Why did Paul deal with people in Corinth who denied the resurrection?
Paul dealt with Corinthians who denied resurrection because some in the church were saying there is no resurrection of the dead, likely influenced by Sadducee thinking. He argued that if there is no resurrection, then Christ is not risen, preaching is vain, and faith is vain, making Christian belief and activity foolish.
Les explains that Paul must have encountered Sadducees in Corinth, since the Sadducees never believed in resurrection from the dead and rejected it as foolishness. The problem was that some in Corinth were saying there is no resurrection from the dead. Paul uses this as an argument: if there is no resurrection, then Christ is not risen; and if Christ is not risen, then preaching is vain and faith is also vain. Les notes that if there is no resurrection, faithful churchgoing and Christian activity become foolish, because people would be wasting their time. So Paul confronts the denial directly by showing its consequences for the resurrection of Christ and the Christian faith.
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
More Questions
Why did Paul think there were Sadducees in Corinth?
Paul inferred there must have been Sadducees in Corinth because some Corinthians were denying the resurrection.
How can some Corinthians say there is no resurrection of the dead if Christ was preached as risen?
Since Christ is proclaimed as having risen from the dead, it is contradictory for some among the Corinthians to say there is no resurrection of the dead.