I Corinthians Chapter 15
All of what we Christians believe and have our hope in, is firmly grounded in this one truth – and that is that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died and rose again, and He is now sitting at the right hand of the Father. Without belief in this fundamental truth there is no basis for faith. And without faith in the resurrection of Jesus we are just going through the motions of a meaningless religion. In this chapter Paul not only gives evidence of how his own faith is sure, but he also speaks about the changed lives of all those that he ministered to. He also will give evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ by speaking to the great number of people who were eyewitnesses of the resurrected Savior.
There were many people in Paul’s day, just as there are today, who do not believe in resurrection. Many today will say that Jesus was a good man and that He died for our sins, but do not believe He arose again. Without the resurrection of our Savior, we would still be dead in our sins. It is the power of God that broke the curse of death. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
II Timothy 2:8-10 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Let's Reflect
1. There may be times when a Christian will doubt the gospel and doubt their salvation. Paul encourages us to hold tight to the things we have been taught from the Word of God. How did Paul describe the gospel message that we must keep ahold of?
2. Jesus appeared to many people after His resurrection. This is not an all-inclusive list here in I Corinthians. Besides the apostles how many people saw Jesus alive after His resurrection, according to Paul?
3. Paul did not feel he was worthy to be called an apostle (one who has seen Jesus). Why did he feel this way?
4. Paul stated that if there is no resurrection of people, then it would also be true that Christ was not resurrected. And if Christ was not resurrected then our faith is futile. Paul also explained that if there is no resurrection then what has happened to all those people who have already died? See verse 18
5. There are two important markers of our faith that we must look at. The first marker is that of the man Adam and with him comes the curse of sin. The second marker is Jesus and with Him comes our freedom from the curse of sin, our redemption. Jesus is called the firstfruit, because like the first bit of fruit that was harvested and marked as the quality of what the harvest would be for that year, Jesus was marked as the first to be raised from the dead. In Adam all die, but in Christ what can happen? See verse 22.
6. Christ as the firstfruit has great honor and recognition that will come to Him one day. The next event on God’s time table is the “collection” of those who belong to Him. Then there will be the destruction of what? See verse 24.
7. Paul then reasons that there is no reason to be baptized if we do not believe in the resurrection. Baptism is to be in communion with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. Baptism relates to death in that are sins are buried with Christ and we are raised to new life, eternal life. If there is not a power of resurrection, then our baptism is in vain. Paul also argues that his purpose in life would be gone if there were no resurrection. People would simply say to live it up. Paul put it like this, “Let us eat and drink, for _____________________________.”
8. The question that Paul answers in the remaining verses of the chapter is - what is the resurrected body like? In verses 49 and 50 what do we learn about our resurrected bodies?
9. We also learn that when our bodies are changed from the corruptible bodies we have now to the incorruptible, it will happen very quickly. How quickly will the change happen?
10. What is the great victory that we can look forward to according to verses 55-56?
Devotionals
