and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
Parallel translations
- WEB If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.
- KJV And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet 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!
- 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 up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.
- 1 Pet 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
- 1 Cor 15:14If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain.
- 1 Pet 1:21who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God.
- Rom 8:33–34Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.
- Rom 5:10For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.
- Acts 5:31God exalted him with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.
- Heb 10:4–12For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.
- 1 Cor 15:2by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you — unless you believed in vain.
- John 8:21–24Jesus said therefore again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.”
- Acts 13:38–39Be it known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man is proclaimed to you remission of sins,
- Heb 9:22–28According to the law, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.
- Heb 7:23–28Many, indeed, have been made priests, because they are hindered from continuing by death.
- Ezek 33:10You, son of man, tell the house of Israel: Thus you speak, saying, Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them; how then can we 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.