1 Corinthians 15:13
in 1 Corinthians 15If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised:
KJV
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
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This verse in 1 Corinthians 15
Commentary
16 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
But if there be no resurrection of the dead - If the whole subject is held to be impossible and absurd, then it must follow that Christ is not “risen,” since there were the same difficulties in the way of raising him up which will exist in any case. He was dead and was buried. He had lain in the grave three days. His human soul had left the body. His frame had become cold and stiff. The blood had ceased to circulate, and the lungs to heave.
This site's exposition
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead
on 1 Corinthians 15:12-14
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? the specific denial surfaces at last, some Corinthians apparently accepted Christ's own resurrection while denying a future bodily resurrection for believers generally, a split position Greek philosophy's discomfort with matter made attractive. Paul answers by refusing to let the two be separated, verse 13, if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen, the general and the particular standing or falling together by the same logic. Verse 14 draws out the stakes before the argument goes any further, if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain, the entire edifice of Christian proclamation and belief resting on one historical claim.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
A commentator
Severian of GabalaPAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH · Written before 425.
proposed
Christ died and rose again for nothing if we are not to rise again as well.
Moreover, they even show themselves to be false witnesses of God, because they testified that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise. And we remain in our sins still. And those who have slept in Christ have perished; destined, forsooth, to rise again, but peradventure in a phantom state, just like Christ.
Now, if Christ is preached that he hath been raised from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised? and if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain and your …
A commentator
Ignatius of AntiochEpistle of Pseudo-Ignatius to the Tarsians · Written before 108.
proposed
And that our bodies are to rise again, He shows when He says, "Verily I say unto you, that the hour cometh, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live." And [says] the apostle, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." And that we must live soberly and righteously, he [shows when he] says again, "Be not deceived: neither adulterers, nor effeminate persons, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor fornicators, nor revilers, nor drunkards, nor thieves, can inherit the kingdom of God." And again, "If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; our preaching therefore is vain, and your faith is also vain: ye are yet in your sins. Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." But if such be our condition and feelings, wherein shall we differ from asses and dogs, who have no care about the future, but think only of eating, and of indulging such appetites as follow after eating? For they are unacquainted with any intelligence moving within them.
"But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised." Seest thou Paul's energy, and his spirit for the combat, so invincible? how not only from what is evident he demonstrates what is doubted, but also from what is doubted, endeavors to demonstrate to gainsayers the former evident proposition? Not because what had already taken place required demonstration, but that he might signify this to be equally worthy of belief with that. "And what kind of consequence is this?" saith one. "For if Christ be not raised, that then neither should others be raised, doth follow: but that if others be not raised, neither should Christ be raised, what reason can there be in this?" Since then this doth not appear to be very reasonable, see how he works it out wisely, scattering his seeds beforehand from the beginning, even from the very groundwork of the Gospel: as, that "having died for our sins," He was raised; and that He is "the first-fruits of them that slept." For the first-fruits-of what can He be the first-fruits, except of them that are raised? And how can He be first-fruits, if they rise not of whom He is first-fruits? How then are they not raised? Again, if they be not raised, wherefore was Christ raised? Wherefore came He? Wherefore did He take upon Him flesh, if he were not about to raise flesh again? For He stood not in need of it Himself but for our sakes. But these things he afterwards set down as he goes on; for the present he saith, "If the dead be not raised, neither hath Christ been raised," as though that were connected with this. For had He not intended to raise Himself, He would not have wrought that other work. Seest thou by degrees the whole economy overthrown by those words of theirs and by their unbelief in the resurrection? But as yet he saith nothing of the incarnation, but of the resurrection. […]
9 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers1 voice
That he uses these words with respect to the body of flesh, and to none other, he declares to the Corinthians manifestly, indubitably, and free from all ambiguity: "Always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus, that also the life of Jesus Christ might be manifested in our body. For if we who live are delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, it is that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh."
The Medieval Church2 voices
Lest they say that although Christ rose, yet there will be no general resurrection, he confirms the latter, and says: if there is no resurrection, then Christ has not risen either. For the one confirms the other. For why did He rise, if not to …
917. – Then when he says: But if there is no resurrection, Christ has not risen, he proves that Christ has risen, and this by leading to incongruities. In regard to this he does two things: first, he leads to the incongruities, secondly, he shows …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
But if there be no resurrection of the dead,.... If there is no such thing as a resurrection of any, if the thing is not possible, if it never has been, is, or will be true in fact: then is Christ not risen.
From our Saviour's resurrection he establishes the resurrection of the dead and confirms the Corinthians in the belief of it by some other considerations,
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2287: “"If There Is No Resurrection"” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
OUR religion is not based upon opinions, but upon facts. We hear persons sometimes saying, "Those are your views, and these are ours." Whatever your "views" may be, is a small matter—what are the facts of the case? We must, after all, if we want a firm foundation, come down to matters of fact.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
If there be no general resurrection, which is the consequent, then there can have been no resurrection of Christ, which is the antecedent. The head and the members of the body stand on the same footing: what does not hold good of them, does not hold good of Him either: His resurrection and theirs are inseparably joined (compare 1Co 15:20-22;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2287: “"If There Is No Resurrection"” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
OUR religion is not based upon opinions, but upon facts. We hear persons sometimes saying, "Those are your views, and these are ours." Whatever your "views" may be, is a small matter—what are the facts of the case? We must, after all, if we want a firm foundation, come down to matters of fact. Now, the great facts of the Gospel are that God was Incarnate in Christ Jesus, that He lived, here, a life of holiness and love, that He died upon the Cross for our sins, that He was buried in the tomb of Joseph, that the third day He rose, again, from the dead, that after a while He ascended to His Father's Throne where He now sits—and that He shall come, by-and-by, to be our Judge—and in that day the dead in Christ shall rise by virtue of their union with Him. Now, very soon, within the Church of God, there rose up persons who began to dispute the fundamental and cardinal principles of the faith—and it is so even now. When those outside the Church deny that Christ is the Son of God, deny His atoning Sacrifice and deny His Resurrection, we are not at all astonished. They are unbelievers, and they are acting out their own profession. But when men inside the Church of God call themselves Christians and yet deny the resurrection of the dead, then is our soul stirred within us, for it is a most solemn and serious evil to doubt those holy Truths of God. They know not what they do, they cannot see all the result of their unbelief! If they could, one would think that they would start back with horror and let the Truth of God stand where it ought to stand, where God has put it.
If there be no resurrection of the dead - As Christ was partaker of the same flesh and blood with us, and he promised to raise mankind from the dead through his resurrection, if the dead rise not then Christ has had no resurrection. There seem to have been some at Corinth who, though they denied the resurrection of the dead, admitted that Christ had risen again: the apostle’s argument goes therefore to state that, if Christ was raised from the dead, mankind may be raised; if mankind cannot be raised from the dead, then the body of Christ was never raised.
The words behind it
9 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| εἰ | ei | If | G1487 → | 508 times |
| δὲ | de | however | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| ἀνάστασις | anastasis | a resurrection | G386 → | 42 times |
| νεκρῶν | nekron | of [the] dead | G3498 → | 128 times |
| οὐκ | ouk | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| ἔστιν, | estin | there is, | G1510 → | 2333 times |
| οὐδὲ | oude | neither | G3761 → | 141 times |
| Χριστὸς | christos | Christ | G5547 → | 523 times |
| ἐγήγερται· | egegertai | has been raised; | G1453 → | 142 times |
εἰIf
eiG1487 →508 times
δὲhowever
deG1161 →2765 times
ἀνάστασιςa resurrection
anastasisG386 →42 times
νεκρῶνof [the] dead
nekronG3498 →128 times
οὐκnot
oukG3756 →1664 times
ἔστιν,there is,
estinG1510 →2333 times
οὐδὲneither
oudeG3761 →141 times
ΧριστὸςChrist
christosG5547 →523 times
ἐγήγερται·has been raised;
egegertaiG1453 →142 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Romans 8:11And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His…
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 4:14
knowing that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence.
- Romans 6:4–5
We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of…
- 2 Corinthians 4:11
For we who are alive are always consigned to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal body.
- Ephesians 1:19–20
and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength,
- Romans 8:9
You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong…
- 2 Corinthians 4:14
Through
1 Peter 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
it leads to
- 1 Peter 1:23
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
- 1 John 5:4
because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.
- Romans 15:13
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- 1 Peter 1:23
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies11
About 1 Corinthians
This page draws on 16 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Hodge, An Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2287: “"If There Is No Resurrection"” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography, Book 7; Frederic Godet, Commentary on First Corinthians; Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle of Pseudo-Ignatius to the Tarsians; Irenaeus, Against Heresies Book V; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Corinthians 39; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Severian of Gabala, PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH; Tertullian, Against Marcion Book III; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Corinthians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 1 Corinthians.