1
Corinthians 15: 1-19
The Resurrection of Christ
1Now, brothers, I want to remind you of
the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I
preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3For what I received I passed on to you
as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according
to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter, and then
to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five
hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have
fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the
apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one
abnormally born.
9For I am the least of the apostles and
do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was
not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of themyet not I, but the grace of
God that was with me. 11Whether, then, it was I or they, this
is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
The Resurrection of the Dead
12But if it is preached that Christ has
been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the
dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not
even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been
raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15More
than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, 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. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has
not been raised either. 17And if Christ has not been raised,
your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then
those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If
only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.