The Essence of Saving Faith

The Resurrection of Christ

¹Now I would remind you, brothers,1 of the gospel gI preached to you, which you received, hin which you stand, ²and by which iyou are being saved, if you jhold fast to the word I preached to you—kunless you believed in vain.

³For lI delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died mfor our sins nin accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised oon the third day pin accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵and that qhe appeared to Cephas, then rto the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to sJames, then tto all the apostles. ⁸Last of all, as to one untimely born, uhe appeared also to me. ⁹For vI am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because wI persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, xI worked harder than any of them, ythough it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

¹²Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, zhow can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³But if there is no resurrection of the dead, athen not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that bhe raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. ¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and cyou are still in your sins. ¹⁸Then those also who dhave fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹If in Christ we have hope2 in this life only, ewe are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰But in fact fChrist has been raised from the dead, gthe firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹For as hby a man came death, iby a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. ²²For jas in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ²³But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then kat his coming lthose who belong to Christ. ²⁴Then comes the end, when he delivers mthe kingdom to God the Father after destroying nevery rule and every authority and power. ²⁵For he must reign ountil he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶The last enemy to be pdestroyed is death.