The Historical Resurrection – the greatest proof: (15:5-8): Here Paul gives only 4-accounts of Jesus, but there are about 10-accounts where Jesus had been seen by disciples and general public. Please look at the following 10-appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- To Mary Magdalene (Jn. 20:11–18).
- To the other women (Mt. 28:8–10).
- To Peter (Lk.24:34).
- To 10 disciples (Lk. 24:36–43; Jn. 20:19–25).
- To the Eleven, including Thomas (Jn. 20:26–29).
- He was seen by more than 500 people while on His ascension (Matt.28:16ff).
- To James and the apostles (1Co.15:7). James was the half-brother of the Lord who became a believer and ultimately a leader in Jerusalem after the Lord appeared to him. (Jn.7:5).
- To the disciples on the Emmaus road (Lk. 24:13–35).
- To Eleven disciples in Galilee (Mt. 28:16–20; Jn 21:1–24).
- To Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1–6; 18:9, 10).
Now the Lord lives in every believer’s life. Every believer finds his life changed through the Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.
Now the Apostle Paul says: If any one believes the Resurrected Lord Jesus, they must also believe in the resurrection of the dead. Christ came as a man, a human and experienced all that we experienced, except that He never sinned If there is no resurrection, then Christ was not raised. If He was not raised, there is no Gospel to preach. If there is no Gospel, then what we have believed is in vain and we are still in your sins! If there is no resurrection, then believers who have died have no hope. We shall never see them again! The Resurrection is not just important but it is the most important part for a Christian because all that we believe hinges on it.
Paul’s double confirmation of being the Apostle: (15:9-11):
Paul calls himself abnormally born means perhaps a special case since he was persecuting the Christians. Through the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, his life was completely reversed who became a hardcore Christian and ultimately martyred for the cause of the Gospel. The grace of God was richly poured on him. This has made him to work harder than many disciples. Paul says: “His grace to me was not without effect.” It was true, the grace of God had changed Saul into Paul, from a hard-core persecutor of Christians to hard-core believer. He considered himself as a one of the greatest sinner, but the grace of God had changed him completely. No sin is too big before God when the sinner repents. This is the true expression of faith he had in the Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.
If Paul had not worked so hard, even then the grace of God would have poured upon him. The grace is given freely to everyone. It is not due to our merit or past life or present life. If we do not yield to the expectations of God after receiving His grace, we can say that God’s grace was given in vain. But in Paul’s case, it was not without effect. Paul knew that God gives His grace, we work hard, and the work of God is done. We work in a partnership with God, not because He needs us, but because He wants us to share in His work. Paul understood this principle well. That’s why he says: “for we are God’s fellow workers (3:9). Paul’s most important credential to be an Apostle was that he was an eyewitness of the risen Christ (Acts 9:3-6). The other Apostles saw Christ in flesh, but Paul falls into next generation where Christ appeared to him.
Again Apostle Paul is comparing himself to the other Apostles. He was not to remain silent when it comes to about the comparison of hardwork among the Apostles. But he says he worked harder than any of the other apostles. This is not to say the other apostles were lazy (although some of them may have been), but Paul was an exceptionally hard worker. “Yet not I , but the grace of God which was with me.” Paul was honest enough to know and say that he worked very hard. He was also humble enough to know that even his hard work was the work of God’s grace in him.
Finally he makes a concluding remark that whether it was his preaching or their preaching, it was the same Gospel which Corinthians have also believed.
The foundation of faith: (15:12-19):
The Corinthian Christians were influenced by Greek culture and philosophy. Greeks do not believe the resurrection of the body. They consider soul was the real person, imprisoned in a physical body and at death the soul is liberated. There was no immortality for the body, but the soul entered an eternal state. But Christians firmly believe that both body and soul will be united after resurrection. Since the Corinthian believers had the influence of Greek philosophy, they were finding difficult to believe this concept. The Apostle wrote these verses specially to make them very clear about this concept. Let’s look at some of the negative points the Apostle was making if Resurrection had not occurred:
- The Corinthian Christians were not denying Jesus’ resurrection. They were denying human’s resurrection.
- Corinthian Christians believed that believers will live forever, but not in resurrected bodies.