The First Fruits

So if the message that is preached says that Christ has been raised from the dead, then how can some of you say, “There’s no resurrection of the dead”? ¹³ If there’s no resurrection of the dead, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. ¹⁴ If Christ hasn’t been raised, then our preaching is useless and your faith is useless. ¹⁵ We are found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, when he didn’t raise him if it’s the case that the dead aren’t raised. ¹⁶ If the dead aren’t raised, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. ¹⁷ If Christ hasn’t been raised, then your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins, ¹⁸ and what’s more, those who have died in Christ are gone forever. ¹⁹ If we have a hope in Christ only in this life, then we deserve to be pitied more than anyone else.

²⁰ But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead. He’s the first crop of the harvest^[a] of those who have died.