The Reality Of The Resurrection Series

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.