Not in Vain

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul makes many statements about the importance of Jesus’ resurrection. Two of the most significant are verses 14 and 17.

“And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”

“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” 

But there’s one crucial key to these verses we must understand. Paul repeatedly uses one word: if. He says, “If Christ has not been raised.” This whole scenario is hypothetical. We know that Jesus has been raised—“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead…” (v. 20). And since Jesus is alive, our faith is not in vain. We have hope in the resurrection, in the fact that there is life after death. 

Outside of Christ, what hope do we have when tragedy strikes? When…

• A doctor gives you bad news, or perhaps no news at all, and you’re left with questions or answers you didn’t want to hear. 
• Another shooting happens, claiming the lives of innocent victims whose lives have been harshly cut too short. 
• A sickness, disease, or natural aging takes someone you love, and you are left feeling alone and wondering, “Why?”

Without the resurrection of Jesus, all of the trials and hardships that we go through and every way in which the people around us suffer would all be meaningless. There would be no hope. There would be no ultimate solution to these dark, terrible happenings. But because of the resurrection, we know that there is coming a day when Jesus will right every wrong and all things will be made new. Because Jesus lives, we know that we, too, will live and never die if we believe in Him. The hope we have as believers is that this life is not all there is. Our faith is not in vain. 

Because everything Paul is saying in this section is hypothetical, we can know that whatever is opposite of what he says is what is Biblically true. When I first began observing this passage, I wrote these verses as the opposite of how they are written in scripture. I do want to be clear that this is not me trying to add to or take away from scripture. Rather, this is what we know to be true based on what the Bible says about our faith because of Jesus’ resurrection. 

This is the hope that we have in Jesus. This is what it means that our faith is not in vain. 

13 – But since there is a resurrection of the dead, then Christ has been raised. 

14 – Since Christ has been raised, our preaching is profitable and your faith has meaning.

15 – We are not found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did raise since it is true that the dead are raised.  

16 – For if the dead are raised, then even Christ has been raised. 

17 – And since Christ has been raised, your faith has meaning and your sins are forgiven. 

18 – Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have not perished.

19 – Since in Christ we have hope in this life and in the life to come, we are of all people to be pitied the least. 

Praise God that our faith is not in vain. Our sins are forgiven, and death is defeated in Christ! If you don’t know Him personally, there is no better day than today to turn to the risen Savior, that you “may know [Jesus] and the power of his resurrection” (Phil. 3:10).