Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

³⁶ Then Gideon said to God, “You said that you would rescue Israel through me. ³⁷ I’ll place some wool on the threshing floor.^[a] If there is dew on the wool while all the ground is dry, then I’ll know that you will rescue Israel through me, as you said.” ³⁸ And that is what happened. The next morning Gideon got up early. He squeezed out a bowl full of water from the wool.

³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, “Don’t be angry with me. But let me ask one more thing. Let me make one more test with the wool. Let the wool be dry while all the ground is covered with dew.” ⁴⁰ During the night, God did what Gideon asked. The wool was dry, but all the ground was covered with dew.

We Will Come Back to Life

¹² If we have told you that Christ has been brought back to life, how can some of you say that coming back from the dead is impossible? ¹³ If the dead can’t be brought back to life, then Christ hasn’t come back to life. ¹⁴ If Christ hasn’t come back to life, our message has no meaning and your faith also has no meaning. ¹⁵ In addition, we are obviously witnesses who lied about God because we testified that he brought Christ back to life. But if it’s true that the dead don’t come back to life, then God didn’t bring Christ back to life. ¹⁶ Certainly, if the dead don’t come back to life, then Christ hasn’t come back to life either. ¹⁷ If Christ hasn’t come back to life, your faith is worthless and sin still has you in its power. ¹⁸ Then those who have died as believers in Christ no longer exist. ¹⁹ If Christ is our hope in this life only, we deserve more pity than any other people.

²⁰ But now Christ has come back from the dead. He is the very first person of those who have died to come back to life.