When the apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church, he has to deal with many issues they have. As he approaches the end of his epistle, he brings up the resurrection. Chapter 15 is important on many levels.
Starting in verse 12, Paul addresses the belief that some had that there was no resurrection. They believed that Jesus would return, but only Christians alive when He returned would share in His eternal glory. Since they did not believe in a resurrection, they felt those who died had missed their chance to be with Jesus. Paul says,
“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:17-19 ESV).
What Paul does is tie in the resurrection of the saints with the resurrection of Jesus. The fundamental belief in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the foundation of the Christian faith from its inception. So, to give the people hope in the resurrection of the dead, Paul points to the victory that Jesus had over death. This is why he could end this part of his letter with a victorious and confident affirmation that,
“When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57 ESV).
But how he sets this chapter, and this defense up, is what he says in verses 3-7. Biblical scholars often refer to this as the earliest Christian creed. It was the fundamental belief new Christians were taught which they hung their hopes upon:
“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,
and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-7 ESV).
This “creed” was important on many levels, and it is worth our time to meditate upon. Not just for its theological teachings but because it is one of the strongest evidence that Jesus did, indeed, rise from the dead.
In the 19th century, German philosophers started to make popular accusations the resurrection and the deity of Jesus were not something that the early disciples believed in, but that over time, the “legend” of Jesus grew into a religion with beliefs that the early Christians never shared. In fact, Paul was accused by many of being the one who co-opted the faith of the early Christians to create the cult of Jesus worship.
Yet, Paul shows in 1 Corinthians 15 that the belief in the resurrection of Jesus, which evidenced His lordship and deity, was something that people believed in from the very beginning of the Faith. Here are the tenets Paul lays out as the foundation of this “creed.”
1. This was of first importance: The resurrection of Jesus was the preeminent event that everything in Christianity rested on. It was the one event that gave legitimacy to the Faith and illustrated why people were willing to die for their faith.
2. Christ died for our sins: The resurrection could not happen unless there was first a death. Jesus had to die in order to pay the debt of sin and then break the bondage that death’s hold had on mankind.
3. That He was buried: The burial of Jesus cemented His death. This was not a hoax. It was not a mistake. The reality of Jesus’ death was proven because He was buried and stayed in the grave for three days.
4. He was raised on the third day: In accordance with Scripture, He was raised from the dead.
5. Many witnesses saw Jesus after His resurrection: He appeared to Peter, the rest of the apostles, James, and 500 people at once, most of whom were still living at the time Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians.
Here is the earliest “creed” in its simplest terms: Jesus died, was buried, was resurrected, and was seen by hundreds of people, most of whom were still living. The entire faith of Christianity was built on this “creed” and was believed from the very beginning. It was not added decades or centuries later, and the evidence is found within Paul’s letter itself.
In my opinion, here is where this really gets exciting. Have you ever entertained doubts or questions about the legitimacy of your faith? Was Jesus really who He claimed to be? Did He really rise from the dead? Can we really be confident in the historical accuracy of this event that happened 2000 years ago?
When I am done, I will show you how, without a shadow of a doubt, I believe in the accuracy of the historical reports of Jesus’ resurrection. I hope that the things I lay out will also strengthen your faith in this as well.
For the timelines I will share, I am assuming that Jesus was crucified in 30 AD, but I know that there is strong evidence for the 33 AD date and even other dates. But the strength of my argument will not be diminished by choosing the wrong date for the crucifixion; the timelines will just be adjusted by three or so years. If anything, a later crucifixion date will only strengthen my arguments.
With that said, most scholars place the writing of Paul’s epistle to Corinth in 55 AD. This means when Paul wrote this early “creed” he delivered to the Corinthians, it was at most twenty-five years after the crucifixion of Jesus. The crucifixion of Jesus is not disputed by the vast majority of scholars. Of all the historical facts about Jesus, His crucifixion is the most well-established event in His life, backed up by other historical documents.
Tacitus: A Roman historian who wrote about the crucifixion of Christ and his sufferings in 55 AD.
Pontius Pilate: Wrote a report to Emperor Tiberius describing Jesus's execution and its aftermath.
Josephus: Described the condemnation and crucifixion of Jesus at the hands of Roman authorities in Book 18, Chapter 3, 3 of the Antiquities.
John, Matthew, Mark, and Luke: Authors of the Gospels.
Pliny: Wrote about Jesus about 20 years after Josephus's book.
Paul mentions all the eyewitnesses still alive who could back up his claim that Jesus was risen from the dead. This would be a bold claim to make to the Corinthians, who started to doubt the resurrection. He even mentions himself,
“Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” (1 Corinthians 15:8 ESV).
Of course, the others would have seen Jesus within 3 days and a few weeks of His death. But Paul saw Jesus on the road to Damascus when he was on his way to persecute Christians for their “blasphemy.” His persecution of Christians started within two to three years after Jesus’ crucifixion. This means that this “creed” of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus can be traced back to at least three years of the crucifixion through Paul himself. There was certainly no opportunity for this belief to morph over time.
In Galatians, Paul tells us that after his conversion, he preached Jesus without consulting with anyone. No one “taught” him the Gospel. His knowledge of Jesus came from the same inspiration that the other apostles had. This is what he recounts to the Galatians:
“was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;
nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.” (Galatians 1:16-17 ESV).
In fact, it was three years before Paul visited the apostles in Jerusalem. This would put this meeting somewhere between five and six years after the crucifixion. And the things he taught about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus were in harmony with what the apostles were teaching. This was the first recorded meeting he had with actual eyewitnesses of Jesus’ resurrection.
“Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days.
But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother.” (Galatians 1:18-19 ESV).
In Galatians 2, Paul said he visited the apostles fourteen years later. This is within 8 to 11 years of writing 1 Corinthians 15 and this early Christian creed. Up until this time, Paul had also written to other churches where he called Jesus Lord, signifying His deity.
When you put all of this together, you can see that from the beginning, there is strong historical evidence that the early Christians did, indeed, believe that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was resurrected from the dead. And God allowed hundreds of people to live for decades after the resurrection to be eyewitnesses to His resurrection.
The authorities could produce no body.
The eyewitnesses were still alive in 55 AD.
And Paul himself preached this truth of first importance when he was converted two to three years after the crucifixion. And this truth is what he reminds the Corinthians of when they begin to doubt the resurrection of the dead.
“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-53 ESV).
Both the living and the dead have hope precisely because of the resurrection. What a wonderful message for the Corinthians who had started to doubt the resurrection. What a wonderful message for us, 2000 years later. Their early creed is our creed today.
Jesus died for our sins.
Jesus was buried.
Jesus was resurrected.
And history leaves us incredible evidence that all of this happened.
When people inevitably let us down, remember two things:
Jesus has a perfect love we can always count on, no matter how much others let us down.
And
Jesus loves them, as imperfect as they are, just as He loves you and me, no matter how imperfect we are.
I am in the book of Joshua in my daily Bible reading. I love the reminder that Joshua gives the Israelites as he begins his farewell address:
“One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the LORD your God who fights for you, just as he promised you.” (Joshua 23:10 ESV).
The Israelites had proven to be a mighty people, able to drive out and conquer mighty nations. But he reminds them that this is because God gave them this power.
One Israelite sent one thousand enemies to flight. This kind of success could easily go to one's head and cause them to think that they could do these things by their own hand, thus Joshua's reminder.
The same is true with us. God is the one who makes all of our successes possible. All good gifts we have are granted by His generous hand.
Let us not fall into the trap of thinking the life we have built was done by our own hands. God is the source of our success. It will be easy in a country that worships individualism and boot-strap values to take some of the glory belonging to the Lord.
I am in the book of Judges in my daily Bible reading. In chapter 7, God is about to lead Gideon to victory over Israel's enemies. So, Gideon calls the Israelites to gather for battle.
When people arrive, Gideon has a massive army of 32,000 people. When God sees this army, He says a strange thing... at least a strange thing to us:
“The LORD said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'“ (Judges 7:2 ESV).
He ends up whittling this horde down to 300 men.
There is a lesson in there for us. When we petition the Lord for help, we often tell Him what we think we need. Often, it is much more than what God needs in order to answer our prayers. God is mighty and can do much with little.
Sometimes, we can better see God's greatness when He delivers with little rather than much. Sometimes, it's in the little that we see the greatness of God's mighty power.
Let us not lose heart when we ask God for an army of 32,000, and He answers with 300 men. Let us prepare our hearts to see how He will do great things with little. In this, we can truly praise God for His might and power in our lives.
I am in the book of Judges in my daily Bible reading. In chapter 16, we read about the downfall of Samson. The end came when he joined himself to the Philistine woman, Delilah, and she betrayed him.
There is a warning for us as we live and interact with evil people in the world, people who have yet to bend their knee to Jesus as Lord and King. Until they do this and claim His grace, they will seek to bring us down and draw us away from our God.
This is how Delilah did it to Samson when she sought the source of His strength. Samson had put up a defense for a while, rebuffing her inquiries, but with each rebuff, he came closer and closer to betraying his vow.
“And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death.
And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”“ (Judges 16:16-17 ESV).
What can we learn as we face similar assaults on our allegiance to Jesus?
First, we must realize that we are in a battle. As long as we are faithful members of God's kingdom, we will face the battle day after day. This earth is not a place of rest but a place of pilgrimage and battle. Just as with Samson, we may be “vexed to death.” This doesn't mean God has forsaken us, but it reminds us that the battle is real. Victory is in Jesus; the promised rest will come when we arrive home.
Next, we need to remember that temptation is strong. Sometimes, we will be tempted to end the vexing of our hearts and give in to the forces and power of the evil around us. This is what Samson did. But instead of playing around with the evil around us, we need to be vigilant and remain pure in God's eyes. We need to arm ourselves with God's armor so we can stay in the battle.
Finally, we need to remember that Satan has no love for us. He is looking to use us for one purpose- to hurt God. When it wrecks our lives, he could care less. Sometimes, we think compromising with the evil around us will bring rest and reprieve, but it rarely does. It really ends up making things worse for us.
Samson did repent in the end, and he is recorded in the chapter chronicling the great men of faith in Hebrews, but his path there was costly and fraught with spiritual missteps. He chose to take a much more painful path in his walk with God than he needed to.
Let us never forget that our battle with evil is real. There is no love from the world for us. Only God will have an undying love for us and promises rest and reward when our pilgrimage and battle is done.
We can choose to persevere with God as we put our trust in Him, or we can take a much more painful walk with Him as we try to keep our allegiance to Him while compromising with evil around us when we become vexed to death. Samson gives us wisdom about which path we need to take with God.
I am studying the beliefs and actions of the 1st century Christians to reflect on how closely we, in the 21st century, really are like them. This is uncovering some things that might seem commonplace to us but were transformational then.
For example, the Roman Empire required all people to worship their gods or at least give deference to them. Only the Jews were given an exemption to this because, to be honest, they would as soon die and be eradicated rather than worship a false god. It was just not worth the cost to the Romans to try and force the Jews to accept their pagan gods.
But they differed from the Christians in that Jews would worship God but not force their worship upon the pagans. They would be fine if pagans wanted to convert, but they were content to follow the philosophy of “live and let live.”
The Christians, however, not only worshiped God alone but also told the pagans that they must stop worshiping their gods and serve the one and only true God. This differed from the Jews, making the Christians a mark of persecution through the Empire to various degrees and at different times.
I wonder how close we really are to the first-century Christians today. Do we live and let live, or do we let people know our God is the only God and all must submit to Him? Living out this teaching will make us about as popular as it made our early brothers and sisters in the first century.
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 ESV).
The world during the days of Noah,
Sodom and Gomorrah,
The people of Caanan,
Jerusalem in the days of King Nebuchadnezzar,
Jerusalem in 70 AD.
What do these cities and nations have in common?
Simply, God exerted His sovereignty over all of them.
He can tell men how we must behave,
And He can bring consequences to those who do not listen to Him.
What can we learn from Nineveh?
God can also choose to extend grace to those whom He has devoted to
destruction if we repent.
We are all under condemnation because of our sins,
But God offers grace to those who repent and accept Him.
We get another chance to worship Jesus this morning before He returns.
The small things we do for others are worth far more than the big things we intend to do for others.