1 Corinthians 15:3-16
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, i and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.[1]
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What is striking in this passage is the reality of the resurrection. Paul is adamantly making the point that it really did happen. This is important because without the reality of the resurrection, there is no Christian faith, and, as Paul would point out, there is no hope.
But Christ has been raised. Paul rehearses the list of those who saw the risen Christ, including himself. He even points out that most of those who saw Him when He appeared to 500 at one time are still living. In other words, Paul says, check it out. Don’t just take my word for it. Ask the others. They saw Him, too. He’s alive.
It is generally accepted that Paul wrote this letter in approximately 55 AD, or less than 25 years after the resurrection. This is the first and oldest written testimony of the resurrection, having been written before the four Gospels. That’s a very short window to be making things up, when most of the eyewitnesses are still alive!
The point: Jesus is raised from the dead, and that changes everything. Our preaching is not useless. Our faith is not useless. We are true and faithful witnesses when we speak of the resurrection, and we live with the confidence that we too will rise from the dead.
Faith in the resurrection is faith that God gets the last word no matter how fallen and broken this world may become. Faith in the resurrection means that we have hope – confidence Christian hope – no matter what. No matter what is going on, no matter what we may fear for the future, it makes all the difference to be able to have confidence that Christ is indeed raised from the dead. It really happened. And it will really happen for all who belong to him.
So my prayer is that this day I live in the joy and the confidence of the resurrection.
What is the Word leading you to pray about today?
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[1] The New International Version. (2011). (1 Co 15:3–16). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
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