"If Christ Has Not Been Raised": 1 Corinthians 15:17 and the Hamartiological Inefficacy of a Compromised Gospel

While Pauline scholars routinely posit the existence of a causal link between Jesus's resurrection and forgiveness to explain his hamartiological claim in 1 Cor 15:17 about the Corinthians' remaining in sin apart from Christ's resurrection, I regard such an interpretive approach as flawed. I argue instead that 1 Cor 15:12–19 aims by means of an extended reductio ad absurdum to persuade the Corinthians to affirm Paul's teaching about eschatological resurrection on the grounds that refusal to yield assent would simultaneously unravel their ability to embrace the theological content of any other aspect of the paradosis by exposing both Paul and his apostolic counterparts as untrustworthy witnesses about God. Hence, 1 Cor 15:17 aims not to characterize Christ's resurrection as efficacious for forgiveness of sins (a work the apostle here and elsewhere reserves for Jesus's crucifixion), but to point out an unwelcome consequence resulting from the decision to deny resurrection in general.