Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: 1 Corinthians 15 and Psalm 119:145-160

³ For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…

In this letter, the apostle Paul was responding to some important questions and concerns relating to the Corinthian Church, which had been brought to his attention during his extended ministry in Ephesus (15:32). Although they were all important issues, the most important of all was the one he dealt with last – in 1 Corinthians 15. And it was most important because it threatened the very heart of the Gospel.

Certain Corinthian Christians had stopped believing in a literal resurrection from the dead. They believed that Christ gives us an abundant, Spirit-filled life in this life … but that death is the end of it all. Paul attacked this falsehood with the force it deserved. After all, the very foundation of the Gospel is that Christ has been raised from the dead! Without that truth, he writes, the good news is not good at all.

Without the resurrection of Jesus, the Gospel has no power to save us from sin and death. If He was not raised from the dead, Jesus was just another human teacher who lived and died, and He cannot help us or make any real difference to us today. Paul writes, “¹⁷… if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” Without the resurrection, the Gospel is not even good news for this life.

Without the resurrection, the Gospel is also not good news for the next life. As Paul writes, “¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.¹⁹ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” Why? Because if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then we won’t be either.

But Christ was indeed raised from the dead. He was seen alive in His resurrection body by more than 500 witnesses (v.5-8) including Paul Himself. And because Christ was raised from the dead we have absolute confidence that our future as His people is guaranteed. Either we will live until His return and then receive our resurrection bodies when He returns or we will die physically (which he describes euphemistically as “falling asleep”) and then be raised from the dead to receive our resurrection bodies (v.51-52). And “then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’” (v.54).

Life application: Remind yourself of this truth today: “As a believer in Jesus Christ I am going to live forever!” Live in the light of this truth. Live in the light of the coming resurrection. Let everything you do today be done in anticipation of the truth that you will be with Christ forever.