THE RESURRECTION / Part 1

1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-4

[The next few blogs we will be looking at the truth of the Resurrection as revealed by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. The chapter deals with Christ’s Resurrection and ours.]

Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 deals with the heart of the gospel, the Bodily Resurrection. In Paul’s day, like our own, the resurrection was highly suspect. They believed the body simply dissolved and the soul returned to God. To the Greeks resurrection was unthinkable. Immortality laid in the soul, not the body. Among the Jews, the Sadducees denied both immortality and the resurrection of the body (Acts 23:8). At Corinth there was an element of denial of this great truth (1 Cor. 15:12). Unlike the pagan dichotomy, Christianity saw that the body was not evil in and of itself. How could it be when God the Son took upon himself a body like ours (Phil. 2:6-8; John 1:14)? The body will be resurrected. Our resurrection is based upon the reality of Jesus’ resurrection.  The validity of the resurrection is seen in the following:

THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL (15:1-2)

The truth of the resurrection was effective in the lives of these believers. They had responded to its truth as set forth in the gospel in a threefold response.

• The “received” the truth. The Greek word is paralambano and means to receive from another. It is a past completed action.
• They “stand” in it. This speaks of the continued present results. They had received the truth, now they stand in it.
• They are “saved” by it. The word sozesthe is found in the indicative mood, present tense, literally meaning “you are being saved” by it. This has confused some and caused them to see salvation as conditional. This is not the case. The three clauses are cumulative, depending and building upon each other. Because they had “received” the truth and were continuing to “stand” upon it, they were “being saved.” As G. Campbell Morgan says:
   
  “They received it, and believed it; that is they believed on Him, and the result was ‘y stand, and are saved.’ Their saved condition and their standing are the demonstration of the truth of the gospel that Jesus not only died, but that He rose again” [CORINTHIAN LETTERS, 184].
  
  This salvation is not conditional, but progressive. Positionally our salvation is a completed fact (Rom. 5:1); experientially it is a continual process or growth. What Paul is saying is that the process of salvation is an ongoing factor in the lives of believers. It validates the reality of the resurrection.

THE HISTORICAL CONTENT OF THE GOSPEL (15:3-4).

The validity of the resurrection is seen in the CONTENT of the Message. Paul delivered unto them this important content. The heart of the gospel is based on three historical facts:

• “That Christ died for our sins.” Christ on the cross did not sink into a coma and then recover after being taken off the cross. He died! The word died is in the aorist tense denoting historical fact in a point of time. However, the gospel does not stop there. He died “for our sins.” This gives the reason for His death. He died for our sins. His death was historical, vicarious and redemptive.
• “That He was buried.” Again aorist tense, confirming the reality of His death, for He was buried. The word means entombed. This fact is essential to both His death and resurrection. It is the bridge between the two. His burial gives validity to both. Without the burial, both would have been suspect. However, his burial did happen and is historical fact.
• “He was raised on the third day.” Here we find a change in tense, it is not aorist, but in the perfect tense. The perfect tense in the Greek denotes completed action with continuous results. He arose and remains alive! His resurrected state is permanent and continuous.

Christ’s death and resurrection is not myth, but a historical fact. It was foretold “according to the Scriptures.” These Scriptures are the Old Testament. His death was declared in Psalm 22:6-9; Isaiah 53; and Zechariah 12. His resurrection in Psalm 16:10 and Isaiah 53:10-12. Jesus Himself predicted His death (Luke 22:37; 24:25-26) and the time of His resurrection (Matthew 12:40). Gromacki observes:

If Christ had been raised from the dead on the second, fourth, or any succeeding day, that would have been a remarkable, unprecedented achievement; but it also would have declared Him to be a false prophet [CALLED TO BE SAINTS, 182].

The resurrection is validated by the content of the gospel and the historical affirmation of His death, burial and resurrection. There can be no question that these events were in accordance with the plan and foreknowledge of God.