1 Corinthians 15:12-19

You have heard it said that some things are a “matter of life and death”. All month, as we discuss resurrection, we will be discussing life and death. At the end of the day, when the smoke clears and people stop long enough to turn off the stimulus and think, it all boils down to life and death. And the Bible is so clear and simple about these things. Let’s ask that a very basic question: “Why do people die?” Death is our universally shared human experience. It transcends color and race and economic and social status. It touches the rich and poor, young and old, good and evil, powerful and weak, popular and obscure. It is painful, confusing, and yet we accept its presence. Maybe we ask why when it seems to come before it should, like in the life of someone young, or in a way that is painful; but nonetheless, death is our constant companion. But why? Has death always been the human experience? Who says it has to exist? This is what we discuss in our next section of chapter 15! How is death connected to sin? What does resurrection say about sin? What does it even mean to be dead or alive? In this next section, Paul takes us through the hypothetical mental exercise of imagining there is no resurrection and imagining the repercussions of it!