Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
Comment: Paul’s argument here is really pretty easy to follow. If Christ didn’t in fact rise from the dead then the early spreaders of Christianity were liars, deceivers, and the hope of future resurrection was nonsense. The whole Easter event being the basis of the gospel is a misconception and those who have already died have turned merely into dust! I presume that the sentence ‘If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied‘ is true in that we are living with false hope which is in fact baseless. Without the resurrection pseudo-Christianity may lead to a more moral and ‘kind’ way of living but it is based on a lie and being deceived isn’t good!
He is risen! Hallelujah!
As I read it! 