1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-7 [RESURRECTION REALITIES SERIES]
THE REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION
[Psalm 16:8–11; Psalm 22; Luke 24:25-27]
1st Corinthians, chapter 15 is devoted entirely to doctrine, to a single doctrine, the Resurrection. In these 58 verses Paul gives the most extensive treatment of the resurrection in all of Scripture. It is reserved for the last section of the book because of its importance.
Just as the heart pumps life-giving blood to every part of the body, so the truth of the resurrection gives life to every other area of gospel truth. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the pivot on which all of Christianity turns and without which none of the other truths would much matter. It is the conclusive proof that Jesus accomplished all the Father asked Him to complete. Without the resurrection, Christianity would be so much wishful thinking, taking its place alongside all other human philosophy and religious speculation.
Without the resurrection salvation could not have been provided, and without belief in the resurrection salvation cannot be received. “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved” (Rom. 10:9). It is not possible, therefore, to be a Christian and not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. True New Testament Christianity is a religion of the resurrection. The Gospel does not explain the resurrection. The resurrection explains the Gospel.
The first eleven verses of chapter 15 reviews evidence for Jesus' resurrection, a truth the Corinthians already believed (vv. 1, 11). For it is on the foundation of the resurrection of Jesus that the hope of our resurrection is built. In verses 1-7 we will look at three evidences of, or testimonies to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The gospel of the resurrection is based on the historical realities of the witness of the church, the witness of Scriptures, & the testimonies of eyewitnesses.
1ST THE TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCH (15:1-2).
The Testimony of the Church is not stated explicitly but is implied in verses 1 & 2.
“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, (2) by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.”
The very fact that the Corinthian Christians themselves, and all other Christians everywhere, had received the gospel and believed in Jesus Christ and had been miraculously changed, was in itself strong evidence of the power of the gospel, which is empowered by the resurrection of Christ.
By addressing them again as “brethren” (1:10; 2:1; 3:1; 10:1; etc.) Paul assures those to whom he writes that he recognizes them to be fellow Christians. The term not only expresses his spiritual identity with them but also his love (15:58).
The Corinthian believers themselves were living evidence that this doctrine was true. The fact that they came out of the spiritual blindness and deadness of religion or paganism and into the light and life of Christ testified to the power of the gospel, and therefore to the power of the resurrection. It also testified that they already believed in the truth of Christ's resurrection. Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit could not have come into believers to eternally save them and then to eternally change them.
It was the gospel of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that Paul had “preached” to them, that they had received, and in which he assures them they now “stand” and by which they “are saved,” delivered from sin's power and condemnation. Because of the reality of Christ's resurrection and of their trust in it, they were now a part of His church and thereby were evidence of the power of that resurrection.
Paul's qualifying phrase— “if hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain” —does not teach that true believers are in danger of losing their salvation, but it is a warning against non-saving faith. So a clearer rendering might be, “…if you hold fast what I preached to you, unless your faith is worthless or unless you believed without effect.” The Corinthians' holding fast to what Paul had preached (see 11:2) was the result of and evidence of their genuine salvation, just as their salvation and new life were an evidence of the power of Christ's resurrection. It must be recognized, however, that some lacked the true saving faith, and thus did not continue to obey the Word of God.
Some of the Corinthians apparently had intellectually and/or outwardly acknowledged Jesus' lordship, savior-hood, and resurrection, but had not trusted in Him or committed themselves to Him. They believed only as the demons believe (James 2:19). They acknowledged Christ, but they had not “received” Him, did not stand in Him, were not saved by Him, and did not “hold fast” to His word, which Paul had preached to them. As Jesus made clear in the illustrations just cited above, many people make positive responses of one sort or another to the gospel, but only genuine faith in Jesus Christ results in salvation.
Despite their shortcomings and failures, and despite the presence of false followers in their assembly, Christ lived in and through the true saints. Paul was ashamed of much of what they did and did not do, but he was not ashamed to call them brethren.
Though it is largely a subjective proof, the endurance of the church of Jesus Christ through 2,000 years is evidence of His resurrection reality. His church and His Word have survived skepticism, persecution, heresy, unfaithfulness, and disobedience. Critics have denounced the resurrection as a hoax and fabrication, but have never explained the power of such a fabrication to produce men and women who gave up everything, including their freedom and lives when necessary, to love and to follow a dead Lord! His living church is evidence that Christ Himself is alive; and He could be alive only if He had been raised from the dead.
A follower of Buddha writes of that religious leader, “When Buddha died it was with that utter passing away in which nothing whatever remains.” Mohammed died at Medina on June 8, 632, at the age of 61, and his tomb there is visited yearly by tens of thousands of Muslims. But they come to mourn his death, not to celebrate his resurrection. Yet the church of Jesus Christ, not just on Easter Sunday but at every service of immersion baptism, celebrates the victory of her Lord over death and the grave.
2nd THE TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE (3-4).
Belief in the resurrection is not an appendage to the Christian faith; it is the Christian faith. Verses 3 & 4 contain the very heart of the gospel. “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (4) and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”
These verses were an early Christian confession which Paul described “as of first importance.” It was really a twofold confession: “Christ died for our sins” and “He was raised.” The reality of this was verified by the Scriptures (Ps. 16:10; Isa. 53:8-10) and by historical evidence verified by time in the grave and out of it, in the presence of the living. The fact “that He was buried” verified His death, and the fact “that He appeared” to others verified His resurrection.
The second evidence for Christ's resurrection was the Old Testament, the Scriptures of Judaism and of the early church. The Old Testament clearly predicted Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. When Paul says “I delivered to you,” he means he brought authoritative teaching, not something of his own origination. He did not design it, he only delivered what God had authored.
To the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus said, “ ‘O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?’ And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:25-27).When the unbelieving Jews asked for a sign of Jesus' messiahship, He responded, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign shall be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:39–40).
At Pentecost Peter quoted from Psalm 16 and then commented that David, the author of the psalm, “looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay” (Acts 2:25–31). Paul proclaimed before King Agrippa, “And so, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He should be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles” (Acts 26:22–23).
Jesus, Peter, and Paul quoted or referred to such Old Testament passages as Genesis 22:8, 14; Psalm 16:8–11; Psalm 22; Isaiah 53; and Hosea 6:2. Over and over again, either directly or indirectly, literally or in figures of speech, the Old Testament foretold Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. No Jew who believed and understood the Scriptures, referring to what we now call the Old Testament, should have been surprised that the Messiah was ordained to die, be buried, and then resurrected. Twice Paul repeats the phrase “according to the Scriptures,” to emphasize that this is no new thing, and no contradiction of true Jewish belief.
3rd, THE TESTIMONY OF EYEWITNESSES (5-7).
Paul’s third and main argument in verses 5-7 was that there were still eyewitnesses to the Resurrection. That Christ died and was really raised from the dead was a fact that could be corroborated by individuals who were still living at the time 1 Corinthians was being written. Verse 5; “and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. (6) After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; (7) then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles;”
Throughout history the testimony of responsible and honest eyewitnesses has been considered one of the most reliable forms of evidence in a court of law. Paul's third evidence for Christ's resurrection is in that form.
Lawyer Sir Edward Clarke said,
As a lawyer I have made a prolonged study of the evidences for the events of the first Easter day. For me, the evidence is conclusive, and over and over again in the high court I have secured the verdict on evidence not nearly so compelling. Inference follows on evidence, and a truthful witness is always artless and disdains effect; the gospel evidence for the resurrection is of this class, and as a lawyer I accept it unreservedly as the testimony of truthful men to facts they were able to substantiate.
The historian Thomas Arnold of Oxford has written.
The evidence for our Lord's life and death and resurrection may be and often has been shown to be satisfactory. It is good according to the common rules for distinguishing good evidence from bad. Thousands and tens of thousands of persons have gone through it piece by piece as carefully as every judge summing tip on an important case. I have myself done it many times over, not to persuade others but to satisfy myself. I have been used for many years to study the history of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is better proved by fuller evidence than the great sign that God has given as that Christ died and rose again from the dead.
Let’s look at Jesus’ appearance after His death and burial recorded here.
Jesus' Appearance to Peter, 5a.
It is significant that Paul says that Jesus “appeared” to those who saw Him after the resurrection. Until He revealed His identity to them, not even Mary Magdelene (John 20:14–16), the two disciples on the Emmaus road (Luke 24:15, 31), or the disciples gathered together on Easter evening (John 20:19–20) recognized Him. The gospel accounts consistently speak of Jesus' appearing or manifesting Himself after His resurrection (Mt. 28:9; Mark 16:9, 12, 14; Luke 24:31–39; John 21:1; etc.). He was recognized only by those to whom He chose to reveal Himself, and there is no record that He revealed Himself to anyone other than His followers.
Peter, the first male witness, was soon joined by the remaining disciples who composed the Lord’s immediate circle. One of the requirements for apostleship was having seen the resurrected Christ (Acts 1:22), and the first apostle to whom He appeared was “Cephas”, that is, Peter. [We are not told the exact time or occasion for that appearance. We only know that it was sometime after His appearance to Mary and before His appearance to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:34). We are not told why the Lord appeared to Peter first or separately but it possibly was because of Peter's great remorse over having denied his Lord, and because his role as a leader among the apostles and in the primitive church until the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15). In going to Peter first, Jesus emphasized His grace. Peter had forsaken the Lord, but the Lord had not forsaken him. Christ did not appear to Peter because Peter deserved to see Him most, but perhaps because Peter needed to see Him most. Peter was the Lord's spokesman at Pentecost and was crucially used in the expansion of the church for several years As such he was the prime witness to the resurrected Christ. [MacArthur, John. Moody Press. Chicago. P 403]
Jesus' Appearance to the Twelve, 5b.
Jesus next appeared “to the twelve.” As mentioned above, He appeared to the eleven disciples (though still often referred to as “the twelve” even before Judas was replaced) as they were fearfully assembled on Easter evening (John 20:19; Luke 24:36). The apostles laid the foundation of the church (Eph. 2:20), which from the beginning based its beliefs and practices on their teaching (Acts 2:42). Those men whom the Lord used to establish His church on earth all saw Him in His resurrected body (Acts 1:22). They were capable, honest, and reliable witnesses even unto dead to the most important event of history.
Jesus' Appearance to the Five Hundred
Later a much larger company of believers witnessed His resurrection in verse 6. “After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time.” The quality of specific witnesses is represented by the apostles, all of whom were known by name and could easily be questioned. The quantity of witnesses is seen in the “five hundred brethren” who all saw the risen Christ at one time. The 500 . . . brothers may have formed the audience who received the commission recorded in Matthew 28:18-20 (Acts 1:3-8).
Scripture gives no indication of who those people were, or where Jesus appeared to them, but they were surely well known in the early church, and, like the twelve, would often have been questioned about seeing the risen Savior. Even at the time of Paul's writing, more than two decades later, most of the witnesses were still alive. They “remain until now”, he adds, “but some have fallen asleep”, that is, died.
At the same time and same place five hundred witnesses saw Jesus alive after His resurrection! Since most of those were still living when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, they could be consulted.
Jesus' Appearance to James
We are not told to which “James” Christ then…appeared. [Two of the apostles, one the son of Zebedee and the other the son of Alphaeus, were named James (Mark 3:17–18).] I’m inclined to believe, however, that this James was the half-brother of the Lord, the author of the letter of James and a key leader in the Jerusalem church (Acts 15:13–21).
James originally was a skeptic. Like his brothers he did not at first believe that Jesus was the Messiah (John 7:5). But now this member of Jesus' own household, this one who for several years did not recognize Jesus as the Christ, was a witness, a powerful and convincing witness, to His resurrection. Perhaps, as with Paul, it was the experience of seeing the resurrected Christ that finally brought James to saving faith. In any case, the convincing testimony of a family member and former unbeliever was added to that of the apostles and the five hundred.
“Over a period of forty days” (Acts 1:3), between His resurrection and ascension, Jesus appeared “to all the apostles” on other occasions that are not specified (see John 21:1–14).
In CLOSING
There has not been a historical event established on surer evidence than that of the resurrection of Christ. “There exists no document from the ancient world, witnessed by so excellent a set of textual and historical testimonies . . . Skepticism regarding the historical credentials of Christianity is based upon an irrational bias.” [Clark Pinnock, McMaster University: "Evidence of the Resurrection" by Josh McDowell.]
The resurrection is a historical fact. Don’t be discouraged by doubters who deny the resurrection, mostly out of fear of their own resurrection when they will give an account of themselves to the Risen Lord of Life. Be filled with hope because of the knowledge that one day you, and they, will see the living proof when Christ returns.
Everyone in England was awaiting news of THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. There were no telegrams in those days, but everyone knew that Wellington was facing Napoleon in a great battle. A sailing ship conveyed news by semaphored to the signalman on top of Winchester Cathedral. He signaled to another man on a hill and thus news of the battle was relayed, by hand semaphore, from station to station to London and all across England. When the ship came in, the signalman on board semaphored the first word-“Wellington." The next word was "defeated", and then the fog came down and the ship could not be seen. 'Wellington defeated" went across England, and there was great gloom all over the countryside. After two or three hours, the fog lifted, and the signal came again: 'Wellington defeated the enemy." Then all England rejoiced.
There was that day, when in the eyes of the world they put the body of the Lord Jesus Christ in the tomb. Men might have said, "Everything is ended, all is gone, sin has conquered, man is defeated, wrong has triumphed." But then three days later the fog lifted. Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The truth as told by eyewitnesses has come down through history: Jesus defeated the enemy.
The gospel is this: JC came to earth, lived a perfect life, gave up His life by being sacrificed on a cross, was buried in a borrowed tomb, and was raised from the dead 3 days later. Because He took our punishment for sin on Himself, He can forgive our sin and make us children of God if we put our faith in Him (Acts 13: 38-39).
If you have not done so -I encourage you to place your faith in JC as the Resurrection and the Life right now today. Let the greatest story ever told make you brand new¬- forever. [ It's the story that never grows old.]
If you do not have a local church home, we invite you to come and unite your life and ministry with us. Then we will encourage each other to live in the resurrection power of our Living Lord of Life. You come, as the Spirit leads.
-----
The Call to Worship had just been pronounced starting Easter Sunday Morning service in an East Texas church. The choir started its processional, singing "Up from the Grave He Arose" as they marched in perfect step down the center aisle to the front of the church. The last lady was wearing shoes with very slender heels. Without a thought for her fancy heels, she marched toward the grating that covered that hot air register in the middle of the aisle. Suddenly the heel of one shoe sank into the hole in the register grate. In a flash she realized her predicament. Not wishing to hold up the whole processional, without missing a step, she slipped her foot out of her shoe and continued marching down the aisle. There wasn’t a hitch. The processional moved with clock-like precision. The first man after her spotted the situation and without losing a step, reached down and pulled up her shoe, but the entire grate came with it! Surprised, but still singing, the man kept on going down the aisle, holding in his hand the grate with the shoe attached. Everything still moved like clockwork. Still in tune and still in step, the next man in line stepped into the open register and disappeared from sight. The service took on a special meaning that Sunday, for just as the choir ended with "Allelujah! Christ arose!" a voice was heard under the church shouting…"I hope all of you are out of the way ‘cause I’m coming out now!" The little girl closest to the aisle shouted, "Come on, Jesus! We’ll stay out of the way." (Autoillustrator.com, "WORSHIP")
