The Resurrection

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Confession of Faith

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Here, in these verses, Paul assures us of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The sum total of the work of Christ which Paul preached to the Corinthians, and which they received, and in which they stood, and by which they were saved, he now sums up in what was an early confession of faith.

Verses 1 and 2 I call, "the three legs of the Gospel". Which is the most important, which of the legs on a three-legged stool is the most important? The three legs of the Gospel are "received", "sustained", and "saved". All three are gifts of the Spirit. All three are necessary and Paul says that that is the way that he presented the Gospel to them and they accepted those terms.

Note the three legs:

1. They received the Gospel. They accepted what Paul preached as God's plan of salvation. All that he revealed to them about Jesus Christ, His birth, His death, His resurrection and His ascension, they received and believed.
2. They stood and were sustained by the Gospel. They staked their life eternal on the Gospel. They lived, as best as they could, in the light of the Gospel as Paul gave them that light. Their church covenant and constitution was based on Paul's instruction. They, at his urging, guarded against false influences.
3. The were saved by that Gospel. Apart from that Gospel, there was no salvation and they knew it. In accepting that Gospel, they were saved and given the knowledge and assurance of eternal life.

All this they received, UNLESS THEY BELIEVED IN VAIN. How can we believe in vain? Matthew Henry says, "It is in vain to profess faith in Jesus Christ if we deny the Gospel that Paul preached." This means that the Gospel must be pretty important. What is the foundation of the Gospel that Paul preached? It is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Paul lists two things that substantiate the resurrection.

1. It was prophesied. Prophesied that He would die for our sins, Isaiah 53:10, and prophesied that he would be resurrected on the 3rd. day, Hosea 6:1-3.
2. It was witnessed. Christ appeared 10 times, that we know of, after the resurrection. Paul lists a few of those that saw Him. Peter, the twelve Disciples, 500 brethren, most of whom were alive at the time Paul wrote this, James and last of all, Paul.

Last of all, Paul. Notice how Paul mixed humility and facts. He was very humble about his calling. He had not been one of the 12 Disciples. He had not received the 3 years of teaching from the Master. He considered himself least of all the Apostles. Why? Certainly not because he wasn't called, because Paul believed that he saw and was called by the Lord there on the road to Damascus. So it wasn't his calling that made him consider himself least, it was his persecution of the church in his early years. He was instrumental in the stoning of Stephen. He was on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians when he came face to face with the Savior.

How could one who had so much hatred for Christians, become one himself? Only by the Grace of God, the only way any of us can become a Christian. Except for the Grace of God, Paul knew that he would still have been persecuting believers. So Paul was very humble about his position as an Apostle, but he was proud of the work that the Lord had allowed him to do sense his conversion. Paul said, "God's choosing and His bestowing Grace upon me was not in vain, for I have worked harder than any other Apostle."

So through the Gospel, weather it was preached by Paul, or Apollos or Peter, these Corinthians were enlightened, sustained and saved by the Grace of Jesus Christ. Verses 3 thru 8 became an early confession of faith. They assert four facts that are basic to our Christian beliefs. One, Christ died for our sins. Two, He was buried. Three, He was raised on the third day. Four, He appeared to many as evidence of His resurrection.

Condemning Disbelief in the Resurrection

In these verses, Paul condemns those who expressed disbelief in the resurrection of Christ and therefore did not believe in the resurrection of the believer. To these mis-guided people Paul spoke.

He established 5 important points about the resurrection:

1. If we do not believe in the resurrection, we deny the truth of the scriptures. Many of the Old Testament Prophets prophesied of the death and resurrection of the Messiah.
2. If we do not believe in the resurrection, we deny the truth of those who openly confessed to having seen the resurrected Lord.
3. If we do not believe in the resurrection, we deny the principle doctrine of Christianity. If we deny this doctrine, we make preaching in vain and the Gospel folly. Paul and all who witnessed just wasted their time. If we deny this doctrine, our faith is in vain, for without the resurrection, there is no redemption, no forgiveness, no salvation. If Christ did not gain victory over death, how could He deliver us from its power.
4. If there is no resurrection, those who died in Christ, died in vain and they are lost indeed.
5. If there is no resurrection, we, as Christians, are to be most pitted.

So these people who were denying the resurrection were not just denying its reality, they were also denying the truth of scriptures, the truth of those who witnessed that they had seem the resurrected Lord, the principle doctrine of Christianity and the eternal reward of those who had died in Christ, and.... making themselves look very pitiful.

Twelve Facts About the Resurrection

There is so much food for thought in these 15 verses. It is easy for some of this to be taken out of context, therefore it must be understood in light of what has preceded, the reality of the resurrection and the necessity of believing it.

So lets look at these 12 facts about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

1. Christ was raised from the dead, therefore, there must be a resurrection. It is paramount that we believe this or our faith is in vain.
2. Christ was the "first fruits" of those who have fallen asleep. Before the coming of Christ, there were many that died in the belief and hope of the resurrection. Christ was the first of those people. After the coming of Christ, those who die in faith believing in Him, go to be with the Lord, but their bodies return to the dust from which it came. These bodies will be resurrected on the "Day of the Lord" and will be like the resurrected body of Christ. Christ's body was the first to be resurrected.
3. Death came because of man's sin. God created man to live forever but sin brought death into man's life. With death, came the need for the resurrection.
4. Resurrection from the dead came because of the work of one man. Whereby Adam, all died, so by Christ, all shall live. This affirms the human side of Christ. He died, He was risen and so shall we be raised. His human nature allowed him to suffer and die. His divine nature allowed Him to purchase salvation for all who believe.
5. Christ will deliver the Kingdom (the Church) to God the Father. At His second coming, Christ will call all who believe, those who have died will be first and them those who are alive will be caught up, resurrected, to be with the Lord and we will be presented to the Father, for we belong to Him. Those whom God gave to Christ, belong to Him.
6. Before He does this, He will destroy every rule, every authority and every power. Christ will reign as a mediator and this period will not end until all opposing powers has been put down. All of His enemies will be put under His feet.
7. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. All people will experience the resurrection. The saved, to eternal life with Christ and the lost, to eternal damnation. Death, then, will be abolished.
8. God has put all things under subjection to Christ. After his resurrection, He ascended into Heaven and there He sits at the right hand of God where he has all authority over the Church.
9. When He completes the above, He will deliver this power to God from whom He received it.
10. Baptizing in the name of someone dead was evidence of the belief by many at Corinth in life after death. This probably relates to a first century practice that came into being with the belief in purgatory. Purgatory was supposed to be the place of departed souls that were never baptized. Christians who knew of someone like this, assumed the name of that person and was baptized, believing that this would somehow place these people on God's list of those who were baptized. Out of this practice grew the belief that the same could be done for those who died and were not saved. It was believed that the people could be prayed out of purgatory.
11. Paul's life was threatened constantly. Paul had been stoned and left for dead, he had been imprisoned, he had been forced to leave many towns to escape those who would have killed him , he was attacked by a crown in Ephesus, whom he called "beasts", and was nearly torn apart. The Jews had a contract out on Paul and the Gentiles often did not trust him. Was this a foolish thing that Paul did, always putting his life on the line? Would anyone have done this if there was no resurrection?
12. Bad company ruins good morals. "Do not be deceived," Paul says, "Come to your right mind." "Do not believe those who preach that there is no resurrection." Be careful whom you listen to. Stay away from those who have a false doctrine.

All twelve of these facts Paul believed was evidence of the resurrection.

Faith is the Key

We do not need to know everything or understand everything to believe. The doctrine of the resurrection is not easy rationalize, and people are always trying to rationalize things. It is interesting that the founding fathers of this country were realists and as such, believed in God, accepted Christ as God's Prophet but could not rationalize the conception of Mary by the Holy Spirit, the divinity of Christ, the Trinity nor the resurrection. These things seemed to them, unrealistic. But these are things that we must accept on faith.

Someone asked Paul, "How can we be raised from the dead?" Here, Paul attempts to answer that question. He uses nature itself, to explain the resurrection. First, he uses the miracle of germination. He used a seed, explaining two facts that are common knowledge about that seed. First, in order to accomplish its purpose in life, it must die. Unless it dies, it will not sprout and bring forth life. Secondly, what grows from the seed, will look nothing like the seed. Now, what had this to do with the resurrection? We, who are in Christ, must die to our old selves in order to become what we can be, a completely different person. That completely different person must die to become what we can be in the resurrection. This fact is simply and realistically portrayed by the life and function of the seed.

Paul uses other parallels to compare our earthly bodies with our heavenly bodies. He compares the "terrestrial" bodies (earth) with the "celestial" bodies (sky). He uses this as an comparison between the glory of earth compared to the glory of Heaven. The glory of the resurrected body will far exceed the glory of the earthly body.

Then he uses the words "perishable" and imperishable. What is sown, our bodies, is perishable, what is raised, our resurrected bodies, is imperishable. Proclaiming the unavoidable fact that all must die and all must be resurrected in an imperishable state to live for eternity. What you do with Jesus Christ, will determine where you spend eternity.

Then he uses the words "honor" and "dishonor". Dishonor is the state of our earthly bodies. We are "sown" in dishonor (conceived in sin) and raised in honor (resurrected) if we are in Christ. Paul says that we, who are in Christ, will be presented "faultless", as hard as that is to believe.

Them he uses the words "weakness" and "power". Sown in weakness and raised in power. At best, our efforts to live a Christ like life are weak. But Paul says that the time will come when what is dim and unattainable to us now, will be ours when we are raised in the fullness of God's power.

Then he compares Adam's body with Christ's body. The physical body versus the resurrected body. Sown as a physical body and raised as a resurrected body. Adam is symbolic of the physical body, our first body, and Christ is symbolic of our second body, our resurrected body. Just as we are born in the image of Adam so shall be raised in the image of Christ.

Finally, Paul warns us that "flesh" and "blood" will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Only that body that has died and been raised imperishable, honorable, and possessing the power of God will inherit the Kingdom of God. We will be knowledgeable, immortal and imperishable.

Last Days

Paul writes some 30 or 40 years before John (Rev. 20:11-15) about the events of the Second coming of Christ. Judgment Day and Resurrection Day are the same day. John explains as does Paul, that not all will be dead at the time of the Second Coming, but all will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. In these seven verses Paul describes a chain of events that will occur at the Second Coming of Christ.

First, the trumpet will sound. In Revelation we read where Christ will be given the Lambs Book of God and one by one He will open the seven seals. When the seventh seal is opened, there is silence in Heaven for one half hour. Then seven Angels appear with seven trumpets.

Six Angels, in turn, will sound their trumpets. Then 6 plagues will fall upon the earth. The seventh trumpet will be delayed because when that trumpet is sounded, the sea and the earth will give up its dead. John says that when this last trumpet is sounded, all that was prophesied will be fulfilled.

Here Paul says that the last trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised. How? imperishable, changed and immortal. Then all that was prophesied will come to pass. Death will be overcome and there will be victory in Christ. Then Paul ends the chapter with a gentle reminder that there is something that they should do in the meantime. "Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that, in the Lord, your work is not in vain.

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