If the Corinthians'
poor behaviour was due - as we mentioned last time - to a failure to adequately
love one another (chapter 13), then their failure to love - it could be argued
on the basis of chapter 15 - was due to their failure to adequately believe the
Gospel (15:1-11), for it is the ongoing and deepening belief in Gospel that
transforms people's lives (v1-2). The Gospel is not merely what we 'believe' in
order to enter and begin the Christian life ("which you received",
v1); it is also (a) the basis of our new Christian identity and the source of
our daily strength to grow and mature as believers ("in which you
stand", v2; see also Colossians 1:6,10); and it is (b) the power of God to
shake off our old sinful patterns and make us more like Jesus ("by which
you are being saved", v3; see also Romans 1:16). That Paul had to 'remind' (v1) these
Christians of this speaks volumes.
Paul gives an
outline summary of 'the Gospel of God's grace' (v3-4), properly focusing on the
necessity and centrality of the death and resurrection of Jesus (for us): His
death for our sin and His burial to confirm His death; and His resurrection to
demonstrate His sacrifice was accepted and the witness accounts (v5-8) to
verify the truth of Him being raised.
Paul then testifies to his own experience of 'the grace of God's Gospel'
in his own life (v9-11) - totally transforming the direction, motivation and
purpose for living. This is all of God's doing as Paul responds appropriately
to his understanding and appreciation of what God has done for him (v10). When,
like the Corinthians, our own spiritual lives stall, or become stuck, or we
begin to stagnate, it is because - like them - we are failing to keep the
undeserved grace of God towards us in our minds and hearts. That was their problem. May it never be ours.
Paul's brief summary of the Gospel springboards him into addressing one more matter that Paul needs to address before signing off: their
understanding of the resurrection. Reading between the lines of his argument,
it would appear that while the Corinthians accepted Jesus' resurrection from
the dead, an influential section of the church would not accept that Christians
generally will share in the resurrection life with Jesus when He returns
(v12,16). This, of course, had always been a key element in Paul's preaching. The victorious blessings that Jesus has won for His people, they
said, are for this life only, so we ought to be experiencing the fullness of
heaven's joys now, and not have to wait for the distant future. And lest you think that this is irrelevant,
historical trivia, there are some Christians and churches round about that teach something
similar today…
1 Corinthians 15 is
a long, complicated - and yet, positively uplifting and encouraging - passage,
the details of which are beyond the realm of this blog to fully explore. Enough
to say, that in Paul's reasoning, if the resurrection of Jesus as the assurance
of the future, physical resurrection of all believers is denied as a core
Gospel truth, then the Christian message is emptied of its life-transforming,
God-glorifying substance: Christ is still dead (v13,16), Gospel preaching is in
vain (V14), Christian faith is in vain (v14), we are misrepresenting God (v15),
we are still in sin, separated from God (v17), death is unconquered and those
who have already died have perished (v18), and if Christianity is only for this
life only, is all the pain and suffering for Christ really worth it (v19)? But
Christ has been raised (v20): and this does have significant implications for
us - in the future (v20-28) and in the present (v29-34). Paul concludes that wrong thinking about the
resurrection (or any other Gospel truth, for that matter) inevitably leads to
wrong behaviour (v34). The Corinthians need to understand their error and
repent.
Since the resurrection is true, then what sort of
resurrection can Christian believers anticipate? Paul attempts to answer that
question in the following section (v35-57).
Much remains a mystery since Paul is describing the indescribable.
However, what we do know is that when Christ returns, we will not exist for all eternity as disembodied
spirits floating from one heavenly cloud to another playing harps… Rather, our
own bodies will be transformed - radically resurrected, restored, revitalised
and totally revamped - to enable us to (1) physically live (2) in the presence
of the Holy God (3) for all eternity without wearing out [Take 5 minutes out to think about that…]. This
is beyond our experience and even beyond our imagination to conceive. But, says
Paul, since it is true, then "Therefore,
my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves
fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is
not in vain" (v58). Prayerfully mull over this verse as well...
Paul finishes
(Chapter 16) with explicit and implicit references to church unity: he call
them "brothers" (v12,15); he anticipates an eagerness to come
together in weekly worship (v2,19) to give generously towards those in need
(v1-3) and directly support those actively engaged in spreading the Gospel
(v5-11, 15-18). His final, prayerful benediction (v22-24), echoing the rest of
the letter, is that they may be given the grace to sustain them in their
relationship with Jesus and with each other.
The question is: was
Paul's prayer for the Corinthian Christians answered? How did they respond when they received and
read his letter? Well, next time, we'll
turn over the page to discover what happened next…
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