How did Christianity survive and get started in the first place?
Christianity got started and survived only because of the miraculous working power of God. Human odds were impossible: hearers were steeped in idolatry or Judaism, and Paul never remained in one place long enough. Without God's miraculous intervention, it would never have gotten off the ground or survived.
Les explains that Christianity did not get off the ground or survive by ordinary human means. It was an impossible set of odds: the people were steeped in idolatry, except for the Jewish element, and even they were just as steeped in their Judaism. Paul was not in any one place long enough to make it survive on his own. Therefore, had it not been for the miraculous working power of God, Christianity would never have gotten off the ground and would never have survived. The same resurrected power is the basis of hope: God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His own power, a theme Paul only introduces here before unfolding it more fully in chapter 15.