Thursday,
July 22 –
It is
Thursday in our weekly reading, and as we continue in 1 Corinthians, we come to
one of the most significant chapters in the New Testament. We are going to slow
down that we might read 1 Corinthians 15 slowly to understand the importance of
the Resurrection for both the doctrinal truth and the practical beliefs that
follow. Today, we’ll read 1 Corinthians 15:1-19. After you finish the reading,
please come back that we might walk through it together.
Once again, Paul begins with the words, “Now, I would remind you...”, a
sure indication that he is trying to straighten out some more confusion. This
confusion was about doctrine concerning questions about the Resurrection. We
have to get to verse 12 to discover what the confusion was based on – “Now
if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that
there is no resurrection of the dead?” (15:12). Whoever these “some” were
is not named, but the issue was clear – they doubted the reality and doctrine
of the Resurrection. The problem was probably due to the attempts to syncretize
Greek philosophy (Plato) with Christianity. Plato believed in the immortality
of the soul, but not the body. In all likelihood, some of the new Greek
Christians had struggled to believe in both the resurrection of the soul and
the body. The importance of this issue cannot be understated.
The
highway north from Corinth led to Athens. Paul had visited Athens and had an
encounter with the Athenian philosophers. He was invited to share his ideas in
the public square. He made a clear statement that they largely dismissed: “‘In
the past, God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people
everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with
justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by
raising Him from the dead.’ When they heard about the resurrection of the dead,
some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear from you again on this
subject” (Acts 17:30-32). Greek philosophy was both ignorant of the
resurrection and pre-disposed to reject the resurrection of the dead. If you
think about it, the resurrection is the most widely criticized doctrine of
Christianity. So, how important is it?
Paul
makes the resurrection very clearly the central issue of the Gospel -
“Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to
you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel,
you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you
have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first
importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he
was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures”,
(15:1-4).
The
Gospel is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When it is “received”
(vs. 1), it is the means by which a person is “saved.” To believe anything else
is to believe “in vain.” Christ died...he was buried...he was raised from the
dead on the third day...and the witnesses to the resurrection are not just a
few, but many – “...he appeared to Cephas (Peter), and then to the Twelve.
After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters
at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen
asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he
appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born” (15:5-8).
Luke
had written this previously in the beginning of his second edition - the Book
of Acts, “After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many
convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty
days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). If the testimony of
Jesus’ resurrection would have been on one, two, or a few sources, it could
easily be dismissed. Yet the resurrection of Jesus was to hundreds of
individuals. Last of all, Paul says, “he appeared to me also” – “to one who
was born of the Spirit when I did not deserve to be included.” (my
Paraphrase of 15:8).
The
personal reference of Paul’s testimony of the Gospel is significant. Paul was a
“Christ people-hater.” He persecuted the church, arresting, jailing, torturing,
and even killing those who claimed to believe in Christ Jesus’ resurrection.
Yet the Lord Jesus appeared to him, and his resurrected life proved to Paul
that he had it all wrong.
“For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an
apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am
what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than
all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it
is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed” (15:9-11).
How did
Paul become transformed so quickly from being a Christ-people hater to being a
Christ-loving believer? It was the Grace of God that came to him. He did not
deserve salvation. That is what Grace is all about – a gift of God to believe
even though we don’t deserve it. After Jesus revealed himself to Paul, his life
was forever changed. Paul worked hard to make it known to everyone who would
listen that Jesus was the risen Savior.
The signs of a resurrected life in Christ are not any different than Paul’s
experience. Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead to prove it.
When we put our faith and trust in Christ alone, we become struck by how
beautiful grace is, and how humbled we are to be invited in by a sovereign God.
There
is a question I have often been asked: “How do you know for certain the
resurrection is true?” The witnesses of the resurrection are many - hundreds of
people saw Christ after His resurrection. But, the testimony of changed lives,
like Paul’s, is evident in millions. For an idea or cause, someone might be
willing to die. The early Christians were not martyred for an idea. There are
doubters, and Corinth had some of them, “But if it is preached that Christ
has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no
resurrection of the dead? (15:12). “Some” is not many, so it was a minority
who thought the resurrection made no sense. Paul doesn’t necessarily say they
doubted Jesus’ resurrection, but the idea of a bodily resurrection for all
others. Yet, the resurrection of Christ is the reason why, we, as believers in
Christ, have the hope of our own resurrection.
Paul
began to refute their objections. First, if the resurrection didn’t happen,
then Jesus himself was not raised from the dead – “If there is no
resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised...But he did not
raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised,
then Christ has not been raised either” (15:13,16). Paul told the
Colossians that Jesus Christ is “the firstborn from the dead” (Col. 1:18),
and thus links Christ’s resurrection with our own future resurrection. But, if
Christ was not raised, it’s reasonable to say neither will we be raised.
Second,
the preaching of the doctrine of the resurrection either is true or false. If
the resurrection is not true, then preaching that it is the truth is nothing
more than a lie – “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is
useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false
witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from
the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised”
(15:14-15). There are false religions all over the world based on fantasy
and myths (Mormonism and Jehovah Witnesses, among them). The word “useless”
comes from a word that means “empty – nothing.” If Jesus was not resurrected,
the rest of the story about him is useless, empty of purpose and power.
Third,
Paul adds that apart from the resurrection, our own faith in Christ is useless,
empty, in vain – “if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless
and so is your faith” (15:14). Two other things follow that line of
reasoning, and Paul adds them in to heighten the significance of the
resurrection – “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are
still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost”
(15:17-18). What is the significance of the resurrection? Without it, there
is no redemption; there is no salvation; there is no forgiveness of sins. Sin
is not atoned for because Christ’s death was not overcome, and therefore we
still are in our Sin, cut off from God, and facing his judgment and wrath for
our Sin. Without the resurrection, all who have died are “lost,” perished. If
Christ was not raised, neither will we, and death will be an end of all life,
including the possibility of eternal life. If that is true, Paul says we are
the most “pitied” people who have ever lived.
Do
people today deny the resurrection? Most certainly. Some even write books that
end up in Christian sections of book stores. Carefully disguised as religious
scholarship, they make it clear that the belief in the resurrection is based on
fantasy, delusion. They claim that the resurrection is a hoax, the invention of
first-century believers whose hopes were dashed in Christ’s death on the cross.
Yet it is on the fact, not the wish of the resurrection that the early church
believers came to faith in Christ.
The
famous Biblical Scholar, Leon Morris writes of the some who disbelieved in
Corinth: “Paul sees this attitude to Jesus as pitiable and pathetic: if
there is no such thing as resurrection, much of Jesus’ teaching falls to the
ground and he is revealed to be a liar. Yet the Corinthian Christians had set
their hope on Christ as Lord of life, death, and eternity. If he was not raised
from the dead, he is not Lord of anything. If life here on this earth is all
there is, it makes no sense to base our hope on the groundless promises of one
who made empty assertions about eternity. If the Christian faith is thus based
on an empty gospel and a fraudulent savior, ‘anybody is better off than the
Christian.’” [1]
Without
the doctrine of the resurrection, the message of the Gospel is emptied of
power. If Christ was not raised, we are not saved, and we will also not be
raised from the dead. The Gospel is that Jesu Christ died for our Sin, was
buried, and on the third day was raised from the dead. He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of the Father, and from there will someday come
again to judge the living and the dead. On this, we take our stand!
Peace
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