Despite the clarity of the message, there were some in Corinth who were saying that there was no resurrection of the dead. Presumably they were saying that Christians are not raised. Paul is amazed at the ridiculousness of their argument. For if we are not raised, then Christ is not raised. Note the identity between Christ and us. In Romans 6 Paul talks about us sharing in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus was fully human and is fully human. As Paul will say later, He is the second Adam. Ie all of us who believe in Him will be like Him.
Paul then says that if Christ has not been raised all the preaching was useless. The church was predicated completely on the fact that Christ was raised from the dead. There are many today in the church who deny the resurrection. Such people really do not know what they are talking about, and are certainly not preaching the gospel. No resurrection - no point.
Paul then iterates even more strongly that if Christ was not raised then the apostles were misrepresenting God. If there is no resurrection, then the church has no message for the world. We do well to check our message and see how central the resurrection is to it.
If there is no resurrection then everything is in vain, for in the end all die. If death is the end of everything, then there is no point to anything. Being a disciple of Christ means sharing in His sufferings, and living life on the premise that there is more to follow. If there is no resurrection then there no point to anything and we might as well give up.
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