First Letter to the Corinthians -- Chapter 15
Having taught the Corinthians the ways of proper and orderly worship Paul continues on to remind us all of the heart of our faith: the Gospel. “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” (1 Corinthians 15:1). It is upon the Gospel Message that we take our stand; this Message is the heart and crux of everything we stand for and its importance can never, ever be overstated. If we are not standing on the Gospel then our foundation is nothing but sinking sand. “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:2). The Gospel is the power of God for salvation and thru the means of the Gospel we come to share in the blessings of Jesus Christ. “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). Therefore we must cling to the truth and doctrine of the Gospel with unwavering ferocity. If we compromise the Gospel we compromise and lose everything, our entire life, way, truth, faith, hope, and especially Jesus Christ Himself. To believe in a false or a perverted Gospel is to believe in vain and in fact a slightly perverted or twisted version of the one Gospel is no gospel at all: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all” (Galatians 1:6-7). This is not something we can take lightly or blow off, and Paul himself takes this so seriously that he even tells us that anyone who preaches something contrary to this exact Gospel should be eternally condemned. “Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:8). These are not light words, and we need to take them with the seriousness of Paul. So many people in Christianity today fail to grasp the utter importance of the purity of the Gospel, and do not see that if we lose the truth and doctrine thereof then we lose the entire Church which exists in the Body of Christ. Paul’s entire purpose was to preach, proclaim, and defend this one Gospel of Jesus Christ so that the truth of God would not be lost amidst false teachers, prophets, and heretics. “I am put here for the defense of the gospel” (Philippians 1:16). This Gospel is therefore of first importance; it is the absolute center and heart of the Christian faith and it cannot be compromised even one iota. “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance” (1 Corinthians 15:3). This Gospel is the doctrine by which the true Church of Jesus Christ stands and falls. If we have the true Gospel we stand with Christ, if we lose the true Gospel we fall apart from Christ. To have the Gospel is to have Christ; Christ is only found in the Gospel.
But what exactly is the Gospel? And where is it found? It is the Good News of Jesus Christ and it is found in the Scriptures. It is the teaching and doctrine of Jesus Christ, most especially the declaration of our justification and salvation thru His work on the Cross alone. Ok, but what are the details of this Gospel which we cannot compromise at any cost? In light of these unspoken questions Paul continues on to elaborate on the precise doctrine and content of the Gospel: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). The first part of the Gospel message is the fact that Jesus Christ was given over into death “for our sins.” Those three small words carry all the weight in the world and can never be overemphasized. Jesus Christ died on our behalf; He was our ransom, the atoning sacrifice and Lamb of God by which all of our wretched and depraved sins and sinful flesh was punished by the justice of God. He took upon Himself the punishment for our sins and what He suffered is what we deserved and earned thru our wretched rebellion and rejection of God. This very truth was proclaimed by the prophets of the Scriptures and thru the truth of God’s Word all men were foretold that Christ would come and die “for our sins.” “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows…he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6).
But this is not all, for what good is it for a man to just die? What would be so special about dying, don’t all men do that? Yes, and therefore Paul continues: “He was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:4). The Scriptures foretold that Christ would not only die but that He would be buried for three days and then rise again. This is significant since a burial truly marks a death as being final and complete. This was no coma that Jesus Christ fell into, He was buried and dead. “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth” (Isaiah 53:9). Christ Himself even tells us that the story of Jonah was a foreshadowing to this death and burial for three days: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). To be in the grave for three days signifies that one is truly dead and gone, beyond the point of no return. But because a burial in and of itself is nothing special or unique the Scriptures go on to proclaim that Jesus Christ would not just die, but that He would also be resurrected from the dead: “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11). This resurrection from the dead after three days was foretold by Christ Himself: “The Jews demanded of him, ‘What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’ The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken” (John 2:18-22). This resurrection from the dead is the key to completing the work of salvation on our behalf. If Christ had just died and been buried then the act would not have been completed for He would have been “just another man”; but because He came back to life, we are saved because He was more than “just another man.” Paul will elaborate much further upon this completion of God’s work later in the chapter.
Next Paul tells us that after His resurrection Jesus Christ appeared to Peter, the Apostles, a group of 500, to James, to the Apostles again, and then lastly to Paul: “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” (1 Corinthians 15:6-8). This appearance of Jesus Christ in the flesh to real people is very significant for it illustrates the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Men saw first hand with their own eyes that Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead; He who was dead, was now alive. He was seen by “those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word” (Luke 1:2). At the beginning of his first epistle the Apostle John speaks very clearly about the first hand encounter of men with Jesus Christ and how Christ was heard, seen, witnessed, and touched. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:1-3).
Paul continues on to elaborate on the importance of his first hand experience with Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus: “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 with me” (1 Corinthians 15:9-10). Paul considers himself the least of all the Apostles, and yet he knows by God’s grace that he is a true and called Apostle of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus Paul had a first hand experience with the risen Lord and therefore was a living eyewitness of the Gospel. This encounter of grace empowered Paul to become who he was, the chosen vessel of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. It was not that Paul was better, more worthy, or holier than any of the others (in fact he was the worst, the greatest of sinners just like ourselves); the difference was completely and totally the grace of God. God’s grace made Paul who he was, just as God’s grace makes us the disciples of Jesus Christ that we are today.
In conclusion Paul tells us once again that it is not the messenger that matters, but it is only the message. “Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed” (1 Corinthians 15:11). Regardless of who brought or brings this message to us, what matters is that it is the one Gospel of Jesus Christ and that thru God’s grace we cling to it with every fiber of our being. Paul is deeply concerned that the Corinthians may be falling away from the truth of this doctrine that he has proclaimed to them, and falling into false teachings and gospels that come from the world. He wants them to see that the externals of their situation aren’t the important things, but that only the truth of Jesus Christ matters. Therefore it is imperative for us to reflect daily upon the two major points of Paul here: 1) the Scriptures are what bear witness to the truth of Jesus Christ, and 2) the content of the Message matters, for if we take out the content we will no longer have the Gospel at all. Jesus Christ was very clear that the Scriptures were the source of God’s Word in regards to His life, suffering, death, and resurrection, and that the Apostles would be eyewitnesses to the world about these things: “He said to them, ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:44-48). Any gospel which claims facts that are contrary to the Scriptures is not the one Gospel of Jesus Christ. In these words Christ only allows for the Law of Moses, the Prophets, the Psalms, and the witness of the Apostles to be the norm and source for all truth about His life and work for our sakes. By God’s grace Paul was given the ability to faithfully interpret and communicate the content of these truths which were foretold by the Scriptures and witnessed by the Apostles: “When we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us...when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son” (Romans 5:6, 8, 10). “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ” (Colossians 2:13). “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5). While we were dead in our sins, God’s very enemies, and helpless slaves to the depravity of our sinful flesh, God was merciful and gracious, sending His Son down to earth to be incarnated in human flesh so that thru His fulfillment of the Law we might be freed from death, the devil, and sin. God made Jesus Christ to stand in our place and take upon Himself the sin, punishment, and death that we rightly deserved. “Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again…God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them…God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, 19, 21). This is the one Gospel message: When we deserved nothing but wrath and eternal damnation from God our Father we found mercy and forgiveness through the grace of Jesus Christ crucified, and thru this we have been transformed so that we no longer live for “me” but for Jesus Christ alone. Thru it all it is very important to note that neither Christ nor Paul point us to feelings, decisions, emotional experiences, or anything else, but that they only point us to the concrete and tangible testimony of the Scriptures which includes the Law of Moses, the Prophets, the Psalms, and the witness of the Apostles. The false teachings of many Christian circles focus on the half-truths of the words of Angelus Silesius (a 17th century mystic) which are ultimately dangerous and deceiving: “Though Christ was born a thousand times in Bethlehem, if He was not born within yourself you would be eternally lost.” To our sinful reason this may seem to make sense and sound “very good”, but in reality it is very dangerous. If we look to the Scriptures we will see that Jesus and Paul never point us to a subjective birth of Christ in our hearts, they instead point us to the concrete, historical, unchanging, and objective facts of the Gospel message. What happens inside of us is a mere result of what has already happened outside of us; our salvation has happened outside of us in the cross of Jesus Christ, so that thru His objective work we will be internally transformed. The fact that Jesus Christ came down from heaven, suffered, died, and rose again on our behalf is what is important, and so with Hermann Sasse we say, “Though Christ was born a thousand times in your heart, if He was not born in Bethlehem you would be eternally lost.”
Having reemphasized the Gospel upon which our entire faith is based Paul continues on to elaborate on the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and how it is the cog upon which the entire Gospel turns. “But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:12). The resurrection of the dead was controversial amongst the Corinthians and many were claiming that there was in fact no resurrection of the dead (that is, the physical raising of the body after death). Therefore Paul begins by asking how men among them can claim there is no resurrection of the dead when the Gospel that Paul has faithfully proclaimed clearly states that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on the third day. If there is no resurrection of the dead, how do we explain what happened to Jesus Christ? “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” (1 Corinthians 15:13-14). If in fact there is no resurrection of the dead then not even Christ has been raised from the dead and therefore everything proclaimed in the Gospel is useless and ineffectual. If our faith clings to something that never happened then our faith is futile, wasted, and good for nothing. A faith is only as good as what it clings to and trusts; if our faith is in a lie, then our faith itself is a lie. “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” (1 Corinthians 15:15-18). If Christ has not been raised from the dead then everyone who is a Christian not only has an empty faith but is in fact proclaiming lies about the one true God. What could be worse than this? Can there be a more blasphemous thing then testifying falsehoods about God to the world? Paul wants us to see the critical and decisive nature of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the essentiality of getting the facts absolutely right. This once again reiterates the importance of the objective truths of the Gospel; our entire faith hinges on the objective facts of the Scriptures. If these concrete truths are incorrect then everything we believe is empty and worthless and we are still dead and helpless in our sinful depravity. The consequence of a useless faith is that we would still be in our sins and all those who have died in Christ would be as “good as dead.” Whether we have some elusive concept of “faith” is not the crux of the matter, what matters is whether Jesus Christ actually died on the Cross and was resurrected to life for our sins. Did He or did He not? That is the question that matters. If He did not then all the faith in the world is useless mumbo-jumbo. “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15:19). If our hope in Christ is only for this life then as Christians we are to be pitied more than all others. Why? Because the hope of the follower of Christ is never in this life, but always in the promises of God that will be completed in Christ Jesus in the life to come. We cannot touch forgiveness, yet we trust it is ours thru Christ. We cannot touch the resurrection of the dead, yet we trust it is ours thru Christ. As Christians in this life we share in the sufferings, persecutions, and rejection of Christ crucified; we suffer for His name’s sake, hoping in the life of the world to come thru Jesus Christ.
However, our faith is not futile: “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Christ Jesus has indeed been raised from the dead, and He is the firstfruits of all those who share in His life thru the grace of Baptism. This means that because He was raised, we too will be raised thru His atoning work done on the Cross. Paul explains how thru our understanding of Adam that we can grasp how Christ’s work applies to all men. “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22). Sin and death entered the world thru one man, Adam, therefore life and resurrection has also entered the world thru one man, Jesus Christ. Paul wants us to see that Christ is the New or Second Adam, He is the New Man. Where the old man fell into sin and death, the New Man was perfect and paid the price to free all men from the clutches of death. Those who share in the birth of Adam share in his sin and death, those who share in the new birth of Christ share in the life that comes after dying with Him in Baptism. “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection” (Romans 6:3-5). Thru our Baptism we share in the crucifixion of Christ and subsequently we also share in His resurrection from the dead. Because we die to sin and share in Christ’s propitiation we no longer owe death our lives for the penalty of sin; the ransom has been paid, death no longer has a grip on our souls. “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin” (Romans 6:6-7). Therefore all who belong to Christ will be raised in the same way that He was raised: “But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him” (1 Corinthians 15:23). When the end arrives this hope that we hold will be realized as our bodies will be redeemed from the sinful nature that corrupts its very core. “The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God…we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:21, 23). Christ will put all things under Himself and by His authority He will claim from death all who belong to Him thru the Gospel. He will destroy death once and for all, bringing glory to God the Father, snatching us from the jaws of sin that once held us. “Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he ‘has put everything under his feet.’ Now when it says that ‘everything’ has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).
Paul continues on to ask several questions that will help us realize that the notion of no resurrection of the dead is absolutely ridiculous. “Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?” (1 Corinthians 15:29). These first two questions of Paul refer to the false belief and practice of the Corinthians by which they baptized those who were dead. This false ceremony was done in the hopes that they could save those who had already died; therefore Paul asks them why on earth they would carry out this false ritual if there was no hope for the dead for a resurrection? If the dead can’t be saved or raised then why try to baptize them? Clearly the Corinthians our practices were in glaring contradiction to the message of the Gospel. “And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained?” (1 Corinthians 15:30-32). The next set of questions of Paul asks why the Apostles would risk their life for the Gospel message if the resurrection of the dead was not real. Who in their right mind would endanger themselves in this life for something that was fake or didn’t exist? Clearly the testimony of the lives of the Apostles should give credence to the resurrection of the dead, for they would only sacrifice their lives if there was true hope for a life and resurrection to come. Indeed Paul even goes on to admits that if there was no hope that we should live like the rest of the world focused on the pleasures of this life: “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’” (1 Corinthians 15:32). If the dead are not be raised then we might as well revel in the lost pleasures and hopes of this lustful life, for what hope can we have if death is truly the end?
Having finished clearly laying out the truth Paul concludes with a firm, pastoral admonition: “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’ Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame” (1 Corinthians 15:33-34). Because of these false teachings that had infected the Corinthians and were destroying their belief in the resurrection, Paul very plainly tells them to stay away from those who proclaim these false teachings. Which of us would continue drinking water that we knew was polluted with poison? Would we not immediately remove from our lives this source of potential disease, death, and destruction? In the same way, if we hang around and listen to false teachers they will eventually corrupt us; false doctrines are poisonous and insidious and they will slowly destroy our entire faith from the inside out. Therefore we must not risk exposing ourselves to the lies and evil ways of men who proclaim false gospels against the Scriptures; we need to remove ourselves from the “bad company” of false teachers. These men are ignorant of the true God and at final analysis they only live for their own pleasure and flesh like the rest of the world. Paul on the other hand proclaims the truth of the Scriptures and the one Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the same way that Adam went before us dragging all of mankind into the way of sin, so too Christ has gone before us bearing all mankind with Him in the resurrection of the dead. Because He lives, by His grace we will live also. “If we died with him, we will also live with him” (2 Timothy 2:11). Therefore let us pray that we cling to the truth of the one Gospel of Jesus Christ and live in the great hope that has sustained all of our fathers in the faith: the hope of the resurrection of the dead. “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27).
Having shown us the absolute central necessity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ Paul continues on to teach us about the resurrection of the body for those in Christ. Paul begins with the questions of our human reason: “But someone may ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?’” (1 Corinthians 15:35). The question of “How?” is always a question of our sinful nature and of doubt. The first thing our reason says to almost every declaration of God is “How?” How can an apple cause death for all mankind? How does mere water wash away our sins for the sake of Jesus Christ? How can bread and wine be Christ’s true body and blood? How can the Cross be our salvation? How can God become full man? How can a dead man come back to life? These are the questions of doubt and sin, the questions of Satan. Therefore Paul responds to this first question of “How?” with frustration and disgust: “How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies” (1 Corinthians 15:36). “How foolish!” he says. Who are we to doubt the resurrection of the dead and ask “how” it is possible? Are we so arrogant and prideful that we put the resurrection of the dead beyond the powers of God Almighty? We don’t need to know “how”; we only need to know that it is the truth. In fact even the basic world around us bears witness to the resurrection of the dead: seeds go into the ground and die in order that they will be raised to life as a new creation, the caterpillar goes into the cocoon and “dies” so that it will be raised as a butterfly, winter comes along and all of nature dies before it is raised again in the new life of spring, the whole cycle of nature is one of death preceding new life. Who among us would ever think that an unimpressive seed would be capable of producing a grand tree that towers over the world around it? And yet thru the power of God’s creation such unimaginable things occur all the time. So in the end “How?” doesn’t matter, for what does matters is the simple fact that we must die like the seed that is sown in order to be shed of our old sinful flesh. Therefore we need to stop doubting and just believe the clear Word of God. “Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead” (Isaiah 26:19).
Paul continues on to answer the second question of what kind of body we will have after the resurrection: “When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor” (1 Corinthians 15:37-41). Once again Paul points us to the witness of the world around us: the seed is sown as one body and raised as another, and each seed even has an individual and unique body which it produces. In addition, all around us in nature we see the various bodies of flesh that walk the earth and even the bodies of the heavens above. This great variance illustrates God’s creative power and genius and ultimately points us to the unique nature of the body to come. “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). Our bodies now are mere seeds compared to the glory, power, and greatness of the spiritual body to come. We will sow this current body in corruption, weakness, dishonor, fallen naturalness, and sin, but it will be raised thru Jesus Christ in incorruption, power, glory, honor, strength, spirituality, and perfection. To illustrate this fact Paul compares and contrasts Adam and Jesus Christ (the second Adam and new Man): “So it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:45-49). Thru God’s plan He has chosen to have all men go the way of Adam with a natural body in order that thru Christ’s work we might die and be raised with a spiritual body like Christ’s. Jesus came down to earth and assumed our natural, sinful, dust of the earth body and fulfilled the requirements of the Law so that He would properly sow and germinate the seed that was to be raised with the new, glorified, spiritual body; He became the “man from heaven” on our behalf. We must therefore go the way of Christ in order to inherit the kingdom of God, there is no other way: “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:50). The body that we have now cannot receive the kingdom of God, we must go the way of the cross, the way of death thru Jesus Christ in order to partake in His fulfillment of the demands of the Law. Therefore our glimpse of the glorified body to come is seen in Jesus Christ’s resurrected body; His body which ate, could be touched, and yet could not be held by any locked door.
Continuing on Paul tells us what will happen in the end: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). When Christ comes again at the last trumpet call we will all be changed instantaneously. This will not be a slow process but an immediate transformation. It is for this reason that we should think of our life on earth as disciples of Christ as the period of our germination or cocoon. When we are baptized into Jesus Christ our old man is buried with Christ and the rest of our life is the period of developing within the cocoon or soil of Jesus Christ; we are internally a new creation in Jesus Christ, awaiting the outward completion of this act. Then when Christ comes on the last day we will finally spring forth from the confines of our old man once and for all, being resurrected in the new body that God has given us for Jesus’ sake. On this day all the dead in Christ will rise again and be clothed in new life: “For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’” (1 Corinthians 15:53-55). At this point the entire old man with all the sin and death that enslaved him will be defeated. No longer will sin have any reign in our bodies and death will have been conquered for all time. “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:56-57).
Having given us the most blessed assurance of life and victory in Jesus Christ Paul now urges us to stand firm in this faith and hope, giving our lives over to the work of love and discipleship: “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Paul is always very careful to make sure that we do not become complacent and apathetic Christians who try to rest on some self-bestowed laurels. He wants us to cling to the objective work of Jesus Christ crucified and to step out in bold discipleship. To abuse this grace by perverting it into a license for sin is never an option for the true believer. We always need to give our lives over fully and completely to the Lord so that He may work thru us to His glory, making our work, labor, striving, and enduring fruitful in Jesus Christ. When His Gospel of the cross is front and center of all we do we are assured all the promises of God despite our own weaknesses and failings. Therefore our standing, striving, and surrendering are never our work but always His work in us thru His gracious Word. We stand because He holds us up, we strive because He moves us forward, and we surrender because He pulls our fingers off of our idols, self, and sinful lives. Let us pray that thru His grace we cling to this Gospel with unwavering perseverance, standing firm not on our own abilities but always on the work of the One who came on our behalf, was crucified, and was raised to life so that we too might share in the resurrection of the dead. “This is what Yahweh says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life…I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them…I will put my Spirit in you and you will live…then you will know that I Yahweh have spoken, and I have done it” (Ezekiel 37:5-6, 12, 14).
But what exactly is the Gospel? And where is it found? It is the Good News of Jesus Christ and it is found in the Scriptures. It is the teaching and doctrine of Jesus Christ, most especially the declaration of our justification and salvation thru His work on the Cross alone. Ok, but what are the details of this Gospel which we cannot compromise at any cost? In light of these unspoken questions Paul continues on to elaborate on the precise doctrine and content of the Gospel: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). The first part of the Gospel message is the fact that Jesus Christ was given over into death “for our sins.” Those three small words carry all the weight in the world and can never be overemphasized. Jesus Christ died on our behalf; He was our ransom, the atoning sacrifice and Lamb of God by which all of our wretched and depraved sins and sinful flesh was punished by the justice of God. He took upon Himself the punishment for our sins and what He suffered is what we deserved and earned thru our wretched rebellion and rejection of God. This very truth was proclaimed by the prophets of the Scriptures and thru the truth of God’s Word all men were foretold that Christ would come and die “for our sins.” “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows…he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6).
But this is not all, for what good is it for a man to just die? What would be so special about dying, don’t all men do that? Yes, and therefore Paul continues: “He was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:4). The Scriptures foretold that Christ would not only die but that He would be buried for three days and then rise again. This is significant since a burial truly marks a death as being final and complete. This was no coma that Jesus Christ fell into, He was buried and dead. “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth” (Isaiah 53:9). Christ Himself even tells us that the story of Jonah was a foreshadowing to this death and burial for three days: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). To be in the grave for three days signifies that one is truly dead and gone, beyond the point of no return. But because a burial in and of itself is nothing special or unique the Scriptures go on to proclaim that Jesus Christ would not just die, but that He would also be resurrected from the dead: “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11). This resurrection from the dead after three days was foretold by Christ Himself: “The Jews demanded of him, ‘What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’ The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken” (John 2:18-22). This resurrection from the dead is the key to completing the work of salvation on our behalf. If Christ had just died and been buried then the act would not have been completed for He would have been “just another man”; but because He came back to life, we are saved because He was more than “just another man.” Paul will elaborate much further upon this completion of God’s work later in the chapter.
Next Paul tells us that after His resurrection Jesus Christ appeared to Peter, the Apostles, a group of 500, to James, to the Apostles again, and then lastly to Paul: “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” (1 Corinthians 15:6-8). This appearance of Jesus Christ in the flesh to real people is very significant for it illustrates the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Men saw first hand with their own eyes that Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead; He who was dead, was now alive. He was seen by “those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word” (Luke 1:2). At the beginning of his first epistle the Apostle John speaks very clearly about the first hand encounter of men with Jesus Christ and how Christ was heard, seen, witnessed, and touched. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:1-3).
Paul continues on to elaborate on the importance of his first hand experience with Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus: “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 with me” (1 Corinthians 15:9-10). Paul considers himself the least of all the Apostles, and yet he knows by God’s grace that he is a true and called Apostle of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus Paul had a first hand experience with the risen Lord and therefore was a living eyewitness of the Gospel. This encounter of grace empowered Paul to become who he was, the chosen vessel of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. It was not that Paul was better, more worthy, or holier than any of the others (in fact he was the worst, the greatest of sinners just like ourselves); the difference was completely and totally the grace of God. God’s grace made Paul who he was, just as God’s grace makes us the disciples of Jesus Christ that we are today.
In conclusion Paul tells us once again that it is not the messenger that matters, but it is only the message. “Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed” (1 Corinthians 15:11). Regardless of who brought or brings this message to us, what matters is that it is the one Gospel of Jesus Christ and that thru God’s grace we cling to it with every fiber of our being. Paul is deeply concerned that the Corinthians may be falling away from the truth of this doctrine that he has proclaimed to them, and falling into false teachings and gospels that come from the world. He wants them to see that the externals of their situation aren’t the important things, but that only the truth of Jesus Christ matters. Therefore it is imperative for us to reflect daily upon the two major points of Paul here: 1) the Scriptures are what bear witness to the truth of Jesus Christ, and 2) the content of the Message matters, for if we take out the content we will no longer have the Gospel at all. Jesus Christ was very clear that the Scriptures were the source of God’s Word in regards to His life, suffering, death, and resurrection, and that the Apostles would be eyewitnesses to the world about these things: “He said to them, ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:44-48). Any gospel which claims facts that are contrary to the Scriptures is not the one Gospel of Jesus Christ. In these words Christ only allows for the Law of Moses, the Prophets, the Psalms, and the witness of the Apostles to be the norm and source for all truth about His life and work for our sakes. By God’s grace Paul was given the ability to faithfully interpret and communicate the content of these truths which were foretold by the Scriptures and witnessed by the Apostles: “When we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us...when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son” (Romans 5:6, 8, 10). “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ” (Colossians 2:13). “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5). While we were dead in our sins, God’s very enemies, and helpless slaves to the depravity of our sinful flesh, God was merciful and gracious, sending His Son down to earth to be incarnated in human flesh so that thru His fulfillment of the Law we might be freed from death, the devil, and sin. God made Jesus Christ to stand in our place and take upon Himself the sin, punishment, and death that we rightly deserved. “Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again…God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them…God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, 19, 21). This is the one Gospel message: When we deserved nothing but wrath and eternal damnation from God our Father we found mercy and forgiveness through the grace of Jesus Christ crucified, and thru this we have been transformed so that we no longer live for “me” but for Jesus Christ alone. Thru it all it is very important to note that neither Christ nor Paul point us to feelings, decisions, emotional experiences, or anything else, but that they only point us to the concrete and tangible testimony of the Scriptures which includes the Law of Moses, the Prophets, the Psalms, and the witness of the Apostles. The false teachings of many Christian circles focus on the half-truths of the words of Angelus Silesius (a 17th century mystic) which are ultimately dangerous and deceiving: “Though Christ was born a thousand times in Bethlehem, if He was not born within yourself you would be eternally lost.” To our sinful reason this may seem to make sense and sound “very good”, but in reality it is very dangerous. If we look to the Scriptures we will see that Jesus and Paul never point us to a subjective birth of Christ in our hearts, they instead point us to the concrete, historical, unchanging, and objective facts of the Gospel message. What happens inside of us is a mere result of what has already happened outside of us; our salvation has happened outside of us in the cross of Jesus Christ, so that thru His objective work we will be internally transformed. The fact that Jesus Christ came down from heaven, suffered, died, and rose again on our behalf is what is important, and so with Hermann Sasse we say, “Though Christ was born a thousand times in your heart, if He was not born in Bethlehem you would be eternally lost.”
Having reemphasized the Gospel upon which our entire faith is based Paul continues on to elaborate on the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and how it is the cog upon which the entire Gospel turns. “But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:12). The resurrection of the dead was controversial amongst the Corinthians and many were claiming that there was in fact no resurrection of the dead (that is, the physical raising of the body after death). Therefore Paul begins by asking how men among them can claim there is no resurrection of the dead when the Gospel that Paul has faithfully proclaimed clearly states that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on the third day. If there is no resurrection of the dead, how do we explain what happened to Jesus Christ? “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” (1 Corinthians 15:13-14). If in fact there is no resurrection of the dead then not even Christ has been raised from the dead and therefore everything proclaimed in the Gospel is useless and ineffectual. If our faith clings to something that never happened then our faith is futile, wasted, and good for nothing. A faith is only as good as what it clings to and trusts; if our faith is in a lie, then our faith itself is a lie. “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” (1 Corinthians 15:15-18). If Christ has not been raised from the dead then everyone who is a Christian not only has an empty faith but is in fact proclaiming lies about the one true God. What could be worse than this? Can there be a more blasphemous thing then testifying falsehoods about God to the world? Paul wants us to see the critical and decisive nature of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the essentiality of getting the facts absolutely right. This once again reiterates the importance of the objective truths of the Gospel; our entire faith hinges on the objective facts of the Scriptures. If these concrete truths are incorrect then everything we believe is empty and worthless and we are still dead and helpless in our sinful depravity. The consequence of a useless faith is that we would still be in our sins and all those who have died in Christ would be as “good as dead.” Whether we have some elusive concept of “faith” is not the crux of the matter, what matters is whether Jesus Christ actually died on the Cross and was resurrected to life for our sins. Did He or did He not? That is the question that matters. If He did not then all the faith in the world is useless mumbo-jumbo. “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15:19). If our hope in Christ is only for this life then as Christians we are to be pitied more than all others. Why? Because the hope of the follower of Christ is never in this life, but always in the promises of God that will be completed in Christ Jesus in the life to come. We cannot touch forgiveness, yet we trust it is ours thru Christ. We cannot touch the resurrection of the dead, yet we trust it is ours thru Christ. As Christians in this life we share in the sufferings, persecutions, and rejection of Christ crucified; we suffer for His name’s sake, hoping in the life of the world to come thru Jesus Christ.
However, our faith is not futile: “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Christ Jesus has indeed been raised from the dead, and He is the firstfruits of all those who share in His life thru the grace of Baptism. This means that because He was raised, we too will be raised thru His atoning work done on the Cross. Paul explains how thru our understanding of Adam that we can grasp how Christ’s work applies to all men. “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22). Sin and death entered the world thru one man, Adam, therefore life and resurrection has also entered the world thru one man, Jesus Christ. Paul wants us to see that Christ is the New or Second Adam, He is the New Man. Where the old man fell into sin and death, the New Man was perfect and paid the price to free all men from the clutches of death. Those who share in the birth of Adam share in his sin and death, those who share in the new birth of Christ share in the life that comes after dying with Him in Baptism. “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection” (Romans 6:3-5). Thru our Baptism we share in the crucifixion of Christ and subsequently we also share in His resurrection from the dead. Because we die to sin and share in Christ’s propitiation we no longer owe death our lives for the penalty of sin; the ransom has been paid, death no longer has a grip on our souls. “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin” (Romans 6:6-7). Therefore all who belong to Christ will be raised in the same way that He was raised: “But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him” (1 Corinthians 15:23). When the end arrives this hope that we hold will be realized as our bodies will be redeemed from the sinful nature that corrupts its very core. “The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God…we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:21, 23). Christ will put all things under Himself and by His authority He will claim from death all who belong to Him thru the Gospel. He will destroy death once and for all, bringing glory to God the Father, snatching us from the jaws of sin that once held us. “Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he ‘has put everything under his feet.’ Now when it says that ‘everything’ has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).
Paul continues on to ask several questions that will help us realize that the notion of no resurrection of the dead is absolutely ridiculous. “Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?” (1 Corinthians 15:29). These first two questions of Paul refer to the false belief and practice of the Corinthians by which they baptized those who were dead. This false ceremony was done in the hopes that they could save those who had already died; therefore Paul asks them why on earth they would carry out this false ritual if there was no hope for the dead for a resurrection? If the dead can’t be saved or raised then why try to baptize them? Clearly the Corinthians our practices were in glaring contradiction to the message of the Gospel. “And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained?” (1 Corinthians 15:30-32). The next set of questions of Paul asks why the Apostles would risk their life for the Gospel message if the resurrection of the dead was not real. Who in their right mind would endanger themselves in this life for something that was fake or didn’t exist? Clearly the testimony of the lives of the Apostles should give credence to the resurrection of the dead, for they would only sacrifice their lives if there was true hope for a life and resurrection to come. Indeed Paul even goes on to admits that if there was no hope that we should live like the rest of the world focused on the pleasures of this life: “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’” (1 Corinthians 15:32). If the dead are not be raised then we might as well revel in the lost pleasures and hopes of this lustful life, for what hope can we have if death is truly the end?
Having finished clearly laying out the truth Paul concludes with a firm, pastoral admonition: “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’ Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame” (1 Corinthians 15:33-34). Because of these false teachings that had infected the Corinthians and were destroying their belief in the resurrection, Paul very plainly tells them to stay away from those who proclaim these false teachings. Which of us would continue drinking water that we knew was polluted with poison? Would we not immediately remove from our lives this source of potential disease, death, and destruction? In the same way, if we hang around and listen to false teachers they will eventually corrupt us; false doctrines are poisonous and insidious and they will slowly destroy our entire faith from the inside out. Therefore we must not risk exposing ourselves to the lies and evil ways of men who proclaim false gospels against the Scriptures; we need to remove ourselves from the “bad company” of false teachers. These men are ignorant of the true God and at final analysis they only live for their own pleasure and flesh like the rest of the world. Paul on the other hand proclaims the truth of the Scriptures and the one Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the same way that Adam went before us dragging all of mankind into the way of sin, so too Christ has gone before us bearing all mankind with Him in the resurrection of the dead. Because He lives, by His grace we will live also. “If we died with him, we will also live with him” (2 Timothy 2:11). Therefore let us pray that we cling to the truth of the one Gospel of Jesus Christ and live in the great hope that has sustained all of our fathers in the faith: the hope of the resurrection of the dead. “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27).
Having shown us the absolute central necessity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ Paul continues on to teach us about the resurrection of the body for those in Christ. Paul begins with the questions of our human reason: “But someone may ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?’” (1 Corinthians 15:35). The question of “How?” is always a question of our sinful nature and of doubt. The first thing our reason says to almost every declaration of God is “How?” How can an apple cause death for all mankind? How does mere water wash away our sins for the sake of Jesus Christ? How can bread and wine be Christ’s true body and blood? How can the Cross be our salvation? How can God become full man? How can a dead man come back to life? These are the questions of doubt and sin, the questions of Satan. Therefore Paul responds to this first question of “How?” with frustration and disgust: “How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies” (1 Corinthians 15:36). “How foolish!” he says. Who are we to doubt the resurrection of the dead and ask “how” it is possible? Are we so arrogant and prideful that we put the resurrection of the dead beyond the powers of God Almighty? We don’t need to know “how”; we only need to know that it is the truth. In fact even the basic world around us bears witness to the resurrection of the dead: seeds go into the ground and die in order that they will be raised to life as a new creation, the caterpillar goes into the cocoon and “dies” so that it will be raised as a butterfly, winter comes along and all of nature dies before it is raised again in the new life of spring, the whole cycle of nature is one of death preceding new life. Who among us would ever think that an unimpressive seed would be capable of producing a grand tree that towers over the world around it? And yet thru the power of God’s creation such unimaginable things occur all the time. So in the end “How?” doesn’t matter, for what does matters is the simple fact that we must die like the seed that is sown in order to be shed of our old sinful flesh. Therefore we need to stop doubting and just believe the clear Word of God. “Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead” (Isaiah 26:19).
Paul continues on to answer the second question of what kind of body we will have after the resurrection: “When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor” (1 Corinthians 15:37-41). Once again Paul points us to the witness of the world around us: the seed is sown as one body and raised as another, and each seed even has an individual and unique body which it produces. In addition, all around us in nature we see the various bodies of flesh that walk the earth and even the bodies of the heavens above. This great variance illustrates God’s creative power and genius and ultimately points us to the unique nature of the body to come. “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). Our bodies now are mere seeds compared to the glory, power, and greatness of the spiritual body to come. We will sow this current body in corruption, weakness, dishonor, fallen naturalness, and sin, but it will be raised thru Jesus Christ in incorruption, power, glory, honor, strength, spirituality, and perfection. To illustrate this fact Paul compares and contrasts Adam and Jesus Christ (the second Adam and new Man): “So it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:45-49). Thru God’s plan He has chosen to have all men go the way of Adam with a natural body in order that thru Christ’s work we might die and be raised with a spiritual body like Christ’s. Jesus came down to earth and assumed our natural, sinful, dust of the earth body and fulfilled the requirements of the Law so that He would properly sow and germinate the seed that was to be raised with the new, glorified, spiritual body; He became the “man from heaven” on our behalf. We must therefore go the way of Christ in order to inherit the kingdom of God, there is no other way: “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:50). The body that we have now cannot receive the kingdom of God, we must go the way of the cross, the way of death thru Jesus Christ in order to partake in His fulfillment of the demands of the Law. Therefore our glimpse of the glorified body to come is seen in Jesus Christ’s resurrected body; His body which ate, could be touched, and yet could not be held by any locked door.
Continuing on Paul tells us what will happen in the end: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). When Christ comes again at the last trumpet call we will all be changed instantaneously. This will not be a slow process but an immediate transformation. It is for this reason that we should think of our life on earth as disciples of Christ as the period of our germination or cocoon. When we are baptized into Jesus Christ our old man is buried with Christ and the rest of our life is the period of developing within the cocoon or soil of Jesus Christ; we are internally a new creation in Jesus Christ, awaiting the outward completion of this act. Then when Christ comes on the last day we will finally spring forth from the confines of our old man once and for all, being resurrected in the new body that God has given us for Jesus’ sake. On this day all the dead in Christ will rise again and be clothed in new life: “For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’” (1 Corinthians 15:53-55). At this point the entire old man with all the sin and death that enslaved him will be defeated. No longer will sin have any reign in our bodies and death will have been conquered for all time. “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:56-57).
Having given us the most blessed assurance of life and victory in Jesus Christ Paul now urges us to stand firm in this faith and hope, giving our lives over to the work of love and discipleship: “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Paul is always very careful to make sure that we do not become complacent and apathetic Christians who try to rest on some self-bestowed laurels. He wants us to cling to the objective work of Jesus Christ crucified and to step out in bold discipleship. To abuse this grace by perverting it into a license for sin is never an option for the true believer. We always need to give our lives over fully and completely to the Lord so that He may work thru us to His glory, making our work, labor, striving, and enduring fruitful in Jesus Christ. When His Gospel of the cross is front and center of all we do we are assured all the promises of God despite our own weaknesses and failings. Therefore our standing, striving, and surrendering are never our work but always His work in us thru His gracious Word. We stand because He holds us up, we strive because He moves us forward, and we surrender because He pulls our fingers off of our idols, self, and sinful lives. Let us pray that thru His grace we cling to this Gospel with unwavering perseverance, standing firm not on our own abilities but always on the work of the One who came on our behalf, was crucified, and was raised to life so that we too might share in the resurrection of the dead. “This is what Yahweh says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life…I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them…I will put my Spirit in you and you will live…then you will know that I Yahweh have spoken, and I have done it” (Ezekiel 37:5-6, 12, 14).
No comments:
Post a Comment