If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
The Creed Paul Received
Paul begins by reciting something older than his letter: 'I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day… and that he appeared' (15:3-5). Scholars widely regard this as an early Christian creed, dating to within a few years of the crucifixion — Paul is handing on, not inventing. Then comes a list of eyewitnesses, including 'more than five hundred at one time, most of whom are still alive' — an open invitation to check the testimony. The resurrection is presented not as a private feeling but as a reported event with living witnesses.
The Relentless 'If'
Some at Corinth said there is no resurrection of the dead. Paul does not soften it; he follows the logic to the bottom. IF there is no resurrection, then Christ is not raised; and if Christ is not raised, 'our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain,' the apostles are liars, 'you are still in your sins,' the Christian dead have simply perished, and 'we are of all people most to be pitied' (15:14-19). Christianity, Paul insists, is not a set of timeless values that survives the disproof of its central claim. It is staked entirely on one event in history. Remove the resurrection and nothing is left worth keeping.
But In Fact
Then the hinge: 'But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep' (15:20). 'Firstfruits' is a harvest word — the first sheaf that guarantees the rest of the crop. Christ's resurrection is not an isolated marvel but the beginning of a general harvest; because he rose, his people will rise. Paul sets Adam and Christ as the two heads of two humanities: 'as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.'
What Kind of Body?
To the scoffer's question — 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body?' — Paul answers with the seed: what is sown is not what comes up, yet there is real continuity. The resurrection body is 'sown perishable, raised imperishable… sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body' (15:42-44) — not a ghost, but a physical body animated and ruled by the Spirit, glorious and deathless. And the chapter ends in a shout: when the perishable puts on the imperishable, 'then shall come to pass the saying… Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?' The chapter that began with a buried creed ends with death itself buried.
Go deeper: Soma — the resurrection body (Lexicon) · Doxa — sown in dishonor, raised in glory (Lexicon) · Soter — the Savior who is the firstfruits (Lexicon)