1 Corinthians 15:1-27
Preached 9/3/2023
INTRODUCTION: Hold Fast To The Gospel (V1-2)
About a week ago, on August 15th, an interesting conversation took place on X (formerly Twitter). A woman named Lizzie Marbach, who at the time was the communications director for Ohio Right to Life, tweeted a simple message on her personal page. It read “There’s no hope for any of us outside of having faith in Jesus Christ alone.” It was a simple declaration of the gospel, the defining belief of Christianity through the centuries. It is the “good news” that we all are supposed to share with every person on earth. But something happened that day that gave me a great (and I think ‘God sent’) illustration for the sermon today. Not long after she had posted this simple gospel statement, a response came to her from a
“This is one of the most bigoted tweets I have ever seen. Delete it, Lizzie.
Religious freedom in the
Though we may be initially shocked at such a statement, we really should not be surprised. We live in an age where making any exclusive claim to know the definitive truth about anything is considered a terrible thing by many who believe that they are people of good will. In their minds, most of the fighting, wars, and evil in this world are due to having, or at least expressing, any opinion that is controversial in any way. Probably the most well known articulation of this point of view is expressed in the John Lennon song Imagine, which proposes a world where everybody gets along and "lives as one". It paints a pretty picture, and the formula given to achieve this peaceful unity is pretty simple: Just get rid of heaven. Just get rid of countries. Simple, right? But how does one get rid of heaven? How does one achieve such a feat? The answer is multifaceted but not very complicated. It takes making a just few assumptions to embrace this solution:
- First, just decide is that truth is not really that important. Or that it is unknowable, and therefore not relevant to anything. If you talk about truth you cannot go beyond the bounds of your own existence. It is just fine to have “your own truth”, and in fact people are encouraged to find their own truth. But never, in any circumstances, can you propose any truth as applying to everybody. No! In fact, today in modern universities even basic math is considered subject to this rule. You believe that 2+2=4? If so, you might be a racist. No, I am not joking. But even greater absurdities are now accepted by so-called educated people.
- Second, decide that the ultimate moral rule in the universe is absence of conflict between people. We see this expressed by the person who proudly exclaims “I never discuss religion or politics”, or by those who attack people with strong opinions or strong moral convictions by calling them “haters” or "arrogant” or “divisive”.
Of course this is not a rational view. One has to abandon rationality to hold it. In its modern expression all truth claims are derided in these terms - basic math and even logical argument have been labeled "white supremacy" by the modern intellectual class in our highest universities. Even potential supreme court justices have denied that it is even possible to define the term "woman". If you hold the traditional view now you will be derided as intellectually ignorant. One thing that you will not get, of course, is a logical argument on the subject. It cannot even be allowed because the more important thing is to get along.
This brings us to our text. Our days are not at all unique. It was the same two millennia ago. Did you know that it was not because the first Christians believed that Jesus was God that the
But the Christians had a message, and they were bound by the command of their Lord to preach it to the whole world. And in that mission many, many of the faithful have been hated and persecuted, sometimes losing everything in this world, including their lives. In the example already mentioned, yes, the congressman gave a not very convincing public apology, but not long after I read that the woman was fired from her position at the pro-life foundation for publicly expressing an exclusively pro-Jesus message on her private twitter account, on her own time. Too divisive, you know. I also read that the congressman’s wife served on the board of that organization. Coincidence? I’ll leave that one in the Lord’s hands. He knows his own sheep. Nonetheless Jesus warned us that we would have persecution in this life. He said that people who killed us would think that they were serving God by doing so. That doesn’t sound very tolerant, does it? But that’s how this world works.
In this environment, we are left with strong pressure to conform, to be quiet, and, most of all, keep the gospel to ourselves. Or if we can’t be quiet, we should at least drop the parts of the gospel that might make people uncomfortable, or angry. Maybe we could conform the gospel to other people’s world views? Maybe we can just decide that some parts are not so important. The question we should ask it – are we ashamed of the gospel? The apostle Paul started the book Romans with this statement: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16a). But the Corinthians had a problem – they were becoming ashamed of some important parts of the Christian message, and Paul would have to deal with it.
These believers, who had come to Christ during the years that Paul spent there, lived in a similar environment to ours. Their city was a major cosmopolitan hub and a meeting-place for many cultures. It was rich and full of that day’s “enlightened” Greek and Roman culture, just down the coast from the great city of
Another problem they had was that the idea of a physical, bodily resurrection (like Jesus’), was offensive to the prevailing philosophies of Greek thought. They saw a total separation between the physical and spiritual world and all sin and imperfection was from of your body while all goodness was in your spirit. The death and resurrection of Christ was a stumbling block. His crucifixion and death was considered too demeaning for anyone that they should respect, and coming back bodily was unthinkable if He was to be pure and holy. So the Corinthians had started to soft pedal these most fundamental pillars of Christian belief so they could live without conflict. Paul, after dealing with many other problems in their church, gets around to the fundamental issues in chapter fifteen. He starts the chapter with this reminder of his message:
I Corinthians 15:1-2 (LSB) Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which I proclaimed as good news 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 proclaimed to you as good news, unless you believed for nothing.
He reminds them that their salvation was completely due to their acceptance of the message that Paul had received from the Lord and given to them. And he gives a four points of relationship that they (and we) have with the gospel:
- It was proclaimed to them (and us) as good news. Good news is literally what the word euangelion means.
- They received it, which means that they accepted it and associated themselves with it.
- They stand in it. This means that they were publically standing in it. They lived in it. It upheld them. It establishes them. It causes them to be safe for eternity. Like the man who built his house on the bedrock in Jesus’ parable, when the storms came, the gospel would be their salvation, their hope, their strength, and their assurance. Nothing would be able to pluck them from Jesus hand, and their eternity was assured.
- They must hold fast to it. Paul uses the Greek word katechō, which means to take, to keep it from getting away, to keep secure, to hold on to and to keep firm possession of. Which is where they were falling down.
Paul says that if they don’t hold on to the gospel, then their belief was pointless. The same applies to us. Why should we not have an inferiority complex in this world with a gospel that so many find offensive? Paul give them three big reasons: First, the fundamental facts of the gospel are rooted in actual history – it really happened – and those events were necessary parts of our redemption. Second, the gospel and those events, provide us with an eternal hope. Without those events, we have literally no hope! Third, he points to the unequalled Hero of the gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God. The one who defeated every other power and even death itself, literally through the events that the Corinthians were tempted to soft-pedal to be accepted by their seemingly sophisticated culture.
So let’s get to verses three through twenty-eight, and look at the Historicity of the gospel, the Hope of the gospel, and especially the Hero of the gospel!
I The Historicity of the Gospel (V3-11)
Paul gives us the first reason to hold fast to the gospel in these nine verses: Because this gospel is connected to actual history. Anyone can make up a compelling, emotional story. Thousands of prophets and self-proclaimed gods have appeared throughout history, making amazing claims. The fact that there are so many different philosophies and religions is one of the reasons that so many people have given up on belief in any. But are there any different? Paul tells the Corinthians that the answer to that question is a resounding yes. He starts this way:
I Corinthians 15:3-4 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.
The most important part of the gospel – the absolutely main and indispensable part of all of Christianity – is a series of events that happened in a specific place, at a specific time, and with a specific Person. And these events are rooted in history in a threefold manner, which surrounded them in their past, present, and future:
- They were specifically planned and predicted in the past,
- They actually took place in space and time, and
- They were attested to after the fact by many eye-witnesses who could verify them to the Corinthians.
Do you believe that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day? Have you searched the scriptures to see that this was predicted? In his book “The God Who Is There”, Francis Schaeffer wrote:
As we get ready to tell the person God’s answer to his or her need, we must make sure that the individual understands that we are talking about real truth, and not about something vaguely religious which seems to work psychologically. We must make sure that he understands that we are talking about real guilt before God, and we are not offering him merely relief for his guilt-feelings. We must make sure that he understands that we are talking to him about history, and that the death of Jesus was not just an ideal or a symbol but a fact of space and time. If we are talking to a person who would not understand the term “space-time history” we can say: “Do you believe that Jesus died in the sense that if you had been there that day, you could have rubbed your finger on the cross and got a splinter in it?” Until he understands the importance of these three things, he is not ready to become a Christian.[1]
The wonderful thing about Christianity is that it was always proclaimed in the open, right from the start. Years later when Paul had been arrested and was brought to testify to King Agrippa he was able to make this appeal: “For the king knows about these matters … for this has not been done in a corner.” There are no secret initiations and revelations given in dark chambers to initiates whose origin we must take without confirmation. The original believers had seen the risen Christ and went out to testify, holding fast to their witness even when faced with torture or death. All they had to do was admit that they were making it up. But they testified with their own blood that Jesus had risen from the dead. It is not for nothing that the Greek noun translated “witness” is martyros, which is the word from which we get the modern English word martyr. To this day it means one who gives their life for the faith. Paul lays down the list of witnesses that were contemporary with the Corinthian believers:
I Corinthians 15:5-11 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. After that, 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 worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the
Enshrined in our Constitution is the right to cross-examine witnesses against you. The Mosaic law required facts to be verified by more than one witness (who agreed with each other under independent cross-examination) before anyone could be convicted of a crime. And in this most important message, God made sure that there were witnesses. Paul tells the Corinthians that if they are having problems with Jesus’ death, burial, and physical resurrection, they can go and talk to eyewitnesses. There could very well have been of them in the area of
Listen how Paul ties the gospel to history at the beginning of Romans (1-4): “… the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power … by the resurrection from the dead, …” Notice that Paul actually describes himself to the Corinthians as the least of the witnesses. He was “untimely born” – saved by Jesus after the resurrection and the ascension. While the other witnesses were out being martyred, Paul had been persecuting them. But God had shown him grace, and Jesus had met him on the
The other apostles made the same appeal. John starts his epistle strongly referring to the historicity of his gospel, repeating himself for emphasis over three verses: “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life-- and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us-- what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also…” (1 John 1:1-3a LSB)
Peter (here called by his Greek name Cephas) said: “For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such a declaration as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory: "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased"-- and we ourselves heard this declaration made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.”
So they (and we) should not be ashamed of the gospel because it is real. It was predicted in advance in recorded history – there exist manuscripts of all or most of these prophesies from before Jesus was born, died, was buried and then rose from the dead. When the New Testament was written there were witnesses who testified and who often paid the ultimate price for their witness. And there is an unbroken line of believers from then to now of people keeping the message pure and testifying with their lives also. We must never have an inferiority complex about the gospel!
II The Hope of the Gospel (V12-19)
The hope of the gospel is tied to these historical events. They are not just interesting or inspiring stories. Jesus was not killed to just be a martyr that people felt sorry for. His historical death and resurrection are the basis for our hope of salvation. The Corinthians had no idea what they were doing by denying physical resurrection, and Paul, in a quick succession of points, makes it very clear to them.
I Corinthians 15:12-14 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is in vain.
If you let the resurrection go, our hope collapses like a house of cards or a long line of dominoes. Denying the resurrections in general means that Jesus was not resurrected. If Jesus was not resurrected, then the gospel itself and our faith in Christ is useless. It is pointless to preach the gospel, pointless to believe in Jesus, if we deny the resurrection. Consider – it is the easiest thing in the world to claim “I am going to die in your place for your sins so you can go to heaven!” Any criminal on death row could make that his last words. And someone at the execution might decide to trust that pronouncement. But how could that faith be assured? How could the man’s claims be verified? Well, if he also said “when I finish this, I will rise again on the third day”. If he managed to pull that off, especially after being publically put to death by professional and malicious government-trained executioners and soldiers, then there would be a must surer ground for faith in the other promise, right? Remember that Jesus Himself made a similar argument with the healing of the paralyzed man. He told him that his sins were forgiven, at which the Pharisees got angry. But Jesus replied “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?” Jesus then told the paralyzed man to get up and walk. And he did! Right before healing the man Jesus told them he would do the healing “that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”. The impossible thing proves the invisible thing in both cases.
Paul finishes his thoughts in the next seven verses. He spares no argument here, leaving Christianity in a pile of ashes if there is no such thing as the resurrection of Christ:
1 Corinthians 15:13-19 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is in vain. Moreover, we are even found [to be] false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ only in this life, we are of all people most to be pitied.
What is Paul’s message to those who water down the claims of the gospel and make it a religion of just rules and happy stories? Not only are you wasting your time, but you are the most pitiful person in the world – in all of history. Being a follower of a religion that denies the death and resurrection denies the atonement. Without the atonement Christianity has nothing to offer but a sort of social club where we get together … to celebrate what? What would be the point? In this milquetoast version of Christianity, its hero is a fool, a victim, a liar, a madman. It is the hero of the movie Jesus Christ Superstar, who tells God “kill me now, before I change my mind”, and who is rebuked at the beginning and the end by Judas for making a bad plan and making his message about himself and so getting inadvertently killed instead of being a success. Is that the Christianity that you have believed in? If so, Paul calls you a loser.
But Paul does not leave them at this low, low point. Oh, no. Now he paints a wonderful picture of the true Hero of the gospel!
III The Hero of the Gospel (V20-28)
The Bible calls the gospel “the gospel of Jesus Christ” for a reason. Without Jesus there is no gospel. In actual history a man said that he had come to seek and save the lost. In accordance with prophesy he was wounded for our transgressions. He was called “the Lamb of God” for this reason. He announced at the beginning of his ministry the words we all know so well: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” and He proclaimed that “…the Son of Man came … to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matt 20:28)
Remember that anybody can claim that they will defeat death for all mankind. But if they stay dead, there is no reason to believe them. If they rise from the dead then they can convincingly announce “remember when I said ‘it is finished’ on the cross? Well, guess what. It’s true. You can be saved by faith in Me. And you can take that promise to the bank. In all history there is a great shortage of people who come back from the dead of their own accord. But Jesus defeated death, as Paul points out here:
I Corinthians 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
There can be no second until there is a first. Jesus rose to be the first, so that we can have hope of eternal life. Jesus is therefore the hero of the gospel – the Hero that we all needed. Remember the famous statement from Poor Richard’s Almanac – “there are only two sure things in life; death and taxes.” The Bible tells us something a bit different. In the family of Adam there are two sure things. As the writer of Hebrews put it:
Hebrews 9:27-28 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
All of us have a death appointment. Some have short lives, some long. But even the healthiest, most fit person ever will die. And after this is an appointment for judgment. But the judgment is far different for those who have trusted in Christ and have their sins atoned for, than for those who die still “in their sins”. Paul makes clear the difference between the family of Adam and the family of Christ, who is the firstfruits of the new resurrection, in the next verses. It describes the history, hope, and hero all in one package:
I Cor 15:21-22 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
And there is one other surety for those who trust in Christ, that He will come back for us. And all of our hope comes from that amazing resurrection. Now Paul unveils our Hero in all of his glory, as the conqueror over everything, including death itself:
I Corinthians 15:23-28 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign UNTIL HE HAS PUT ALL HIS ENEMIES UNDER HIS FEET. The last enemy to be abolished is death. For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.
III Conclusion
If we forget our Hero we have a headless and aimless religion. A ‘Christianity’ without Christ is a nothing. If every religion leads to God and gets everyone to heaven, then Jesus came for nothing. But someone who makes that claim might argue, your faith in Jesus will get you to heaven, and this other guy’s belief in the flying spaghetti monster will get him to heaven, it’s the faith that counts, then every part of the gospel is denied. If we are taught that we need the atonement of Christ to be justified before God and to be saved from an eternity of the righteous wrath of God for an eternal life of joy in the presence of God, but another religion that teaches that God can be persuaded to let you into heaven if you collect 27 cereal box tops, then what does that make Jesus? If you can get to heaven by collecting box tops, then not only was the death of Jesus pointless, but ultimately a complete waste of time.
And if someone calls themselves “Christian”, but the hero of their religion called Christianity is
- a hapless, wandering teller of stories and lessons about how to be nice to one another who got caught up in politics and killed inadvertently,
- or a mythical figure that was created by people to give us some sort of emotional inspiration,
- or even the enlightened but mysterious head of a group that can only be learned about in secret by people with special access,
rather than the sinless Son of God who laid down his life and then rose by his own authority to proclaim freedom for the captives of sin and death, then they are wasting their time in church and should just say like Paul does in verse 33:
1 Corinthians 15:32b If the dead are not raised, LET'S EAT AND DRINK, FOR TOMORROW WE DIE.
If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the ultimate meaning of life is found in the old beer commercial: “You only go around once in life, so you’ve gotta grab all the gusto that you can.” Or maybe it is just “he who dies with the most toys wins”. If you are ashamed of Jesus and the facts of the gospel, that’s all you have left.
But if the Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures, and was buried, and rose again according to the scriptures, then we should hold fast to that word
Which we have received,
In which we stand, and
By which also we are saved.
It is the ultimate good news, which was prepared from the foundation of the world.
We must not be ashamed of the gospel.
We must not give in to the world just “to get along”.
We should not count our “Christianity” as just going to church for an hour a week but not sharing the gospel or ministering personally to the needs of the saints, or sitting at home nursing old grudges because another believer said something that made us feel bad. And we should never have an inferiority complex about the amazing gospel of Jesus Christ.
He is Risen! (He is risen indeed!)
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