Easter—the Foundation of Our Faith
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
The Corinthian church was beset by a number of serious problems. One of the serious problems involved the unity of the believers. This can be seen in that there were at least four groups that claimed to follow one Christian leader over another as if each were in competition with each other. Other divisions occurred because of bad moral behavior in the church. A third division occurred over the seating at the Lord’s table by social rank. A fourth division occurred over the importance of spiritual gifts, especially those of tongues and prophecy. Were those with these gifts superior to the other Christians? As serious as these issues were, Paul saves the most important issue to last, the belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the implications that this doctrine had for the church.
Paul does not tip off his hand at the beginning of chapter 15. He was one who could dive into things with full force, as he had done in Galatians where he could hardly restrain himself to get to the point. The calm start to this topic in no way signals that this is an afterthought. Paul leads the believers at Corinth inductively into the discussion. He establishes the doctrine first, before going into its vastly important implications for the Christian faith. It simply starts with “I want you to know this about the gospel which I preached among you.” The King James is a little too strong with using “declared” here. It almost has the meaning of “I wand to remind you, brethren, what I had preached to you.” He wants to assure the Corinthians that despite all their faults which he has had to deal with, they were still part of God’s family.
The Greek word, gnorizo, almost looks like originally a combination of the word for “knowledge” and the word for “root,” although it rightly means “to cause to know.” But “root knowledge” or “foundational knowledge” is implied by what follows. The doctrine of the death, burial, and resurrection is the foundation of the gospel. There can be no gospel besides it. Paul has literally gospelled the gospel to them, as gospel appears both as a noun and as a verb. The Corinthians had responded to Paul’s proclamation of the gospel by accepting it. Paul goes on to say that the gospel gives the believers standing with God. It is the solid ground upon which they stand.
In verse two, Paul adds to this standing that it is the means by which they are currently being saved. This is interesting because today, we tend to look at salvation as a past act. This is especially true among those who believe in “once saved, always saved.” Does the present tense indicate that one could deny the faith and lose their salvation, or is Paul assuring them that in spite of their heresies that they are still in the faith? What makes it more difficult is the word “if” in the clause that follows: if you hold fast to the word I preached unto you.” Added to this are the words “except you have believed for nothing.” The except here is very strong. This obviously can be very troubling. Can one lose their salvation? Can one commit apostasy? Could Paul be suggesting that some had not really been converted?
Considering the importance of being right on this issue, as our salvation depends on it, it might be prudent to follow Peter who says to make your calling and election sure. At the same time, it would be troubling to be insecure about whether one is a Christian or not. If salvation was something we could lose, we would certainly lose it. If salvation is fully the free gift of God though faith in Jesus Christ, and He is the one who keeps us, how can we lose. Paul treats the Corinthians as though they are believers, and the “if” with the indicative mood in Greek can be translated, “since.”
One should examine what one believes by what follows. Paul had taught them that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and was buried as the proof he really died. It also says Jesus rose on the third day, according to these same Scriptures. The Scriptures of what we call the Old Testament is the first proof of Christ’s atoning death as well as His resurrection. At the beginning of Romans, Paul tells them about the gospel which was promised beforehand. Jesus on the Emmaus road opens up all the Scriptures which showed Christ must suffer these things and rise again. So the proof of Scripture comes first. God told it in advance, so that when it happened, it would serve as proof. God is always good to His word.
The witness of people who saw Jesus after He had risen serves as a second proof. Paul mentions that Cephas (Peter) saw Him first. If the gospels are consulted, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene and other women. Luke then records the appearance on the Emmaus Road. It is possible that He had shown himself to Peter as by the time the Emmaus disciples had returned to Jerusalem, Peter had already seen Him. Then he appeared to the twelve that night which is recorded in Luke and John. He appeared with the twelve again, this time with Thomas. This is recorded in the Gospel of John. There is mention of Jesus again meeting seven of the disciples by the Sea of Galilee in john 21. Then Matthew records a meeting in Galilee where the Great Commission was given. Perhaps this coincides with the 500 people at once that Paul records. Luke 24 seems to indicate other meetings as well as a final meeting at the ascension. Paul adds another meeting with James the brother of the Lord who had been an unbeliever before, what is important is that during the 40 days between Easter and Pentecost, there were many appearances. They ate with Him, heard His voice, saw Him with their eyes, and touched him. Christ has risen indeed.
Paul did not mention all of these appearances here. None of the gospels mention all of the appearances, and Paul mentions a special meeting with James that the others do not. What Paul does present is, first of all, the quality of the witnesses. These apostles who had run when He was arrested and especially denied by Peter had changed because they had certainly seen Jesus. They were now bold proclaimers of the faith. They were willing to die for Jesus. They were certain of His resurrection. In addition to this is that there was a great number of witnesses, over 500 of them at one time. And even though many years had passed, most were still living and could be consulted. 500 people could not have shared a common delusion about Christ’s resurrection. One or two overcome with grief might have had a delusion that He was raised. But 500 is far too many. They would all agree on what they saw. James, the brother of the Lord as well as Mary and James’ other brothers were certain Jesus was out of His mind and went to put him away in private from the crowd. John explicitly said His brothers did not believe in Him. How things had changed.
It is these two groups of witnesses Paul mentions to help assure the Corinthians of the foundation of their faith. He then goes on to mention one more witness, that is Paul himself. Paul is very humble about this, but He was also very sincere. The Corinthians could remember the troubles Paul had suffered from the hands of other Jews in Corinth, and how Paul had remained unwavering in zeal for Christ. He certainly related the circumstances of how Christ Came to Paul on the Damascus Road as a man born at an improper time. In fact the word he describes himself is that of an abortion, as one who was dead. He was in that sense resurrected to life. He who was the most zealous persecutor of the church was not its boldest advocate. We know that some of the Corinthians knew well about Peter. Some may have known him personally, although there is no record of Peter coming to Corinth. But they had seen the work and toil of Paul. They had seen the fresh would in his back from the recent beating at Philippi, not long before he came. Paul had been stoned to death at Lystra, which mean that after suffering wounds from smaller stones, he would have had a large one smashed against his skull. He says to the Galatians that he bore the wounds of Christ in his body, which all could see.
Paul was tireless in his attending to the Corinthian church. He was able to spend a year and a half with them, teaching and evangelizing them, while having to work as a tentmaker to support himself. This personal witness was an important witness that Christ was alive.
As we come to this Easter Sunday, we live in a community of Christ called a church. As we suffer so much from human frailty and the proclivity to sin, our church is not free from problems. We have to deal with them, and until the day the Lord returns, we will continue to have to deal with them. We still have our favorite preachers, musicians, and forms of worship. We have doctrinal differences, and some of these are very important. Others are not but produce a lot of heat. But vastly more important than our differences is our common confession that Jesus truly died for our sins, that he was buried, and that He rose again on the third day. This is the common confession of our creed.
We have a mission to proclaim the risen Lord to the nations. We need to be grounded in the promise of Scripture. This means we need to know both the Old and New Testament, and not just a few proof texts. We need to be as sure as the apostles, so that we might be bold in our proclamation and remain steadfast when our views and perhaps even our own selves are attacked. We have the aid of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who brings the Scripture to our aid and comfort. The Spirit also testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. We need to be reassured of this. We sing “You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.” But is the Holy Spirit living in your heart. If this be true, the Spirit testifies that Jesus lives in you. Be glad and rejoice.
If for some reason, you have yet to come to believe that Jesus rose from the dead, I would urge you to consider receiving Him. He is your only hope is a dark and lonely world. Consider the evidence that Paul presents to the church. Add to this why the tomb was empty. No one stole that body. Grave robbers did, of course, but the tomb was guarded. No thief would unwrap a dead body in the tomb and neatly wrap up the strips of cloth and the napkin over His head when to be caught stealing a dead body was a capital offense. Jesus truly died and was sealed in an airtight tomb. The spear went through His heart. He was truly dead. If the women could not roll away the stone, how could a man who was badly beaten by whips, who was too weak to finish carrying His cross to Cavalry, crucified and stabbed through the heart, unwrap his own clotted gravecloth in which He was bound and roll away the stone if He had only fainted. If Jesus had still been in the tomb, the Jews could quickly end all theis resurrection talk by producing the body.
Remember all the witnesses who saw Him after He rose on several occasions. Many witnesses saw Him. They shared food with Him. They touched Him. They saw Him ascend into heaven. They boldly proclaimed Jesus in the face of death who were too cowardly before. They suffered great things for the faith. And the list of martyrs go on for two thousand years. Many today in places like North Korea and the Mideast are still suffering great things for the name and laying their own lives down as a testimony. They have done this because they are sure that Jesus is alive. Are you still not sure? Then pray to the Lord that He might confirm these facts to your soul and show you that Jesus is alive. Today you can rise from the dead with Jesus and be assured of new life. For it is written that if you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved.
