In treating this subject the apostle first proves the fact of Christ's resurrection, vs. 1-11. He thence deduces, first, the possibility, and then the certainty of the resurrection of his people, vs. 12-34. He afterwards teaches the na- ture of the resurrection, so far as to show that the doctrine is not liable to the objections which had been brought against it, vs. 35-58. •«.,^
The Mesurrection of Christ as securing the Resurrection of his People^ vs. 1-34.
That certain false teachers in Corinth denied the resurrection of the dead is plain, not only from the course of argument here adopted but from the explicit statement in v. 12. Who these persons were, and what were the grounds of their objections, can only be conjectured from the nature of the apostolic ar- gument. The most common opinion is that the objectors were converted Sadducees. The only reason for this opinion is that the Sadducees denied the doctrine of the resurrection, and that Paul, as appears from Acts 24, 6-9 and 26, 6-8, had been before brought into collision with them on this subject. The objections to this view are of no great weight. It is said that such was the hostility of the Sadducees to the gospel that it is not probable any of their number were among the con- verts to Christianity. The case of Paul himself proves that the bitterest enemies could, by the grace of* God, be convert- ed into friends. It is further objected that Paul could not, in