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Introduction
Logic is a great thing. No, I’m not Vulcan, but I like to think logically when I can. In fact, God supports logic when He says: “Come now let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.” Logic says “A + B = C” – and that’s fine, as long as you understand A & B. But logic is limited to the knowledge of the logician. That’s one problem. Logic tells you that there is a horizon that you can’t see over. But a lack of understanding of the circular nature of the earth led scientists to conclude that at some point that horizon is a cliff over which you’d fall off the edge of the earth.
The other is that sometimes we can analyze ourselves into illogical thinking.
That’s what happened to the Corinthians – and they ended up coming to the conclusion that there is no resurrection from the dead – not realizing what this conclusion really meant.
This chapter begins with a question. We really don’t know what question or issue Paul is answering. We know it had something to do with the resurrection of the dead – but we can only infer from Paul’s discussion here. Paul starts off, though, by bringing them through a series of logical arguments.
1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
Paul says “follow me through on this – I preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to you – you received it and placed your life upon its promises – in fact this gospel saved you. If you believed anything else – it’s in vain, it has no effect – it won’t do you any good.”
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
“What you believed,” Paul says, was the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our sins.” This wasn’t done in a vacuum – it was foretold by the Old Testament Scriptures. There is a huge foundation of prophecy regarding the life and death of Jesus Christ.
By some counts there are over 425 prophecies fulfilled by Jesus. These include Psalm 22 and Isaiah 52.
Check out: Psalm 16:8-10
“I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.”
So 1. Jesus resurrection was foretold
2. Jesus resurrection was witnessed
5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
These are eye witness accounts – you can’t just discount them. We use eye witness testimony in court all the time. I may be able to claim that the prophecies were interpreted to mean Jesus Christ – but if the man died and the death was witnessed – and the man came back to life – and that was witnessed – I have a hard time refuting it.
Paul says Jesus appeared to him as to “one abnormally born.” Paul’s route to faith in Jesus was anything but normal. Paul was out to kill the church and was an enemy of Jesus until he found out the God he thought he was serving was the very person he was persecuting.
A side note – don’t be discouraged if someone you know is fighting against Christianity tooth and nail – sometimes they are the closest one’s to faith, once the Lord reveals reality to them.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them-yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
Paul knew more than anyone that there was nothing in him that merited favor from God. By all rights God should’ve just blinked Paul out of existence – but He didn’t. Instead God lavished His grace – unmerited favor – on Paul.
Two things we can get out of this:
1. We need to have a correct view of ourselves
We by nature are defenders. We don’t like it when others, or even ourselves, claim we’ve done something wrong. This keeps us from truly trusting in the Lord, and realizing His grace in our lives.
2. We need to rely on God’s grace, not our own merits
We try to do things to get God to respond to us – to pay attention – we fast and pray, etc. But God doesn’t pay any attention. It is God’s grace through His Son Jesus that makes us special and accepted.
So accept the fact that you are a loser – then accept the fact that God makes you a winner through Jesus.
That only counts, however, if Jesus actually did rise from the dead – thus Paul comes to the second step of his argument.
12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
It’s an all or nothing deal. It just doesn’t make sense that Jesus would come and die and rise from the dead if that was it. The Corinthians were apparently hanging on to a popular notion of the day – that a person didn’t rise bodily from the dead but was some kind of spirit being.
When Jesus appeared to His disciples after the resurrection He made it clear that although He now possessed a new body – it was indeed a body:
Luke 24:38-43
"Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."
40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.
This argument is also how the Jehovah’s Witnesses get away with saying that Jesus came back in 1918 but no on really saw Him because He is a spirit.
But even more importantly that believing in vain – Paul says if you don’t believe in the resurrection from the dead you are spreading false information about God:
15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
The whole thing rests on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. It is THE central event of Christianity. Many people have hope only for this life – they only think about what’s happening today. It’s often only when faced directly with death that we even consider the thought of what comes after we die.
If Jesus didn’t rise then all hope is lost and the dead are just that – forever lost. But if He did then everyone ought to pay attention.
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
Firstfruits doesn’t mean order of sequence, but order of importance. Adam came first and through Adam we were separated from God through disobedience. That’s why our salvation also needed to come through a man, Jesus Christ.
This brings up an interesting point: what happens in the moment we die?
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment
KJV
That’s what happens if you die outside of Jesus – but if you belong to Christ:
2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
KJV
Does that mean that there are more than two stages to resurrection to life? I don’t know – but think about this way – we are stepping from this dimension to one in which there is no time. So your grandmother dies and to you it’s ages before you go to be with the Lord – but from her vantage point she just died and says “how’d you get here so fast?”
So it goes like this: Jesus comes back and with a loud shout and a trumpet calls to life all those who are His and we who are still alive are caught up in the air. Those that are dead outside of Jesus remain in stasis or something until after a thousand years of peace with Jesus reigning and ruling along with us on the earth. After that thousand years the other dead will be judged and sent along with Satan and his demons to the lake of fire. After that – Paul picks up the story:
24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
Paul saying here that even though Jesus is essentially equal with the Father – functionally He makes Himself subordinate to the Father – a seamless flow through of authority, the Father, through Jesus, to us – but without the resurrection, that flow is halted.
29 Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?
Here’s a bit of controversy. Apparently, the Corinthians were performing some sort of proxy baptism – living members being baptized for those who had died without being baptized.
First – baptism is important. It is the outward sign of the inward act of submitting your life to Jesus Christ. But Paul here neither condemns nor condones their practice – he merely says that they violate their own theology by being baptized for the dead if there is no resurrection to hope for.
So, is baptism for the dead then okay because Paul didn’t condemn it? The cult of Mormonism practices this all the time. We know that Gnostic churches later in church history also did this. Personally I don’t see it supported anywhere in Scripture. To use this single verse to build doctrine upon violates Biblical principals of hermeneutics.
To become a doctrine, something must be found in at least three places: Taught by Jesus, practiced in Acts, explained in the epistles. Baptism – yes, communion, yes. Foot washing? In gospels, not practiced in Acts (except by Dorcas – but apostles didn’t teach it) and not commended in epistles. Same with baptism from the dead. Just because the Corinthians did it doesn’t make it right. Paul is using it in his argument, showing their inconsistencies.
Paul then goes on to talk about the silliness of the persecutions they endure – if indeed there is no resurrection.
30 And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31 I die every day-I mean that, brothers-just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
This is sort of the “you only go around once in life, so you’ve got to grab for all the gusto you can” mentality. If there is no hope for an afterlife – then why not just live it up here?
But actually there is life after life – but only in Jesus Christ and trusting in His resurrection.
Conclusion
• So what things do you believe about God that are illogical?
Some examples:
Slain in the Spirit (found only to happen to God’ enemies)
You have to say “amen” at the end of a prayer to make it work
To be filled with the Spirit you have to speak in Tongues
In order to get to heaven you have to be good
Christians must follow the Ten Commandments to be saved
You’re not a real Christian unless you belong to X church
• Don’t build doctrine on anything less than a three legged stool.
In fact, a 4 legged stool is even sturdier – adding “foretold in the Old Testament” to “Taught by Jesus, practiced in Acts, and explained in the epistles.”
• Do you believe the central event of Christianity – the resurrection?
It may seem illogical – absurd. Why would God it this way? My answer to you is, what does it matter?
Back in 2Kings there’s a story about a man named Naaman who had leprosy. He came to Elisha the prophet to be healed. Elisha told him to go wash 7 times in the Jordan river. Naaman scoffed at this silly solution – but his servants came back with this:
2 Kings 5:13-14 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
You see, its not up to us to question the logic of something God has done – it is up to us to believe and receive – can you set aside your own ideas of God long enough to let His ideas take root?
