12 Then what means this contention amongst some of you that the dead do not rise?
13-16 But the Christ did rise. For death came through Adam, it came through a man, and through a man must come eternal life. If in Adam all die, then must death be conquered where it began, in a man. So rose the Christ from the dead. But if you say there is no resurrection from the dead, then neither did the Christ rise from the dead, and the whole of our teaching collapses,
17 it falls to earth, empty, void, a perfect nothing, a falsity.
18 The testimony we bear concerning God, namely, that He raised the Christ-man from the dead, has no meaning in it.
19 If the Christ exists for this world only and has no eternal existence, we are the most miserable of all the dwellers on this planet!
20 But the Christ has risen, and his rising is the commencement of a similar resurrection for the whole world.
21-22 His re-appearance after death is like the first fruits of a mighty harvest.