1 Corinthians 15:3-19

Expanded Bible

³ [^LFor] I passed on to you what I received, which is ·of greatest importance [or the first thing I told you]: that Christ died for our sins, ·as the Scriptures say [^Laccording to the Scripture; Is. 53:5–6]; ⁴ that he was buried and was raised to life on the third day ·as the Scriptures say [^Laccording to the Scripture; Ps. 16:8–11]; ⁵ and that he was seen by ·Peter [^LCephas; ^CPeter’s name in Aramaic; see 1:12] and then by ·the twelve apostles [^Lthe Twelve; Luke 24:33–36]. ⁶ After that, Jesus was seen by more than five hundred of the ·believers [^Lbrothers (and sisters)] at the same time. Most of them ·are still living today [^Lremain until now], but some have ·died [^Lfallen asleep; ^Ca euphemism for death]. ⁷ Then he was seen by ·James [Jesus’ brother; Mark 6:3; Acts 15:13; Gal. 1:19] and later by all the apostles [Acts 1:6–11]. ⁸ Last of all he was seen by me [Acts 9]—as by a person ·not born at the normal time [prematurely/abnormally born; ^CChrist’s appearance to Paul was unique, occurring after Jesus’ ascension]. ⁹ For I am the least of the apostles. I am not even ·good enough [worthy] to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But God’s grace has made me what I am, and his grace to me was not ·wasted [in vain; without effect]. [^LOn the contrary; Indeed] I worked harder than all ·the other apostles [of them]. (But it was not I really; it was God’s grace that was with me.) ¹¹ So whether I preached to you or ·the other apostles [^Lthey] preached to you, ·we all preach the same thing [this is what we preach; ^Cthe message of Christ’s death and resurrection; vv. 3–8], and this is what you believed.

We Will Be Raised from the Dead

¹² Now ·since we preached that Christ was [^Lif Christ is preached as] raised from the dead, why do some of you say that people will not be raised from the dead [^Csome Corinthians denied the resurrection of the body]? ¹³ If ·no one is ever raised [^Lthere is no resurrection] from the dead, then Christ has not been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is ·worth nothing [futile; useless; empty], and your faith is ·worth nothing [futile; useless; empty]. ¹⁵ And also, we are ·guilty of lying [^Lfound to be false witnesses] about God, because we testified ·of him [^Lagainst God] that he raised Christ from the dead. But if people are not raised from the dead, then God never raised Christ. ¹⁶ If the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith ·has nothing to it [is futile/useless/empty]; you are still ·guilty of [or a slave to; ^Lin] your sins. ¹⁸ ·And [Consequently; Therefore] those in Christ who have ·already died [^Lfallen asleep; v. 6] ·are lost [have perished]. ¹⁹ If our hope in Christ is for this life only, we should be pitied more than ·anyone else in the world [^Lall people].