In 1 Corinthians 15:12 Paul refers to the preaching that Christ has been raised from among the dead. This indicates clearly that the apostles preached the resurrection of Christ. According to the book of Acts, the preaching of the gospel was mainly the preaching of Christ’s resurrection.

In verse 13 Paul continues, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.” This is the first point of Paul’s rebuttal. It is a fact that Christ has been raised from among the dead. How come, then, could some say that there is no resurrection? If there were no resurrection, then Christ could not have been raised from among the dead.

In verse 14 Paul goes on to say, “And if Christ has not been raised, then is our preaching vain; your faith also is vain.” The Greek word translated “vain” means empty, void. Without the living Christ in resurrection, both the preaching of the gospel and our faith in it would be empty and void, having no reality. Preaching the death of Christ without preaching His resurrection would be vain. The resurrection of Christ is what causes our preaching to become vital and prevailing. Such a preaching would never be in vain. Furthermore, apart from Christ’s resurrection, our faith would also be vain. Without the resurrection of Christ, both our preaching and our believing become vain. This is a very serious matter.

In verse 15 Paul says, “And we are found also false witnesses of God, because we witnessed concerning God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if indeed the dead are not raised.” This is another strong point in Paul’s rebuttal.

In verse 16 Paul continues, “For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised.” Then verse 17 says, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” The Greek word rendered “futile” means fruitless, worthless. Without Christ resurrected to live in us as our life and as everything to us, our faith in Him would be fruitless, worthless, and without any issue like the impartation of life, freedom from sin, victory over Satan, and growth in life. The word futile used here is even stronger than the word vain in verse 14. Something that is vain is empty, but the word futile indicates labor without result, work without any gain. If there is no resurrection, we may still believe, but eventually nothing results from our believing. Hence, our faith becomes futile.

Furthermore, according to verse 17, if Christ has not been raised, we are still in our sins. Christ’s death saves us from the condemnation of our sins, not from the power of sin. It is His resurrection life that delivers us from the power of sin (Rom. 8:2). If Christ were not resurrected, we would still remain in sins and under the power of sin.

Second Peter 2:1 says, “There arose also false prophets among the people, as also among you there will be false teachers, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.” The Greek words translated “secretly bring in” may also be rendered “bring in by smuggling.” Literally, the Greek means to bring in alongside, to bring in sideways, to introduce a new subject for which the hearers are not prepared. Here it denotes the false teachers bringing in and introducing their false teachings alongside the true ones. These false teachings are called destructive heresies, or, literally, heresies of destruction.

Peter tells us that the false teachers even deny the Master who bought them. “Master” implies the Lord’s person and His redemptive work. In their apostasy, the false teachers denied both the Lord’s person as the Master and His redemption, by which He purchased the believers.

In Jude 4 we are warned concerning the heresies of the apostates. “Certain men have crept in unnoticed, who of old have been written of beforehand for this judgment, ungodly men, perverting the grace of our God into licentiousness, and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Literally, the Greek words translated “crept in unnoticed” mean to get in by the side, or to slip in by a side door. The words “this judgment” refer to the judgment of the creeping in unnoticed of the apostates. Judgment here is the condemnation for punishment, and it refers to being condemned to be punished.

Jude speaks of ungodly men who pervert the grace of God into licentiousness and deny our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. The evil of these heretical apostates is twofold: perverting the grace of God into wantonness, that is, into the abuse of freedom (cf. Gal. 5:13; 1 Pet. 2:16), and denying the headship and lordship of the Lord. These two go together. Turning the grace of God into an abused freedom for wantonness requires denying the Lord’s rule and authority.
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