Brethren, I would remind you in what terms I preached to you the gospel, which you received, in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold it fast — unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
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Here in this reading, the great Paul gets to the nub of his message in Christ. You will note that Paul has throughout his epistles very little to say about the earthly ministry of Christ. It is as if he is indifferent to his miracles and teachings. No, the centrality of Paul’s belief is based upon the resurrection. It is the resurrection and the final resurrection of the dead that is of paramount importance to him. For Paul, Christ is life everlasting and life everlasting has been demonstrated through his resurrection and ascension into heaven.
So you can imagine his alarm if some Christians were saying that there was no final resurrection of the dead who died in the faith. These so-called Christians didn’t argue with the proposition that Christ himself had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven – what they said was that this was personal and unique to Christ only. In other words, everyone else misses out. Others had formed the view that somehow upon death, our spirits were reabsorbed back into the Godhead much like a drop of water returns back to the sea and thus we lose our unique personhood. You see the concept of the resurrection of the flesh was incompatible with Greek philosophical thinking and appeared to Gentiles both repulsive and ridiculous. After all, how could something that dissolved back to dust be turned back to living flesh and blood? Indeed a number of philosophical schools of thought taught that the body was a trap for the soul. After all, how could one who had joined the divine be returned back to corporeality? It was a nonsense. So the idea of the resurrection of the flesh was both unnecessary and repulsive. Therefore they sought to ameliorate the teaching of the resurrection to make it more palatable.
This was no small problem for Paul. So he begins his polemic by reminding them of the original gospel tradition and how the promise of the resurrection of humankind was part of the tradition. The gospel which Paul preached is good news and it is worthy of defence in the face of those who sought to teach a different gospel. Paul reminds them that the gospel was taught to them for their salvation, unless of course they only pretended that they had belief, in which case the gospel could not save them. Why? Because without belief you cannot have faith. So in order to encourage their moral zeal he begins by making known and reminding them of their first experience of the good news which they received. It is that good news that enables them to stand in the midst of the world’s problems and to overcome them so that they may be saved. Paul reminds them that if you accept the gospel and you then walk away then all your efforts have been in vain; you have achieved nothing other than self-condemning yourself. So Paul urges them to hold fast to the Lord.
Notice that Paul’s defence is centred on the resurrection. There is no choice as to whether or not we accept that teaching. The teaching of the resurrection is crucial to the centrality of the gospel. So, yes, all flesh can be raised to salvation. This doctrine of salvation was not a mere afterthought by Paul. It was part of the very first teachings that he taught to the Corinthians. It was not optional or an idle speculation that they were free to accept or reject. It was inherent in the very gospel that they received. If you believe in Christ you believe in the resurrection of the dead. It is a simple as that.
Paul points out that it is in accordance with the Scriptures that he was raised on the third day. In other words it was prophesied that this would occur. The death of Christ was not merely incidental to the saving work nor was his resurrection merely a matter of tying up any loose ends. No, the whole purpose of the resurrection was that it gave hope to all Christians. The resurrection itself promised all Christians the possibility of life everlasting.
In order to give emphasis to the truth of the resurrection Paul then begins to name witnesses to that resurrection. Notice, the Paul makes no references to any women as being the first eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Christ as is set out in the Gospels. No, Paul here is talking about legal eyewitnesses and females were considered not competent to give legal testimony. Hence Paul commences his list by referring to Cephas and then the 12 who were his inner circle. Then Christ was seen by more than 500 brothers at once. This is an important testimony. It may not be important to us today but to those who are receiving the good news in Corinth around 20 years after the resurrection of Christ, had they then wanted to, could have verified the truth of the resurrection for themselves from these eyewitnesses. So what Paul is in effect saying is: this is the teaching, and the teaching is capable of being corroborated and the corroboration will be that Christ was raised from the dead. And I, Paul testified to you that he appeared to me after his resurrection. I, who am the least worthy of the apostles because I persecuted the church of Christ, was forgiven and given the blessing to see Christ. Whilst I believe in Christ then I am saved.
Paul is sorry for what he did in persecuting the church but nevertheless he is now an apostle – by the grace of God – and through God’s bestowal of grace he has produced great fruit. Indeed, Paul has been bestowed upon more abundantly than all the other apostles and done great works, but it was not through his strength but the grace of God. What matters is that fervent belief in the resurrection and the universal application of the resurrection is to be believed. In other words, we live in Christ and we are raised by Christ.
Christ was raised from the dead and by death trampled down death. In this way the promise is that all are capable of being saved. Indeed Paul says elsewhere that if Christ was not raised – if indeed, Christ did not appear to all those witnesses and if he did not appear to me – then we are all to be pitied because we believe and have followed a lie. Without the resurrection God continues to be distant and apart from humankind but with the resurrection we are all capable to everlasting life.
It is for this reason that all the apostles with the zeal of the resurrected Christ proclaimed the resurrection throughout the world so that all who believe in the resurrection might be saved.Paul’s
