[Transcript]
The opening line of chapter fifteen echoes chapter two, when Paul said he decided to know nothing among them except Christ crucified. Here we get a glimpse of that preaching, the simple Gospel that he proclaimed.
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” – 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
After covering so many matters in this letter, Paul returned to the central message that gives every local church its rallying cry. This is the central theme of the gathered church. Our preaching should center on this. Our worship should center on this. Our good works in the community should center on this. There is nothing a local church does that shouldn’t have the Gospel as its central, defining purpose.
In Accordance with Scripture
One of the interesting points Paul makes in this passage is that Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection were in accordance with the Scriptures. It’s not surprising that Paul rooted his Gospel teachings in the Scriptures, but the question arises: which Scriptures? At the time, the New Testament as we know it didn’t exist. When Paul referred to the Scriptures, he was almost always referring to the Old Testament.
This highlights an important point. Christians should know both the Old and New Testaments. Since the authors of the New Testament drew their knowledge and understanding of Christ from the Holy Spirit’s illumination of the Old Testament, why do today’s Christians shortchange themselves by neglecting it? As well as we teach the New, we should be able to teach the Old. Of course, we understand the Old Testament through the incarnation, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, which Old Testament passages did Paul have in mind? Here are a few possibilities.
- Psalm 16:8-11
- Psalm 22
- Psalm 110:1
- Isaiah 53:1-12
- Hosea 6:2
I have been convicted for a long time that I need to be a better student of the Old Testament. It’s not that I don’t read it, but I’ve not done many deep dives in it, compared to how I have the New Testament. I’ve read some books over the last several years that have compelled me to do the work to connect the dots. Since I began doing that, I have no regrets about the extra time and commitment that it takes. Knowing the Old Testament simply enriches your experience of reading the New. You’ll have all sorts of dot-connecting moments as you read the Gospels and the letters, even Revelation! We have to remember that it is ONE narrative telling ONE story about how the Lord is gathering to Himself a family that He will spend eternity with, FACE TO FACE!
These verses aren’t alone. While the exact number isn’t universally agreed upon, there are over three hundred Old Testament verses that can be directly tied to Jesus Christ. So, when Paul said, “in accordance with the Scriptures,” he referred to a host of Old Testament passages that gave credence to the testimony of Jesus.
There Were Witnesses
“Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.” – 1 Corinthians 15:6
Witnesses lend credibility to claims. If you were accused of a crime you did not commit, having one or more witnesses who can confirm you were elsewhere at the time and place of the crime would be beneficial. It’s your alibi. While resurrection is not a crime, it is a claim that demands witnesses to be believed. Paul listed witnesses, including a time when over five hundred people witnessed the resurrected Christ. This is the only mention of the five hundred witnesses in all of the New Testament, so we cannot know precisely when and where this happened, but at the time of this letter’s writing, many of them were still alive.
One reason the faith spread so quickly was the presence of living witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection, not only among his inner circle of disciples but also among hundreds more. Today, we continue to be witnesses for Christ, but how can we do so when we have never seen the risen Christ? This is why the Holy Spirit is given to us. We’re not offering a plausible argument. It’s not merely a historically verified Jesus that we share. We testify that Jesus is alive through His Word and the presence of His power in our lives. This is not the same as what some do by chasing signs and wonders. When Christ is present in your life, the power will be evident, not something that must be sought.
I’ve thought long and hard about how to teach this concept. The last thing I want is to be lumped in with the signs and wonders crowd. But I cannot escape what the Bible tells us will accompany those who follow Jesus. Power. Not power for our selfish pursuits, or power on demand to do whatever we think is good in the moment. It’s power that shows up when I walk with the Lord and keep in step with the Holy Spirit. It’s power that isn’t something I summon, but that simply happens because I’m obedient. I can tell one time when I prayed for someone to be healed, and they were. I didn’t summon power in that moment, or command the sickness to depart, or anything like that. I just felt led the Spirit nudge me to pray from James 5 as I asked for the person to be healed. It wasn’t something that happened in that moment either. It was something that was realized over the next short while that healing did happen. I’ve been on the platform leading worship, and something comes to mind that I feel urged to say, and I said it. Later, I find out that it was a prophetic word for someone in the church about something very specific that helped them make the right decision.
That’s power. So far my shadow hasn’t healed anyone – nor do I ever expect it to – but the Lord faithfully shows up with some regularity and uses me for His purposes in ways that I can’t take credit for. That’s the witness of the LIVING Christ at work in my life, not even counting the countless ways that He has simply done deep works on me over the course of my new life.
A faithful witness for Jesus doesn’t need to seek power encounters. That’s what Simon the Magician sought in Acts 8, and he received a stern rebuke. When we walk with the Lord, faithfully befriending Him by reading the Word and following the Holy Spirit’s leadership, power will simply happen. Our witness will show clearly that Jesus lives because it is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.
I Am What I Am
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” – 1 Corinthians 15:10
Paul’s Damascus road experience of the risen Jesus was a dramatic event. He referred to himself as the least of the apostles, born out of due time. His humility toward the other apostles stemmed from his prior persecution of the church. Paul felt the reality of the murder of Stephen, which he orchestrated in Act 7. He felt deep unworthiness to be called an apostle along with Peter, James, John, and the rest.
However, he could not deny his calling. His witness to the risen Jesus arrested his heart and changed his life, and Jesus set him apart for special use. Paul likely resonated deeply with his statements to the Corinthians in chapter one, where he reminded them of their lowly beginnings. Not many of them were wise or of noble birth. None of them was a murderer. Paul’s regret is never far from the surface. But despite everything, by the Lord’s immeasurable grace, he was who he was. He took no credit and gave all glory to Jesus. The power of his witness was innately tied to who he was before Jesus called him.
That’s a fair point to make about the power of Jesus. It’s not always about who gets healed because you prayed for them or whether you have been used prophetically. Most of the power on display is simply from the witness of a changed life. Paul was a murderer of Christians, and Jesus made him an apostle who helped spread the Christian faith across the Empire. That’s power. Every true Christian has a story of transformation. I was like this, now I’m like this. I was a wretch, now I’m a saint. I was bound by sin, now I am free from those sins. The power of our witness is evidence-based. Is there evidence that Jesus Christ lives through you by the presence of the Holy Spirit? Are you being transformed?
The Gospel leaves no room for someone who remains the same. The centrality of the Gospel in a local church is evident in the presence of believers undergoing transformation. The centrality of the Gospel in a local church is evident in the manifestation of spiritual gifts in believers. Many people look at Corinth and say this is what happens when you lose focus on the Gospel. Yes, but don’t create a false dichotomy. Don’t lose sight of the Spirit’s power. The Gospel comes preloaded with Holy Spirit power that simply happens when we keep Christ in the center. The Gospel makes us all effective witnesses because that power is presently changing us and manifesting through us to build one another up in our faith.
Ongoing Discussion
“that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” – 1 Corinthians 15:4
This entire chapter focuses on the resurrection, so in his reminder about the Gospel, Paul gave particular emphasis to Jesus’ resurrection. But it’s not undue emphasis. We will learn in the next passage that if there is no resurrection of Christ, our faith is useless. That means even if Jesus lived a perfect life and died on the cross, without resurrection, it was an empty sacrifice. Rightly, the church sings so much about the cross, but we should sing even more about an empty tomb.
We can do both with gratitude, but in some places the trend is to emphasize the cross every week and the empty tomb on Easter. We become a downcast, navel-gazing lot if all we ever do is consider Christ’s death. True, our sin made Jesus’ death on the cross necessary, and that should weigh heavily on us. But He didn’t stay dead! He rose from the dead on the third day and lives forevermore! That latter reality is one of hope and promise.
The church is glad because of the resurrection and the promise of our future resurrection. Because of this hope, the church should be a joy-filled, hopeful, glad-hearted family. We’re inheriting a future we couldn’t earn and don’t deserve. It’s all because Jesus rose from the dead. Resurrection is the promise of the Gospel.
