1 Corinthians 15:12 (Considering the Setting)

1 Corinthians 15:12 (SBL): Εἰ δὲ Χριστὸς κηρύσσεται ὅτι ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγήγερται, πῶς λέγουσιν ἐν ὑμῖν τινες ὅτι ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν οὐκ ἔστιν;

ESV: "Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?"

One of the most impressive, beautiful and thought-provoking biblical accounts is 1 Corinthians 15:1-58: the account is replete with interesting details, analogies, and observations as well as rhetorical turns (tropes). Paul feels the need to defend one of the Christian a, b, c's when he pens these words, namely, he defends the resurrection from the dead--including the resurrection of Christ.

But I've often wondered what made some anointed Christians in Corinth doubt the resurrection. Paul alludes to problematic association in 1 Corinthians 15:33, and that probably influenced their doubts. However, if we stop and think about it, these Christians had the hope of everlasting life in heaven with God, Christ, the angels, and others with the same hope. So how did these Christians begin to doubt the resurrection of Christ, and by extension, their own hope of resurrection to an immortal and incorruptible plane of existence?

One issue that Paul addresses is, what sort of body will the resurrected ones have? He uses an agricultural analogy to show the reasonableness of believing that God can provide a suitable resurrection body, even though our current bodies decay or decompose. Paul also points to heavenly bodies like the sun, moon and stars in order to demonstrate that just as physical bodies exist, it's not out of the realm of possibility for a spiritual body to exist. He appeals to the resurrection of Christ as the paradigm for others; if God raised Christ, then surely he can raise others from the dead.

Regardless of what ultimately caused the Corinthians to question the resurrection, including their own prospective resurrection, it serves as a warning about how subtle Satan can be, causing even the chosen ones to doubt their well-founded hope that is fulfilled by the God who raises the dead.