What was the message of the false teachers about the resurrection? Perhaps an analogy will help. The life of Martin Luther King Jr. was tragically cut short, but what he stood for continues through people who believe what he believed and teach what he taught.

It may be that Hymenaeus and Philetus said something like this about Jesus: “The life of Jesus was tragically cut short. But what He stood for continues through people who believe what He believed and teach what He taught. His work is being carried on by His people.”

“Yes, we believe that Jesus rose from the dead,” they would say. “And what this means is that His spirit lives on in His people. What matters is not that the tomb was empty, but that we do the kinds of things that Jesus did.”

Their message was not so much about Jesus but about us. The power that would change the world, in their view, was not the power of the risen Lord, but the power of what we do as we follow the example of Jesus. You can see how this would gain traction:

It sounds spiritual. “You don’t need to worry about the body,” they would say. “It is just a shell. What matters is your spirit—what you feel, what you want, what you choose to live for.”

It sounds relevant. “The calling of the church,” they would say, “is not to prepare people for another world. It is to meet the needs of the world today.”

It sounds liberating. If there is no resurrection to eternal life, we are accountable only to ourselves. That puts us in control and leaves us free to live and plan our lives as we think best.

What is most attractive to you about this view of the resurrection? What is the biggest problem you can see with it?

The central truth of 1 Corinthians 15 is that Jesus was raised from the dead, and we who receive and continue in the gospel will share in His resurrection life.

But it seems that some at Corinth had denied this wonderful truth. That’s clear from verse 12: “How can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” They denied that believers will rise from the dead and share a glorious new life with Christ.

This was not unique to Corinth. There were false teachers in the early church who taught that the resurrection had already happened. Paul refers in 2 Timothy to “Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some” (2:17-18).

If someone asked these teachers, “Don’t you believe that there will be a resurrection for us?” they would say, “Yes, of course we do. But the resurrection has already happened. If you are a believer, you have already risen to a new life in Christ.” And of course that is true. The problem was that they denied a future resurrection.

If someone denies the future resurrection of believers, they have to reinterpret the resurrection of Jesus. And this is Paul’s point: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised” (1 Cor. 15:13).

Do you believe in a future resurrection for all Christian believers?

Many of the Corinthian believers were standing and holding fast to the gospel. But some were abandoning the faith they once professed.

The world is always inventing new words to describe old sins. One word you might be familiar with is the word deconstructing. We hear about people deconstructing their faith. They have concluded that the faith they once professed is merely a human construct—that it was put together by the apostles and the early church. They hold that it morphed over the centuries and now needs to be taken down like an old bridge that has become unsafe.

Here is the warning from these verses: A deconstructed faith won’t redeem you from your past sins. A deconstructed faith won’t give you strength for your present calling. A deconstructed faith will not save you.

Paul wants us to know that the gospel is not a human construct. It is something that he himself received from God: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received” (15:3). God has revealed it to the prophets and apostles, and you will be blessed, like Paul, if you receive it and continue in it.

There is hope in Jesus for all who receive and continue in the gospel. God’s Word says, “We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end” (Heb. 3:14). Jesus Himself says, “The one who endures to the end will be saved” (Mat. 24:13).

Have you been urged to “deconstruct” your faith? Hold onto Jesus’ promise that those who endure to the end will be saved.