Bible Studies

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This two-part article was taken from the verse-by-verse study of 1 Corinthians chapter 15 on my internet site that was originally part of my paper titled, "A Verse-by-Verse Study of Six Important Eschatological Chapters of the New Testament: 1 Corinthians 15; Matthew 24, 25; and Revelation 20-22" that was published November, 1998. As I prepare this two-part article to put on this Christian article site, I am incorporating a few corrections and some improvements. All Bible quotations were taken from the 1977 edition of the NASB unless otherwise noted. Sometimes I use double brackets [[ ]] and (( )) to make them more obvious.

"Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, (2) by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you [[It's true, of course, that we must continue to "hold fast the word" of the gospel (in faith), which includes living in line with the truth of the gospel as well as holding correct doctrine. However, that isn't the primary issue the apostle Paul is dealing with here; he assumes (at least for the sake of discussion) that they are holding fast the gospel; the if clause is a class-one condition in the Greek (assumed to be true). What. Paul is getting at here, as the following words show, is the issue whether the gospel they had received from Paul is true (not that Paul ever doubted it).]], unless you believed in vain. [[Compare "if Christ has not been raised...your faith...is vain" (15:14) and "your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins" (15:17). As Paul will go on to show, they would have believed in vain if there is no resurrection of the dead. The resurrection of the dead is an important part of the gospel. Throughout this chapter Paul deals with the resurrection, because some in the church at Corinth were denying the resurrection of the body (15:12). If they are right, Paul says, then the gospel isn't true, and we have believed in vain. Paul, of course, wasn't doubting the resurrection; he was trying to wake up some Corinthians to the seriousness of their unappreciated modification of the gospel. God doesn't need any help!

Some Corinthians were denying the resurrection of the body, but they probably would have accused Paul of setting up a straw man in this chapter, easy to knock over. They probably would have said they believed in eternal glory all right, but they just didn't believe in a literal resurrection of the body. From their point of view, the idea of a resurrected body was a negative; it sounded like a Jewish myth that was beneath their dignity, being cultured Greeks (cf. Acts 17:32); they undoubtedly looked forward to being totally free from a body in the eternal age to come. It's probably true that Paul didn't give their viewpoint a fair hearing - he knew that it was wrong. The Corinthians had no right to modify the gospel, which was given by Christ to Paul (cf., e.g., Gal. 1:11, 12), to make it better fit their view of things. We had better just stick with God's view of things, the truth.

Their idea fit a popular world view of that day, that physical matter, including the body, is evil. However, physical matter and the body are not evil in themselves, having been created by God. Some Corinthians Christians wanted to once-for-all be free from this evil. Their contempt for a resurrected body probably pictured this body being essentially the equivalent of the body as it exists in this age. ((Some ancient Jewish writings, including the Talmud, show that this was a common viewpoint among the Jews. See, for example, F. L. Godet ("The First Epistle to the Corinthians" [1971 reprint by Zondervan from the 1886 edition], page 401 under verses 25-58); Simon J. Kistemaker ("1 Corinthians" [Baker, 1993], page 566 under verse 35); and Archibald Robertson and Alfred Plummer ("First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians" [T. & T. Clark, printed 1982], page 368 under verse 35).)) In 1 Cor. 15:35-54 Paul deals with the glorious transformation of the present body that will make it a body designed for eternal, heavenly glory.

They probably said they believed in the resurrection, but that is was strictly a spiritual resurrection. It's true, of course, that we have already experienced a spiritual resurrection as born-again Christians (cf., e.g., Rom. 6:4-11; Eph. 2:5, 6; and Col. 2:12, 13). In 2 Tim. 2:17, 18 Paul mentions two Christian leaders by name "who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place" thereby apparently denying the future resurrection of the body.

Based on what Paul says in this chapter, it seems his opponents did not deny the resurrection of Jesus' body, but they probably thought of His body being different than ours; His was a unique case. (Compare, for example, 1 John 4:2, where John had to combat the Gnostic denial that Jesus really "came in the flesh.") It would have been very difficult for Christians to deny the bodily resurrection of Christ with that empty tomb, with all those witnesses of His resurrection (see 1 Cor. 15:5-8), and with His resurrection being so emphasized in the gospel. I might add that the disciples could touch Him after His resurrection (Matt. 28:9; Luke 24:36-40) and He ate with His resurrected body (Luke 24:41-43).]] (3) For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (4) and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures [[As I mentioned, Paul received the gospel from Christ. Significantly, Paul had the Old Testament Scriptures to substantiate his gospel. On Christ's (atoning) death and resurrection, see Isa. 52:12-53:12; Luke 24:25, 26, 46; Acts 17:2, 3; and 26:22, 23. On His atoning death, see I Pet. 2:24, 25 (these verses quote from, and build on, Isa. 53:4-12); Acts 8:32-35 (Acts 8:32, 33 quote Isa. 53:7, 8). On His burial, see Isa. 53:9. On His resurrection, see Psalm 16:8-11 with Acts 2:22-32. Regarding His being raised on the third day, cf. Hos. 6:2; Matt. 12:39, 40 with Jonah 1:17; John 2:18-22; Matt. 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; Luke 9:22; 18:33; 24:7; 24:46; and Acts 10:40. I agree with the standard viewpoint that Jesus was crucified and buried on Friday and raised early Sunday morning, on the third day.

Matthew 12:39, 40 with Jonah 1:17 are explained by D. A. Carson ("Expositor's Bible Commentary," Vol. 8 [Zondervan, 1984], page 296): "...if the normal sequence of Passion Week [speaking of the standard viewpoint I just mentioned] is correct...Jesus was in the tomb only about thirty-six hours. Since they included parts of three days, by Jewish reckoning Jesus was buried 'three days' or, to put it another way, he rose 'on the third day' (Matt. 16:21). ... In rabbinical thought a day and a night make an "onah" [a full day], and a part of an onah is as the whole (cf. ... Esth. 4:16; 5:1). Thus according to Jewish tradition, 'three days and three nights' need mean no more than 'three days' or any combination of any part of three separate days."]], (5) and that He appeared to Cephas [[Paul normally refers to Peter by his Aramaic name, Cephas. (See John 1:42; Gal. 2:7-9.) Compare Luke 24:13-35, especially 24:34; these verses also mention Jesus' appearance to the two men on the road to Emmaus, not mentioned by Paul here. Paul also doesn't mention Jesus' appearance to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18; Mark 16:9) and to the women (Matt. 28:1-10). The apostles were key witnesses of Christ's resurrection (cf. Acts 1:22).]], then to the twelve [Compare Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36; and John 20:19.]. (6) After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; (7) then He appeared to James [This is James a brother of the Lord Jesus (cf., e.g., Mark 6:3; Acts 12:17; Gal. 1:19; and 2:9, 12). In Gal. 1:19 Paul calls James an apostle; he wasn't one of the twelve.], then to all the apostles [Compare Acts 1:3-12.]; (8) and last of all, as it were to one untimely born [The NIV has, "as to one abnormally born." Paul is alluding to the circumstances of his conversion; he met the Lord Jesus while on his way to Damascus to persecute some more of His people. Compare Acts 9:1-22; 22:3-21; 26:9-20; and 1 Cor. 9:1.], He appeared to me also. (9) For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. [Cf. 1 Tim. 1:12-16.] (10) But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. [Compare, for example, 2 Cor. 3:5, 6; Eph. 3:1-13. The fact that Paul's ministry (and life) was effective by God's grace/Spirit, and the fact that God must receive all the glory, doesn't mean that Paul (and all Christians) didn't have a necessary role to play, as he cooperated with God's grace/Spirit through faith. Compare Phil. 2:12, 13.] (11) Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. (12) Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? (13) But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; (14) and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. (15) Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we witnessed against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. (16) For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; (17) and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. [As discussed above, Paul's opponents would probably have said they believed Jesus, being a unique case (for one thing He was God the Son), was resurrected, but that they could not accept the idea of a bodily resurrection of Christians. However, as these verses show, Paul will have none of this compromise. Either the gospel is true in its entirety, or it is false, and we are still in our sins.] (18) Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. [In other words, if the gospel isn't true, those Christians who have died will not be resurrected to eternal glory when Christ returns; they have perished.] (19) If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. [[The hope of Christians is to he resurrected to eternal glory when Christ returns (cf., e.g., Col. 1:5, 27; 3:4; Phil. 3:20, 21). (At death true Christians go to heaven [cf. 2 Cor. 5:1, 8; Phil. 1:21, 23; 1 Thess. 4:14-16], but it is heaven in a preliminary sense; it is a preliminary state that precedes the resurrection and the full glory reserved for the age to come.) If we were to have this hope in Christ throughout this present life and then die and find out that our hope was based on a lie (which isn't going to happen, as Paul can assure his readers), then "we are of all men most to be pitied." Paul's point is that if the Corinthians who were denying the bodily resurrection were right, then this would be the result.]] (20) But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. [[The Lord Jesus Christ was the first man (He became a man, but He is much more than just a man) to leave death behind and be harvested into God's eternal kingdom with a glorified body. He is "the first fruits" of the coming harvest. (There is widespread agreement that Jesus was raised on the very day "the sheaf of the first fruits of [the agricultural] harvest" was presented before the Lord. See Lev. 23:10, 11. The "first fruits" look forward to, and consecrate, the harvest yet to come.) Then, as 1 Cor. 15:23 shows, at the time of Christ's second coming, His people (all true believers, which includes all the believers from old-covenant days and all true Christians) will be harvested into the glory of God's kingdom. All believers who have died will he resurrected, and those Christians still living on the earth when He comes will be transformed (cf. 1 Cor. 15:50-52; 1 Thess. 4:13-17). (Matthew 27:52, 53 show that a select number of old-covenant saints received resurrection bodies shortly after the Lord Jesus was resurrected.)

The verse we are studying calls Jesus "the first fruits of those who are asleep

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