We are Hopers

I am preparing to lead a study on 1st Corinthians 15. I found a good quote on 1 Corinthian 15:19. In the context of the passage, Paul is refuting the argument of some of the Corinthians that there is no resurrection of the dead in the future. Paul points out that Christ was the first to rise from the dead. If the dead do not rise from the dead, then Christ did not rise from the dead. If there is no resurrection of Christ, we have no hope in the future or in this present life. Charles Hodge emphasizes the importance of the resurrection to Christians now living.

1 Corinthians 15:19
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Charles Hodge
The Greek is ἠλπικότες ἐσμὲν, which, as the commentators remark expresses not what we do, but what we are. We are hopers. This passage does not teach that Christians are in this life more miserable than other men. This is contrary to experience. Christians are unspeakably happier than other men. All that Paul means to say is, that if you take Christ from Christians, you take their all. He is the source not only of their future, but of their present happiness. Without him they are yet in their sins, under the curse of the law, unreconciled to God, having no hope, and without God in the world; and yet subject to all the peculiar trials incident to a Christian profession, which in the apostolic age often included the loss of all things. (Hodge, p. 323)