1 Corinthians 15:16

“For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised.”

This verse seems to be a needless repetition of 1 Corinthians 15:13. It is not so. Paul once more takes up the inference already drawn in 1 Corinthians 15:13, in order to deduce from it a second conclusion parallel to that which he had expounded in 1 Corinthians 15:14-15. The denial of Christ's resurrection, as it follows from the denial of the resurrection of the dead, implies the accusation of imposture against the apostle, 1 Corinthians 15:13-15. But more than that: this same denial, following from the same premiss, implies the nothingness of the Christian salvation, 1 Corinthians 15:16-19.