1 Corinthians 15:1-11

1 Corinthians is divided into individual sections that correspond to particular problems or questions of the Corinthian church. Each section addresses a specific issue; it was something the Corinthians needed to hear. And with chapter 15, we begin addressing a new issue: the problem of the resurrection.

However, in this case, Paul doesn't immediately begin dealing with the actual problem. That starts in verse 12. The first eleven verses of the chapter are aimed at establishing the basic facts, facts which are the foundation of everything else Paul says in this chapter.

The key phrase here is in verse 1: “I declare unto you the gospel.” This section is aimed at reminding the Corinthians of a key part of the gospel. This was something they already knew, but some, at least, had forgotten or misunderstood its importance, leading to the problems we see later in the chapter.

This gospel had a history, a history for both Paul and the Corinthians.  At the end of chapter 14, Paul made a point of reminding the Corinthians that they were not the originators of the gospel. Paul, as an apostle, had preached to them, and they had received it. They had no special claim on the gospel; it came from God and belonged to all churches.

Paul reiterates that idea here. They had the gospel because Paul had preached to them. (The word 'preached' here is a verb form of the word for gospel. It was “the gospel which I gospelized unto you,” as Robertson puts it.) It did not originate with the Corinthians, but it also did not originate with Paul. Paul was passing on what he had received. From Galatians we learn that God chose to reveal most of the details of the gospel to Paul directly. Paul didn't even meet with the other apostles until three years after his conversion. This is probably what Paul means when he says that he received these things, though it could also be that some of these specific facts he received from Peter and James.

Paul had received these truths; he had preached them to the Corinthians; and the Corinthians had received them. The very fact that there was a church in Corinth at all, the fact that there were any people calling themselves Christians and standing out from the general religious milieu of Corinth, was solely because of the gospel.

But what is the gospel? It is “that Christ died for our sins... and... was buried.” That is the central idea of the gospel. There is the historical fact of Jesus' death and burial. And there is the theological fact that His death was related to our sin. Jesus' death was intentional, and it was not for His own sake. It was because of us. It was an atonement.

But that death is not the whole of the story, and certainly not the end of the story. “He rose again the third day.” The Greek here emphasizes Jesus' resurrection as an ongoing reality. It isn't just that He rose in the past but that He is still raised.

Both of these facts were “according to the scriptures.” This probably means that both these things had been prophesied in the Old Testament. For His death and burial, we have Isaiah 53:8-9: “He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.” For His resurrection, Psalm 16:10: “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” However, most likely, by the time 1 Corinthians was written, at least one gospel had already been written, and so some think “according to the scriptures” refers to them.

So, we have the death and resurrection of Christ. And of these, Paul's emphasis here is on the resurrection. The fact that Jesus died was not a matter of controversy. Assumably, at the time, no one denied that. Even today, many people will affirm the fact of Jesus' death but refuse to admit His resurrection.

And so Paul begins citing a list of witnesses of the resurrection. No one, seemingly, saw the actual moment of the resurrection—the moment when Jesus walked out of his tomb. However, there were several people who saw the resurrected Jesus during the period that followed that moment.

Paul mentioned Cephas, or Peter. Some suggest that Paul mentions him specifically because there were some in Corinth who were attached to him in some way. After Jesus appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, this is what they did: “And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.” (Luke 24:33-34) Of all the disciples, Jesus appeared first to Peter. We know nothing about this meeting beyond this.

Then Jesus appeared to the Twelve (this term is used as a title for the disciples, even though there were only ten or eleven at this point). He then appeared to a group of at least five hundred. This group isn't mentioned in the gospels. Then he appeared to James. This appearance also isn't mentioned in the gospels. This is likely James the brother of Jesus, not James the son of Zebedee. We know what Jesus' brothers thought about Him during the course of his ministry: “For neither did his brethren believe in him.” (John 7:5) And yet we find James playing an essential part of the early church--he seems to have been the leader of the church and he also authored one of the book of the New Testament. Why this change? He had had a visit from the resurrected Christ.  

Finally, Paul says that Jesus appeared to all the apostles. The People's New Testament Commentary thinks this was the final appearance from Luke 24:50-51: “And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.”

I said that was the final appearance, and you would think it would be if it ends with Jesus withdrawing from Earth altogether. But it wasn't the final one. There was one more: “And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:3-4)

This appearance to Paul is the strangest. First, because it was after the end of main period of Jesus' time on earth. Paul says he was as “one born out of due time.” The Greek term here refers to a child that is born prematurely—that is, born at the wrong time. Second, this is strange because Paul was not one of Jesus' disciples or followers. If Paul had been in Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion, he would not have been going out to the tomb weeping like Mary Magdalene. He was more aligned with those who pounded the nails than the disciples. When he does come into the picture, he is on the side of the nails. And yet Jesus appeared to him—appeared, not to bring judgment, but to offer mercy.

These are the facts of the Resurrection. This was not something one man saw one dark night when he was partly drunk. It had been witnessed by many people over several weeks. There were over 500 witnesses. As someone pointed out, if each of these people gave five minutes of testimony, you would have over 41 hours of testimony. And most (though not all) of these witnesses were still around. 

These were the facts of the resurrection; this is the reality of the resurrection. And this reality had had an impact; it had consequences.

Interestingly, in Paul's account, only three people are mentioned by name—Peter, James, and Paul. And all three of those were people who had, in some way, failed Jesus. James, as we already mentioned, had not believed him and, seemingly, had tried to stop Jesus' ministry. Peter denied Christ. And Paul had persecuted Him. And yet Jesus appeared to all three of them. And after that meeting, James was the leader of the church, and Peter and Paul its foremost preachers.

Paul, who out of all of them was least likely and least worthy, had done perhaps the most. At least, he had worked the hardest. The man who was one of the biggest opponents of Christianity became its hardest worker. That is the difference which grace makes; that is the difference the resurrection makes.

And it was true for the Corinthians, too. I said before that they became Christians only because of the resurrection and the gospel of the resurrection. That was in the past. But their present and the future were also based on the resurrection. This is verse 2: “By which also ye are saved.” Not it is "are saved" not "were saved." It isn't just that God did something for them in the past. They had a present experience with God. And that present experience was based on the gospel, on the resurrection. And if they gave up on that—if they forgot what they had believed, then they would have believed in vain. This was not a secondary matter.

This is a pivotal matter. Earlier in 1 Corinthians, we saw that different members of the church had formed into little parties around various preachers. But all those different preachers had preached the same gospel. They had all preached the doctrine of the resurrection of Christ. “Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.” This doctrine had been preached; this doctrine had been believed. This was the foundation of the church. And it was a foundation that some in the Corinthian church were, inadvertently, undermining.