The apostle Paul had spent most of his time during this first letter to the church of Corinth dealing with issues which were keeping them immature in their faith. Issues such as disunity (1 Corinthians 1-4), immorality (1 Corinthians 5-6), marriage (1 Corinthians 7), personal freedom (1 Corinthians 8-10), proper worship (1 Corinthians 11), and the proper use of spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12-14) had caused much division within the church. This divisiveness had rendered them ineffective in their witness for Christ.
Although the majority of this letter was spent addressing issues of behavior, Paul concludes his correspondence with the Corinthians by writing one of the greatest doctrinal chapters in the Bible. 1 Corinthians 15 provides a foundational understanding of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the significance of that event to our faith. According to 1 Corinthians 15:12, there were some in the church who believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but denied the possibility of their own bodily resurrection. Paul begins his teaching by reminding them of the gospel (the good news about Jesus) they had received from him when he had first come to Corinth (15:1-2). This gospel – the death of Jesus Christ for sins, His burial, and His resurrection on the third day – had provided deliverance from the power and penalty of sin in their lives (15:3-4). Through their faith in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, the Corinthians had received forgiveness of sin and freedom from future judgment. Paul intricately detailed the proof of Jesus’ resurrection and appearances to hundreds of people following this supernatural event in order to help them remember this reality (15:5-11). Paul spent time reminding them of the reality of Christ’s resurrection because their own resurrection hinged on this one event. Paul concluded that “if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen” (15:13). And if Christ did not raise from the dead, Paul gave several unfortunate conclusions: preaching Christ and faith would be useless (15:14), those who preach Christ are false witnesses (15:15-16), sin could not be forgiven (15:17), those who died believing are without hope (15:18), and Christians would be the most miserable people on earth because they have no future hope (15:19). The resurrection of Christ is the core of the believer’s own hope of future resurrection. If we deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have no hope beyond this life.
Dear God, thank You for resurrecting Your Son, Jesus, so that we might have hope beyond this life.
