What About the Verse That Says “Unless You Believed in Vain” ?
It is actually impossible to believe Christ in vain, and this question overall generally arises because of a common misinterpretation of verses 1 and 2 of 1Cor 15:
1Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; 2By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. 3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 1Cor 15:1-4
The key to understanding this issue is actually found a few Scriptures later in verses 12-14:
12Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 1Cor 15:12-14
Believing in vain actually refers to a hypothetical situation: if Christ had not risen then our faith would be in vain, (and of course we know that Christ has risen). The context of believing in vain is only in reference to if Jesus had not risen from the dead and then yes, all who believe in Him would be wasting their time. They would be believing in vain because the Gospel would not be true. But thank God Jesus has risen and so the Gospel is true!
The underlying Greek word for "in vain" refers to something that is empty or that is done without cause or reason. The promise of salvation would be empty and so there would not be any justifiable cause or reason to believe the Gospel if Christ had not risen. Further, "in vain" can also refer to meaning “without success” or “to no avail”, without any benefit. And belief in the Gospel would certainly be to no avail if Christ had not risen from the dead. It is also important to note that the underlying Greek makes no mention of anything in connection with "intensity" of belief, sin, repentance of sin or any kind of performance-related issue that might be absent. So no, from both the context and the underlying Greek, we see that believing in vain does not mean failing to believe hard enough, and It does not mean failing to produce good works or failing to stay clean enough through repentance of sin.
In fact, there's actually no such thing as degrees of saving faith. Saving faith is either “on or off” just like a light switch. There are no fine gradations of intensity like a dimmer switch. So there is no such thing as believing harder or lesser when it comes to trusting Christ. Either you trust Him or you don't. There is no in-between. So the question, "Did I believe hard enough?" is invalid from the very start.
The bottom line is it IMPOSSIBLE to believe Jesus Christ in vain (meaning truly believing, trusting and relying on Him for salvation to no avail, with no results and with no benefit). Faith in Christ always produces eternal life, an enormous benefit, and so that is hardly believing in vain.
ChristiansFree.com
It is actually impossible to believe Christ in vain, and this question overall generally arises because of a common misinterpretation of verses 1 and 2 of 1Cor 15:
1Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; 2By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. 3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 1Cor 15:1-4
The key to understanding this issue is actually found a few Scriptures later in verses 12-14:
12Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 1Cor 15:12-14
Believing in vain actually refers to a hypothetical situation: if Christ had not risen then our faith would be in vain, (and of course we know that Christ has risen). The context of believing in vain is only in reference to if Jesus had not risen from the dead and then yes, all who believe in Him would be wasting their time. They would be believing in vain because the Gospel would not be true. But thank God Jesus has risen and so the Gospel is true!
The underlying Greek word for "in vain" refers to something that is empty or that is done without cause or reason. The promise of salvation would be empty and so there would not be any justifiable cause or reason to believe the Gospel if Christ had not risen. Further, "in vain" can also refer to meaning “without success” or “to no avail”, without any benefit. And belief in the Gospel would certainly be to no avail if Christ had not risen from the dead. It is also important to note that the underlying Greek makes no mention of anything in connection with "intensity" of belief, sin, repentance of sin or any kind of performance-related issue that might be absent. So no, from both the context and the underlying Greek, we see that believing in vain does not mean failing to believe hard enough, and It does not mean failing to produce good works or failing to stay clean enough through repentance of sin.
In fact, there's actually no such thing as degrees of saving faith. Saving faith is either “on or off” just like a light switch. There are no fine gradations of intensity like a dimmer switch. So there is no such thing as believing harder or lesser when it comes to trusting Christ. Either you trust Him or you don't. There is no in-between. So the question, "Did I believe hard enough?" is invalid from the very start.
The bottom line is it IMPOSSIBLE to believe Jesus Christ in vain (meaning truly believing, trusting and relying on Him for salvation to no avail, with no results and with no benefit). Faith in Christ always produces eternal life, an enormous benefit, and so that is hardly believing in vain.
ChristiansFree.com