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)

Resurrection Essential to the Faith

¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead,^(A) how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”?^{(B) 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.^{[a] 15} Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses^(C) about God, because we have testified^(D) 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^(E) 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^(F) of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For since death^(G) came through a man,^(H) the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man.^{(I) 22} For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.^(J)