A. The truth of Jesus’ resurrection.
1. (1-2) Preface to the proclamation of Paul’s gospel.
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the
gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you;
unless you believed in vain.
a. The gospel which I preached to you: In verses three and four, Paul will describe the content of the gospel. Here, he describes how the gospel can be of benefit to man. The gospel is only of benefit if it is received and if one will stand in it.
i. The word gospel means, “good news.” As the word was used in ancient times, it didn’t have to describe the message of salvation in Jesus Christ. It could be used of any good news. But the best news ever is that we can be saved from the punishment we deserve from God because of what Jesus did for us.
ii. The Corinthian Christians first received the gospel. The message of the gospel must first be believed and embraced. As Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica, For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
iii. The Corinthian Christians also did stand in the gospel. Despite all their problems with carnality, lack of understanding, strife, divisions, immorality, and weird spirituality, they still stood for the gospel. This is in contrast to the Galatian church, who was quickly being moved away to another gospel (Galatians 1:6).
b. By which you are also saved, if you hold fast that word I preached to you: The Corinthian Christians had done well (they received the gospel). They were doing well (they did stand in the gospel). But they had to continue to do well, and hold fast the gospel Paul preached to them. Every Christian must take seriously their responsibility to not only have a good past, and a good present, but to determine to have a great future with the Lord also.
i. Hold fast also implies there were some people or some things which might want to snatch the true gospel away from the Corinthian Christians. All the more, this is why they had to hold on!
c. Unless you believed in vain: If the Corinthian Christians did not continue to hold fast, one day they might let go of the gospel. And if one lets go of the gospel, all their previous belief won’t do them any good. It was as if they had believed in vain.
2. (3-4) The content of the gospel Paul preached.
For I delivered to you first of all that
which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day
according to the Scriptures.
a. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: Paul did not make up this gospel. He received it (and not from man, but from Jesus Christ, according to Galatians 1:11-12), and he delivered it. This is not “Paul’s gospel” in the sense that he created it or fashioned it; it is “Paul’s gospel” in the sense that he personally believes it and spreads it.
i. “Notice that the preacher does not make the gospel. If he makes it, it is not worth your having. Originality in preaching, if it be originality in the statement of doctrine, is falsehood. We are not makers and inventors; we are repeaters, we tell the message we have received.” (Spurgeon)
b. As Paul describes the gospel in the following verses, it is important to notice that this gospel is not insightful teaching or good advice. At the core of the gospel are things that happened, actual, real, historical events. The gospel isn’t a matter of religious opinions, platitudes, or fairy tales, but about real historical events.
i. “Our religion is not based upon opinions, but upon facts. We hear persons sometimes saying, ‘Those are your views, and these are ours.’ Whatever your ‘views’ may be, is a small matter; what are the facts of the case?” (Spurgeon)
c. Christ died: The death of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, the center of the gospel. Though the idea of glorying in the death of a Savior was foolishness to the word, it is salvation to those who will believe.
i. How did Jesus die? The Roman government executed Him, by one of the most cruel and excruciating forms of capital punishment ever devised, crucifixion.
ii. “Although the Romans did not invent crucifixion, they perfected it as a form of torture and capital punishment that was designed to produce a slow death with maximum pain and suffering.” (Edwards) What exactly was it like to be crucified? In days the New Testament was first written, the practice needed no explanation. But we would do well to appreciate just what happened when someone was crucified.
iii. The victim’s back would first be torn open by the scourging, and then the clotting blood would be ripped open again when the clothes were torn off the victim. When he was thrown on the ground to nail his hands to the crossbeam, the wounds would again be torn open and contaminated with dirt. Then, as he hung on the cross, with each breath, the painful wounds on the back would scrape against the rough wood of the upright beam and be further aggravated.
iv. When the nail was driven through the wrists, it would sever the large median nerve. This stimulated nerve would produce excruciating bolts of fiery pain in both arms, and could result in a claw-like grip in the victim’s hands.
v. Beyond the excruciating pain, the major effect of crucifixion was to inhibit normal breathing. The weight of the body, pulling down on the arms and shoulders, would tend to fix the respiratory muscles in an inhalation state, and hinder exhalation. The lack of adequate respiration would result in severe muscle cramps, which would hinder breathing even further. To get a good breath, one would have to push against the feet, and flex the elbows, pulling from the shoulders. Putting the weight of the body on the feet would produce searing pain, and flexing of the elbows would twist the hands hanging on the nails. Lifting the body for a breath would also painfully scrape the back against the rough wooden post. Each effort to get a proper breath would be agonizing, exhausting, and lead to a sooner death.
vi. “Not uncommonly, insects would light upon or burrow into the open wounds or the eyes, ears, and nose of the dying and helpless victim, and birds of prey would tear at these sites. Moreover, it was customary to leave the corpse on the cross to be devoured by predatory animals.” (Edwards)
vii. Death from crucifixion could come from many sources: acute shock from blood loss; being too exhausted to breathe any longer; dehydration; stress-induced heart attack, or congestive heart failure leading to a cardiac rupture. If the victim did not die quickly enough, the legs would be broken, and the victim would soon be unable to breathe.
viii. How bad was crucifixion? We get our English word excruciating from the Roman word “out of the cross.” “Consider how heinous sin must be in the sight of God, when it requires such a sacrifice!” (Clarke)
ix. However, we never speak of the physical sufferings of Jesus to make us feel sorry for Jesus, as if He needed our pity. Save your pity for those who reject the complete work of Jesus on the cross at Calvary; for those preachers who do not have the heart of Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:23, when he proclaimed the center of the Christian message: we preach Christ crucified.
d. Christ died for our sins: What does it mean that Jesus died for our sins? How does His death do anything for our sins? Many noble men and women have died horrible deaths for righteous causes through the centuries. How does the death of Jesus do anything for our sins?
i. At some point before He died, before the veil was torn in two, before He cried out it is finished, an awesome spiritual transaction took place - the Father laid upon Jesus all the guilt and wrath our sin deserved, and He bore it in Himself perfectly, totally satisfying the wrath of God for us.
ii. As horrible as the physical suffering of Jesus was, this spiritual suffering - the act of being judged for sin in our place - was what Jesus really dreaded about the cross; this was the cup - the cup of God’s righteous wrath - that He trembled at drinking (Luke 22:39-46; Psalm 75:8; Isaiah 51:17; Jeremiah 25:15). On the cross, Jesus became, as it were, an enemy of God, who was judged and forced to drink the cup of the Father’s fury, so we would not have to drink that cup.
iii. Isaiah 53:3-5 puts it powerfully: He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
iv. “Reader! one drop of this cup would bear down thy soul to endless ruin; and these agonies would annihilate the universe. He suffered alone: for the people there was none with him; because his sufferings were to make an atonement for the sins of the world: and in the work of redemption he had no helper.” (Clarke)
v. And when that was accomplished (who knows how long it could have lasted?), there was no reason for Jesus to “hang around” on the cross - His work was done, He could go on now.
e. For our sins: Our sins were responsible for the death of Jesus. He did not die for a political cause, or as an enemy of the state, or for someone’s envy. Jesus died for our sins. Jesus did not die as a mere martyr for a cause.
f. He was buried: We don’t often think of the burial of Jesus as part of the gospel, but it is. The burial of Jesus is important for many reasons. It is proof positive that He really died, because you don’t bury someone unless they are really dead, and Jesus’ death was confirmed at the cross before He was taken down to be buried (John 19:31-37). Jesus’ burial is also important because it fulfilled the Scriptures which declared, And they made His grave with the wicked; but with the rich at His death (Isaiah 53:9). Jesus was buried in the tomb of a rich man (Matthew 27:57-60).
g. He rose again: This truth is essential to the gospel. Why, if Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins and remove our guilt, why is the resurrection of Jesus so important?
i. Although Jesus bore the full wrath of God on the cross, as if He were a guilty sinner, guilty of all our sin, even being made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21), He Himself did not become a sinner. Even the act of taking our sin was an act of holy, giving love for us - so that Jesus Himself did not become a sinner, even though He bore the full guilt of our sin. This is the gospel message! That Jesus took our punishment for sin on the cross, and remained a perfect Savior through the whole ordeal - proved by His resurrection.
ii. For this reason, He remained the Holy One (Acts 2:27, 31-32), even in His death. Since it was incomprehensible that God’s Holy One could be bound by death, the resurrection was absolutely inevitable.
iii. Therefore, the resurrection of Jesus is not some “add on” to a “more important” work on the cross. If the cross is the payment for our sins, the empty tomb is the receipt, showing that the perfect Son of God made perfect payment for our sins. The payment itself is of little good without the receipt! This is why the resurrection of Jesus was such a prominent theme in the evangelistic preaching of the early church (Acts 2:24, 3:15, 4:10, 13:30-39).
iv. The cross was a time of victorious death, a negative triumph. Sin was defeated, but nothing positive was put in its place until the resurrection. The resurrection showed that Jesus did not succumb to the inevitable result of sin. The resurrection is proof of His conquest.
h. He rose again the third day: The fact that Jesus rose again the third day is part of the gospel. Jesus was a unique case. He did not or will not rise at some “general” resurrection of the dead. Instead He rose the third day after His death. This also demonstrates Jesus’ credibility, because He proclaimed He would rise three days after His death (Matthew 16:21, 17:23, 20:19).
i. Because of the reference to the third day,
and because in Matthew 12:40 Jesus refers to
three days and three nights, some have thought it necessary for Jesus to
spend at least 72 hours in the grave.
This upsets most chronologies of the death and resurrection of Jesus,
and is unnecessary, being unaware of the use of ancient figures of speech. Eleazar
ben Azariah (around the year 100 a.d.)
said: “A day and a night make a whole day, and a portion of a whole day is
reckoned as a whole day.” This
demonstrates how in Jesus’ day, the phrase three
days and three nights did not necessarily mean a 72-hour period, but a
period including at least the portions of three days and three nights.
ii. “According to Jewish reckoning, ‘three days’ would include parts of Friday afternoon, all of Saturday, and Sunday morning.” (Mare)
i. According to the Scriptures: Because this idea is so important, Paul repeats it twice in these two verses. Jesus’ work for us didn’t just come out of thin air; it was planned from all eternity and described prophetically in the Scriptures.
i. The plan for His death is described in places like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53.
ii. The plan for His resurrection is described in places like Hosea 6:2, Jonah 1:17, Psalm 16:10, as well as the scenario in Genesis 22, where Isaac, as a type of Christ, is “raised” on the third day of their journey, at the beginning of which Abraham had reckoned his son dead.
iii. Admittedly, the Old Testament understanding of resurrection was shadowy; many passages look to a bleak existence after death (Psalms 6:5, 30:9, 39:13, 88:10-12, 115:17; Isaiah 38:18, Ecclesiastes 9:4-5, 10); yet there are other passages of hope and confidence after this life (Job 19:25-27; Psalm 16:9-11; 73:24).
iv. Remember though, that it was Jesus, not the Old Testament, which brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2 Timothy 1:10).
3. (5-8) Concrete evidence of Jesus’ resurrection.
And that He was seen by Cephas, then by the
twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom
the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that
He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by
me also, as by one born out of due time.
a. No one saw the actual
resurrection of Jesus. No one was
present in the tomb with Him when His body transformed into a resurrection
body. If someone were there, perhaps in a brilliant flash of light, they
would have seen the dead body of Jesus transformed, and virtually vaporize out
of the grave clothes. Perhaps it would
be something along the lines of the way a body was transported on the old Star
Trek series; the molecules would alter, and the person could pass through a
solid object, and re-assemble themselves into a solid person. We know that Jesus could do this after His
resurrection; He could miraculously appear in a room that had all the doors
locked and the windows shut. Yet He was
no phantom; He had a real flesh and bone body.
i. Though no one saw the actual resurrection of Jesus, many people saw the resurrected Jesus. Paul now calls forth these witnesses to the resurrection, to establish beyond all controversy that Jesus was raised from the dead in a resurrection body.
b. He was seen by Cephas: Jesus made a special resurrection appearance to Peter (Luke 24:34). We are not told much about this visit, but we can assume there was some special need for comfort and restoration in Peter that Jesus ministered to.
c. Then by the twelve: This probably refers to the first meeting Jesus had with His assembled disciples, mentioned in Mark 16:14, Luke 24:36-43, and John 20:19-25. This was the meeting where Jesus appeared in the room with the doors and windows shut, and breathed on the disciples, giving them the Holy Spirit.
i. When Paul writes by the twelve, he uses the term as a figurative title. At the first meeting of the resurrected Jesus with His disciples, Thomas was absent and Judas had killed himself. But they still were known as the twelve.
ii. “Perhaps the term twelve is used here merely to point out the society of the apostles, who, though at this time they were only eleven, were still called the twelve, because this was their original number.” (Clarke)
d. The meeting of Jesus with over five hundred brethren at once isn’t detailed in the gospels, but is suggested by Matthew 28:10, 16-17. During the time after His resurrection, but before His Ascension, Jesus seemed to meet with His followers on many different occasions.
i. Of whom the great part remain to the present is compelling testimony of the truth of the resurrection of Jesus. Paul is saying, “Go ask these people who saw the resurrected Jesus. There are not a handful of self-deluded souls; there are literally hundreds who saw the resurrected Jesus with their own eyes. They know Jesus rose from the dead.”
ii. There really were five hundred followers of Jesus before His Ascension, though Acts 1:15 mentions only the 120 who were in the Jerusalem area. Jesus met with these 500 followers in the region of Galilee. They knew Jesus rose from the dead.
iii. We sometimes sing: “You ask me how I know He lives; He lives, He lives inside my heart.” But that is not the best way to prove Jesus lives. He lives because the historical evidence demands we believe in the resurrection of Jesus. If we can believe anything in history, we can believe the reliable, confirmed testimony of these eyewitnesses. Jesus rose from the dead.
iv. Through the years, there have been many objections suggested to the resurrection of Jesus. Some say He didn’t die at all, but just “swooned” on the cross and revived in the tomb. Others say He really died, but His body was stolen. Still others suggest He really died, but His desperate followers hallucinated His resurrection. A plain, simple understanding of these evidences of the resurrection of Jesus destroys all of these theories, and shows they take far more faith to believe than the Biblical account.
v. “I suppose, brethren, that we may have persons arise, who will doubt whether there was ever such a man as Julius Caesar, or Napoleon Bonaparte; and when they do, - when all reliable history is flung to the winds, - then, but not till then, may they begin to question whether Jesus Christ rose from the dead, for this historical fact is attested by more witnesses than almost any other fact that stands on record in history, whether sacred or profane.” (Spurgeon)
e. He was seen by James: This would be James, the brother of Jesus, who is seen as a prominent leader in the church in Acts 15. Significantly, in the gospels, Jesus’ brothers are hostile to Him and His mission (John 7:3-5). Yet in the first chapter of Acts, Jesus’ brothers are among the followers of Jesus (Acts 1:14). What happened to change them? Certainly, this meeting of the resurrected Jesus with His brother James had some influence.
f. By all the apostles: Refers to a few different meetings, such as in John 20:26-31, 21:1-25, Matthew 28:16-20, and Luke 24:44-49. There may have been many more meetings, which are not described in the gospels. These meetings were important in proving to the disciples that Jesus was who He said He was. At these meetings He ate with them, comforted them, commanded them to preach the gospel, and told them to wait in Jerusalem for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit after His Ascension.
g. Last of all He was seen by me also: By saying as by one born out of due time, Paul may be saying that he did not have a three year “gestation” period as the other apostles; he came on the scene suddenly.
i. Others think Paul uses the term ektroma (which means, “abortion, stillbirth, miscarriage”; it speaks of an untimely birth with “freakish” associations) because the Corinthians were so consistently depreciating his stature as an apostle. They considered him truly a paulus (“little”) apostle, but Paul will glory in his weakness.
h. The cumulative testimony of these witnesses is overwhelming. Not only did they see Jesus after His death, but they saw Him in a manner which revolutionized their faith and trust in Him.
i. The changed character of the apostles, and their willingness to die for the testimony of the resurrection, eliminate fraud as an explanation of the empty tomb.
ii. Why didn’t Paul mention the appearances of Jesus to the women at the tomb as evidence of Jesus’ resurrection? Probably because a woman’s testimony was not received in law courts. It was true, and it was good evidence for the apostles at that time, but it was not evidence the world of that day would accept, because it came from a woman.
4. (9-11) Paul’s testimony of grace.
For I am the least of the apostles, who am
not worthy 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;
but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so
you believed.
a. For I am the least of the apostles:
Paul would argue hard for his apostolic credentials, because he knew he had to
be respected as an apostle. But he had
no desire to compete with other apostles for the “Most Valuable Apostle”
award. He would gladly say, I am the least
of the apostles. In fact,
Paul believed he was not worthy to be called an apostle.
i. For some, this would just be spiritual sounding talk, which showed more pride than humility. But Paul meant it. He regarded himself as the least of the apostles because he persecuted the church of God. Paul always remembered how he had sinned against Jesus’ church. He knew that he was forgiven; yet he remembered his sin.
ii. Paul felt - rightly so - his sins were worse because he was responsible for the death, imprisonment, and suffering of Christians, whom he persecuted before his life was changed by Jesus (Acts 8:3; 9:1-2, Galatians 1:13, Philippians 3:6, 1 Timothy 1:15).
iii. “This was literally true in reference to his being chosen last, and chosen not in the number of the twelve, but as an extra apostle. How much pains to some men take to make the apostle contradict himself, by attempting to show that he was the very greatest of the apostles, though he calls himself the least!” (Clarke)
iv. There are worse kinds of sin; sins that harm God’s people are especially grievous in God’s eyes. Are you guilty, now or in the past, of harming God’s people? “[God] remembers jests and scoffs leveled at his little ones, and he bids those who indulge in them to take heed. You had better offend a king than one of the Lord’s little ones.” (Spurgeon)
b. But by the grace of God I am what I am: Paul gave the grace of God all the credit for the change in His life. He was a changed man, forgiven, cleansed, full of love when once he was full of hate. He knew this was not his own accomplishment, but it was the work of the grace of God in him.
i. The grace that saves us also changes us. Grace changed Paul. You can’t receive the grace of God without being changed by it. The changes don’t come all at once, and the changes are not complete until we pass to the next life, but we are indeed changed.
ii. “You see that the mark of a child of God is that by the grace of God he is what he is; what do you know about the grace of God? ‘Well, I attend a place of worship regularly.’ But what do you know about the grace of God? ‘I have always been an upright, honest, truthful, respectable man.’ I am glad to hear it; but what do you know about the grace of God?” (Spurgeon)
iii. “‘By the grace of God’ we not only are what we are, but we also remain what we are. We should long ago have ruined ourselves, and damned ourselves, if Christ had not kept us by his almighty grace.” (Spurgeon)
c. His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: Though grace made Paul was he was, Paul still labored with grace, so that it wouldn’t be given in vain.
i. Conceivably, if Paul would not have worked as hard as he did, the grace of God would still have been given to him, but in some measure it would have been given in vain. Grace, by definition, is given freely. But how we receive grace will help to determine how effective the gift of grace is.
ii. Grace isn’t given because of any works, past, present or promised; yet it is given to encourage work, not to say work is not necessary. God doesn’t want us to receive His grace and become passive.
iii. 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, writing, For we are God’s fellow
workers (1 Corinthians 3:9).
iv. Many Christians struggle at this very point. Is God supposed to do it or am I supposed to do it? The answer is, “Yes!” God does it and we do it. Trust God, rely on Him, and then get to work and work as hard as you can! That is how we see the work of God accomplished.
v. If I neglect my end of the partnership, God’s grace doesn’t accomplish all that it might, and is therefore given in vain. Later, in 2 Corinthians 6:1, Paul pleads that we might not receive the grace of God in vain: We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
d. I labored more abundantly than they all: Paul here is comparing himself to the other apostles. He was not shy about saying 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.
e. Yet not it, but the grace of God which was with me: Paul was honest enough to know and say that he worked hard. He was also humble enough to know that even his hard work was the work of God’s grace in him.
i. If you were to ask Paul, “Paul, do you work hard as an apostle?” He wouldn’t respond with that falsely spiritual, “Oh no, I don’t do anything. It’s all the work of God’s grace.” Paul would say, “You bet I work hard. In fact, I work harder than any other apostle.” But then he would not dwell on it, but simply have the inward knowledge that it was all the work of God’s grace in him.
d. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed: Whether Paul or one of the other apostles brought the message, the result was the same. They preached the resurrection of Jesus, and the early Christians believed the resurrection of Jesus.
i. The verb we preach is in the present continuous tense; Paul is saying that he and the other apostles habitually preach this message.
B. The relevance of the resurrection of Jesus.
1. (12-13) The resurrection of Jesus proves there is a resurrection.
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? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not
risen.
a. Why has Paul so carefully proved the resurrection of Jesus? It wasn’t because the Corinthian Christians believed Jesus did not rise from the dead. In fact, he makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 15:11 that they did believe it: so we preach and so you believed. Then why was it important?
i. The Corinthian Christians were not denying Jesus’ resurrection; they were denying our resurrection. They were influenced either by Greek philosophy (which considered the resurrection undesirable, thinking the state of “pure spirit” superior), or by the thinking of the Sadducees (which thought the world beyond to be just wishful thinking). The bottom line is that the Corinthian Christians believed we lived forever, but not in resurrected bodies.
ii. Remember that resurrection is not merely life after death. It is the continuation of life after death in glorified bodies, which are our present bodies in a glorified state.
b. How do some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? The Corinthian Christians just were not thinking carefully. Some of them were denying the reality of the resurrection, while believing in a resurrected Jesus. Paul shows how the resurrection of Jesus not only proves His own resurrection, but it proves the principle of resurrection.
c. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen: If these few Corinthians were right about the resurrection, then Jesus was still dead!
2. (14-19) What if there is no resurrection?
And if Christ is not risen, then our
preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found
false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up
Christ, whom He did not raise up; if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not
risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have
fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in
Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
a. If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is in vain: If there is no resurrection, then Jesus is not risen, and Paul and the other apostles have been preaching in vain. There is no real, resurrected Jesus whom they are serving.
b. Worse, if Christ is not risen, then we are found false witnesses of God. If there is no principle of resurrection, and if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then the apostles are liars.
c. Worse yet, if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! If there is no principle resurrection, then Jesus did not rise from the dead. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then death has power over Him and has defeated Him. If death has power over Jesus, He is not God. If Jesus is not God, He cannot offer a complete sacrifice for sins. If Jesus cannot offer a complete sacrifice for sins, my sins are not completely paid for before God. If my sins are not completely paid for before God, then I am still in my sins! If Jesus is not risen, He is unable to save.
d. Worse still, if Christ is not risen, then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If there is no principle of resurrection, then the dead in Christ are gone forever.
e. Worst of all, if Christ is not risen, then in this life only we have hope in Christ, and we are of all men the most pitiable. If there is no principle of resurrection, then the whole Christian life is a pitiful joke! If we don’t have something beyond this life to look forward to, why hassle with the problems being a Christian?
i. It is true that being a Christian solves many problems; but it also brings many others. Paul, (like the preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes) saw little ultimate value in life if there is only this life to live.
ii. It is true that knowing Jesus and loving Jesus can make this life better. But sometimes it will make life worse. We can appreciate some of the hardship Paul lived with, when we understand what hem means when he writes, If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. Paul thought, “with all I have endured for Jesus Christ, if there is not a resurrection and a heavenly reward beyond this life, I am a fool to be pitied.” Can we, in our super-comfortable age, say the same thing? Trapp says Paul can write this “Because none out of hell ever suffered more than the saints have done.”
iii. Paul only applies this principle to Christians. He writes, we are of all men the most pitiable. For the unbeliever, this life alone gives them any chance at pleasure, and whatever happiness they can find now is all the happiness they will ever know. How different for the Christian!
f. See how important the truth of the resurrection is! This is not some side doctrine, to be believed if someone likes it. If you do not believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead in a resurrection body the way the Bible says He did, you have no right to call yourself a Christian. This is one of the essential doctrines of the Christian faith.
i. “Everything depends on our retaining a firm hold on this doctrine in particular; for if this one totters and no longer counts, all the others will lose their value and validity.” (Martin Luther)
ii. “If Jesus rose, then this gospel is what is professes to be; if He rose not from the dead, then it is all deceit and delusion.” (Spurgeon)
g. When you know what rests on the resurrection, you know why if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
i. The divinity of Jesus rests on the resurrection of Jesus (Romans 1:4).
ii. The sovereignty of Jesus rests on the resurrection of Jesus (Romans 14:9).
iii. Our justification rests on the resurrection of Jesus (Romans 4:25).
iv. Our regeneration rests on the resurrection of Jesus (1 Peter 1:3).
v. Our ultimate resurrection rests on the resurrection of Jesus (Romans 8:11).
vi. “The fact is, that the silver thread of resurrection runs through all the blessings, from regeneration onward to our eternal glory, and binds them together.” (Spurgeon)
3. (20-23) The resurrection of Jesus was the firstfruit of our resurrection.
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those
who have fallen asleep. For since by man came
death, by Man also came the
resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall
be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward
those who are Christ’s at His coming.
a. Now Christ is risen from the dead: In the previous part of the chapter, Paul has demonstrated beyond all doubt that Jesus rose from the dead, and the importance of the fact of His resurrection. Here, he simply states the fact: now Christ is risen from the dead.
b. And has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep: Firstfruits is the Greek word aparche. In the Septuagint, this word is used for the offering of firstfruits and in secular usage the word was used for an entrance fee.
i. Jesus was the firstfruits of our resurrection in both senses. In the Old Testament, the offering of firstfruits brought one sheaf of grain to represent and anticipate the rest of the harvest (Leviticus 23:9-14). The resurrection of Jesus represents our resurrection, because if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection (Romans 6:5). The resurrection of Jesus also anticipates our resurrection, because we will be raised with a body like His. “As in the firstfruits offered to God, the Jews were assured of God’s blessing on the whole harvest; so by the resurrection of Christ, our resurrection is insured.” (Trapp)
ii. The Feast of Firstfruits was observed on the day after the Sabbath following Passover (Leviticus 23:9-14). Significantly, Jesus rose from the dead on the exact day of the Feast of Firstfruits, the day after the Sabbath following the Passover.
iii. The offering at the Feast of Firstfruits was a bloodless grain offering (Leviticus 2). No atoning sacrifice was necessary, because the Passover lamb had just been sacrificed. This corresponds perfectly with the resurrection of Jesus, because His death ended the need for sacrifice, having provided a perfect and complete atonement.
iv. The resurrection of Jesus is also the firstfruits of our resurrection in the sense that He is our “entrance fee” to resurrection. Jesus paid our admission to the resurrection!
c. By man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead: Here, Paul is communicated the same ideas found in Romans 5:12-21. Adam (by man) is one “head” of the human race, and all mankind was brought under death by Adam. The second Adam, Jesus Christ (by Man) is the other head of the human race, and Jesus brings resurrection to all that are “under” His headship.
i. “Men admire the man who is first to discover a new country . . . Oh, then, sing it in songs, sound it with voice of trumpet to the ends of the earth – Christ is the first who returned from the jaws of death to tell of immortality and light.” (Spurgeon)
d. In Christ, all shall be made alive: Does this mean everyone is resurrected? Yes and no. All will be resurrected in the sense that they will receive a resurrection body, and live forever. Jesus plainly spoke of both the resurrection of life and the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:29). So, all are resurrected, but not all will receive the resurrection of life. Some will receive the resurrection of condemnation, and live forever in a resurrected body in hell.
i. “But though this text doth not prove the general resurrection, (being only intended of believers, that are members of Christ,) yet it doth not oppose it. But that the all here mentioned is no more than all believers, appeareth not only from the term in Christ in this verse, but from the whole following discourse; which is only concerning the resurrection of believers to life, not that of the wicked to eternal condemnation.” (Poole)
e. Each one in his own order: It would be strange, and inappropriate, for us to receive resurrection before Jesus. So, He receives resurrection first as the firstfruits, and then we receive it afterward . . . at His coming.
i. The coming of Jesus described here uses the Greek word parousia. This word can simply mean a person’s presence (as in Philippians 2:12, not as in my presence only). But when it is used of Jesus, it has special reference to His Second Coming (as in Matthew 24:27).
ii. If Jesus is the firstfruits of our resurrection, does that mean He was the first one raised from the dead? What about the widow’s son in the days of Elijah (1 Kings 17:17-24) and Lazarus (John 11:38-44) and Eutychus (Acts 20:7-12), among others? Each of these were resuscitated from death, but none of them were resurrected. Each of them were raised in the same body they died in, and were raised from the dead to eventually die again. Resurrection isn’t just living again; it is living again in a new body, based on our old body, perfectly suited for life in eternity. Jesus was not the first one brought back from the dead, but He was the first one resurrected.
4. (24-28) The resurrection of Jesus leads to the resolution of all things.
Then comes
the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to
all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all
enemies under His feet. The last enemy that
will be destroyed is death. For “He
has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now
when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be
subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
a. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father. In Ephesians 1:10, Paul reveals God’s eternal purpose in history: that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him. Paul wrote of the “gathering together” of all things in Jesus, or of the “summing up” of all things in Him. Here, in 1 Corinthians, he looks forward to the time when all things are resolved in Jesus Christ and He presents it all to God the Father, giving glory to the God who authored this eternal plan of the ages.
b. When He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power: For now, God has granted a measure of rule and authority and power to men, to Satan, and even to death. But all that is temporary. Jesus will take His rightful place as the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Timothy 6:15). After the resurrection, God will finally resolve all of history according to His will.
i. “In raising Christ from the dead God has set in motion a chain of events that must culminate in the final destruction of death and thus of God’s being once again, as in eternity past, ‘all in all.’” (Fee)
c. He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet: Paul here refers to the 1,000 year reign of Jesus described in Revelation 20:1-6. After that time, there will be a final, Satan inspired rebellion (Revelation 20:7-10), which Jesus will crush and finally and forever put all enemies under His feet.
i. The expression under His feet is an Old Testament “figure for total conquest.” (Mare)
d. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death: Death will be present during the millennial reign of Jesus (Revelation 20:9; Isaiah 65:20). But afterward, death will be abolished. It is truly the last enemy that will be destroyed.
i. Paul reminds us of something important: death is an enemy. When Jesus came upon the tomb of Lazarus, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled, and Jesus wept (John 11:33, 35). Why? Not simply because Lazarus was dead, for Jesus would raise him shortly. Instead, Jesus was troubled at death itself. It was an enemy. Today, some are told to embrace death as a friend, but that is not Biblical thinking. Death is a defeated enemy because of the work of Jesus, an enemy that will one day be destroyed, and therefore an enemy we need not fear. But death is an enemy nonetheless.
ii. The destruction of death was shown at the resurrection of Jesus, when the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many (Matthew 27:52-53). “When at the Redeemer’s resurrection many of the saints arose and came out of their graves into the holy city then was the crucified Lord proclaimed to be victorious over death and the grave . . . these were but preliminary skirmishes and mere foreshadowings of the grand victory by which death was overthrown.” (Spurgeon)
iii. If death is destroyed, why do Christians die? “Death since Jesus died is not a penal infliction upon the children of God: as such he has abolished it, and it can never be enforced. Why die the saints then? Why, because their bodies must be changed ere they can enter heaven . . . Saints die not now, but they are dissolved and depart.” (Spurgeon)
iv. “Death is not the worst of enemies; death is an enemy, but he is much to be preferred to our other adversaries. It were better to die a thousand times than to sin. To be tried by death is nothing compared to being tempted by the devil. The mere physical pains connected with dissolution are comparative trifles compared with the hideous grief which is caused by sin and the burden which a sense of guilt causes to the soul.” (Spurgeon)
v. “Notice, that death is the last enemy to each individual Christian and the last to be destroyed . . . Brother, do not dispute the appointed order, but let the last be last. I have known a brother wanting to vanquish death long before he died. But, brother, you do not want dying grace till dying moments. What would be the good of dying grace while you are yet alive? A boat will only be needful when you reach a river. Ask for living grace, and glorify Christ thereby, and then you shall have dying grace when dying time comes.” (Spurgeon)
e. But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted: Paul reminds us that the Son will not someday be superior to the Father. The relationship of Father to Son will be eternal: the Son Himself will also be subject to Him.
i. Those who deny the deity of Jesus say this verse proves their point. They take the submission of God the Son as “proof” that He must not be equal in deity to God the Father. But the submission of Jesus to the Father doesn’t come from any inherent inferiority. Instead, it comes from the administrative order of the Godhead. A Son is always in submission to His Father, even if both are “equal” in substance.
ii. “The son of a king may be the equal of his father in every attribute of his nature, though officially inferior. So the eternal Son of God may be coequal with the Father, though officially subordinate.” (Hodge)