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.  (14) And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.  (15) Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up – if in fact the dead do not rise. (16) For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.  (17) And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!  (18) Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. (19) If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable. (20) But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 

The first letter to the Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. The church at Corinth had sent a letter to Paul asking for clarification of doctrine he had preached and specifically about the resurrection of the human body.  The faithful at Corinth embraced the risen Christ, true God and true man, but did not extend this belief in resurrection to themselves.

In the early verses, chapter 15 of this letter, Paul had put forth proofs that Christ had risen and now lists the consequences of no resurrection of Christ. Christianity is a total belief system – you are either in or out. There is hope in Christ only and no other religion system covers us. If Christianity is not true – if Christ did not rise from the dead – we lose.  If Christ’s death had the power to save us, being alive will keep us and denial of this is the antithesis of Christian hope.

If Christ did not rise, and Christ was in every sense true human, the gospel is in vain; there was no acceptable sacrifice for our sin, no redemption, no justification.  And the Bible is false – the apostles are liars, all the faithful in history lived in vain.  If we deny a bodily resurrection we deny Christ.   But now in verse 20, after Paul has provided proof that Christ is risen, Paul claims for Christ firstfruits of the faithful.  The meaning of first fruits is from ancient Jewish law that the first fruits of the harvest were consecrated to God and then the rest of the harvest followed.  Christ’s resurrection was the first bodily resurrection and the rise of the dead – just like the harvest – will follow Him.