If Christ Has Not Been Raised...
We just celebrated Easter, and what a glorious celebration that it was! Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed.
I wanted to follow up the Easter celebration with a blog on how important the Resurrection is to the whole of the Christian faith. Come along on a walk with me through 1 Corinthians 15.
If Christ has not been raised…
“If Christ has not been raised…” (1 Cor. 15:14) This is the thought that Paul entertains as he is working out the importance of the doctrine of resurrection for the Corinthians. If Christ is still dead, what would be at stake? Quite a lot actually. The resurrection of Christ is the centerpiece of the gospel message. If Christ is not raised, then all is lost. If Christ is not raised, then Jesus is just some dead guy who said some nice stuff. He was a mistaken fool at best or a heinous liar at worst. After all, He promised that He would “lay His life down and pick it back up again.” If He has not been raised, these words simply cannot be true.
The resurrection of Christ is the centerpiece of the gospel message. If Christ is not raised, then all is lost.
Paul lays out 6 fundamental truths that are at stake if Christ is not raised.
Verse 14: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain…” So if Christ is dead and has not raised from the grave, then the preaching of the gospel message is futile and foolish. There is no point to preaching a gospel about a man who is still dead in the tomb.
Verse 14: “If Christ has not been raised…your faith is also vain.” Not only is the preaching of the gospel about Christ futile and foolish, so also is our faith futile and foolish. We have believed a false message that cannot save.
Verse 15: If Christ has not been raised, “we are even false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ…” The prospects continue to get worse as Paul goes on. If Christ is not raised from the dead, then the Apostles and all of us who have followed them in witnessing to Christ’s resurrection are liars having said falsely that God raised Him from the dead. The is doubly damning because not only have the disciples of Christ misled men in falsehood, but we also have committed a great abomination against the Lord Almighty who hates “a lying tongue” and “a false witness who utters lies.” (Prov. 6:17, 19)
Verse 17: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.” We believe that “you have been saved by grace through faith” but if our faith is worthless, then so also is our salvation. If Christ is not raised, then there can be no forgiveness of sins. His sacrifice was not accepted, and we are still dead in sin and culpable to God. We are destined to everlasting death, for “the wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23)
Verse 18: If Christ has not been raised, “then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.” If our preaching is false, our faith is worthless, and our salvation is fake, then all who have believed and died have perished forevermore. There is no hope of everlasting life and bodily resurrection if Christ is not raised because His life and resurrection is the seal, security and model of our own. If Christ has not been raised, then “Life is hard and then we die.” This is the outlook if Christ has not been raised—an outlook of hopelessness and despair.
Verse 19: If Christ has not been raised, then “we are of all men most to be pitied.” If Christ has not been raised, then we are to be pitied as insane people who have wasted their lives on a lie and the greatest of delusions.
But Christ has been raised from the dead…
Instead of a hopeless gospel that is false and futile, we have a powerful Savior who has conquered the grave and defeated death.
If Christ has not be raised, then the prospects for us are truly bleak. But praise be to God, that is not the story. Paul emphatically states a great reversal. He says, “But now Christ has been raised from the dead…” (1 Cor. 15:20). Instead of a hopeless gospel that is false and futile, we have a powerful Savior who has conquered the grave and defeated death. As such, the resurrection of Christ truly provides 6 gifts. Because Christ is raised…
The preaching of the gospel is powerful and effective to bring people to everlasting life.
Our faith is well-founded, and Jesus can be trusted to guard what we have entrusted to Him.
The Apostles (and all of us who follow their example) have preached the truth, and we can hold onto it with conviction.
We are forgiven of our sins, and our salvation is sure.
We have a secure hope for resurrection, and we will live forever in joy!
We are not to be pitied but of all people to be envied, for we have a risen Savior who is worthy of worship and worthy of obedience. Indeed our “toil is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 15:58)
Praise be to God that death has been swallowed up in victory!
O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. —1 Corinthians 15:55–57