Daily Lesson for Monday 17th of August 2026
In 1 Corinthians 15:9-19, Paul explains how severe and dreadful the consequences of denying the Resurrection are. Without the Resurrection, believers have no hope in the present, much less in the future.
Read 1 Corinthians 15:9-19. What do we lose if Christ has not been raised?
By and large, ancient pagans did not believe in resurrection, especially in the Greek world, with its belief in body-soul dualism (at death the soul soars off to wherever the souls of the dead supposedly go). Paul begins the paragraph in 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 with a rhetorical question that shows his deep bewilderment: “What? How can some of you say that there is no such thing as the resurrection of the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:12, author’s translation). For Paul, disbelieving in the Resurrection is inconceivable, especially because there were so many eyewitnesses (1 Corinthians 15:5-8). But even worse, without the Resurrection, their hope is built on a lie, and they are still in their sins.
Image © Lifeway Collection at Goodsalt.com
He says, in fact, that if there is no resurrection of the dead, then (1) Christ has not been raised (1 Corinthians 15:13,16); (2) our preaching is empty (1 Corinthians 15:14); (3) our faith is also empty (1 Corinthians 15:14); (4) we are false witnesses (1 Corinthians 15:15); (5) our faith is futile (1 Corinthians 15:17); (6) we are still in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:17); and, obviously, (7) those who have died are no more (1 Corinthians 15:18).
Without the Resurrection, both preaching and faith are empty (1 Corinthians 15:14). The Greek term rendering the word “empty” is kenos. This is a good translation, but it is too broad. Interpreters debate whether kenos means “empty” in the sense of lacking truth (so, “untrue”) or lacking results (so, “without result or effect”) or lacking purpose (so, “without purpose,” “in vain”).
Whatever the specific meaning, in a scenario in which resurrection does not exist, faith is portrayed as futile, from the Greek mataios (1 Corinthians 15:17). Although mataios is not much different from kenos, the idea is that if Jesus is not alive, faith is fruitless, a delusion, because our sins have not been forgiven (1 Corinthians 15:17). We would be false witnesses, deceiving and being deceived (1 Corinthians 15:15).
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How does one make sense of 1 Corinthians 15:1-58 if the dead soar off to heaven (or to hell) immediately? Why, then, is understanding that the dead sleep such an important teaching? |
