A common misinterpretation is to read this verse as merely affirming Christ's personal resurrection without recognizing Paul's polemic against those denying any future bodily resurrection for believers, thus missing the logical link he draws between the two. Another error is to apply it rigidly to modern skepticism about the afterlife, ignoring the first-century Corinthian context influenced by Greek philosophy that separated soul from body, or to use it to evade thoughtful engagement with doubts rather than following Paul's subsequent evidential arguments.
I Corinthians 15:12
King James Version (1769)
12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
Paul confronts a contradiction in the Corinthian church: if Christ is proclaimed as risen from the dead, it is illogical for some to deny the resurrection of the dead in general, as Christ's resurrection validates and exemplifies the future bodily resurrection promised to all believers, serving as the cornerstone of Christian hope and the gospel's power.