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1 Corinthians 15:13

ESV But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
NIV If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
NASB But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised;
CSB If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised;
NLT For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either.
KJV But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
NKJV But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.

What does 1 Corinthians 15:13 mean?

Some of the Christians in Corinth were saying there is no resurrection from the dead for Christians. They believed either that existence merely ends at death, even for believers, or that the spirit goes on into a non-physical eternity. In other words, they saw all the benefits of life in Christ as taking place either in this life alone or in a purely spiritual sense after this life is over.

Paul will emphatically reject these ideas and insist that every believer will be physically resurrected in bodily form, beginning with his argument in this verse. If nobody is resurrected from the dead, at all, then Christ was not raised from the dead either. It's possible that this group of Christians saw Christ's resurrection as a special circumstance, not the common reality of those who believe. Paul insists that both Christ's resurrection and common Christian resurrection must either be true or both must be false.
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