Alleluia! Christ Is Risen

Today we begin a chapter that has been described as “one of the greatest sustained discussions of a topic which Paul ever wrote” (N. T. Wright). The problem was that some of the Corinthians were arguing that there was no bodily resurrection of the dead.

Paul begins by reminding them of the common ground they share and the Gospel that was originally preached to them (1). Without this bedrock, their belief is worthless (2), and he reminds them that the Gospel he preached to them was the one he received and that many who were still living could testify to these events.

That Gospel had three prongs: (1) Jesus died for our sins; (2) he was buried; and (3) he was raised to life again and was seen (3-8). These verses were probably an early creedal statement rehearsed by churches regularly to remind the believers of what they believed. The first two statements in this creed emphasize the reality of Jesus’ death, and the third, the reality of his bodily resurrection from the dead. Jesus had been a dead corpse, but he had risen from the dead and had been seen, and all these events were “according to the Scriptures” (3,4). The same God, at work throughout Israel’s history, was still at work even in the “least of the apostles” (9). Paul was incredibly aware that his only authority came from his personal encounter with the risen Lord, whose amazing grace had transformed the former persecutor of the church. As a result, he was going to expend all his effort in working for the risen Lord (9,10). No cheap grace for Paul.

Read verses 3-8 again and ask yourself the question “What do these truths mean to me?”