Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 15:16
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
For if the dead rise not … – This is a repetition of what is said in 1Co 15:13. It is repeated here, evidently, because of its importance. It was a great and momentous truth which would bear repetition, that if there was no resurrection, as some held, then it would follow that the Lord Jesus was not raised up.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. False witnesses] As having testified the fact of Christ’s resurrection, as a matter which ourselves had witnessed, when we knew that we bore testimony to a falsehood. But could five hundred persons agree in this imposition? And if they did, is it possible that some one would not discover the cheat, when he could have no interest in keeping the secret, and might greatly promote his secular interest by making the discovery? Such a case never occurred, and never can occur. The testimony, therefore, concerning the resurrection of Christ, is incontrovertibly true.
If so be that the dead rise not.] This clause is wanting in DE, Syriac, some of the Slavonian, and Itala; several also of the primitive fathers omit it. Its great similarity to the following words might be the cause of its omission by some copyists.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
16. The repetition implies theunanswerable force of the argument.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. This is a repetition of the argument in 1Co 15:13 made partly to show the importance of it, and partly to observe other absurdities, following upon the conclusion of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Repeats the position already taken in verse 13.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “For if the dead rise not,” (ei gar nekroi ouk egeirontai) “Because if dead persons (corpses) are not raised from the dead,” as (Gk. tines) “certain ones” among them were teaching, note the inevitable, intolerable conclusion.
2) “Then is not Christ raised;” (ouden christos egegertai) “Neither has Christ been raised,” If the witnesses were untrue, the resurrection claim was untrue; if on the other hand the witnesses were truthful, then the inevitable conclusion and effects of the resurrection of Christ and others who were resurrected and walked in the streets of the city of Jerusalem, validates prophetic and apostolic claims and hope for every believer, Mat 27:52-54; 1Th 4:13-18; Rev 22:12.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(16) For if the dead rise not.Better, if the dead be not raised. The Apostle has in the previous verse completed the argument as to the historical fact of Christs resurrection, which proves that the denial of the doctrine of the resurrection cannot be maintained unless it can be shown that the Apostles are wilfully bearing false testimony, and that their preaching, and the faith of those who accepted it, is vain. He now turns to a different line of argumenta reductio ad absurdum. He maintains the doctrine of the resurrection by showing the incredible absurdities to which a belief in the contrary must lead. If you do not believe in a resurrection, you must believe(1) That Christ is not raised, and that your faith, therefore, being false, has no resultthat you are still slaves of sin. This you know by personal experience to be false. As well might a living man try to believe that he is a corpse. (2) That all who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished; that is, that the noblest and most unselfish perish like brutes. (3) That God gives men a good hope in Christ, and that it, not being fulfilled here, is never to be fulfilled. In other words, if there be no resurrection, the only alternative is atheism, for otherwise you have to believe that, though there is a God who is wise and just, yet that the purest and greatest life ever lived is no better in the end than the life of a dog; that those who have lived the most unselfish lives have perished like beasts; and that God aroused a hunger and thirst of the purest kind in some souls, only that the hunger should never be satisfied, and the thirst never be quenched.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16-19. Paul now commences a new series of ifs, supposing Christ not risen, and ending with the perdition of the dead saints, and utter misery of the living.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain, you are yet in your sins.’
But to declare that the dead are not raised is to declare that the dead Christ cannot have been raised. And if that is so their faith is vain and worthless and without purpose, it is meaningless, and they are still dead in their sins. Christ’s death can then offer them nothing because His death has no seal on it and He has been proved a fake. All His promises and His insights are shown to have been in vain. He still lies cold in the grave.
And yet that is the whole uniqueness of the Christian message, that it puts forward as factual the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ on the basis of solid witnesses and the subsequent effectiveness of their message. And intrinsic in that is that the resurrection is the hope of every believer because their sins have been forgiven through Christ’s death for them.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Co 15:16 . Proof of the , . . . by solemn repetition of 1Co 15:13 entirely as to purport, and almost entirely as to the words also.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
Ver. 16. Then is not Christ raised ] And so God’s decree is cassated, Act 13:33 ; cf. Psa 50:7 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
16 .] Repetition of the inference in 1Co 15:13 , for precision’s sake.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 15:16 restates the position of the (1Co 15:13 ; see note), in order to press it to another, even more intolerable conclusion: (1) 1Co 15:14-15 proved the witness untrue , if the fact is unreal; (2) 1Co 15:17-18 conclude the effects unreal , if the fact is unreal.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
not. Greek. oude.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
16.] Repetition of the inference in 1Co 15:13, for precisions sake.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 15:16
1Co 15:16
For if the dead are not raised, neither hath Christ been raised:-[This verse is repetition of verse 13, to emphasize the argument that faith in the resurrection rests on historic fact.] He insists that unless the dead do rise, then Christ did not rise. To raise him when no others would arise would be meaningless. If he did rise, then the dead must rise.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Reciprocal: Rom 8:11 – he that raised 1Co 15:4 – he rose 1Co 15:29 – what
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 15:16-17. This paragraph is covered by comments over verses 2, 3, 13, 14.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Vv. 16-19.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
For if the dead are not raised, neither hath Christ been raised:
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
15:16 {6} For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
(6) He repeats the same argument taken from an absurdity, purposing to show how faith is in vain if the resurrection of Christ is taken away.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Paul repeated his line of thought contained in 1Co 15:12-14 in different terms. If Christ was still dead and in the grave, then confidence in Him for salvation is futile. [Note: See Norman L. Geisler, "The Significance of Christ’s Physical Resurrection," Bibliotheca Sacra 146:582 (April-June 1989):148-70.] This means the believer is still dead in his or her sins. He or she is without any hope of forgiveness or eternal life. Christians who had already died would be lost forever, eternally separated from God.
"The denial of their future, that they are destined for resurrection on the basis of Christ’s resurrection, has the net effect of a denial of their past, that they have received forgiveness of sins on the basis of Christ’s death." [Note: Fee, The First . . ., p. 743.]
Paul evidently meant that, given the Corinthians’ position, the believer has no future of any kind. "Perished" probably has this meaning since even though they denied the resurrection they were baptizing for the dead (1Co 15:29). It seems unlikely that they would have done this if they believed that death ended all.