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?

The central truth of 1 Corinthians 15 is that Jesus was raised from the dead, and we who receive and continue in the gospel will share in His resurrection life.

But it seems that some at Corinth had denied this wonderful truth. That’s clear from verse 12: “How can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” They denied that believers will rise from the dead and share a glorious new life with Christ.

This was not unique to Corinth. There were false teachers in the early church who taught that the resurrection had already happened. Paul refers in 2 Timothy to “Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some” (2:17-18).

If someone asked these teachers, “Don’t you believe that there will be a resurrection for us?” they would say, “Yes, of course we do. But the resurrection has already happened. If you are a believer, you have already risen to a new life in Christ.” And of course that is true. The problem was that they denied a future resurrection.

If someone denies the future resurrection of believers, they have to reinterpret the resurrection of Jesus. And this is Paul’s point: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised” (1 Cor. 15:13).

Do you believe in a future resurrection for all Christian believers?