If our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
1 Corinthians 15:19
Why does Paul say this? Why is he dealing with this topic?
As we have seen earlier in 1 Corinthians, Paul responds to the things he has heard are happening among the Corinthians or to their questions or comments to him via the letter. We don’t know which is the case here; has he heard about it via others (Chloe etc) or did they ask questions about the resurrection? I suspect it was the former. They would have been less likely to ask questions. More likely is the case Paul has heard from others that there some people going around saying there is no such thing as the resurrection from the dead. “But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead?”
Why are we to be pitied more than anyone in the world if there is no resurrection? Because if there is no resurrection as he has been arguing then our faith is in vain, and preaching is useless. It means that all the activity we are involved in is pointless. That is pretty sad. Our lives would be pointless, our activities, outcomes, hopes, aspirations and dreams would all be meaningless. We would be as Darwin envisaged, a meaningless organic blob on the planet with no purpose or point, moving towards a meaningless death.
But worse than that, while all human kind would be in a sad, sad state, we who beleive in Christ would be even worse off. If there is no point to this life and no eternal purpose afterward, then the goal of life is to “eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die”. But we who beleive in Christ could not even enjoy this momentary life that we have because we are caught up in a bunch of rules that prohibit wanton enjoyment. How sad if that is all there is to the purpose of life. Like Paul says, we are to be pitied more than all men and women. We would be wasting this current life in living for eternal life that doesn’t exist, IF THERE IS NO RESURRECTION!
“If Christ has not been raised, then you are still guilty of your sins. If Christ has not been raised then all who have died believing in Christ are lost!” IF THERE IS NO RESURRECTION then we are still trapped in our sinful life. Presupposing there is a righteous God, there is no way we can ever be fit for heaven because we are still sin bound. I think one of the main reasons i used to cling to atheism was the dreaded thought that God was real and therefore the associated implications were real as well. Can you see that IF there is no resurrection then all the premises of Christianity need to be thrown away? It is a major foundational issue. That is why Paul says these things are of utmost importance. Either it is all true or none of it is true! One of life’s major questions you need to sort out if you haven’t already.
If evolution is true, why do mothers still only have one pair of hands?
Ian Vail
It’s always easier to make a POINT than it is to make a DIFFERENCE.
Andy Stanley
The difference between making a difference, and making no difference = Indifference.
Brian Houston
We should not only use all the brains we have, but all that we can borrow.
Woodrow Wilson