If Christ Be Not Risen

“…If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” (I Corinthians 15:13-14)

While in Washington a few years ago I purchased a copy of The Jefferson Bible, better known among Bible believers as “Thomas Jefferson’s Dead Bible.” It is a compilation of the four Gospels but leaves out all the miracles. It ends with, “There laid they Jesus. And rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher, and departed.”

Think about it. What if your Bible ended where the Jefferson Bible ends? Notice these seven brief points in 1 Corinthians 15:12-32.   

1. If Christ is not risen, first of all, our preaching is vain (vain, useless, with no cause or reason.) That would mean every man who stands behind a sacred desk on Sunday or whenever and preaches a Gospel message or a message on any subject in the Bible is wasting his breath. (v.14)   
2. Secondly, your faith is also vain or useless. (v.14)  
3. Third, we are false witnesses if Christ is not risen. (v.15)  
4. Fourth, if Christ is not risen you are still in your sin. (v.17)   
5. Fifth, if Christ is not risen then those who died are perished. (v.18)   
6. Sixth, if  Christ is not risen, then we are baptized in the name of a dead man and baptism’s symbol, the resurrection, is meaningless. (v.29)  
7. And finally, Paul and all others who have suffered and died for the living Christ, may as well have lived in sinful, fleshly pleasure if Christ is not risen. (v.32)

The inspired writer hastens to declare, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. (I Corinthians 15:20) He is alive and you and I can place our faith in this living Christ.