1 Corinthians 15:14

1 Corinthians 15:14, in plain English

And if Christ hasn't been raised, then everything we've preached is worthless, and your faith is worthless too.

Why it's here

The stakes are incredibly high. Paul isn't being dramatic—he's being truthful. Remove the resurrection from Christianity and you've removed its foundation, its meaning, its power, its hope. Everything Christians believe depends on Christ actually being raised.

Who's speaking

Paul

Where it sits in the story

Throughout the New Testament, the resurrection is never presented as one belief among many. It's the central claim. It's why the disciples went from hiding in fear to proclaiming boldly. It's what made Christianity Christianity instead of just a moral philosophy.

The scholarly reading

If Christ has not been raised, then Christian proclamation about him is empty and without effect, and the Corinthian faith itself is fundamentally hollow.

Language and setting

The word 'worthless' (Greek: kenos, literally 'empty') echoes Paul's earlier language about 'believing in vain' (v. 2). Here Paul attacks the very foundations of Christian existence: preaching (kerygma) derives all its power from the resurrection; faith derives all its object and hope from the resurrection. Remove the resurrection and both preaching and faith collapse into meaninglessness. This verse represents the climactic consequence of denying resurrection—it does not merely make resurrection doctrine optional; it eliminates Christianity's entire rationale for existence.

Voice

Paul

Significance

This establishes the resurrection as the non-negotiable core of Christian faith, not one doctrine among many but the hinge upon which all others depend. The New Testament is unified in this conviction: Christianity without resurrection is not Christianity diminished but Christianity negated.

12But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is worthless, and so is your faith.

15In that case, we are also exposed as false witnesses about God. For we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead, but He did not raise Him if in fact the dead are not raised.

16For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised.

Read all of 1 Corinthians 15 — If Christ has not been raised, Paul says, everything falls apart. But He has — and that changes everything.