Bible Studies for Life Sunday School lesson for April 12

Bible Studies for Life Sunday School lesson for April 12

By James Riley Strange, Ph.D.
Professor of New Testament, Samford University

The Truth of the Resurrection
1 Corinthians 15:1–8

That Christ was raised from the grave is a foundational claim of Christianity, and Paul was the first to declare it in writing.

Christ, who “became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8), did not remain dead, and He is alive today, prepared to return “with the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 26:64).

All New Testament authors either proclaim this or assume it is so.

Nevertheless, we cannot prove it, not yet. We can’t produce the living Lord in order to dispel all doubts, and even if we could, some would refuse to believe (Luke 16:31).

What we have are two things:

  1. We have the witness of those who saw Him alive. We will read Paul’s account momentarily, but recall that the evangelists record that Jesus predicted His resurrection, His disciples entered an empty tomb on Easter morning and He appeared alive and spoke to His disciples. Two evangelists say that He ate with them. At the end of Luke and at the beginning of Acts, they watch Him ascend into heaven.
  2. We have witnessed the power of the living Lord at work in our lives and in the lives of others. We have seen people transformed in dramatic ways from one way of living and one set of attitudes to another. Some say they have been rescued from a wretched future. They know what they are capable of, if not for the living Christ at work in their lives.

Read all of chapter 15 for context.

Christ died. (1–3)

Some think that verses 3 and 4 contain a liturgical confession (see Rom. 4:24–25; 10:9–10; 1 Thess. 5:10).

Later, a branch of Christianity that taught Jesus did not die grew in popularity (compare 1 John 4:2–3). Perhaps some believed this as early as Paul’s day.

Remember that Paul did not have a New Testament to read to the people to whom he preached. Rather, he proclaimed what he “received” from the Lord Himself. (See 11:23; Gal. 1:11–12).

When Paul says that Jesus’ death and resurrection happened “in accordance with the Scriptures,” he may be referring to Isaiah 53 and Hosea 6:2 (compare Luke 24:26, 44–47).

Christ was resurrected. (4)

It is no challenge to believe that Jesus died, for that is the fate of most (Elijah, and maybe Enoch, are the exceptions).

It is difficult, however, for many to accept that Christ was raised from the dead.

Many in Corinth found this particularly hard to believe because some Greeks believed only the soul could live eternally. All matter would eventually be destroyed.

This is probably why Paul struggles to explain the bodily resurrection starting in verse 35.

Christ was seen alive by many. (5–8)

All accounts of the resurrected Jesus’ appearances are unique in the Gospels.

Paul’s account also is distinctive, for only he tells us about this appearance to “more than 500 brothers at one time.”

Furthermore, Paul places himself among those who saw the risen Lord (see 9:1).

Was that a separate event from the experience of Acts 9:3–9, where Paul did not see Jesus, but heard Him?

We need not linger here, for Paul’s purpose is to emphasize God’s grace (vv. 9–10).

Unlike these people, the risen Lord has not appeared to us in bodily form. But He extends the same grace to us that He did to all who saw Him.

We, too, have no merit by which to claim this gospel that is saving us even now (v. 2). Thanks be to God that, because of the resurrection, we can.