Off the Shelf Sunday School--1 Corinthians

The Importance of the Resurrection (15:1-19)

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. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 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. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. 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. 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 in me. Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. But if it has been preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 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. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.  

1.    False teachings about Jesus were corrupting the church and misleading Christians. One popular false teaching in Paul’s time was Gnosticism, which denied the physical death and resurrection of Jesus. Paul reminds the Corinthian Christians that there is only one gospel that can save them from their sins. This gospel requires faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus had to die to take the punishment of sins. He had to rise from the dead to prove he is God and that we too would one day have resurrected bodies. Are there some churches today that have corrupted the gospel? How have they changed it?    

2.    Paul is not teaching that a person can lose their salvation but rather that false teachings mislead those who are saved and keep others from being saved. The Bible teaches eternal security for those who are born-again. (Isa 43:11-13; Jn 10:27-30; 2 Cor 5:17; Eph 2:8-10)

3.    Paul was one of over five hundred people who saw the resurrected Jesus. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, Paul would be a liar. Even worse, Christians would be fools to be pitied because their hope for eternal life would depend upon a dead man. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the first of a holy and resurrected race of humans, who are also like God having the identity of Jesus. (Rom 8:20-23; Col 1:15-23; 1 Pet 2:9-10)