Paul was shocked to discover that some of the Christians in Corinth did not believe in
the resurrection from the dead (1 Cor 15:12, 16-20).
How could people identify themselves as Christians and, at the same time, doubt that
the dead rise? If there wasn’t any resurrection from the dead then Christ Himself hadn’t
risen.
Some of these same people had come to the faith through Paul. Paul and other
apostles preached that Christ rose from the dead: “We believe that Christ died and rose
again” (1 Th 4:13). If Christ rose, then those who believe in Him should also rise: “He
who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to our mortal bodies” (Rom 8:10).
Did those people who denied the resurrection think that Paul and those who preached
that Jesus was raised were “misrepresenting God” (1 Cor 15:15).
Why did they continue to associate themselves with the Christian community? If Jesus
didn’t rise, then Christianity didn’t make sense, as Paul insists: “your faith is futile and
you are still in your sins” (1 Cor 15:17).
Their brothers and sisters who died believing in Jesus must certainly have perished.
Those who maintained hope in Jesus despite many difficulties have wasted their time:
“If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Cor
15:19).
We cannot prove that Jesus rose from the dead. Nevertheless, Marcus Bockmuehl is
among those scholars who assert that it is undeniable that something happened on that
Sunday: “…it is a matter of historical record that something happened and that this
changed the course of human history like no other event before or since” (The
Cambridge Companion to Jesus, 203).
Why are Bockmuehl and others so certain that “something happened”? An obvious
answer is the behavior of Jesus’ disciples. They ran away when Jesus was
apprehended and hid after His death. Yet within a couple of days, they are reanimated,
asserting that Jesus is risen! They held onto this conviction, even though they were
beaten and persecuted and most of them eventually were killed for that conviction. If
even one of them had denied it, their enemies would have promulgated it far and wide.
In his attempt to understand the situation in Corinth, Thomas Aquinas thinks that those
who denied the resurrection of the dead may have thought that Jesus rose because He
was a divine Person. However, Thomas points out that Jesus, who was a divine Person,
rose in His human nature.
Thomas maintains that our resurrection is related to Jesus’ resurrection because Jesus
is the cause of our resurrections: “… the resurrection of Christ is the cause of our
resurrection” (Thomas Aquinas, Commentary of the First Letter of St. Paul to the
Corinthians, 913).

Thomas doesn’t mean that Jesus merited our resurrections through His resurrection,
because, in rising, Jesus entered into His glory and no longer merited, as He did
through the time of His death. Thomas proposes that Jesus merited our resurrections
through His death.
For Thomas, the relationship between Jesus’ resurrection and our resurrection isn’t
because Jesus is the exemplary (the example) cause of our resurrections. Thomas
insists that Jesus is also the “efficient cause,” the one who actually causes our
resurrections.
St. Augustine wrote that “The Word made flesh vivifies and raises the dead”
(Commentary on John). Thomas concludes from this statement: “Therefore, it is clear
that if Christ rose, the dead also will rise” (Commentary on First Corinthians, 913).
Thomas accepts that Jesus, in His humanity is not able to raise the dead since rising
from the dead surpasses human nature. Only the infinite power of God can raise the
dead but this also applies to Jesus, in His divinity: “Inasmuch as God or the godhead is
in Christ, Christ is the exemplary and efficient cause of the resurrection of the dead
through His humanity, as through an instrument of His divinity … the flesh of Christ or
the humanity is not said to produce an effect of infinite power, inasmuch as it is flesh or
humanity, but inasmuch as it is the flesh and humanity of Christ [who is also divine]”
(Commentary on First Corinthians, 914).
Our resurrection takes place according to God’s plan: “Since God is the principal cause
of our resurrection, but Christ’s resurrection is the instrumental cause, our resurrection
follows Christ’s resurrection according to God’s arrangement, which directed that it
happen at such a time” (Commentary on First Corinthians, 915).
Some people have wondered whether we would rise if Christ had not become incarnate,
died and rose. Thomas answers: “God directed the resurrection of the dead to occur in
that manner; yet another manner could still be found by God, if He willed” (Commentary
on First Corinthians, 916).
Paul appealed to the Corinthians: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in
vain and your faith is in vain. … If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you
are still in your sins” (1 Cor 15:14, 17).
Thomas Aquinas points out that the Christians have experienced the cleansing of sin:
“Faith cleanses from sins: ‘He cleansed their hearts by faith’ (Ac 15:9). If, therefore, our
faith is in vain, which would be the case if Christ has not risen, because you did believe
that He arose, your sins are not forgiven. And this is what he says: ‘You are still in your
sins’ (1 Cor 15:17)” (Commentary on First Corinthians, 921).
Thomas thinks those who doubted the resurrection of the body believed in the
immortality of the soul. Thomas’ answer is important because he emphasizes the
natural connection between the soul and the body, which is characteristic of Thomas: “If
the resurrection of the body is denied, it is not easy, rather it is difficult, to sustain the
immortality of the soul. For it is clear that the soul is naturally united to the body and is
departed from it, contrary to its nature and by accident. Hence the soul devoid of its

body is imperfect, as long as it is without the body” (Commentary on First Corinthians,
924).
Plato and his followers believed that the soul longed to be freed from the body. Thomas
insists: “The soul, since it is part of man’s body, is not an entire man, and my soul is not
I; hence, although the soul obtains salvation in another life, nevertheless, not I or any
man. Furthermore, since man naturally desires salvation even of the body, a natural
desire would be frustrated (Commentary First Corinthians, 924).
Paul realizes that some Christians may have thought it was sufficient to follow Christ in
this life, as a better way of living. Paul responds: “If for this life only we have hoped in
Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Cor 15:19).
Thomas summarizes this argument: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, it follows
that nothing good is possessed by men except in this life alone; and if this is so, then
those who suffer many evils and tribulations in this life are more miserable. Therefore,
since the apostles and Christians suffer many tribulations, it follows that they are more
miserable than other men, who at least enjoy the good things of this world”
(Commentary on First Corinthians, 923).
Thomas allows that in a certain sense the Christian life is preferable to life without even
a limited faith, “We Christians would be not more miserable than other men, because
those who are in sins undergo greater labors. But of the good and just it says in Gal
(5:22): “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace…” (Commentary First Corinthians, 925).
Thomas affirms: “Evils in this world are not to be sought as such, but inasmuch as they
are directed to some good. But the apostles and Christians have suffered many evils in
the world. Therefore, unless they were directed to some good, they would be more
miserable than other men. Either they are directed to a future good or to a present
good; but they are not ordained to a future good, if there is no resurrection of the dead.
But if they are ordained to a present good, this is either the good of the intellect, as
philosophers of nature suffered poverty and many other evils, in order to know the truth”
(Commentary First Corinthians, 925).
“Or it is a good of morals, as moral philosophers suffered many evils to acquire virtues
and fame. But neither can they be directed to this, because if there is no resurrection of
the dead, it is not regarded as virtuous and glorious to wish to renounce all pleasant
things and undergo the punishments of death and contempt; rather it is considered folly.
And so it is clear that they would more miserable than other men” (Commentary First
Corinthians, 926).
“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen
asleep” (1 Cor 15:20)
Thomas reflects: “Christ’s resurrection is related to that of others as the first fruits to
those that follow, for they exceed the latter in time and superiority or worth; therefore, he
says: He arose, not as the others, but as the first fruit, i.e., first in time and dignity: “The
first born of the dead” (Rev 1:5). The first fruits, I say, of those who have fallen asleep,
i.e., of the dead who rest in hope of the resurrection. From this can be inferred the

conditional statement previously made, because we say and it is true, if Christ Who is
the first fruit of those that sleep, arose, then also all others asleep” (Commentary First
Corinthians, 927).
Denis Vincent Wiseman, O.P.