Sometimes it’s good to get back to the basics. In the final chapters of 1 Corinthians, Paul draws the church back to its roots. He reminds them of what he first taught them when he visited their city years before. It all comes back to the gospel.
Read 1 Corinthians 15:1–9.
1 Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. 2 It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.
3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5 He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. 6 After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. 9 For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.
1 Corinthians 15 (NLT)
Summarize Paul’s explanation of the gospel in your own words.
What idea is at the center of the gospel according to Paul?
The resurrection is the foundation of our faith. Paul wants the Corinthians to remember that truth. He goes out of his way to prove it’s true by bringing up all the people who saw Jesus after he rose from the dead. Hundreds of men and women witnessed him. In other words, believing in the resurrection isn’t foolish—it’s the very thing we stand upon as Christians.
Jesus’s resurrection, though, isn’t the only thing we buy into when we say he’s alive. Since he’s risen, it means we too will be raised to new life. It also means that even though we might die before Jesus returns, that’s not the end of our story. We will rise to meet new life one day.
But for some reason, many people in the Corinthian church didn’t believe Christians would rise again.
Read 1 Corinthians 15:12–19.
12 But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? 13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
What are the consequences that come with denying the resurrection?
If we deny that Jesus will one day return and resurrect Christians who’ve died, we essentially deny that Jesus is alive. His resurrection points to our future. If it didn’t happen, then when we die, we just die. We make God and the witnesses of Jesus’s resurrection liars. And we have no hope.
That’s why Paul drives home his point about the resurrection to the Corinthians. They believe Jesus is alive—if they didn’t, they wouldn’t be Christians. That means they must believe they will live again when Jesus returns. It’s a non-negotiable.
All our hope rests on the fact that when we die, we’re simply closing our eyes on the temporary and will open them to the eternal.
Spend some time journaling about the resurrection, specifically about the future resurrection when Jesus returns. What fears or questions do you have?
Since death on this earth isn’t the end of our story, how does the resurrection shape the way you think about dying?
Text your response to the above prompting questions to your group and/or share it as a comment below
I don’t think I have thought much about dying. In terms of how the resurrection shapes my way of thinking in this regard, I don’t really think about that much either. I believe in God and everything that he has said to us through his Word. I just try to live my life according to how God wants us to live and I think all the stuff like the resurrection will take care of itself. My job I figure is just to try to live out God’s Word as best as I can. I generally don’t worry about stuff I have no control over.
My question about Jesus’s return is that what will happen when he returns. Will he bring judgement upon us or will he save us completely from sin? Forgive me for being foolish. I barely think about questions that regarding future. Because I know God already have the perfect plan for us. Which answer the next question. It makes me less worried about dying or any future unknown hardships.
I don’t think I have thought much about dying. In terms of how the resurrection shapes my way of thinking in this regard, I don’t really think about that much either. I believe in God and everything that he has said to us through his Word. I just try to live my life according to how God wants us to live and I think all the stuff like the resurrection will take care of itself. My job I figure is just to try to live out God’s Word as best as I can. I generally don’t worry about stuff I have no control over.