With this verse the apostle begins his closely woven arguments concerning the resurrection. In vs. 5-8 he has established the historical basis of the resurrection by presenting testimony from a multitude of reliable eyewitnesses. He now asks how, in the light of this well-proved fact, any Corinthian believer can deny a general resurrection of the dead.

 Apparently there were some at Corinth who denied the possibility of a bodily resurrection of the dead. In vs. 13-19 Paul demonstrates the destructive nature of such a denial, and shows how such a belief is incompatible with the proved fact that Jesus had been raised (see also v. 16).

Literally, “from among dead [ones].”