Free Bible Commentary
“1 Corinthians 15:1-11”
Categories: 1 Corinthians“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit 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 toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.”
---End of Scripture verses---
Paul delivered the most thorough discourse about the “general bodily resurrection” in all of the Bible in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. When Paul preached about the resurrection of Jesus just 50 miles away in the city of Athens, many of the listeners “began to sneer” (Acts 17:32). In this letter Paul was writing to brethren who had been steeped in the error of “Greek Gnosticism” for most of their lives. Among other things, this doctrine taught that there was no such thing as a bodily resurrection.
“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you…” (verse 1). The word “gospel” means “glad tiding” or “good news”. Without a resurrection would there really be any good news for a Christian to be glad about? If Christ had not defeated death for us by overthrowing and loosening the grip of the grave, we would be, of all people, the “most to be pitied” (verse 19). An essential and uplifting part of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the resurrection of our Lord after His death, which guaranteed a resurrection of all people at His return.
“For I delivered to you as of first importance…” (verse 3). The fact that Jesus died and was buried and was raised from the dead is of the utmost importance to the eternal salvation of human beings, and is the cornerstone of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord’s death, burial and resurrection all happened “according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 3:4). The brethren in Corinth could have read Old Testament passages such as Psalm 16:10, Isaiah 53:10 (and others) as evidence that the death and resurrection of Christ had been prophesied by the prophets of old.
Another important piece of evidence that Christ arose was that He was seen by literally hundreds of people after He arose from the grave. (verses 5-6). The Apostles had taught this very thing to the Corinthians and they believed them before they obeyed the Gospel (verse 11). Why in the world would they have trouble accepting a bodily resurrection when they had already been taught about it and had willingly received it as truth (verse 12)?
By the way, the concept of “obeying the Gospel” is clearly expressed in the wording of Paul’s statement in verse 3. When someone crucifies the old person of sin and buries him in the waters of baptism, and then arises out of the waters to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-6); that is just following the pattern set by the Savior, which is the crux of the Gospel.
Another “by the way” is that Jesus appeared “last of all” to the Apostle Paul (verse 8). One of the qualifications for being a chosen Apostle of the Lord is to personally see Him alive after His resurrection (Acts 1:21-22). Paul was the last Apostle chosen by the Lord to speak with His authority. There have been no true Apostles since the Apostle Paul and there will be none chosen in the future.
Please read 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 for tomorrow.
Have a blessed day!
- Louie Taylor
