Resurrection Essential to the Gospel

15 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand^{(A) 2} and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.^{(B) 3} For I passed on to you^(C) as most important what I also received: that Christ died^(D) for our sins according to the Scriptures,^{(E) 4} that he was buried,^(F) that he was raised on the third day^(G) according to the Scriptures,^{(H) 5} and that he appeared to Cephas,^(I) then to the Twelve.^{(J) 6} Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time;^(K) most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James,^(L) then to all the apostles.^{(M) 8} Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time,^[a](N) he also appeared to me.^(O)

⁹ For I am the least of the apostles,^(P) not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted^(Q) the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.^{(R) 11} Whether, then, it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you have believed.

Resurrection Essential to the Faith

¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead,^(S) how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”?^{(T) 13} If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; ¹⁴ and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith.^{[b] 15} Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses^(U) about God, because we have testified^(V) wrongly about God that he raised up Christ—whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ^(W) have also perished. ¹⁹ If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.

Christ’s Resurrection Guarantees Ours

²⁰ But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits^(X) of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For since death^(Y) came through a man,^(Z) the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man.^{(AA) 22} For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.^(AB)

²³ But each in his own order:^(AC) Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ. ²⁴ Then comes the end,^(AD) when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father,^(AE) when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power.^{(AF) 25} For he must reign^(AG) until he puts all his enemies under his feet.^{(AH) 26} The last enemy to be abolished is death.^{(AI) 27} For God has put everything under his feet.^[c](AJ) Now when it says “everything” is put under him, it is obvious that he who puts everything under him is the exception. ²⁸ When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son^(AK) himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.^(AL)

Death through Adam and Life through Christ

¹² Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man,^(A) and death through sin,^(B) in this way death spread to all people,^(C) because all sinned.^{[a] 13} In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law.^{(D) 14} Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression.^(E) He is a type of the Coming One.^(F)

¹⁵ But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man^(G) Jesus Christ overflowed to the many. ¹⁶ And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment,^(H) resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification.^{[b] 17} If by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life^(I) through the one man, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸ So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life^(J) for everyone. ¹⁹ For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners,^(K) so also through the one man’s obedience^(L) the many will be made righteous. ²⁰ The law came along to multiply the trespass.^(M) But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more^{(N) 21} so that, just as sin reigned in death,^(O) so also grace will reign^(P) through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Temptation and the Fall

3 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” ^(A)

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. ³ But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’”^(B)

⁴ “No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman.^{(C) 5} “In fact, God knows that when^[a] you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.^{(D) 7} Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

¹⁷ And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: