1 Corinthians 15:3-11 – The message of Christ’s Resurrection

In the messages that Paul preached, his focal point had always been the resurrection of Christ. For that matter, all preaching in the book of Acts put Christ’s resurrection as the central theme. In Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost to the Jews recorded in Acts 2:31-32, he talked about the resurrection of Christ. So also was his sermon in Acts 3:11-16, preached at Solomon’s Colonnade.  When he was arrested, Acts 4:10 tells us that he also preached the resurrection of Christ to the rulers. For Paul, Christ’s resurrection was also the focal point of all his messages. In acts 17:3 he talked about this historic event in all his preaching in the various cities. When he was preaching to the Greek pagan philosophers on Mars hill in Acts 17:31, he also talked about Christ raised from the dead. He was tried because he preached about the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:6). To the Governor Felix, and King Agrippa in Acts 24:21 and Acts 26:8 respectively, he also preached the resurrection of Christ.

So the centrality of the resurrection of Christ in the preaching of the early church was undeniable. So here in 1 Corinthians 15 when Paul brought up this historic event, it was not something new. All preaching, activities and programs of the church would mean nothing if Christ was not raised from death.

The Gospel and Christ’s resurrection are closely connected. In verse 8, when Paul mentioned his untimely birth, he was making reference to the resurrection of Christ. He was saying that his realization and acceptance of the Lord’s resurrection came after He had ascended into heaven, comparing with Peter, the 12 apostles and the more than 500 brethren. The others saw the resurrection with their physical eyes, but Paul saw him through the eye of faith. In his heart of hearts, Paul must have wished he had seen Christ’s resurrection earlier, then he would not have persecuted the church and was her bitter enemy.

Verses 3-4 describe the Gospel in a nutshell. It is not just about His death and burial but also His resurrection. These three experiences of Christ compositely made up the Gospel. It was not just a figment of someone’s imagination. It was bore out in history and attested to by the Scriptures. Each of the experiences of Christ was verifiable. These undeniable elements of the Gospel must not be overlooked. Firstly, Christ really died. It was a public thing. All that He went through, the torture by the Romans, the cross, the death by crucifixion, all point to the fact that Christ had died. Secondly, Christ was buried. There were witnesses who saw that He was buried and His tomb was also guarded. No one could deny that he died and was buried. Thirdly, He rose from the dead, from the place where he was buried. And fourthly, he appeared to different ones after his resurrection: Peter, then the 12, and then to more than 500 at the same time and last of all to Paul himself. At the time of Paul’s writing to the Corinthians, some of those who saw Christ’s resurrection were still alive. So in effect, Paul was saying that the fact of the resurrection could be checked out.

Paul’s life was transformed by the resurrected Christ. He became a proclaimer of the Gospel instead of the persecutor. The resurrection of Jesus affected him and changed the course of his life. By His grace, Paul was not only forgiven but also saved and equipped to be God’s messenger. And thus he had labored more intensely than any of the others. Just in case they thought he was being prideful, Paul assured them that he knew that it was all due to the generosity of God’s grace toward him. It was by grace that-he was enabled to do the tasks.

Every true and genuine preaching of the Gospel must include the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. It was the message of the apostles and also of Paul himself. This was the same message they all preached and the message the people received and believed. Paul’s point is this: the messenger could not supersede the importance of the message. Every proclaimer of the message must first be captured and transformed by the message. That was what happened to Paul.

Has the message of the Gospel truly captured and transformed our lives? The evident of our changed lives are living proofs of the reality of Christ’s death and resurrection!