If There Is No Resurrection

What is the most distinctive, attractive, and far-reaching doctrine that Christians believe? For the author the answer is the resurrection. Though not exclusively Christian, since both Judaism and Islam have a doctrine of resurrection of their own, it is nevertheless the most distinctive of all Christian beliefs, and certainly the founder of no other religion claims to have risen from the dead. It is the most attractive because it holds out the promise of eternal life on the other side of the grave. And it is the most far-reaching because the resurrection life goes on for ever and ever! That is why 1 Corinthians 15 is such an important chapter. This chapter tackles the whole subject of resurrection against the backdrop of some who denied or doubted there was any such thing. To the Greek way of thinking bodily resurrection was a ludicrous idea, and there were Jews also, the Sadducees in particular (Acts 23:8), who entertained the same scepticism.