1 Corinthians 15:1-2
This
chapter is the most extensive treatment of resurrection in the Bible. Both the
resurrection of Jesus Christ as recorded in the gospels and the resurrection of
believers as promised in the gospels are here explained.
Beginning
in verses 1-11, we begin his teachings about the resurrection of believers,
Paul reviewed the evidences for Jesus’ resurrection: (1) the church, v.1-2; (2)
the Scriptures, v.3-4; (3) the eyewitnesses, v.5-7; (4) the apostle himself,
v.8-10; and (5) the common message, v.11.
Counsel concerning the Resurrection
Some have suggested that Paul reserved this
chapter on the Resurrection till last because he thought that a firm belief in
it would help solve many of the Corinthians’ problems. Certainly if the message
of Christ crucified were foolishness to the Greek mind (1Co_1:23), the corollary doctrine of the
Resurrection was no less so (cf. Act_17:31-32).
The implicit denial of the Resurrection on the part of some may be seen in the
Corinthian conviction that the present era represented the consummation of
God’s material blessings (1Co_4:8; cf. 1Co_6:2) and sexual immorality was a matter of
no lasting consequence (1Co_5:1; cf. 1Co_6:9, 1Co_6:13-14).
Like the problems previously discussed
(1:10-6:20), the denial of the Resurrection by some in the church was a matter
apparently reported to Paul (1Co_15:12)
and not something the Corinthians themselves had included among their questions
in their letter to him (cf. 1Co_7:25; 1Co_8:1; 1Co_12:1;
1Co_16:1, 1Co_16:12).
As in his response to the Thessalonians confusion on the Resurrection (1Th_4:13-18), Paul began with a fundamental
affirmation of the faith (cf. 1Co_15:3-4;
1Th_4:14) and expanded on it.
The Certainty Of Bodily Resurrection (1Co_15:1-34)
Historical argument
The gospel Paul had preached in Corinth (1Co_2:1-2) had not changed; but he feared that
just as there had been declension in the church concerning the message of
Christ crucified and its implication for believers, the same was happening with
regard to the message of Christ resurrected. As the former message was an
essential element in the Corinthians’ experience of ongoing salvation (the
pres. tense of the verb saved focuses on sanctification), so was the
latter.
Paul had not only preached the good news of the gospel to them, but had even
started this church here at Corinth. Paul is also saying, that he has taught
them what they know about the Lord. It appears that Paul feels that he is the
founder of the church and its doctrine. It is as if he is saying, you have a
church here, because I brought you the message of God and you accepted it. To reject bodily resurrection eviscerated “the
gospel” and made faith vain (eikē,
“without cause” or “without success”; cf. 1Co_15:14,
1Co_15:17) because it had an unworthy
object (cf. 1Co_15:13, 1Co_15:17). We must remember that the
Corinthians had written Paul a letter about the problems going on in their
church. Paul is reminding them, here, of the simple message of salvation that
he had brought to them. Notice in the above verse Paul says, are saved, in the
present tense. He says, was you just caught up in the emotions of the moment
and went through the procedure without truly believing? Did you believe, or did
you not believe? To go through the formality of being saved without truly a
change in your heart, would be in vain. Believing the gospel includes holding firmly
to belief in Christ’s resurrection. Unless one holds firmly, his belief is “in
vain”; cf. Mat_13:18-22).
1 Corinthians 15:3-5
Paul included himself in the company of all
believers when he spoke of receiving the truth of Christ’s death and His
resurrection on behalf of sinful people. These verses, the heart of the gospel,
were an early Christian confession which Paul described as of first
importance. I Peter 2:24
"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we, being
dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were
healed."
Jesus,
actually, was our substitute. It was our sin that crucified Him. In the
sacrifice of the animal in the tabernacle, the sinner placed his hands on the
animal's head and symbolically placed his sins on the animal. That is what
Jesus did for us. He took our sin on His body. Our sin died on the cross. All
of the sacrifices in the tabernacle, and later in the temple, actually
symbolize the crucifixion of Jesus for our sin.
Paul
was merely stating that the true Gospel is what he had delivered to the
Corinthians.
It was really a twofold confession: Christ
died for our sins and He was raised. The reality of this was
verified by the Scriptures (e.g., Psa_16:10;
Isa_53:8-10) and by historical evidence
verified by time in the grave and out of it, in the presence of the living.
Luke 24:46 "And said unto
them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise
from the dead the third day:"
The
hope of the Christian is the hope of the resurrection. In another book
{Leviticus}, we go into great detail why it was important for Jesus to be
crucified on Passover, to fulfill the feast of unleavened bread, and that it
was terribly important for Him to fulfill firstfruits, on the third day
thereafter.
1
Corinthians 15:20 "But now is Christ risen from the dead, [and] become the
firstfruits of them that slept." He not only fulfilled firstfruits by
rising from the dead on the third day, but is, in fact, the first of the
firstfruits Himself.
The fact that He was buried verified His
death, and the fact that He appeared to others verified His
resurrection. Peter, the first male witness, was soon joined by the
remaining disciples who composed the Lord’s immediate circle. Before we get to the account of the
others that Jesus appeared to, we must look at who Jesus appeared to first.
John
20:15-16 "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest
thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener saith unto him, Sir, if thou have
borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him
away." "Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith
unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master."
Mark
16:9 "Now when [Jesus] was risen early the first [day] of the week, he
appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils."
We see the two witnesses here that tell of Mary seeing Jesus first. Why this is
omitted by Paul, I cannot say. Since there was such an extensive list of the
others, I thought we should tell of this, also.
Peter
and Cephas are the same person. Peter and John went to the tomb together. We
know, also, that Jesus appeared to Peter and the others, and served them fish
on the seaside.
1 Corinthians 15:6
Later a much larger company of believers
witnessed His resurrection. The 500… brothers may have formed the
audience who received the commission recorded in Mat_28:18-20
(cf. Act_1:3-8). Since most of
those were still living when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, they could be
consulted. We know that the
Lord Jesus ministered on the earth 40 days and nights after He rose from the
tomb. He was establishing the church. We, also, know that ten days after Jesus
ascended into heaven, there were 120 disciples waiting in the upper room for
the Holy Spirit to come upon them.
Acts
1:15 "And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and
said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)"
The
figure of 500, here, is probably a very low estimate, considering these things.
Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians approximately 20 to 25 years after
the resurrection, so it would have been likely that many of these same people
were still alive at this time. The specific number of 500 people is not
mentioned, but was probably on the mountain where Jesus ministered.
The
testimony of eyewitnesses, recorded in the New Testament, was added to support
the reality of the resurrection. These included: (1) John and Peter together;
(2) the 12; (3) The 500; only referred to here, had all seen the risen Christ;
(4) James, either one of the two so named apostles (son of Zebedee or son of
Alphaeus; or even James the half brother of the Lord, the author of the epistle
by that name and the key leader in the Jerusalem church; and (5) the apostles.
Such
unspecified appearances occurred over a 40 day period (Acts 1:3) to all the Apostles.
1 Corinthians 15:7-8
Some have debunked this Resurrection appearance
as simply the pious vision of believers seeing with the eyes of faith. But Paul
could have cited the testimony of two for whom that was not true of, James,
the half brother of Jesus, and himself. Like Paul, James probably came to faith
(cf. Joh_7:5 with Act_1:14) because of an appearance of the
resurrected Christ (Act_9:3-6; Act_22:6-11). This is the same James that was the head of the church at
Jerusalem, and I believe, is the same who wrote the book of James. Paul
considered himself abnormally born because he lacked the “gestation”
period of having been with Christ during His earthly ministry (cf. Act_1:21-22). Paul really had not seen the face of Jesus, but had seen
the bright light. Jesus spoke to Paul from this Light. Paul had been like
James, he had not believed Jesus to be Messiah, until Jesus appeared to him in
this great Light. The statement {born out of due time}, just means that Paul
did not believe, until after Jesus rose from the tomb.
Christ
revealed Himself to Paul and, according to divine purpose, Paul was made an
apostle. He was “last of all” the apostles, and felt himself to be the least.
It seems that the apostles were a body
wider than the previously mentioned Twelve (cf. comments on Eph_4:11), but were all distinguished by having
seen the resurrected Christ (1Co_9:1)
which made Paul the last of their company.
1 Corinthians 15:9
Because he was the last, like a runt, untimely
born, Paul could call himself the least of the apostles. He felt less
deserving of the office because he had been an opponent of the church
(cf. Act_22:4; 1Ti_1:15-16) which he now served (2Co_4:5). The
word "apostle" is not speaking of the 12, but of all who are
ambassadors of the gospel. The word "apostle" means ambassador of the
gospel, commissioner of Christ, and he that is sent. Paul was actually present
at the stoning of Stephen. He was on his way to capture and imprison the
Christians, when he first encountered Jesus Christ in the great Light. Paul
regretted this, after he became a Christian. He was like so many of us who
regret our behavior, before we came to Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:10
He realized, however, that his past was simply a
backdrop on which to display the grace of God (cf. 1Co_1:3), the grace to which Paul had been so
responsive. It is the grace
of God that makes each of us better than we ever could have been in the flesh.
"Grace" is unmerited favor. We can see probably why Paul worked so
hard in the Lord's work in the next Scripture.
Luke
7:47 "Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven;
for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, [the same] loveth
little."
Paul
worked very hard to make up for the errors he had made earlier. He knows that,
except for the grace of God, he never would have understood. Paul not only
worked hard, but suffered much for the work the Lord Jesus had given him.
In
terms of years and extent of ministry, he exceeded all those named in verses
5-7. John outlived him but did not have the extensive ministry of Paul.
Ephesians
3:7-8 "Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace
of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power." "Unto
me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I
should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;"
Indeed Paul was without peer in his devotion (cf.
1Co_9:19-27). The history of the church
confirms that his devotion was not without effect (kenē, “empty”; cf. 1Co_15:14).
He had worked harder than any of the other apostles, as he traveled
more, suffered more opposition, wrote more New Testament epistles, and founded
more churches. Yet Paul knew and ministered with the recognition that it was
not his power but God’s (1Co_2:4-5)
which produced results (1Co_3:6).
1 Corinthians 15:11
In the final analysis it was not the messenger
but the message which was important (cf. 1:18-4:5), and in that regard the
apostolic message was that the crucified Christ became the resurrected Christ,
which message Paul did preach and the Corinthians believed.
Paul is saying, in this, that the
message is the same regardless of which apostle brings the message. Paul has
just finished naming Peter and many of the other apostles who are preaching. It
really does not matter, who brings the message. The important thing was that
they believed and were saved. One of the problems at this time was there were
no real guidelines set for the apostles to use.
1 Corinthians 15:12
Logical argument
Paul then turned to consider the claim of some
that no one dead could experience bodily resurrection. This had been argued by the Jews, even
before the resurrection of Jesus. It seems that many of the teachings of the
Jewish schools were still being believed by many of the converts to Christianity.
Paul is saying, if they accepted Jesus as their Savior, part of the belief was
that he rose from the dead.
The
Corinthian Christians believed in Christ’s resurrection, or else they could not
have been Christians. But some had particular difficulty accepting and
understanding the resurrection of believers. Some of this confusion was a
result of their experiences with pagan philosophies and religions.
A
basic tenet of much of ancient Greek philosophy was dualism, which taught that
everything physical was intrinsically evil; so the idea of a resurrected body
was repulsive and disgusting. In addition, perhaps some Jews in the Corinthian
church formerly may have been influenced by the Sadducees, who did not believe
in the resurrection even though it is taught in the Old Testament.
On
the other hand, New Testament teaching in the words of our Lord Himself was
extensive on the resurrection and it was the theme of the apostolic preaching.
In spite of the clarity, the church at Corinth was in doubt about the
resurrection.
He pressed
that tenet to its logical consequences within the framework of the Christian
faith.
1 Corinthians 15:13
To deny a bodily resurrection in principle was to
deny the resurrection of Christ. Presumably some in Corinth had
done this, and Paul wanted to warn them and others of the serious consequences
which would result from such disbelief. If
Christ is not risen, then the basis for the Christian belief would be gone. The
two resurrections, Christ’s and the believer’s, stand or fall together; if
there is no resurrection, then Christ is dead.
Jesus
defeated Satan and sin on the cross, and defeated death when He rose from the
grave.
In verses 13-19, Paul gives 6 disastrous
consequences if there were no resurrection. (1) Preaching Christ would be senseless, v.14; (2) Faith in
Christ would be useless, v.14; (3) All the witnesses and preachers of the
resurrection would be liars, v.15; (4) No one would be redeemed from sin, v.17;
(5) All former believers would have perished, v.18; (6) Christians would be the
most pitiable people on earth, v.19.
1 Corinthians 15:14
Not the least of those consequences was the fact
that a denial of the Resurrection tore the heart out of the gospel message and
left it lifeless. If that were so, the Corinthians’ faith, however
vital, would be useless (kenē, “empty”; cf. 1Co_15:2,
1Co_15:10, 1Co_15:17)
since its object would be a dead man. If
there is no life after physical death, why bother? If Christ did not rise, then
there is no Spirit of the risen Christ. The sad thing in all of these problems
they were bringing up is, that they did not believe the good news of the Lord
Jesus Christ, but the old news of the Jewish traditions. I see this in all of
the problems, not just the doubt about the resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:15-16
Second, the apostles of the church would turn out
to be crass charlatans since their message uniformly affirmed the truth of
Christ’s resurrection (cf. 1Co_15:11). One of the fundamental teachings of
Christianity is, the third day he arose. As I said above, this is some
leftovers from their Jewish teaching. Paul is saying, here, that if this one
thing is not true, then they are all lost, because they have believed a lie.
The assurance that Jesus was God was the fact that He rose from the tomb. We
serve a risen Savior. This is almost identical to verse 13. One of the things
that set the Christian apart from the world is that the Christian has hope of
the resurrection. We know that because he rose, we shall rise, also.
1 Corinthians 15:17-18
Third, the Corinthians’ salvation would be only a
state of mind with no correspondence to reality. Their faith would be futile
(mataia, “without results”; cf. kenē, “empty,” in 1Co_15:10,
1Co_15:14, eikē, “without cause” or “without success,” 1Co_15:2).
Simply put, if Christ had not risen as has been written, then no one is saved
and will have to pay their own sin debt which is eternal death.
Just
as Moses redeemed the children of Israel out of Egypt {type of world} and took
them to their promised land, Jesus will redeem us from this earth and take us
to our promised land {heaven}. The Lord is going to redeem those who are
looking for Him. It is a dangerous thing to doubt the resurrection.
I
Thessalonians 4:14 "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even
so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."
We
will continue on with the promises in I Thessalonians 4:16-17 " For the
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise
first:" "Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we
ever be with the Lord."
Jesus is our
resurrection, our hope and our life.
The Resurrection was God’s
validation that the redemption paid by Christ on the cross was accepted (Rom_4:25). Without the Resurrection there could
be no certainty of atonement and the Corinthians would remain in a state of
alienation and sin. Fourth, if Christ were not raised, the loved ones
among the Corinthian believers who had died entered not bliss but perdition.
The pagan concept of a liberated spirit was a lie. Without the Resurrection the
sting of death would remain, with lasting painfulness (cf. 1Co_15:54-56).
1 Corinthians 15:19
Fifth, if there were no Resurrection, the pagans
would be right. The “foolishness of the Cross” (1Co_1:18)
would be just that, and men such as Paul and the apostles who had suffered for
the gospel (1Co_4:9-13) could only be pitied. Many religions of the world do not offer
life after death. Paul is saying here, if Christianity did not offer everlasting
life, the hardships that we face in this life would make us miserable. He even
goes so far as to say, that he would be leading the list of those who would be
miserable.
This
is because of the sacrifices made in this life in light of the hope of life to
come. If there is no life to come, we would be better “to eat, drink and be
merry” before we die.
The
last lesson dealt with the resurrection of our bodies after death on this
earth. It would be worth trusting in Christ, if it were just for this earth,
but praise God, Christ brings us everlasting life.
Those who lived for the pleasure of the moment would be right and the
sacrifices of Christians would only be cruel, self-inflicted jokes (cf. 1Co_15:32).
1 Corinthians 15:20
Theological argument
Paul had explored the logical negations which
followed from a denial of the bodily resurrection of Christ (1Co_15:12-19). He then considered the
theological tenet that the destiny of Christians was bound up in the destiny of
Christ, and he set forth the positive consequences of this union. Speculation
had given way to affirmation: Christ has indeed been raised from the dead.
And He is the firstfruits, an Old Testament word (e.g., Exo_23:16, Exo_23:19)
here used in the sense of a preliminary installment of what will be both an
example and a guarantee of more to come (cf. Rom_8:23).
The fact of the death of the
body of Jesus Christ is not argued by anyone. Paul, also, established the fact
that Jesus rose from the dead by all the witnesses who saw him after he arose.
A witness is someone who tells something that they have seen with their very
own eyes. Just the word "firstfruits" tell us that there was more to
come.
This
speaks of the first installment of harvest to eternal life, in which Christ’s
resurrection will precipitate and guarantee that all of the saints who have
died will be resurrected.
Slept
or fallen asleep is a common euphemism for death. This is not soul sleep, in
which the body dies and the soul, or spirit, supposedly rests in
unconsciousness.
