Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on 1 Corinthians 15:19

19. If our hopes in Christ were limited to this life only, we should be, of all men, most to be pitied; namely, because, while others live unmolested, we are exposed to every trial and persecution, and, after all, are doomed to bitter disappointment in our most cherished hope; for all our hope of salvation, even of the soul (not merely of the body), hangs on the resurrection of Christ, without which His death would be of no avail to us (Ep 1:19, 20; 1Pe 1:3). The heathen are "without hope" (Ep 2:12; 1Th 4:13). We should be even worse, for we should be also without present enjoyment (1Co 4:9).