» The future is here. The end has begun.

If Jesus is not raised, I know nothing about the resurrection at the end of the world. The hope of the resurrection, the idea of a world to come, remains theological speculation, with no firm foundation in human experience. History has no meaning, no goal, no purpose. As a human race, we are going nowhere.

However Paul has himself met the resurrected Jesus, and he knows many others who have had the same experience. Therefore he can write with confidence, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (I Cor 15:20).

“George Eldon Ladd, ”I believe in the resurrection of Jesus“, 152.