1 Corinthians 15:1-4

Religious scholars explain away the bodily resurrection of Jesus by claiming that ancient believers had some sort of subjective experience which enabled them to “believe” they had seen Jesus after He died. Paul however places the bodily resurrection of Christ squarely within the frame of history and insists that it is an essential element of the gospel. The rehearsal of the “first things” of the gospel which Paul reminds the Corinthians about includes the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. To believe anything else is to have a vain faith.