1 Corinthians 15:16 Commentary and Bible Study

It is so important that he repeats himself and then applies it. If Christ was not raised, it is because he was crushed by the punishment of sin on Calvary. He became our substitute and the Father imputed to him all the sins of his people, but the experience was too much for him and he was crushed by the intolerable burden of sin. He never survived death, but he died under the load of our sins. You could say that it was all a terrible failure, because sin – not his, but ours – destroyed him. That would be an outrageous thing to say, and if that were so, then he is obviously not divine, and the Christian faith is not true which teaches that he is divine. ‘And you are yet in your sins’ – you are still under the power and the condemnation of sin, for it is by the resurrection that we are justified – ‘But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; ²⁵ Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification’ (Romans 4:24-25). Yes, it was on Calvary’s cross that Christ suffered for sin, but if the resurrection of Christ did not take place, it is as if the cross is made ineffective. If Christ didn’t rise, they are perished, because he didn’t conquer sin on their behalf. He didn’t succeed in bearing away the punishment for all his people, and they are left with their sins still counted against them.Paul says to them ‘Have you even begun to think this through? You people who say there is no such thing as a resurrection, haven’t you thought at all? You are Greek people, so proud of your wisdom; and yet you don’t seem to have considered the implications of what you are saying. You are like a man sitting on a branch of a tree and sawing the branch that he is sitting on, so that it will fall to the ground. This is absurd. You have destroyed the faith by this statement that you are making. And it is sinful, and it is wrong.’