1 Corinthians 15:14-15

The context

The argument in this chapter proceeds by consequence. Paul has just restated the tradition he received, and he now draws out what follows if the resurrection did not happen. The Corinthians' denial, he argues, does not leave their faith intact but hollows it out. The next verses extend the same logic to sin and the dead.

What it establishes

It establishes that the resurrection is load-bearing for Paul rather than an appendix, and that he was willing to make the claim falsifiable. If it did not happen, he says, the preaching and the faith are empty and the witnesses are lying.

What it does not establish

It does not prove the resurrection. This is a conditional argument about what follows from a premise; it establishes the stakes, not the fact. The verse also says nothing about how the claim was tested, only that Paul thought everything depended on it.

Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.

Cited in these answers

• Did Jesus really rise from the dead — and what is the actual historical evidence?

Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.