John Calvin Commentary 1 Corinthians 15:12

"Now if Christ is preached that he hath been raised from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?" — 1 Corinthians 15:12 (ASV)

But of Christ. He now begins to prove the resurrection of all of us from that of Christ. For a mutual and reciprocal inference applies on the one side and on the other, both affirmatively and negatively—from Christ to us in this way: If Christ is risen, then we will rise—If Christ is not risen, then we will not rise—from us to Christ on the other hand: If we rise, then Christ is risen—If we do not rise, then neither is Christ risen.

The ground-work of the argument to be drawn from Christ to us in the former inference is this: “Christ did not die, or rise again for himself, but for us: hence his resurrection is the foundation of ours, and what was accomplished in him, must be fulfilled in us also.” In the negative form, on the other hand, it is thus: “Otherwise he would have risen again needlessly and to no purpose, because the fruit of it is to be sought, not in his own person, but in his members.”

Observe the ground-work, on the other hand, of the former inference to be deduced from us to him; for the resurrection is not from nature, and comes from no other source than from Christ alone. For in Adam we die, and we recover life only in Christ; hence it follows that his resurrection is the foundation of ours, so that if that is taken away, it cannot stand. The ground-work of the negative inference has been already stated; for as he could not have risen again but on our account, his resurrection would be null and void, if it were of no advantage to us.