1 Corinthians 15:12
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 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 question is directed to believers who claimed there is no raising of the dead while Christ was being proclaimed among them as raised from the dead. His rising was established by the testimony of many who saw Him after His death, and that witnessed rising proves the reality that the dead are raised. To deny that the dead are raised therefore contradicts the proclamation that Christ rose, for faith in His resurrection belongs together with faith in the resurrection of the dead.
Supposing the dead already enjoy their final blessedness hides this doctrine from view and makes the resurrection appear unnecessary. The resurrection thus defended is literal, yet the immortal body need not be composed of the same particles of matter as the mortal body, since identity between them consists in organization rather than in identical material. It remains a mystery too deep for the human mind to explain or fully comprehend, to be received as true on the authority of God's word even where Scripture states only the facts without explaining why or how.
Applied spiritually, the verse calls for Christian faith itself to have a resurrection. That resurrected faith lifts the cross of Calvary and is lifted by it, standing in its own lot and place. It catches the inspiration of Christ's work for souls and endures as seeing Him who is invisible. As a soldier of the cross it exerts a positive influence for good, gathering with Christ rather than scattering abroad through indifference, for such indifference denies Christ.