Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

1 Corinthians 15

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 1 Corinthians 15:12

I resume my study of 1 Corinthians, moving on to an assisted review of 1 Corinthians 15:2-19 using the Christ-Centered Exposition series commentary volume for this book.  From the commentary for this text:

Main idea: "If Christ has not been raised from the dead, Christianity collapses like a house of cards."

Key excerpts from the introduction:

• "What makes our faith so different and so distinct is not just the teaching of Jesus, or the life of Jesus, or even the death of Jesus."
• "If there is no resurrection and therefore Christ has not been raised, the results are truly catastrophic for both the church and the world."
  

Divisions per the commentary:

1. Our Message Is Meaningless (15:12-14): "The general resurrection of believers and the particular resurrection of Jesus are inextricably linked (vv. 12-13)....evidently, there were those in the church who had adopted the thinking of many in the Graeco-Roman world that the soul is immortal, but once the body dies it stays dead forever [see also Garland commentary]...Paul categorically denies that possibility. You cannot say that believers will not be raised from the dead but Christ has been risen, since being in Christ, we are linked with Christ, and our destiny is the same....Without a risen Savior, no sermon—regardless of how beautiful, how oratorial, how logical, or how stimulating it might be—is really worth hearing. Paul calls messages that leave out the resurrection “vain,” which literally means “empty.” If Jesus Christ is dead, not even the great apostle Paul had anything worth saying to anyone about this life or the next. There was nothing worth hearing."
   
2. Our Witness Is Worthless (15:15-16): "Paul essentially said that if Jesus Christ has not been raised from the dead, then he would be a liar, since he claimed repeatedly he would be raised from the dead. If Jesus Christ has not been raised from the dead, once again, Christianity collapses....if there is no resurrection for anyone, then Christ has not been raised. You cannot have your feet in both worlds: if you believe in the particular resurrection of Jesus, you must believe in the general resurrection of believers."
   
3. Our Faith Is Foolish (15:17a): "If Jesus is still dead and buried in the tomb, it strikes a deathblow to even the very concept of Christian faith (v. 17a)....the Jesus who is worthy of our faith is a resurrected Jesus. The Jesus who makes it worthwhile to live a life of faith is a resurrected Jesus. The one who serves as the foundation of our faith, gives feet to our faith, and replaces fear with faith is only a resurrected Jesus. It is simply foolish to place your faith in anyone—regardless of the quality of his life, the brilliance of her teaching, or the quality of his or her example—if that person died only to stay dead." 
   
4. Our Sin Is Sovereign (15:17b): "there is no salvation if there is no risen Jesus to believe in; without his completed work, there would be no grace to receive. Because that is true, then Paul’s conclusion here is logical: those assuming there is no resurrection “are still in” their sins (v. 17b). Sin is sovereign. Sin wins."
   
5. Our Loved Ones Are Lost (15:18).
6. Our Existence Is Empty (15:19): "Not only does a dead Jesus kill any hope for life beyond this life, but it also kills any hope for any meaning in this life (v. 19)."
   

"Thankfully, this is all hypothetical. The sad conclusions are not true, since Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, which is the theme not only of this chapter but of the entire New Testament." 

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of grace and compassion for me - thank You Jesus.  Thank You for Your Son who died and rose again so that I could live now to the full, and for eternity in Heaven. I am not deserving of such blessings.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me for how my mind wanders and how I fritter away time.  Help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of myheart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo. Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, family, my church and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

1 Corinthians 15

 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 1 Corinthians 15:19

I resume my study of 1 Corinthians, moving on to an unassisted review of 1 Corinthians 15:12-19. Building on my study of 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (see last post here), where Paul urges us to see the gospel, including the resurrection, being of "first importance" (v3), this morning my review of 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 challenges me to maintain my faith.  In the text this morning, Paul essentially shares how faith is in vain and futile as is the effort to share the gospel as Paul did.  He rhetorically writes about these questions that challenge the gospel and how if true, he would be "misrepresenting God."  V17 also shares how, if our faith is futile then we are still in our sins.  I know this is not to be true because I have witnessed in my own life and in the lives of others miracles that only occur through faith alone - faith in the one and only gospel that Jesus Christ appeared, lived a perfect life, died on a cross for all of humanity, then rose again to defeat both sin and death.  This same gospel gives believers in this gospel hope, not just today but for eternity.

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of grace and compassion for me.  Thank You for the gospel and for my faith - I am undeserving of such grace and compassion.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures[.]

1 Corinthians 15

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures[.] 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

I resume my study of 1 Corinthians, moving on to an assisted review of 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 using the Christ-Centered Exposition series commentary volume for this book.  From the commentary for this text:

Main idea: "The gospel is the most important message in the history of the world, for it alone is an eternally saving message and is therefore to be a universally shared message."

Key excerpts from the introduction: 

• "The church has been given one mission, and that always will be the first activity we are to be about: fulfilling the Great Commission—making disciples of all nations."
• "The church is unique in many ways compared to any other institution or entity in the world, not the least of which is because the mission of the church is actually determined by the message of the church. The church must put above everything else the proclamation of the message of the church, which is called 'the gospel.'"
•  "It is accurate to say that the primary reason Jesus came was so we would have a gospel to embrace and so we would proclaim the gospel. Yet I believe we are living in a day when more and more churches and more and more pastors and teachers are putting less and less emphasis on the gospel—to our detriment."
  

Divisions per the commentary:

1. We Must Prioritize the Message of the Gospel (15:1-3):"But for reasons to be seen, Paul obviously felt the need to make crystal clear the true essence of the gospel again. In the early church there was a need to continuously clarify the heart of the gospel....Paul had to deal with so many subjects in this church—from incest, to sex, to spiritual gifts, to marriage, to the single life, to temptation, to the Lord’s Supper, to speaking in tongues—but he declares that the most important subject is and always will be the gospel. To reiterate, it is not the only message of the church, but it is the main message of the church."
   
2. We Must Recognize the Meaning of the Gospel (15:3-8).
3. We Must Emphasize the Might of the Gospel (15:2,9-11): "Paul feels the need to point out why he is qualified to talk about the gospel. This he does in a powerful, personal way that relates to the impact the gospel has had in his own life....The transparency and honesty of perhaps the greatest Christian who ever lived is both heartwarming and breathtaking. He fully admits he is the least of all apostles. He should not even be called an apostle. In fact, he had been the ultimate anti-apostle by persecuting God’s church. Nevertheless, it was the resurrected Lord who saved Paul by grace, changed him by grace, and empowered him with grace to do the work that he did and become the person he became.  Suffice to say that every true child of God could put his or her name in a similar paragraph." Amen!   
   

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God and Your Word is true and You save!  Thank You Jesus for my salvation and Your Word both of which You freely give to me so that I can have life and I can know You more.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such blessings.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.