And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
Parallel translations
- WEB If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.
- BSB And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
- NKJV And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
- NASB and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
- NLT And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
If Christ is not raised, faith is futile and believers remain in their sins. It matters because the resurrection confirms that Christ's death actually atoned for sin.
Overview
Paul names the gravest consequence of a Christless tomb: sins would remain unforgiven and faith would be useless. The resurrection is God's vindication of Christ's atoning death, proof the sacrifice was accepted. Because Christ is risen, believers can be assured their sins are truly forgiven.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Rom 4:25Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
- 1 Pet 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
- 1 Cor 15:14And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
- 1 Pet 1:21Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
- Rom 8:33–34Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
- Rom 5:10For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
- Acts 5:31Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
- Heb 10:4–12For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
- 1 Cor 15:2By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
- John 8:21–24Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.
- Acts 13:38–39Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:
- Heb 9:22–28And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
- Heb 7:23–28And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:
- Ezek 33:10Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 15:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.