Some in the church were saying "there is no resurrection of the dead," even though they had believed a gospel built on Christ rising from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:11). Paul's question puts the two side by side so they can see the contradiction. If even one man has risen, then the claim of "no resurrection of the dead" is already false.

Barnes says Christ's rising was one instance proving that there had been a resurrection, and he adds, "Facts are unanswerable demonstrations." Gill points to a second link: what happened to Christ will happen to His people, because "he is their head, and they are members of him." Gill says who the deniers were "cannot be affirmed"; he mentions Hymenaeus and Philetus or their disciples, and followers of Simon Magus and Cerinthus, "or rather" Jews "of the sect of the Sadducees."

Paul answers by following the denial to its end. "If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen" (1 Corinthians 15:13). Then preaching is "vain," faith is "vain," "ye are yet in your sins," those who died in Christ "are perished," and believers are "of all men most miserable" (1 Corinthians 15:14-19). Then he states the fact that settles it: "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept" (1 Corinthians 15:20).

Denying the resurrection was not new. Luke records that "the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection" (Acts 23:8), and Paul later warns of Hymenaeus and Philetus, who taught "that the resurrection is past already" (2 Timothy 2:17-18). Gill names both as possible sources of the Corinthian error, leaning toward the Sadducees without deciding. Barnes also says the deniers are unknown, but thinks it "most probable" that the denial came from reasoning after the manner of the Greeks. Barnes adds that Paul answers not with abstract argument but with facts: the risen Christ was seen by Cephas, the twelve, more than five hundred brethren at once, James, all the apostles, and Paul (1 Corinthians 15:5-8).

Everything Christians hope for hangs on one event God has already done. Matthew Henry puts it simply: "There had been no justification, or salvation, if Christ had not risen." That is why Paul will not let the Corinthians keep the gospel and drop the resurrection. They are not two separate ideas.

The resurrection of Jesus is also a promise about His people. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22). Paul calls Christ the "firstfruits" (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23): His rising is the start of a harvest, not a one-time exception.