Who did Christ die for?
The bible says He was the propitiation for the whole world {1Jn_2:2}, that He was the ransom for all {1Ti_2:6}, that He tasted death for every man {Heb_2:9}, that He died for the ungodly {Rom_5:6}, for sinners {Rom_5:8}.
Joh 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
His death saved no one, we are saved because of our faith the living Christ. Paul made that clear, the resurrection is not just an inconsequential act.
1Co 15:14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
It was the resurrected Christ that empowered the disciples, not His death on a cross. Are we to preach the cross? YES! But we are not to stop there, it is only half the Gospel. Without the cross we have no resurrection, without the resurrection the cross has no meaning. We only have the story of a Jewish prophet that Rome put to death.
At the cross Jesus paid our sin debt, through His resurrection He overcame death. We can not overlook one without diminishing the other.
Rom 4:25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.
The Gospel message is to important to only present half of it.
1Co 15:3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
We need the risen Christ or we have no gospel
1Co 15:4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
Without the risen Christ there would be no Christian church nor Body of believers to withstand the assault of this ungodly world. The resurrection is vital to our understandings and purpose as saints. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the evidence that Christ defeated death. It is the proclamation of Christ's triumph.