In 1 Corinthians 15:13–19 Paul draws out the implications of disbelief in the resurrection. From these verses it is clear that there is an inseparable connection between the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of his followers. One cannot believe in the one without believing in the other.
We are not told why some Corinthian church members denied the resurrection. Were they influenced by Greco-Roman philosophy, with its general disdain for the body? Or did they perhaps come from the sect of the Sadducees (see Luke 20:27)? Whatever the reason for their disbelief, Paul shows that they are rejecting a central aspect of the gospel, namely, the resurrection of Christ.
13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.