In the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he writes:
“I passed on to you was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and He was raised on the third say, just as the Scriptures said.” (1 Corinthians 15: 3-4, NLT)
“But tell me this – since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God – for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. And if there was no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of you sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if your hope in Christ is only for this life, we we are no more to be pitied than anyone in this world.
But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest for all who have died.
So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given a new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when He comes back.”
(1 Corinthians 15:12-23, NLT)