15Brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the good news I preached to you. You received it and have put your faith in it. ²Because you believed the good news, you are saved. But you must hold firmly to the message I preached to you. If you don’t, you have believed it for nothing.

³What I received I passed on to you. And it is the most important of all. Here is what it is. Christ died for our sins, just as Scripture said he would. ⁴He was buried. He was raised from the dead on the third day, just as Scripture said he would be. ⁵He appeared to Peter.

Then he appeared to the Twelve. ⁶After that, he appeared to more than 500 believers at the same time. Most of them are still living. But some have died. ⁷He appeared to James. Then he appeared to all the apostles. ⁸Last of all, he also appeared to me. I was like someone who wasn’t born at the right time or in a normal way.

⁹I am the least important of the apostles. I’m not even fit to be called an apostle. I tried to destroy God’s church. ¹⁰But because of God’s grace I am what I am. And his grace was not wasted on me. No, I have worked harder than all the other apostles. But I didn’t do the work. God’s grace was with me.

¹¹So whether it was I or the other apostles who preached to you, that is what we preach. And that is what you believed.

Believers Will Rise From the Dead

¹²We have preached that Christ has been raised from the dead. So how can some of you say that no one rises from the dead? ¹³If no one rises from the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, what we preach doesn’t mean anything. Your faith doesn’t mean anything either. ¹⁵More than that, we would be lying about God. We have given witness that God raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if the dead are not raised.

¹⁶If the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith doesn’t mean anything. Your sins have not been forgiven. ¹⁸Those who have died believing in Christ are also lost.

¹⁹Do we have hope in Christ only for this life? Then people should pity us more than anyone else.

²⁰But Christ really has been raised from the dead. He is the first of all those who will rise.

²¹Death came because of what a man did. Rising from the dead also comes because of what a man did. ²²Because of Adam, all people die. So because of Christ, all will be made alive.

²³But here is the order of events. Christ is the first of those who rise from the dead. When he comes back, those who belong to him will be raised. ²⁴Then the end will come. Christ will destroy all rule, authority and power. He will hand over the kingdom to God the Father.

²⁵Christ must rule until he has put all his enemies under his control. ²⁶The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. ²⁷Scripture says that God “has put everything under his control.” It says that “everything” has been put under him. But it is clear that this does not include God himself, who puts everything under Christ. ²⁸When he has done that, the Son also will be under God’s rule. God puts everything under the Son. In that way, God will be all in all.

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1 Corinthians 15:10: But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.