Paul's Most Absurd Argument

PAUL’S MOST ABSURD ARGUMENT

I Corinthians 15:12-19

We live in a day where there is no shortage of absurdity emanating from pulpits across the land. With the reach of modern media and the abundance of false teachers, rarely do I hear anything that surprises me. When I see a clip or read a quote from certain well known “religious figures”, I expect to hear something unbiblical and outright heretical. However, there have been times when I have heard men that I trust and respect say something that made me pause and scratch my head. On several occasions, such statements have caused me to dig deeper into a certain doctrines and I have learned that what sounded absurd on the surface was actually true.

Perhaps the most absurd doctrinal discourse that I have ever heard did not come from Joel Osteen, T.D Jakes, Joyce Meyer, Benny Hinn, or any other false teacher on TBN. The most absurd biblical argument that I have ever heard actually came from someone that I trust more than any other mortal man who has ever lived; his name is The Apostle Paul and the specific discourse is recorded in our selected text.

After spending ample time defending the reality of Christ’s Resurrection, Paul shifts his focus to defending the reality of the future bodily resurrection of the Saints. In an effort to address the doubts that had arisen in the hearts of certain Christians at Corinth, Paul presents a hypothetical scenario that proves how hopeless life would be for the Christian if the doctrine of the resurrection was a lie.

- I would like to examine these verses and consider:

PAUL’S MOST ABSURD ARGUMENT

In this passage, Paul presents an argument using a method called “Reductio Ad Absurdum”. This is a Latin phrase that describes a method of proving the falsity of a premise by showing that its logical consequence is absurd or contradictory. The Apostle wanted the Corinthians to understand that the denial of the resurrection leads to a glaring and absurd contradiction.

- In verses 12-17 Paul addresses the fact that:

I. IF THERE IS NO RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD,

THEN WE HAVE NO PURPOSE

v12 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? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.

We know that Christ is indeed preached “that He has been raised from the dead”. In the opening verses of this chapter Paul reminds the Saints at Corinth of this reality. This letter was not their first time hearing this subject preached, for it is the very Gospel that Paul had delivered to them and that they had received. These people are members of the eternal family of God, people that Paul affectionately refers to as “Brethren”.

The Corinthians had heard the message that the sinless Son of God came to earth, lived a perfect life, suffered, died for our sins, and rose again on the third day according to the scriptures. They believed these truths and responded by repenting and putting their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

The great problem in Corinth was not that the Saints doubted the truth that Christ had risen from the grave, instead they were consumed with doubts concerning their own future resurrection as well as the resurrection of those who had already “fallen asleep”.

Though the Corinthians had received a new life through faith in Jesus, they stilled lived in the midst of a fallen creation and consequently they were influenced by the culture around them. This is true for us as well. We are in Christ, we have been born again, and we members of the eternal family of God; as a result we are not of this world, however for a time we are still in this world. Though we are merely strangers and exiles passing through this walk of life, there are times when the culture around us has a negative impact on our daily lives and even our faith.

The Corinthians were immersed in Greek culture and most Greeks rejected the idea that the human body would be resurrected after death. Their belief was that the afterlife was only spiritual in nature and that there was no future purpose for the body. In other words, the body was something of a prison that held the soul captive until death and then upon death ones soul was released. Such a belief directly contradicts Biblical doctrine, for the scriptures declare that the body and soul will be united after resurrection.

If there is no hope of a future resurrection then we have no purpose whatsoever. In the following verses we learn that if Christ did not rise: our preaching is pointless, our faith is futile, and our message is meaningless.