What was Paul proving to the Corinthians?
Paul was proving to the Corinthians, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Christ died but arose from the dead. This resurrection is the very hope of every believer; if He did not rise, the faith would be futile. He was establishing the reality of resurrection from the dead.
Les explains that this is exactly what Paul is doing here to the Corinthians: he is proving to them, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Christ died, but He arose from the dead. And that's the very hope of every believer. If He didn't rise, we might as well pack up, throw our Bible away, and go home and forget it. But don't do it, because He did—He arose from the grave. Les also parallels this with a former infidel who set out to disprove the resurrection, went to Israel to dig up proof it was a fallacy, but the more he dug, the more he proved himself wrong and became a born-again believer, eventually proving to college kids that Christ literally, physically arose from the grave.