Lectionary Calendar
Friday, July 18th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

Complete Jewish Bible

1 Corinthians 15:13

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then the Messiah has not been raised;

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Immortality;   Jesus Continued;   Resurrection;   Zeal, Religious;   Scofield Reference Index - Resurrection;   Thompson Chain Reference - Dead, the;   Mortality-Immortality;   Resurrection;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Resurrection, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Death;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Miracles;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Ascension of Jesus Christ;   Corinthians, First and Second, Theology of;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Annihilation;   Omnipotence of God;   Resurrection;   Resurrection of Christ;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Timothy, the First Epistle to;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Resurrection;   Resurrection of Jesus Christ;   Rhetoric;   1 Corinthians;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Corinthians, First Epistle to the;   Eschatology;   Ethics;   Faith;   Hope;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Acts of the Apostles (2);   Preaching Christ;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Asleep;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Resurrection;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Baptism for the Dead;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised;
King James Version (1611)
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen.
King James Version
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
English Standard Version
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
New American Standard Bible
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised;
New Century Version
If no one is ever raised from the dead, then Christ has not been raised.
Amplified Bible
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised;
New American Standard Bible (1995)
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised;
Legacy Standard Bible
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised.
Berean Standard Bible
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
Contemporary English Version
If they won't be raised to life, Christ himself wasn't raised to life.
Darby Translation
But if there is not a resurrection of [those that are] dead, neither is Christ raised:
Easy-to-Read Version
If no one will ever be raised from death, then Christ has never been raised.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
George Lamsa Translation
And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ also has not risen:
Good News Translation
If that is true, it means that Christ was not raised;
Lexham English Bible
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ has not been raised either.
Literal Translation
But if there is not a resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.
American Standard Version
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised:
Bible in Basic English
But if there is no coming back from the dead, then Christ has not come back from the dead:
Hebrew Names Version
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Messiah been raised.
International Standard Version
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised,1 Thessalonians 4:14;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
And if there be no life for the dead, (then) neither hath the Meshiha risen.
Murdock Translation
And if there is no reviviscence of the dead, the Messiah also hath not risen.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
If there be no rysyng agayne of the dead, then is Christe not rysen agayne.
English Revised Version
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised:
World English Bible
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For if there be no resurrection of the dead, neither is Christ raised.
Weymouth's New Testament
If there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead, then Christ Himself has not risen to life.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And if the ayenrisyng of deed men is not, nethir Crist roos ayen fro deeth.
Update Bible Version
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised:
Webster's Bible Translation
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not raised.
New English Translation
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
New King James Version
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.
New Living Translation
For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either.
New Life Bible
If the dead are not raised, then Christ was not raised from the dead.
New Revised Standard
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised;
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, if, resurrection of the dead, there is none, not even Christ, hath been raised;
Douay-Rheims Bible
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen again.
Revised Standard Version
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised;
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
If ther be no rysynge agayne from deeth: then is Christ not rysen.
Young's Literal Translation
and if there be no rising again of dead persons, neither hath Christ risen;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf there be no resurreccio of the deed, then is Christ not rysen.
Mace New Testament (1729)
for if there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.
Simplified Cowboy Version
If we ain't gonna be raised from the grave, then Jesus wasn't either.

Contextual Overview

12 But if it has been proclaimed that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, how is it that some of you are saying there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then the Messiah has not been raised; 14 and if the Messiah has not been raised, then what we have proclaimed is in vain; also your trust is in vain; 15 furthermore, we are shown up as false witnesses for God in having testified that God raised up the Messiah, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then the Messiah has not been raised either; 17 and if the Messiah has not been raised, your trust is useless, and you are still in your sins. 18 Also, if this is the case, those who died in union with the Messiah are lost. 19 If it is only for this life that we have put our hope in the Messiah, we are more pitiable than anyone.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

1 Corinthians 15:20, John 11:25, John 11:26, Acts 23:8, Romans 4:24, Romans 4:25, Romans 8:11, Romans 8:23, 2 Corinthians 4:10-14, Colossians 3:1-4, 1 Thessalonians 4:14, 2 Timothy 4:8, Hebrews 2:14, Hebrews 13:20, 1 Peter 1:3, Revelation 1:18

Reciprocal: Mark 12:18 - say 1 Corinthians 15:12 - how 1 Corinthians 15:15 - whom Hebrews 6:2 - resurrection

Cross-References

Genesis 15:1
Some time later the word of Adonai came to Avram in a vision: "Don't be afraid, Avram. I am your protector; your reward will be very great."
Genesis 15:2
Avram replied, " Adonai , God, what good will your gifts be to me if I continue childless; and Eli‘ezer from Dammesek inherits my possessions?
Genesis 15:6
He believed in Adonai , and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 15:7
(vi) Then he said to him, "I am Adonai , who brought you out from Ur-Kasdim to give you this land as your possession."
Genesis 15:8
He replied, " Adonai , God, how am I to know that I will possess it?"
Genesis 15:11
Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Avram drove them away.
Genesis 15:12
As the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell on Avram; horror and great darkness came over him.
Genesis 15:13
Adonai said to Avram, "Know this for certain: your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs. They will be slaves and held in oppression there four hundred years.
Genesis 17:8
I will give you and your descendants after you the land in which you are now foreigners, all the land of Kena‘an, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God."
Exodus 1:11
So they put slavemasters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built for Pharaoh the storage cities of Pitom and Ra‘amses.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But if there be no resurrection of the dead,.... If there is no such thing as a resurrection of any, if the thing is not possible, if it never has been, is, or will be true in fact:

then is Christ not risen. The apostle argues from a general, to a particular; from the general resurrection of the dead, to the particular resurrection of Christ; and from a negation of the one, to a negation of the other; for what does not agree with the whole, does not agree with the part; and what is true of the whole, is true of the part; but if the resurrection of Christ is not true, many are the absurdities that must follow upon it, and which the apostle next enumerates.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But if there be no resurrection of the dead - If the whole subject is held to be impossible and absurd, then it must follow that Christ is not “risen,” since there were the same difficulties in the way of raising him up which will exist in any case. He was dead and was buried. He had lain in the grave three days. His human soul had left the body. His frame had become cold and stiff. The blood had ceased to circulate, and the lungs to heave. In his case there was the same difficulty in raising him up to life that there is in any other; and if it is held to be impossible and absurd that the dead should rise, then it must follow that Christ has not been raised. This is the first consequence which Paul states as resulting from the denial of this doctrine, and this is inevitable. Paul thus shows them that the denial of the doctrine, or the maintaining the general proposition “that the dead would not rise,” led also to the denial of the fact that the Lord Jesus had risen, and consequently to the denial of Christianity altogether, and the annihilation of all their hopes. There was, moreover, such a close connection between Christ and his people, that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus made their resurrection certain. See 1 Thessalonians 4:14; see the note on John 14:19.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Corinthians 15:13. If there be no resurrection of the dead — As Christ was partaker of the same flesh and blood with us, and he promised to raise mankind from the dead through his resurrection, if the dead rise not then Christ has had no resurrection. There seem to have been some at Corinth who, though they denied the resurrection of the dead, admitted that Christ had risen again: the apostle's argument goes therefore to state that, if Christ was raised from the dead, mankind may be raised; if mankind cannot be raised from the dead, then the body of Christ was never raised.


 
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