5/23 - 1 Corinthians 15, Part 1

Wow, chapter 15 is a mouthful. This chapter is so loaded with theology I'm sure an entire book should be dedicated to it so bear with me as I attempt to briefly share my thoughts on it.

This chapter is primarily focused on the reality of the resurrection of Christ and it's implications for those who believe. In fact, it is central to the belief system of a believer. He makes this polarizing statement, "...if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty." If some guy shows up on CNN one day with indisputable evidence that he has found the body of Christ, then it's pretty much over or me (and the rest of Christianity). There would have to be a fundamental reset of everything I ever believed about God, life, it's meaning, who I am, my morality....pretty much everything. Essentially, this would be the kryptonite for the faith - if you can disprove the resurrection, it's all over.

So, given this vulnerability to the faith, Paul gives us some evidence for believing the resurrection to be true. Paul opens with this synopsis of the gospel -

"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, and that He was seen by Peter, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to be present, but some have fallen asleep" (v. 3-7)

Jesus was actually seen by people after the resurrection. If the evidence of Peter, the apostles and Paul was not enough, because admittedly they could be seen as biased parties, there were 500 more people who saw Him...and most are still alive! That would be like me making a claim that I saw LeBron James (amazing shot last nite by the way) in an airport with 500 of my friends as witnesses. How easy would it be to check the validity of my story? Then, considering that many of these witnesses would go on to face intense persecution and die horrible deaths, all in the name of this Man who supposedly rose from the dead. I find it pretty inconceivable that all these people would die while holding on to a lie.

So the resurrection, therefore, gives us hope. If Jesus is truly risen, then we're no longer in our sins, death is defeated, the validity of Christ's life is still in tact, and we have our own resurrection to look forward to. I'll dig more into this tomorrow. Had to break this up into at least part 1 and 2. I told yall chapter 15 was a mouthful.