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Thursday, August 14th, 2025
the Week of Proper 14 / Ordinary 19
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Read the Bible

Simplified Cowboy Version

1 Corinthians 15:13

If we ain't gonna be raised from the grave, then Jesus wasn't either.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Immortality;   Jesus Continued;   Resurrection;   Zeal, Religious;   Scofield Reference Index - Resurrection;   Thompson Chain Reference - Dead, the;   Mortality-Immortality;   Resurrection;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Resurrection, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Death;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Miracles;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Ascension of Jesus Christ;   Corinthians, First and Second, Theology of;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Annihilation;   Omnipotence of God;   Resurrection;   Resurrection of Christ;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Timothy, the First Epistle to;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Resurrection;   Resurrection of Jesus Christ;   Rhetoric;   1 Corinthians;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Corinthians, First Epistle to the;   Eschatology;   Ethics;   Faith;   Hope;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Acts of the Apostles (2);   Preaching Christ;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Asleep;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Resurrection;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Baptism for the Dead;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised;
King James Version (1611)
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen.
King James Version
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
English Standard Version
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
New American Standard Bible
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised;
New Century Version
If no one is ever raised from the dead, then Christ has not been raised.
Amplified Bible
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised;
New American Standard Bible (1995)
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised;
Legacy Standard Bible
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised.
Berean Standard Bible
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
Contemporary English Version
If they won't be raised to life, Christ himself wasn't raised to life.
Complete Jewish Bible
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then the Messiah has not been raised;
Darby Translation
But if there is not a resurrection of [those that are] dead, neither is Christ raised:
Easy-to-Read Version
If no one will ever be raised from death, then Christ has never been raised.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
George Lamsa Translation
And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ also has not risen:
Good News Translation
If that is true, it means that Christ was not raised;
Lexham English Bible
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ has not been raised either.
Literal Translation
But if there is not a resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.
American Standard Version
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised:
Bible in Basic English
But if there is no coming back from the dead, then Christ has not come back from the dead:
Hebrew Names Version
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Messiah been raised.
International Standard Version
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised,1 Thessalonians 4:14;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
And if there be no life for the dead, (then) neither hath the Meshiha risen.
Murdock Translation
And if there is no reviviscence of the dead, the Messiah also hath not risen.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
If there be no rysyng agayne of the dead, then is Christe not rysen agayne.
English Revised Version
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised:
World English Bible
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For if there be no resurrection of the dead, neither is Christ raised.
Weymouth's New Testament
If there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead, then Christ Himself has not risen to life.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And if the ayenrisyng of deed men is not, nethir Crist roos ayen fro deeth.
Update Bible Version
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised:
Webster's Bible Translation
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not raised.
New English Translation
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
New King James Version
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.
New Living Translation
For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either.
New Life Bible
If the dead are not raised, then Christ was not raised from the dead.
New Revised Standard
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised;
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, if, resurrection of the dead, there is none, not even Christ, hath been raised;
Douay-Rheims Bible
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen again.
Revised Standard Version
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised;
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
If ther be no rysynge agayne from deeth: then is Christ not rysen.
Young's Literal Translation
and if there be no rising again of dead persons, neither hath Christ risen;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf there be no resurreccio of the deed, then is Christ not rysen.
Mace New Testament (1729)
for if there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.

Contextual Overview

12We tell everyone that Christ came back from the dead. If that was what we told you, why are some of y'all telling folks they won't come back from the dead too? 13If we ain't gonna be raised from the grave, then Jesus wasn't either. 14And if he didn't come back, then everything we've told you is a farce . . . and so is your faith. 15And not just that, we'd be guilty of lying about God because we've told everyone it was God who raised him back to life. If God doesn't raise us up after we die, then he didn't raise Christ up either. 16Let me repeat, if those cowboys who die aren't going to be raised up, then Jesus wasn't either. 17And if Jesus is still dead, then so is our faith. If Jesus is still dead, then we are still guilty of our sins and will pay for them in full. 18All those cowboys who rode for Christ would be lost if he wasn't alive today. 19And if all we get for riding for the brand is a little bit of inspiration in this life, then we are a sorry lot.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

1 Corinthians 15:20, John 11:25, John 11:26, Acts 23:8, Romans 4:24, Romans 4:25, Romans 8:11, Romans 8:23, 2 Corinthians 4:10-14, Colossians 3:1-4, 1 Thessalonians 4:14, 2 Timothy 4:8, Hebrews 2:14, Hebrews 13:20, 1 Peter 1:3, Revelation 1:18

Reciprocal: Mark 12:18 - say 1 Corinthians 15:12 - how 1 Corinthians 15:15 - whom Hebrews 6:2 - resurrection

Cross-References

Acts 7:17
"When the time got close to fulfill his promise to Abe about freeing all his descendants from slavery, there was a whole herd of people.
Galatians 3:17
God made that promise 430 years before the Law was given to Moses. The Law didn't cancel God's promise. Nothing can cancel a promise from God.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But if there be no resurrection of the dead,.... If there is no such thing as a resurrection of any, if the thing is not possible, if it never has been, is, or will be true in fact:

then is Christ not risen. The apostle argues from a general, to a particular; from the general resurrection of the dead, to the particular resurrection of Christ; and from a negation of the one, to a negation of the other; for what does not agree with the whole, does not agree with the part; and what is true of the whole, is true of the part; but if the resurrection of Christ is not true, many are the absurdities that must follow upon it, and which the apostle next enumerates.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But if there be no resurrection of the dead - If the whole subject is held to be impossible and absurd, then it must follow that Christ is not “risen,” since there were the same difficulties in the way of raising him up which will exist in any case. He was dead and was buried. He had lain in the grave three days. His human soul had left the body. His frame had become cold and stiff. The blood had ceased to circulate, and the lungs to heave. In his case there was the same difficulty in raising him up to life that there is in any other; and if it is held to be impossible and absurd that the dead should rise, then it must follow that Christ has not been raised. This is the first consequence which Paul states as resulting from the denial of this doctrine, and this is inevitable. Paul thus shows them that the denial of the doctrine, or the maintaining the general proposition “that the dead would not rise,” led also to the denial of the fact that the Lord Jesus had risen, and consequently to the denial of Christianity altogether, and the annihilation of all their hopes. There was, moreover, such a close connection between Christ and his people, that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus made their resurrection certain. See 1 Thessalonians 4:14; see the note on John 14:19.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Corinthians 15:13. If there be no resurrection of the dead — As Christ was partaker of the same flesh and blood with us, and he promised to raise mankind from the dead through his resurrection, if the dead rise not then Christ has had no resurrection. There seem to have been some at Corinth who, though they denied the resurrection of the dead, admitted that Christ had risen again: the apostle's argument goes therefore to state that, if Christ was raised from the dead, mankind may be raised; if mankind cannot be raised from the dead, then the body of Christ was never raised.


 
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