1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Q.1. What truths make up the Gospel? What is a mandatory part of the Gospel message? How did Paul support its historicity? Were these eyewitnesses believable? – (1 Cor.15:1-7)
Paul urged the Corinthians to keep their reliance on the Gospel that he had preached to them (1 Cor.15:1). It is in this Gospel that salvation is found, and therefore they should hold fast to it (1 Cor.15:2). What was this Gospel, and where should the church focus its ministry? – 3 … that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Cor.15:3-4). All these are essential elements of the Gospel message, and none should be by-passed. Many churches today major on the death of Christ. However, Paul went on to argue that there would be no hope without the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The apostles clearly understood that they had been called to be witnesses of the resurrection, (c.f. Lk.24:44-48; Acts 1:22). Paul documented all the different witnesses of the resurrection, including Peter and the other disciples. The risen Jesus also – appeared to more than five hundred at one time (1 Cor.15:5-6). James, the brother of John, was martyred (Acts 12:1). This James mentioned by Paul was the half-brother of Jesus, who wrote the book of James and was a presiding elder at Jerusalem (Acts 15:13). He did not initially believe in Jesus, and thought He had lost His senses, according to the Gospel accounts (c.f. Mk.3:21; Jn.7:1-5). This made his testimony to the resurrection even more remarkable.
Q.2. What made Paul so convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead? Why did he describe himself as ‘the least of the apostles’? How dramatic was the change in Paul’s life? – (1 Cor.15:8-11)
Paul’s own testimony to the resurrection was perhaps the most unexpected, as he wrote – 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God (1 Cor.15:8-9). Paul had been a violent aggressor against the church (c.f. 1 Tim.1:13). However, this ended when he met the risen Christ (Acts 9:5; 22:8; 26:15). Paul demonstrated all the credentials of an apostle (2 Cor.12:11-13). He never forgot his blasphemous actions against Christian believers, so considered himself – the least of the apostles (1 Cor.15:9 c.f. Acts 7:58-60). His life was so transformed, that he gave himself tirelessly to the cause of Christ. He declared that – by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I laboured even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me (1 Cor.15:10). However, their salvation was not about performance, but based on the Gospel (1 Cor.15:11).