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Timothy: I Corinthians 15:12-19
The Resurrection of the Dead – Part 1

Dear God, my Beloved Father, I respectfully offer my praise and gratitude to You. You are the Almighty God and my Father in Heaven. Your love and faithfulness never change. I rejoice in living in Your love and grace. Every day that passes, I look forward to the moment when I will see You face to face. May that day come soon. I pray that Christ will renew my strength so that I may do all that You have prepared for me. I pray that the Holy Spirit will enlighten my mind and lead me into understanding Your Eternal Living Word. I thank Christ and the Holy Spirit.

I would like to present my thoughts on 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 as follows:

12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?

Verse 12: I understand that at the time, in the Church at Corinth, there were some false teachers and false prophets who had infiltrated and were preaching to God’s people that there is no resurrection of the physical body. These people were tools of Satan, planted in the Church to destroy it from within. They preached that the souls of believers are saved, but the physical body is evil and corrupt and will pass away after death. Therefore, they said, let the physical body indulge in sin. Sadly, this heresy was believed by some of God’s weak-faithful people in Corinth, even though they believed that Christ had risen from the dead.

13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:

14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.

Verses 13 to 15: I understand that the Apostle Paul uses reasoning to help God’s people in Corinth realize that if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ Himself was not raised. If Christ was not raised, then Paul and the other apostles would have borne false witness about God and preached falsehood. Such false preaching would bring no benefit. Those who believe in false preaching would have faith in vain. In other words, if there is no resurrection of the dead, then God did not raise Christ. If Christ was not raised, then the preaching of the Gospel is false. If the preaching of the Gospel is false, then believing in the Gospel does not bring salvation to those who believe.

16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:

17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.

Verses 16 to 18: I understand that the Apostle Paul wants to reiterate once again to emphasize the absurdity of the heresy that teaches that there is no resurrection of the dead. Christ’s death was to bear the punishment for human sin. Therefore, anyone who believes in His atoning death is freed from the punishment of sin. Their physical bodies will be resurrected in glory and made immortal. If the physical bodies of believers in the Gospel are not resurrected but remain in the dust forever, it means that they have no salvation because the punishment of sin, which is death, still remains on their physical bodies. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then those who have believed in the Gospel, remained steadfast in their faith, and died in Christ are still in a state of decay because their physical bodies remain in death.

19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

Verse 19: I understand that God’s people have hope in Christ in this life and in the life to come. Through their hope in Christ in this life, they have peace and joy in all circumstances, even when enduring poverty and hardship so as not to violate God’s Word. Or when they are treated unjustly by the world or persecuted for their faith by tyrants. Or when they go through natural disasters, epidemics, wars, and famine. Through their hope in Christ in the life to come, God’s people are granted resurrection and eternal life. Those who belong to the Church are also given the right to reign with Christ in God’s Eternal Kingdom. If God’s people do not have hope in Christ in the life to come, then all the difficulties, injustices, humiliations, and sufferings they endure in this life will not be compensated for. They would become more pitiable than those who do not believe in God in the world. All their suffering would be meaningless and without benefit to them. While in the worldly realm, people are only willing to suffer when they receive immediate benefits in this life.

Dear Father, I understand and believe that there must be a resurrection of the dead. You are a righteous God who rewards and punishes justly. Your Word affirms: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). If God could create humanity and give them life from the dust of the earth, then God can also make the physical bodies of humans that have disintegrated into dust come back to life. I look forward to the day when I will have a holy, immortal physical body like Christ’s resurrected body. Amen!

In the grace of Jesus Christ, my Lord.

Timothy Christian Huynh
06/01/2023