² much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead.^(A)

¹⁸ Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, “What does this pretentious babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.” (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.)

The Coming of the Lord

¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died,^[a] so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. ¹⁴ For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.^[b](A)

¹³ But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and therefore we also speak,^{(A) 14} because we know that the one who raised Jesus^[a] will also raise us with Jesus and will present us with you in his presence.^(B)

²³ But each in its own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

The Resurrection of the Dead

¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised, ¹⁴ and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵ We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.^{(A) 16} For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. ¹⁷ If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have died^[a] in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰ But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.^[b](B)

¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus^[a] from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through^[b] his Spirit that dwells in you.^(A)

²³ that the Messiah^[a] must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the gentiles.”^(A)

⁸ Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?^(A)

²¹ unless it was this one sentence that I called out while standing before them, ‘It is about the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’ ”^(A)