1 Corinthians 15:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

After this we shall explain the other reasons as well. Among other things, it must be noted that Paul speaks of the resurrection, which was considered impossible and in which people did not believe at all. He writes to the Corinthians, among whom there were many philosophers who always laughed at such truths.

Concerning other matters they disagreed among themselves. But against this they all, as if with one mouth, asserted that there would be no resurrection.

Lest they say that Christ indeed rose, but that there will be no general resurrection, he confirms the latter point. He says: if there is no resurrection, then Christ has not risen. For the one confirms the other. Why did He rise, if not to be our firstfruits?

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, even though the Crucifixion took place for this very purpose, then it follows that Christ has not yet risen.

"If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen." Why is this so? Because what is an inseparable property of a kind applies to each individual within it (Bishop Theophan). Since Christ was true man, if the resurrection of dead human beings is generally impossible, then Christ too would have had no possibility of rising. This, as was said above, is refuted by the fact itself.

If one admits the thought that, even with Christ's resurrection, the dead are not to rise, then an absurdity follows. The very Incarnation and resurrection of Christ would be without purpose, and there would be no one to be comforted by the vision of Him in His glorified humanity.

Having established the truth of Christ's resurrection as undoubted, the Apostle Paul boldly proceeds to every kind of conclusion from it. He shows with complete clarity that this truth leads to the indisputable recognition of another truth, namely, the universal resurrection.

All conclusions opposed to this must undermine this most important of Christian truths, and together with it overthrow all Christianity. Therefore whoever is a Christian must necessarily be free from every doubt concerning the future resurrection of the dead.

Thus, if some, such as Hymenaeus and Philetus (2 Tim), and also the unbelieving Greeks (Acts 17:12), say that there is no resurrection of the dead, then they do not believe in the risen Christ.

Let us take your thought from another side, he says. Let it be true. Now see what must follow from it. If the resurrection of the dead is impossible, then Christ's resurrection is also impossible. If it is impossible, then it did not occur. For a non posse ad non esse, the conclusion follows of itself.

Or again: what is an inseparable property of a kind applies to each individual within it. If, according to you, the resurrection of the dead is unthinkable, then it is unthinkable also in Christ. Therefore He did not rise.

You cannot appeal to the fact that Christ was God. He was not only God, but also man, and He had a real body, our body, with all its essential properties. If, according to you, it is essential to bodies not to rise, then the same must belong to Christ's body.

Blessed Theodoret writes: "If the one is impossible, that is, the resurrection of the dead, then the other also did not occur, that is, Christ's resurrection, because Christ the Master had a body like ours."