and that of Christ. These two resurrections are distinct, yet closely intertwined. In order for believers to have the hope of salvation, there must be the resurrection of Christ and, in order to have the resurrection of Christ, there must be the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor 15:13). If we are to deny the resurrection of Christ, the consequences will be as follows:

1. There will be no hope and our preaching of the gospel will be empty and meaningless (1 Cor 15:14). The resurrection of Christ is proof that God had accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins. If there is no resurrection of Christ, there will be no salvation.

2. This will make the apostles false witnesses of God (1 Cor 15:15) as they had witnessed and testified that Christ had risen from the dead.

3. Our faith in Christ will be in vain because our faith is not in a living Saviour (1 Cor 15:16-17).

4. There will be hopelessness in death as believers who had fallen asleep (died) will perish (completely destroyed) and can never be awaken or be resurrected (1 Cor 15:18). Thus, if our hope in Christ is only for our living in this world, we will be most miserable (1 Cor 15:19).

However, all these are untrue because Christ had indeed risen from the dead. This gives us hope in our faith and in the preaching of the gospel as this is the only message that brings hope to this world. Christ’s resurrection is our firstfruits. Just as the firstfruits represents what the rest of the harvest will be like, Christ’s resurrection is the pledge and guarantee of our resurrection (1 Cor 15:20-21).

Through Adam’s sin, men came under the bondage of sin. However, when we accept Christ as our Saviour, Christ becomes our representative and guarantees our resurrection (1 Cor 15:22-23). As believers, we serve Christ as our Lord; and we have hope of life beyond death. This is the great hope that all believers have.