God’s Glory–In Resurrection
Opening Prayer
Jesus, thank You for the eternal hope that I have through Your life, death and resurrection. I am Yours.
Read 1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-11
[1] 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. [2] By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. [3] For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, [4] that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, [5] and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. [6] 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. [7] Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, [8] and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. [9] 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. [10] 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. [11] Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Is your faith grounded on the finished work of Christ?The fact that Jesus was raised from the dead is of prime importance to Paul in what he passed on to others. Unsurprisingly, the resurrection is the central theme of this chapter.Note how Paul, in verses 3b to 8, makes Jesus the subject of every verb apart from two in verse 6b. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “I find salvation not in my life story, but only in the story of Jesus Christ.” Only when we grasp who Jesus is and what he has done are we able to understand the source of our own personal salvation. This is so important that Paul makes a long list of all those hundreds of witnesses to the resurrection, especially the apostles. His authority lies in Christ’s “last-minute” appearance to him, even though he least deserved it (9). He wants the Corinthians to believe in Jesus’ resurrection because it is true, an act of God’s grace. Over Easter time we rejoice that Christ came alive from the dead. But how much does the resurrection mean to us the rest of the year?
Apply
The resurrection of Jesus has changed everything. Write out some practical things it means to you.
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Discovery is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.