Bible Strands
1 Corinthians 15:17
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul addresses the Corinthian believers while defending the necessity of bodily resurrection. He delivers this statement immediately after arguing that denying general resurrection inherently denies Christ's own resurrection.
The words — The verb ἐγήγερται (egēgertai) literally means "has been raised," and the adjective ματαία (mataia) translates to "futile" or "empty." These terms establish the grammatical condition that faith's validity depends entirely on a completed resurrection event.
The thread — The text explicitly links unraised Christ to worthless faith in 1 Corinthians 15:14. The same causal sequence appears in Romans 4:25, which ties Christ's raising to justification, and 1 Peter 1:3, which grounds living hope in divine mercy.
Why it lands — The verse states directly that faith without a raised Christ produces no forgiveness and leaves believers in their sins. It requires the reader to accept resurrection as the factual basis for any claim of salvation, not a symbolic hope.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
Cross-references
- Romans 4:25 He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification.
- 1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
- 1 Corinthians 15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is worthless, and so is your faith.
- 1 Peter 1:21 Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him; and so your faith and hope are in God.
- Romans 8:33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
- Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!
- Acts 5:31 God exalted Him to His right hand as Prince and Savior, in order to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.
- 1 Corinthians 15:2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
- Hebrews 10:4 because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
- John 8:21 Again He said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for Me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”