And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
The verse belongs to Paul's teaching on the resurrection of the dead, and its argument makes that resurrection essential to Christian preaching and faith. It states a condition: if Christ did not rise from the dead, Christian preaching about Him is empty and futile and faith in Him is empty and futile. Everything stands on the bodily resurrection of Christ as the foundation of preaching and faith. The argument links the general resurrection to Christ, so that denying that the dead rise would mean Christ did not rise.
If Christ was not raised, those testifying that God raised Christ would be false witnesses of God. If Christ is not raised, believers remain still in their sins. If Christ is not raised, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished, and the dead do not rise. In fact Christ was raised, and this is supported by testimony that He was seen by many witnesses, by the apostles witnessing with great power, and by the Roman guard who saw His resurrection and testified to it.
Christ's resurrection makes the hope of the righteous resurrection meaningful and supports the assurance that death will be overcome. The same teaching addresses how the dead are raised and what body they receive, with the grain illustrating that the mortal body's matter need not become the material of the immortal body while the person's identity is preserved in organization. Belief in immediate immortal life after death can lead people to neglect the resurrection and treat preaching it as unnecessary, though the resurrection is a central Christian teaching. The verse belongs to a reading that prepares mourners to face death with hope.
Christ's death had seemed to His disciples to end His work, but it was in fact the life of the cause He had advocated. The verse means faith is to have a resurrection from indifference into living action, where risen faith lifts the cross of Calvary and is lifted by it, stands in its own lot and place, catches the inspiration of the work Christ did for souls on earth, and endures with the ardor of a hero seeing Him who is invisible. As soldiers of the cross, those with risen faith exert a positive influence for good and gather with Christ, because indifference in the Christian life denies Christ. The verse shows that Christ has not died in vain for the fallen sons of Adam, but His death is effective for their salvation, causing praise and rejoicing to resound through the heavenly court.
Believers on earth and those in heaven who have never fallen are one church, so the praise and thanksgiving rising from the church below for this salvation is taken up into the heavenly anthem, while the saints on earth drink of the pure streams flowing from the throne of God and angels drink from the fountainhead.
The verse belongs to Paul's teaching on the resurrection of the dead, and its argument makes that resurrection essential to Christian preaching and faith. It states a condition: if Christ did not rise from the dead, Christian preaching about Him is empty and futile and faith in Him is empty and futile. Everything stands on the bodily resurrection of Christ as the foundation of preaching and faith. The argument links the general resurrection to Christ, so that denying that the dead rise would mean Christ did not rise.
If Christ was not raised, those testifying that God raised Christ would be false witnesses of God. If Christ is not raised, believers remain still in their sins. If Christ is not raised, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished, and the dead do not rise. In fact Christ was raised, and this is supported by testimony that He was seen by many witnesses, by the apostles witnessing with great power, and by the Roman guard who saw His resurrection and testified to it.
Christ's resurrection makes the hope of the righteous resurrection meaningful and supports the assurance that death will be overcome. The same teaching addresses how the dead are raised and what body they receive, with the grain illustrating that the mortal body's matter need not become the material of the immortal body while the person's identity is preserved in organization. Belief in immediate immortal life after death can lead people to neglect the resurrection and treat preaching it as unnecessary, though the resurrection is a central Christian teaching. The verse belongs to a reading that prepares mourners to face death with hope.
Christ's death had seemed to His disciples to end His work, but it was in fact the life of the cause He had advocated. The verse means faith is to have a resurrection from indifference into living action, where risen faith lifts the cross of Calvary and is lifted by it, stands in its own lot and place, catches the inspiration of the work Christ did for souls on earth, and endures with the ardor of a hero seeing Him who is invisible. As soldiers of the cross, those with risen faith exert a positive influence for good and gather with Christ, because indifference in the Christian life denies Christ. The verse shows that Christ has not died in vain for the fallen sons of Adam, but His death is effective for their salvation, causing praise and rejoicing to resound through the heavenly court.
Believers on earth and those in heaven who have never fallen are one church, so the praise and thanksgiving rising from the church below for this salvation is taken up into the heavenly anthem, while the saints on earth drink of the pure streams flowing from the throne of God and angels drink from the fountainhead.