Big Idea: The resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith; without it, faith cannot stand and Christian living has no motivation. It is the announcement that God has reversed the curse of the fall. Death no longer has any sting.

Understanding the Text

After solidly grounding the resurrection in the soil of history, Paul moves on to establish its theological significance. His theological argument moves through three stages. He begins by a theological restatement of his Scripture/eyewitness argument (15:12–18). From here he draws a direct connection between the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of his followers (15:19–28) before concluding that this has significant ethical implications (15:29–34).

Interpretive Insights

15:12  But if it is preached . . . how can some o…