In 1 Corinthians 14:48 Paul concluded his response to questions brethren from Corinth had written, asking him about. But there remained one question of grievous nature with which he would deal: the question as to whether there would be a resurrection from the dead. Before he discussed that issue, he wrote,“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, wherein also ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you except ye believed in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:12).
“Gospel” means “good news” and in that gospel these brethren stood and were saved by it, “If…” In the beginning of Mark the author wrote concerning the earthly life and ministry of Jesus Christ, and records that John, the forerunner and herald of Jesus Christ, spoke of the gospel of the coming kingdom, the church of Jesus. To prepare the people for that kingdom John’s message was “the baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins” (Mark 1:4). The “good news” of the kingdom was that forgiveness of sins and reconciliation of man, a sinner, to God was possible. Of that gospel Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth…” (Romans 1:16). That gospel was the same gospel Jesus commissioned His apostles to go into all the world and preach (Mark 16:15-16).
Many years later Paul preached the same gospel to the Corinthians and by it they had been saved. That gospel concerned Jesus Christ whom John had identified to his disciples as “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world” (John 1:29), and of whom John (the apostle) described as a “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 5:6). Salvation from sin is a blessing intended for all men for all responsible ones have sinned as Paul wrote: “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Some years earlier Paul wrote that Christ “died for our sins, according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 16:3). One of the scriptures which mentioned Christ dying for man’s sins is Isaiah 53:7-8 where the prophet said, “By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who among them consider that he was cut oft out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due?”
After reminding the brethren Christ had died for their sins, Paul stated, “And that he was buried” (1 Corinthians 15:4). Isaiah had also prophesied of this truth “and they made his grave with the wicked (he was crucified between two thieves) and with a rich man in his death” which was fulfilled when Joseph of Arimathaea, a rich man, went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus and then buried Jesus in his own new tomb (Matthew 27:57-60; Luke 23:50-54).
Paul continued: “And that he hath been raised on the third day, according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:4). Some have theorized that Jesus didn’t really die on the cross; He just swooned and in the coolness of the tomb and then revived. But, Jesus did die. The scriptures say He did. The centurion, whose job it was to crucify those condemned and whose own life was in jeopardy if that criminal did not die, affirmed to Pilate Jesus was dead. And, a soldier who stood near Jesus’ cross, thrust his spear into the side of Jesus and “forthwith came blood and water.” He was dead, but David prophesied that He would rise from the dead (Psalm 16:8-10). Jesus gave His nation a sign: He would rise from the dead (John 2:18-21). Jesus’ resurrection was both proof that His testimony was true and that He is God’s Son (Romans 1:4). Peter wrote, “Blessed by the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance, incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you…” (1 Peter 1:3-4). If Jesus, with His Father, could raise Himself from the dead, let no one doubt He can also raise us. What a blessed hope Christ gave to the faithful that someday we shall, like Him, also rise again.
Jim McDonald