Tag Archives: 1 Corinthians 15-16

Daily Bible Study

December 2, 2023 Bible Study — If There Is No Resurrection, Faith in Christ Is in Vain

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Corinthians 15-16.

Paul concludes his teachings in this letter by reminding the Corinthian Church, and us, what he taught as the Gospel.  Paul writes that the tenets of the Gospel of highest importance are that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and then rose from the dead on the third day.  What Paul writes here runs directly counter to those who claim that they find value in Jesus’ teachings without believing in His resurrection.  Paul points out that if Jesus was not raised from the dead, then those who passed on His teachings were liars because they all claimed that He did indeed rise from the dead and that they had seen Him.   Paul writes that if Christ was raised from the dead, then we who put our faith in Him will also be raised from the dead.  On the other hand, if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ was not raised from the dead. Further, he tells us that if our only hope in following Christ’s teachings is for this lifetime then we, and anyone else who follows Christ, is to be pitied.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 2, 2022 Bible Study — If You Do Not Believe That Jesus Rose From The Dead, His Teachings Provide No Value To You

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Corinthians 15-16.

As Paul wraps up his letter to the Corinthians, he gives us the basic which everyone must believe about Jesus in order to be a Christian.

  1. Jesus died for our sins
  2. He was buried
  3. He was raised from the dead on the third day as foretold by the Scriptures

Paul makes the explicit point that both he and all of the other Apostles (and apostles) taught these three things.  From there he goes on to emphasize one of those, one with which the Believers in Corinth were apparently struggling: that Jesus was raised from the dead.  Paul points out that if Jesus did not truly rise from the dead that all of those who preached about what he taught were liars.  If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then everything Christianity teaches is a falsehood and has no value.  Further, Paul writes that if one does not believe in the resurrection of the dead, one should not follow Jesus’ moral teachings, that without the resurrection of the dead Jesus’ teachings are bad advice.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 2, 2021 Bible Study — If Christ Did Not Rise From The Dead, Christianity Is A Lie And Of No Value

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Corinthians 15-16.

This passage contains one of Paul’s best descriptions of what the good news of the Gospel is. It is right up there in importance with Romans 10:9-10 where he writes, “If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  Here Paul writes that we must hold firmly to the gospel which he preached.  That gospel was, and is, that Jesus died for our sins, that He was buried, and that He was raised from the dead on the third day.  Paul expands on to make clear that he means a literal, physical raising from the dead, not a spiritual, or figurative raising from the dead.  The gospel message has no meaning or value without that part, and without the part where we who put our faith in Christ will also experience such a literal, physical raising from the dead.  The suffering and hardship of this life become pointless if our existence ends with our death.  So, let us preach to those around us and seek to draw them into faith in Christ so that they might also experience the joy that comes through oneness with Him and the eternal life which He offers.  This message was the part which was “foolishness to the Greeks.”  And all too many today want to find wisdom in the Gospel without being willing to accept the “foolishness” of the resurrection of the dead.  As Paul tells us, if Christ was not resurrected from the dead, the entire New Testament is built upon lies and has no redeeming value.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 2, 2020 Bible Study Without The Resurrection, Jesus’ Teachings Are Pointless

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 15-16

I know people who claim to be followers of Christ who do not believe in the resurrection of the dead.  Paul makes it quite clear that such a belief is contrary to the message that he, and the other apostles taught. Paul makes two arguments here for the Resurrection, and resurrection, being a critical part of the Gospel message. First he points out that all of those who preached what Jesus taught also preached that they had first hand knowledge of Jesus’ resurrection, including himself in that number. There was no one who claimed to have heard Jesus preach, and claimed to follow that preaching, who did not also claim to have witnessed Jesus’ resurrection. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, they were all either liars or crazy.  Which would mean that whatever they were teaching was fatally flawed.  Paul’s second argument for the Resurrection, and our resurrection, was that there was no value to following Gospel teachings if there was no resurrection. If there is no resurrection, then risking the suffering which so often accompanies following Christ’s teachings had no upside. Sure, it might make the world a better place, but I will not be around to see that change. Paul tells us that if there is no resurrection then we should live by the motto, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die.”  I have many friends who live by that credo, and it always saddens me.

Daily Bible Study

December 2, 2019 Bible Study — Either Jesus Rose From the Dead Or the New Testament Is Full of the Writings of Insane Men

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 15-16

Some people claim to be Christian but do not believe in Jesus’ resurrection.  In today’s passage, Paul summarizes the Gospel: Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day.  This is what all of those who taught the Gospel said.  In particular, those who passed on Jesus’ teachings made this claim.  If they lied about Jesus rising from the dead, which they claimed to have witnessed, how can we believe what they said about His teachings?  Further, if Jesus did not rise from the dead, than neither will we.  If we will not rise from the dead, than the suffering and ridicule which we face for following Christ has no point.  If there is no resurrection from the dead, we may as well party all the time for tomorrow we die.

I want to circle back to Paul’s first point.  If Jesus did not rise from the dead, than everything in the New Testament is a lie.  Further, the teachings presented there as those of Jesus are not “great moral truths”, but the words of a conspiracy of con artists…or perhaps a gang of crazies.

Daily Bible Study

December 2, 2018 Bible Study — Without Jesus’ Death and Resurrection, There Is No Gospel

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

9Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 15-16.

    Paul emphasizes here that Chrit’s death and resurrection are the core of the Gospel message. That without them, the Gospel is meaningless. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, those who first preached the Gospel were liars. Worse than mere liars, they lied about God. The mystery of the Gospel is that Jesus defeated Satan by dying, but the evidence of His victory was His resurrection. There are those who believe that Jesus never died: either the person on the cross whom people thought was Jesus was someone else, or Jesus went into some kind of trance (the explanation for that varies) and the Romans merely thought He was dead. The first one of these makes a mockery of the Gospel, which states that Jesus died for our sins. It has someone else dying in Jesus’ place rather than Jesus dying in our place. The second one has no one die, and therefore our sins are not forgiven. More importantly, Jesus’ death was His victory. When Jesus died, Satan had done the worst to Him that He could do and it was not enough to make Jesus forsake the will of His Father. Jesus’ resurrection is the evidence of His victory. Even more than that, without Jesus’ resurrection, the Gospel is hollow. If the end of the story is death, Satan wins in the end because no one is left to oppose him. However, death is not the end. It was not the end for Jesus, and it will not be the end for those of us who put our faith in Him.

Daily Bible Study

December 2, 2017 Bible Study — On The Resurrection Of The Dead

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 15-16.

    In today’s passage Paul addresses the issue of resurrection from the dead. Paul tells the Corinthians, and through them, us, that the core of the Gospel is that Jesus died, was buried, and then rose from the dead on the third day. He immediately provides a list of witnesses to His resurrection. Paul makes it clear that he did not believe in some figurative or symbolic resurrection. Paul believed in the literal resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ. Further, this belief was the basis of his belief that we would also be resurrected from the dead. If Jesus was not raised from the dead the whole of the Gospel is nothing but a fabric of lies. You cannot build a useful moral code on falsehood.

    I do not think it is possible to make too much of the importance of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus’ death shows us the path to victoriously exercising the power of God in our lives. Jesus’ resurrection shows us that God’s power will be victorious, even after what seems like the ultimate defeat. Jesus’ willingness to accept death led to His resurrection. In the same way we must be willing to accept death in order to be resurrected. Paul’s discussion about how our resurrected bodies will be different from our earthly bodies expounds on this point. An acorn which is preserved as an acorn will never grow into an oak tree. In the same way, if we seek to keep our earthly bodies we cannot be encased in the bodies which God intends for us.

Daily Bible Study

December 2, 2016 Bible Study — Resurrection Of the Dead

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 15-16.

    In today’s passage Paul makes the case for the resurrection of the dead. He starts by summing up the Good News which he preached. This summation is an important thing for us to note: Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day. He then points out that Jesus was seen alive by a fairly large number of people after His death. He finishes this short section on the Good News which he preaches by pointing out that he and the other apostles preach the same message.

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    Then Paul makes his primary argument for believing in resurrection of the dead. If there is no resurrection from the dead, then Christ did not rise from the dead. If Christ did not rise from the dead, then the apostles, those who preached the Gospel were liars. If their claim that Jesus was raised from the dead was false, then everything else they taught was false as well. The Good News does not have the power to save us from our sins if Jesus did not rise from the dead. Further, there is no point in living according to the Gospel if there is nothing more than our physical beings. If the material world is all that there is, we may as well live solely for whatever pleasure we can derive in this life.

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    However, this material world is NOT all that there is and Jesus was indeed raised from the dead. Therefore there is value in doing what is right and avoiding sin. If we trust fully in Jesus, we will be raised from the dead in His likeness. It is pointless to try to understand what sort of bodies we will have when we are raised from the dead. What we do know is that those bodies will not suffer the pains and disabilities which we experience today. Those who do not believe in the resurrection of the dead and try to follow Jesus’ teachings are the greatest of all fools. They are fools because our only source for what Jesus taught are people who also claimed that He rose from the dead. Lying about the Resurrection goes against everything else they were teaching. How could people who were either crazy or flat out lying about that teach anything of moral value?