As a way to prepare for Easter, I invite you to join me on a 58 day journey through the 58 verses of 1 Corinthians 15 in Greek. Below is a link to the video. Click here for the previous video on 1 Cor 15:14 and click here for the next video on 1 Cor 15:16.

1 Corinthians 15:15 Video

Below is a link to a PDF version of the PowerPoint used in the above video.

1 Corinthians 15:15 (PDF)

1 Corinthians 15:15

15 εὑρισκόμεθα δὲ καὶ ψευδομάρτυρες τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅτι ἐμαρτυρήσαμεν κατὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ὅτι ἤγειρεν τὸν Χριστόν, ὃν οὐκ ἤγειρεν εἴπερ ἄρα νεκροὶ οὐκ ἐγείρονται.

15 And we are even found (to be) false witnesses of God, for we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised.

εὑρισκόμεθα – subj. and main verb [pres-pass-ind-1-p-ευρίσκω]. In the active voice, this verb often takes a double accusative (e.g., “they found something/one [us] to be something/one [false witnesses]”). When verbs that take double accusatives in the active voice occur in the passive, they take a double nominative of sorts. If this phrase were active, it would be something like, “They find us (to be) false witnesses.” What would have been the first accusative (object) in the active voice (us) now becomes the subject (nom.) in the passive form (we), and what would have been the second accusative (complement) in the active voice (false witnesses) now becomes a nominative after the verbal idea (are found) with “to be” still intact (even though it is elided/implied). Moreover, the infinitive “to be” links or equates these two things as such: “we (are) false witnesses.” Thus, they would both be nominative, one the subj. and the other a pred. nom. I call this usage the “double nominative of subject-complement with a passive double accusative of object-complement (type) verb.” Wallace does not mention this grammatical feature, but he does talk about double accusative constructions [W182-89].

Here are some English examples:

1. We make him (to be) king. [act.] = He is made (to be) king by us. [pass.].
2. I appointed you (to be) a prophet. [act.] = You are appointed (to be) a prophet by me. [pass.]
3. They find us (to be) false witnesses. [act.] = We are found (to be) false witnesses {by them} (1 Cor 15:15). [pass.]

δὲ – connective conj. [W671].

καὶ – ascensive (“even”) conj. [W670-71].

ψευδομάρτυρες – see explanation above for why this is in the nom. case: it is the second nom. of a would be second acc. (complement) in a passive form of a double acc. of object-complement verb.

τοῦ θεοῦ, – obj. gen. “_____ testified falsely against God.” [W116-19].

ὅτι – causal conj. [W674].

ἐμαρτυρήσαμεν – subj. and verb of causal sub. clause [aor-act-ind-1-p-μαρτυρέω].

κατὰ τοῦ θεοῦ – prep. phrase. Usually gets translated “about God,” but that is not a lexical option. There is a forensic sense of testifying “against” someone in court.

ὅτι – content conj. marking ind. disc. after this verb of speaking/communication [W678].

ἤγειρεν – subj. and verb of ind. disc. [aor-act-ind-3-s-εγείρω].

τὸν Χριστόν, – acc. dir. obj.

ὃν – marks a rel. clause. Acc. dir. obj. of the rel. clause. Antecedent is τὸν Χριστόν, which is why it agrees with it in gender and number. It agrees in case not because it has to, but because τὸν Χριστόν is the acc. dir. obj. of the previous phrase and ὃν just so happens to be the acc. dir. obj. of this phrase. Syntactically, they are both acc. dir. obj. of their respective clauses.

οὐκ – neg. adv.

ἤγειρεν – subj. and verb of rel. clause [aor-act-ind-3-s-εγείρω].

εἴπερ ἄρα – cond. conj. + inferential particle. BDAG (6.a.α.) notes that εἰ + ἄρα or εἴπερ + ἄρα expresses possibility and should be translated as “if, indeed; if, in fact; whether (perhaps).” Marks a cond. clause.

νεκροὶ – nom. subj. of cond. clause. Anarthrous, substantival, adjective. It is anarthrous probably because it is a generic noun in a gnomic sentence [W253-54].

οὐκ – neg. adv.

ἐγείρονται. – verb of cond. clause [pres-pass-ind-3-p-εγείρω]. Gnomic present [W523-25].