1 Corinthians 15:3-22

3I passed on to you the most important points of doctrine that I had received: Christ died to take away our sins as the Scriptures predicted.

4He was placed in a tomb. He was brought back to life on the third day as the Scriptures predicted.

5He appeared to Cephas. Next he appeared to the twelve apostles.

6Then he appeared to more than 500 believers at one time. (Most of these people are still living, but some have died.)

7Next he appeared to James. Then he appeared to all the apostles.

8Last of all, he also appeared to me. I’m like an aborted child ⌞who was given life⌟.

9I’m the least of the apostles. I’m not even fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted God’s church.

10But God’s kindness  made me what I am, and that kindness was not wasted on me. Instead, I worked harder than all the others. It was not I who did it, but God’s kindness was with me.

11So, whether it was I or someone else, this is the message we brought you, and this is what you believed.

12If we have told you that Christ has been brought back to life, how can some of you say that coming back from the dead is impossible?

13If the dead can’t be brought back to life, then Christ hasn’t come back to life.

14If Christ hasn’t come back to life, our message has no meaning and your faith also has no meaning.

15In addition, we are obviously witnesses who lied about God because we testified that he brought Christ back to life. But if it’s true that the dead don’t come back to life, then God didn’t bring Christ back to life.

16Certainly, if the dead don’t come back to life, then Christ hasn’t come back to life either.

17If Christ hasn’t come back to life, your faith is worthless and sin still has you in its power.

18Then those who have died as believers in Christ no longer exist.

19If Christ is our hope in this life only, we deserve more pity than any other people.

20But now Christ has come back from the dead. He is the very first person of those who have died to come back to life.

21Since a man brought death, a man also brought life back from death.

22As everyone dies because of Adam, so also everyone will be made alive because of Christ.