A few weeks ago around Easter time, a joyful fellow Christian told me something I’ve heard many, many times: “Even if the gospel were not true, I would still want to be a Christian because this is the best life to live.” I get what he means. I just completely disagree.
The apostle Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 15 is that if Christ is not raised, “our preaching is useless and so is your faith” (v. 14). As a matter of fact, Paul wrote, if Christ is not raised, “we are of all people most to be pitied” (v. 19). Why?
First of all, people undergoing persecution for the faith cannot claim that the Christian life, even if the gospel is not true, is the happiest life possible. If Christ is not raised, a first-century woman who lost her husband, her extended family, her social safety net, and all her friends was not living her best life. She was doing so only if she looked beyond the momentary affliction toward something real.
If Jesus’ bones are somewhere in the ground in Jerusalem, then the Chinese believer in danger of arrest or the Sudanese believer in danger of execution are wasting the happiness that can come with the little securities and pleasures of this one short life.
Even those of us with strong community ties, rooted in faith, should see that Christianity simply isn’t worth it if salvation through Jesus isn’t true. After all this would mean that the “Matthew 28:1-8 women” were lying. The apostolic faith would be a fraud, and our community would be merely the bonds of natural affection, dissolved by the inevitabilities of biology and history.
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (v. 20). He actually is alive! The Gospel story is true. I talk to Him and He answers back to me!
Amen. The Christian life is worth it. Because of Him. And this is just the beginning of eternity with Him.
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