#ScriptureReflection - 1 Corinthians 15:1-19 (3.4.22)

V. The Resurrection

A. The Resurrection of Christ
The Gospel Teaching.

¹  Now I am reminding you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. ²  Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. ³  For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures; ⁴  that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures; ⁵  that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. ⁶  After that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷  After that he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸  Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me. ⁹  For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God [that is] with me. ¹¹  Therefore, whether it be I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

B. The Resurrection of the Dead
Results of Denial.

¹²  But if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³  If there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither has Christ been raised. ¹⁴  And if Christ has not been raised, then empty [too] is our preaching; empty, too, your faith. ¹⁵  Then we are also false witnesses to God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶  For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, ¹⁷  and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸  Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹  If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.

Source: NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition)