Charles Spurgeon Commentary 1 Corinthians 15:16-17

"For if the dead are not raised, neither hath Christ been raised: and if Christ hath not been raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins." — 1 Corinthians 15:16-17 (ASV)

For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins.

Yet they knew that they were not in their sins, for they had the witness within them that their sins had been pardoned. They knew that sin had no more dominion over them, for they had been made to walk in holiness before the Lord. "Therefore," says Paul, "Christ must have risen, for if he had not risen, you would have remained sinners as you once were."