Why The Resurrection of Jesus Matters! - 1 Corinthians 15

 The Resurrection of the Dead

12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Paul now turns to probably the most important question he wants to address with the Corinthians, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  Already back in Jesus' day, like today, people were saying that Jesus did not REALLY rise from the dead. They denied the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.  If became an issue as the Corinthians were influenced by the Greek philosophers who thought the spirit was good and the body was bad.  This is called a strict "dualism".  Since the body was sinful and housed all the sinful desires, a bodily resurrection frowned upon.  Within the Jewish faith there were a group called the Sadduccess, similar to modern day liberals.  They thought the resurrection was only a nice story, but not literally true. This didn't believe in the supernatural.  Notice this is at the heart of liberal theology today, which started with the enlightenment period.  

Paul makes a bold statement, he says, "If Jesus did not rise from the dead, we among all people are most to be pitied." Why? Because our hope is in Jesus the Son of God, who proved He was God by rising from the dead.  If Jesus did not rise from the dead, he was not God, he was just an ordinary human being like you and me.  If this is true we would still be in our sins because Jesus would have had to die for his own sins.  The bodily resurrection is the heart of Christian faith which is why we confess in our Creed,

"I believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God.  Born of a virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.  He descended into hell.  On third day he rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven. He is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead!"

We continue to confess the words of our Creeds to preserve the essence of our faith.  They don't have the same authority as the bible, but they are a framework for the essence of what we believe and are faithful to the biblical witness. 

It is also important to note that preaching the bodily resurrection Jesus Christ, makes Christianity different from every other religion.   Buddha didn't rise from the dead.  Muhammed didn't rise from the dead.  Joseph Smith didn't rise from the dead.  While they all claimed to be prophets, they were not God.  Jesus claimed to be God and the resurrection proved that fact.  Simply put the resurrection means every bit as much today as it did in Paul's day.  Maybe even more!

If we don't preach, teach, and confess that Jesus rose from the dead, we are not preaching the Good News that saves us because He is God. We are simply just another religion among hundreds.  But Jesus did rise from and the dead, as He said he would.  He will also return in great and promised glory as He said He would.  Let's be ready and let's preach the TRUE gospel until he does!

Could you share with someone why Jesus' rising from the dead makes Christianity different from every other religion?  Do you believe Jesus is going to come back and return in a physical body?  What does it mean that God believes the body is good and we will be given a new body at the resurrection?