The resurrection matters, and believing in the resurrection will give you a new hope, a new confidence, and a new purpose. But a “this life only” message will leave you without hope for at least three reasons.

1. Without the resurrection, your faith would be futile
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile” (15: 17). Dead men can teach you through their writings, inspire you with their example, and help you through their wisdom. But a dead man cannot save you. So, if you’ve trusted your life and future to a dead man, your faith is futile.

2. Without the resurrection, you would still be in your sins
“If Christ has not been raised... you are still in your sins” (15:17). Christ was the Lamb of God whose unique calling was to take away the sins of the world by carrying them Himself. “The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6). If Jesus had remained in the tomb, He would have been unsuccessful in removing our sins. They would still be on us.

3. Without the resurrection, your believing loved ones would be lost
“Those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished” (15:18). If death still holds Jesus, then death holds our believing loved ones too. And if Jesus was unsuccessful in taking away their sins, they died in their sins, and they would perish. Without the resurrection, there would be no hope for them, and no hope for us. All would perish.

Thank God for the resurrection of Jesus and for this promise to all who believe in Him: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27–28).

Some people would say, “This is just a different interpretation of Christianity, and it has some things to commend it.” But Paul says, “No. This teaching is like gangrene. If you embrace it, it will lead you into more and more ungodliness. It is toxic. You don’t want anything to do with it. You don’t want to go anywhere close to it.”

So, Paul confronted the message of the false teachers. And what he says here is of vital importance because the same false teaching that troubled the early church is all around us today.

The false teachers brought a “this life only” message. And Paul warns the church against this. “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:19).

Then he shows the hope that is ours through the resurrection of Jesus Christ: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (15:20). Jesus rose from the dead, and because He rose, all who have faith in Him will one day rise too.

If you have put your faith in Jesus, you have the most glorious future, and when you know that this future is yours, it will shape how you live.

How might you respond to someone who believes in a “this life only” version of the gospel?

What was the message of the false teachers about the resurrection? Perhaps an analogy will help. The life of Martin Luther King Jr. was tragically cut short, but what he stood for continues through people who believe what he believed and teach what he taught.

It may be that Hymenaeus and Philetus said something like this about Jesus: “The life of Jesus was tragically cut short. But what He stood for continues through people who believe what He believed and teach what He taught. His work is being carried on by His people.”

“Yes, we believe that Jesus rose from the dead,” they would say. “And what this means is that His spirit lives on in His people. What matters is not that the tomb was empty, but that we do the kinds of things that Jesus did.”

Their message was not so much about Jesus but about us. The power that would change the world, in their view, was not the power of the risen Lord, but the power of what we do as we follow the example of Jesus. You can see how this would gain traction:

It sounds spiritual. “You don’t need to worry about the body,” they would say. “It is just a shell. What matters is your spirit—what you feel, what you want, what you choose to live for.”

It sounds relevant. “The calling of the church,” they would say, “is not to prepare people for another world. It is to meet the needs of the world today.”

It sounds liberating. If there is no resurrection to eternal life, we are accountable only to ourselves. That puts us in control and leaves us free to live and plan our lives as we think best.

What is most attractive to you about this view of the resurrection? What is the biggest problem you can see with it?