¹⁵Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; ¹⁷and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

Absolutely crucial and indispensable to the Christian faith, the resurrection from the dead occupies a central belief, without which the whole enterprise crumbles. The implications are eternally enormous. This is not just a mere theological sideshow with some interesting debate points. Everything depends on whether or not it will really and actually take place.

Paul uses argument by contradiction. This is a form of logic that establishes the truth or validity of a proposition by assuming that the opposite is true, and then shows that such an assumption leads to a contradiction (called in philosophical terms a  reductio ad impossibilem or  absurdum—that is an impossible or absurd conclusion). Paul argues that if there is no resurrection, then the logic follows to the conclusion that the central tenant of the Christian faith (the resurrection of Jesus Christ) is completely false. To Paul and all believers, that would be absolutely impossible. It would be completely absurd to call oneself a Christian and deny the resurrection of Christ. To spell out this absurdity, Paul concludes:

• Christ would be no exception: He also would not have been raised from the dead, and no one ever will be raised from the dead.
• The apostles lied, for they all testified they saw Christ post-resurrection.
• Christian faith is worthless, an exercise in futility.
• Corinthian believers who have died went into oblivion; they ceased to exist.
• There is no life after death, no hope, no benefit in faith except for how it might help me through my present life.
• Christians should be pitied for their gullibility in believing in Christ, on the level of those have bought a miracle elixir from a crooked salesman.

There is simply no option in the Christian faith for theological or interpretative latitude on this. Either Christ rose from the dead, literally and physically, or He did not.  Praise God, He did. On this our faith squarely rests. And it gives us rock solid hope that there is life after death.

Lord, I believe in the resurrection from the dead, because I believe the testimony that You, Lord Jesus, rose from the dead. In this my faith rests.