Now I make known to you, brethren, the
gospel which I preached to you, which also you received,
in which also you stand, by which also you are saved,
if you hold fast
the word which I preached to you,
unless you believed in vain.
For
I delivered to you
as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died
for our sins
according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures, and that
He appeared to
Cephas, then
to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some
have fallen asleep; then He appeared to
James, then to
all the apostles; and last of all, as
to one untimely born,
He appeared to me also. For I am
the least of the apostles,
and not fit to be called an apostle, because I
persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet
not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there
is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified
against God that He
raised
Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless;
you are still in your sins. Then those also who
have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are
of all men most to be pitied.
**********
New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (1 Co 15:1-19). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
