Today, people refer to “canceling” as a way of expressing their disapproval of something or someone in a public forum. People cancel others to try to stop the spread of objectionable ideas. And those who have been canceled see it as the suppression of their right to speak freely.

Followers of Christ have always faced pressure from those who disapprove of aspects of the gospel message. In Corinth, this disapproval was aimed at the gospel’s emphasis on bodily resurrection, which seemed incompatible with a dualistic philosophy that saw the material world as being incompatible with the spiritual. Such scorn caused some Corinthians to suppress the unpopular aspects of the gospel they had received from Paul. One result was their assertion that there was no bodily resurrection (v. 12).

Paul’s method of dealing with this error was to start with their premise and explain what it would mean if that were actually true. He does this with a series of “if…then” assertions which show that once the foundation of the bodily resurrection of Christ is removed, the hope of the gospel collapses entirely (vv. 13–19). Without the resurrection, faith in Christ is “useless” (v. 14). Apostolic authority for the gospel is eliminated (v. 15). If Christ did not rise “you are still in your sins,” and those “who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost” (vv. 18–19). Paul summarizes with this blunt conclusion in verse 19: “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” The good news is that Jesus “has indeed been raised from the dead” (v. 20). We are now waiting for the full effect of the victory Christ has already achieved to become a reality (vv. 22–28).

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