1 Corinthians 15:14

15:12-19 Having shown that Christ was risen, the apostle answers those who said there would be no resurrection. There had been no justification, or salvation, if Christ had not risen. And must not faith in Christ be vain, and of no use, if he is still among the dead? The proof of the resurrection of the body is the resurrection of our Lord. Even those who died in the faith, had perished in their sins, if Christ had not risen. All who believe in Christ, have hope in him, as a Redeemer; hope for redemption and salvation by him; but if there is no resurrection, or future recompence, their hope in him can only be as to this life. And they must be in a worse condition than the rest of mankind, especially at the time, and under the circumstances, in which the apostles wrote; for then Christians were hated and persecuted by all men. But it is not so; they, of all men, enjoy solid comforts amidst all their difficulties and trials, even in the times of the sharpest persecution.

1 Corinthians 15:14-18 . Then is our preaching — In consequence of a commission supposed to be given after his resurrection; vain — Without any real foundation, and destitute of truth; and your faith — In our preaching; is vain — Is grounded on falsehood and deception; yea, and we are false witnesses of God — Having testified that Jesus of Nazareth is his Son and the Messiah; that he hath atoned for sin; hath risen from the dead and ascended into heaven; hath obtained for his followers the Holy Spirit in his gifts and graces; a resurrection from the dead, and eternal life; and is constituted the final Judge of men and angels; — all which things, depending on his resurrection, are absolutely false, if he be not risen; and, of consequence, ye are yet in your sins — Unpardoned and unrenewed, without either a title to heaven or a meetness for it. So that there needed something more than reformation, (which was plainly wrought in them,) in order to their being delivered from the guilt of sin, and renewed after the divine image; even that atonement, the sufficiency of which God attested by raising our great Surety from the grave, and the influences of the Divine Spirit procured for us by that atonement. Then they who are fallen asleep in Christ — Who have died for him, or believing in him; are perished — Have lost their life and being together.

14 . vain ] i.e. useless, in vain , as we say. Literally, empty . Vulg. inanis . “You have a vaine faith if you believe in a dead man. He might be true man , though He remained in death. But it concerns you to believe that He was the Son of God too. And He was ‘declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.’ Romans 1:4 .” Dr Donne, Sermon on Easter Day .

(14) If Christ be not risen. —Better, but if Christ be not raised; and so all through this passage. Then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.—The Apostles had preached a risen Christ, their converts had believed in a risen Christ, but now the proposition is, There is no resurrection; therefore Christ is not risen; therefore the preaching and the faith which are based on the delusion that He is risen are both vain and useless. The argument is still purely an appeal to historical evidence supporting an historical fact, and to the consequences involved in denying that fact (see 1Corinthians 15:16).

14. your faith … vain—(1Co 15:11). The Greek for "vain" here is, empty, unreal: in 1Co 15:17, on the other hand, it is, without use, frustrated. The principal argument of the first preachers in support of Christianity was that God had raised Christ from the dead (Ac 1:22; 2:32; 4:10, 33; 13:37; Ro 1:4). If this fact were false, the faith built on it must be false too.

Verse 14. - Vain . You accepted our proclamation ( kerugma ), yet it would be utterly void if its central testimony was false. The word translated "then" has a sort of ironic force - "after all," or "it seems." The whole argument is at once an argumentum ad hominem and a reductio ad absurdum. Your faith is also vain. For it would be faith in a crucified man, not in the risen Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:14

1 Corinthians 15:14-15 . The implicit affirmative conclusion just intimated P. will develop afterwards. He has first to push the opposing axiom to further consequences. (1) if the fact is untrue, the testimony is untrue —“But if Christ is not raised, vain therefore is our proclamation, vain also your faith”.— κενός (see note on οὐ κενή , 10; and cf. κενόω , 1 Corinthians 1:17 , etc.) signifies void, unsubstantial ( inanis , Vg[2312])— a hollow witness, a hollow belief, while μάταιος ( 1 Corinthians 15:17 ; see parls.) is “vain” as ineffectual, frustrate . For κήρυγμα , see note on 1 Corinthians 1:21 ; on its distinction from λόγος (2), see 1 Corinthians 2:4 : ἡμῶν includes P. and his colleagues ( 1 Corinthians 15:11 ). For ἄρα , see 1 Corinthians 5:10 .—If “the message is empty,” declaring a thing that is not, “the faith is also empty,” building on the thing that is not; preaching and faith have no genuine content; the Gospel is evacuated of all reality.—For the character of P. and his fellow-witnesses this conclusion has a serious aspect: “We are found moreover (to be) false witnesses of God”—men who have given lying testimony, and that about God , “the worst sort of impostors” (Gd[2313])!