1 Corinthians 15:13

But if there be no resurrection of the dead The question has here been raised, against whom was St Paul contending? against those who maintained the immortality of the soul, but denied the resurrection of the body, or those who maintained that man altogether ceased to exist after death? 1 Corinthians 15:19; 1 Corinthians 15:32 would appear to point to the latter class, but this (see note on 1 Corinthians 15:17) cannot be affirmed with certainty. There were some, moreover (see 2 Timothy 2:17-18), who perverted St Paul's teaching (Romans 6:4; Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 2:2; Colossians 2:13; Colossians 3:1) into the doctrine that the resurrection taught by the Apostles of Jesus was the spiritual awakening from sin to righteousness, the quickening of moral and spiritual energies into activity and predominance. The fact would seem to be that St Paul so contrived his argument as to deal with all antagonists at once. The whole question whether there were a future life or not, according to him, depended on the fact of Christ's Resurrection. If He were risen, then a resurrection of all mankind was not probable, but certain. If He were not risen, then there was not only no resurrection, but no immortality, no future life at all (cf. 2 Timothy 1:10; Hebrews 2:14, as well as 1 Corinthians 15:45 of this chapter).

then is Christ not risen If a resurrection from the dead be impossible, the principle embraces the Resurrection of Christ Himself, which, if this postulate be granted, becomes at once either a mistake or an imposture. And since, on the Apostle's principles, there is no hope of a future life but through Him, we are driven to the conclusion a reductio ad absurdumthat "the answer to His prayer -Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit," was Annihilation! that He Who had made His life one perpetual act of consecration to His Father's service received for His reward the same fate as attended the blaspheming malefactor." Robertson. And we must infer also, he continues, that as the true disciples of Christ in all ages have led purer, humbler, more self-sacrificing lives than other men, they have attained to this higher excellence by "believing what was false," and that therefore men become more "pure and noble" by believing what is false than by believing what is true.