But if there be no resurrection of the dead
If there is no such thing as a resurrection of any, if the thing is not possible, if it never has been, is, or will be true in fact:
then is Christ not risen.
The apostle argues from a general, to a particular; from the general resurrection of the dead, to the particular resurrection of Christ; and from a negation of the one, to a negation of the other; for what does not agree with the whole, does not agree with the part; and what is true of the whole, is true of the part; but if the resurrection of Christ is not true, many are the absurdities that must follow upon it, and which the apostle next enumerates.