1 Corinthians 15:19
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty. 15 Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified against God that he raised Christ from the dead, when in reality he did not raise him, if indeed the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still in your sins. 18 Furthermore, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. 19 For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone. 20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
2 Baruch 21:13
Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch10 For Thou alone dost live immortal and past finding out, and knowest the number of mankind. 11 And if in time many have sinned, yet others not a few have been righteous. 12 Thou knowest where Thou preservest the end of those who have sinned, or the consummation of those who have been righteous. 13 For if there were this life only, which belongs to all men, nothing could be more bitter than this, 14 For of what profit is strength that turns to sickness, Or fullness of food that turns to famine, Or beauty that turns to ugliness. 15 For the nature of man is always changeable. 16 For what we were formerly now we no longer are, and what we now are we shall not afterwards remain.
Notes and References
"... Only when the reader reaches verse 12 does Paul’s stasis of fact (basic issue of the case) become clear. “Some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead” and the stasis continues through verse 19. Stasis in verses 3-19 reveals a series of hypothetical consequences in the form of a sorites (i.e., an interlocking chain of syllogisms) pushing the Corinthian position ad absurdum, ending with pathos (verse 19). (Compare Paul’s pathetical, i.e., pathos, note: “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied”, 1 Corinthians 15:9, with “For if there were this life only, which belongs to all men, nothing could be more bitter than this”, 2 Baruch 21:13) With invective and irony, Paul argues that the logical consequence of their position is that they have no gospel, faith, forgiveness, and no hope for their beloved dead, and thus no purpose in life ..."
McCant, Jerry W. Competing Pauling Eschatologies: An Exegetical Comparison of 1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Corinthians 5 (pp. 23-49) Wesleyan Theological Journal Vol. 29, No. 1, 2008