1COR15v1to11: THE GOSPEL

(A) Introduction. (Read the reference)

I received some help from Rev David Thomas's outline in the Pulpit Commentary for this exposition. In chapter 15 Paul addresses a very serious problem in the church at Corinth - namely, their disbelief in the bodily resurrection. However, before dealing with the crucial importance of the bodily resurrection to the Christian faith, he reminds the Corinthians of the gospel he preached and by which they were converted. The word, 'gospel', is used very loosely today in certain circles. Some Anglicans in particular employ it for any vaguely good news about God. Paul meant something very specific by the gospel and this passage informs us what that is. It teaches four great truths about the gospel.

(B) The gospel is based on historical facts.

The gospel is not based on:

(1) Reason - like a mathematical theory or a political system.
(2) Imagination. The gospel is not a pretty tale like one of Dicken's novels; neither is it a fable nor a myth.
(3) Revelation. The good news Christians proclaim does not originate in dreams, visions or encounters with angels.

The gospel is grounded, first and foremost, on facts. These facts are:

(1) Personal.
The facts are about one person - Jesus Christ. Christianity hasn't many founders - but one. It is based upon the personal history of the man from Nazareth. Paul writes earlier in his letter to the Corinthians: For no-one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid which is Jesus Christ. 1Cor3v11. Any attack on Christianity has to start and end with the life, teaching, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

(2) Few.
Paul states the bare bones of the gospel: Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures... v3. The key facts are these: Jesus died for our sins, he was raised for our justification and he ascended to the right hand of the Father to intercede for us. These truths can be developed further and Paul will go on to do so regarding the believer's bodily resurrection from the dead. Nevertheless, the gospel in essence can be very simply stated.

(3) Well attested.

    (a) There was no doubt that Christ died. Mark's gospel has the ring of truth when it states: Joseph of Arimathea ... went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so..... . Mk16v43to45. Pilate did exactly what we would expect a Roman Governor to do - check with the officer in charge that the 'King of the Jews' was really dead - especially as he died unusually quickly. It was not hard to tell when a crucified man was dead. He stopped heaving himself up to breath! The quick way to end a crucified man's life was to break his legs so that this was no longer possible.

    (b) Jesus was definitely buried. Pilate gave permission to two well-known, respected and influential politicians to bury Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were high-ranking members of the Sanhedrin and their word could be trusted. Pilate only allowed Joseph to take charge of Jesus' body because he knew him to be a man of integrity. Pilate, the Jewish authorities and a detachment of Roman soldiers could all testify that a large stone had been rolled across the entrance to the tomb, that it was sealed and guarded. See exposition on Christ's burial.

    (c) Jesus' resurrection was witnessed by many. Paul claimed: He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than 500 brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also .... v5to8. Twenty years after the crucifixion there remained alive many who had seen the risen Lord. When Paul spoke of the resurrection to King Agrippa he said: I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice because it was not done in a corner. Acts26v26.

The gospel is 2000 years old. There is nothing original about it. Paul wrote: For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance... . v3. For 2000 years evangelists have been following in Paul's footsteps. Whereas he heard the gospel from the apostles and passed it on we receive it from their recorded testimony in the Scriptures.

            The old, old story, it is ever new;
            The old, old story, praise the Lord, 'tis true
            That Jesus died for me as well as you;
            I love the old, old story,
            That whosoever will believe
            Shall everlasting life receive.

(C) The gospel proclaims Christ died for our sins. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures... . v3.

(1) Paul does not say that Jesus died for us but that he died for our sins. Jesus did not die to set us an example, to show how much God loved us or to identify with suffering humanity. Jesus died to save us from our sins. I love the simple lines of Cecil F Alexander's famous hymn:

            He died that we might be forgiven,
            He died to make us good,
            That we might go at last to heaven,
            Saved by His precious blood.

(2) It is abundantly clear in the Old Testament how men were saved from their sins - by offering a sacrifice to God - a token payment to God for the wrong they did him. Read Lev5v17to19

Jesus offered himself to God as the ultimate sacrifice to atone for man's sin. There are five important features of Christ's sacrifice.

It was:

(1) Costly.

Peter wrote: But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example ... . 1Pet2v20and21.

Jesus suffered for us - far more than any sacrificial lamb! Nobody tortured the sacrificial animal before putting it to death. Men brutalised Jesus before nailing him to the cross. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Is53v5.

            Wounded for me. Wounded for me.
            There on the cross he was wounded for me.
            Gone my transgressions. Now I am free.
            All because Jesus was wounded for me.

None of us get salvation on the cheap - Jesus paid the highest price to set us free.

(2) Perfect.

Something else Peter wrote: He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 1Pet2v22.

There is no doubt that preceding his crucifixion Christ shrank from the ordeal that lay ahead. He was going to be tested to the very limit by his trial, torture and execution. Jesus knew that he must not succumb to temptation. Nothing must mar his sacrificial offering. The Lamb of God had to be without spot and blemish. The responsibility lay heavily upon Jesus. See exposition on John12v20to36.

Thank God Jesus withstood every temptation and completed a perfect work on our behalf.

            There was no other good enough
            To pay the price for sin;
            He only could unlock the gate
            Of heaven and let us in.

(3) Substitutionary.

Under the old covenant there was a sense in which the sacrificial victim paid a price for sin in place of the sinner. On the Day of Atonement two goats paid a price for the nation's sin. One was slain and its blood sprinkled on the atonement cover by the High Priest in the Holy of Holies. The other, the scapegoat, carried away the people's sin into the desert.

So Christians believe that Jesus suffered and died in their place and stead. Paul wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians: God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2Cor5v21. Peter put it like this: For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God. 1Pet3v18.

In the words of the hymn:

            Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
            In my place condemned He stood.
            Sealed my pardon with his blood:
            Hallelujah! What a Saviour.

(4) Sufficient.

We might question the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice. How can one man's sacrifice - however perfect - atone for the sins of the whole world?

Others assert that Jesus experienced exactly what God's justice demanded so that we might be spared the just punishment for our sins. This is the doctrine of penal substitution.

But, Jesus bore the consequences of sin that we still suffer from: pain, broken fellowship with God and death. If Jesus took these punishments in our place why do we still continue to experience them?

It seems to me doubtful that Jesus actually experienced what our sin deserves. We are spoiled goods - a deeply flawed creation. It is perfectly reasonable for the potter to destroy pots flawed in the firing that are not fit for purpose. Destruction or annihilation is our just desert! Now, Jesus was not destroyed on the cross nor in death. He did not suffer our just punishment for sin.

What the advocates of penal substitution forget is that a sacrifice is a token payment. The one offering a sacrifice cannot offer full payment for sin. He depends upon the grace of the one to whom it is offered. Jesus offered a perfect sacrifice but it remained a token payment. It was sufficient because God is gracious. God's compassion allows the writer to the Hebrews to affirm: By one sacrifice he has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy. Heb10v14. Paul puts it like this: For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Jesus) and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 1Cor1v19and20. God was pleased to accept the price Jesus paid. He didn't have to. It was no way equivalent to the debt we owe!!

(5) Accepted.

God showed that he accepted Christ's sacrifice for sins by raising him from the dead. Paul writes: He (Jesus) was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Rom4v25. Our justification is certain because God has made in abundantly clear in raising Jesus from the grave that he is well satisfied with the sacrifice the Son offered for the sins of the whole world. That is why the resurrection is so important to Christians. Paul knew this - he wrote to the Corinthians: And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. v17.

(D) The gospel must be received and retained to be effective.

I believe it is wrong to think that salvation is accomplished once and for all when we trust in Jesus. Paul informs the Corinthians that they are being saved: Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are (being) saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. v2. It is a great pity that the word 'being' is omitted from the NIV - it is there in the Greek manuscripts! Saving faith is the faith that lasts. It is possible - according to Paul - to believe in vain!

There are three necessities if we are to be finally saved:

(1) We need to receive the gospel. This means accepting Christ, accepting that he died to make us good. Sinners need to willingly submit to him in contrast to the way Adam and Eve willingly rebelled against God in the first place.

This is by no means easy for everyone. A large number don't want to be saved if it means asking Jesus to help them. They count the cost and decide to carry on as they are. Another sizeable group do not consider that they need saving. They are going to please God in their own way. There are legitimate alternatives to Jesus - like blowing up infidels to secure the favours of 70 virgins in paradise!

(2) We need to make a stand. A Christian nails his colours to the mast. Paul wrote to the Romans: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Rom10v9. John puts it more succinctly: If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 1Jn4v15.

One of the great blessings of believer's baptism, sadly not practised by all Christians, is that it gives followers of Jesus the opportunity to confess, "Jesus is Lord."

Jesus taught that his disciple's lives should testify that he is their Master. If Jesus is our Lord we are in his service and should obey him.

(3) We need to hold on to the truth of the gospel. We need to retain possession of truths such as this expressed by John: My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the sins of the whole world. 1Jn2v1and2. What a comfort to me that short sentence is: But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

          He dies to atone for sins not His own;
          Your debt He hath paid, and your work He hath done.
          Ye all may receive the peace He did leave,
          Who made intercession, My Father, forgive.

To be saved we must hold on to all the sacrifice of Jesus implies - God loves us, God forgives us, God has reconciled us to himself, we are his special people and there awaits us a glorious future. John encourages us with these words: Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Jn3v2.

We are under an obligation to hold onto God. He holds on to us but we will not be eternally secure unless we continue to cling to him. The fact that none can pluck us from God's hand does not absolve us from responsibility. Paul makes this plain. If we do not hold firmly to the word of the gospel we believe in vain.

(E) The gospel makes demands of those who pass it on.

Paul exemplified three key qualities for successful evangelism. He was:

(1) Humble. For what I received I passed on to you. v3.

Paul did not make his own modifications to the gospel. He received it and passed it on without addition, abridgement or amendment. The great evangelist always remembered what he had been: 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. But by the grace of God I am what I am .... . 1Cor15v9and10.

It amazes me that many ex-smokers are so hostile to those who persist in the habit. They appear to have forgotten what they were! For years others had to put up with their smoke! Some saved sinners are similar - they almost seem to enjoy railing against the sins of the unsaved and consigning them to the torments of hell. Every Christian needs to remember, along with Paul: But by the grace of God I am what I am.

(2) Diligent. His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them. v10.

I enjoyed a comment in the Pulpit Commentary on these words of Paul: Many professors can believe anything and do nothing. A ton of their piety would be dear at the cost of a bad farthing. There are some microscopic saints, who ever "want to be fed", but all their feeding comes to nothing. Instead of being "labourers in the vineyard," they are only pickers of the grapes.

I especially like the first observation. I have known Christians who consider that they have great faith because they believe God made everything in 144 hours, that the whole earth, to the tops of the highest mountains, was flooded in the time of Noah and Jonah was swallowed by a big fish. But this isn't faith because it involves no action, no works. It takes faith to act on the advice of Jesus like: "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with what measure you use, it will be measured to you." Lk6v38.

The greatest evangelists give good measure. Paul, Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley, D.L. Moody and Billy Graham were all diligent and single-minded in seeking the lost. F.W. Boreham wrote this about Moody in his book, 'Cliffs of Opal': In 1874, Mr Moody being then thirty-seven, wrote from Scotland to Major Whittle: "I am doing just one thing. That is my motto: one thing. This one thing I do." There lies the secret - a secret that appeared so obvious and unmistakable to all who heard him. He felt - every day, every hour, every moment - the unutterable preciousness of the meanest human soul. He felt - every day, every hour, every moment - the all-availing efficacy of the crucified Redeemer to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him. And therefore it became the most natural thing in the world for him to dedicate every day, every hour, every moment to the sublime task of bringing sinner and Saviour together.

(3) Convincing. I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received. v1. Also v11.

When Paul preached men and women accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. He was convincing because:

    (a) He had his priorities right. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins ... . v3. Paul knew what sinners needed to hear in order to be saved and this is what he preached - Christ and Christ crucified. It is amazing how often in his colourful, entertaining, eloquent and very long sermons Charles Spurgeon got round in the end to Christ crucified. Spurgeon found an opportunity to make a gospel appeal whatever passage of the Bible he was speaking from.

    (b) He kept it simple. Earlier in his epistle Paul wrote: When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

    F.W. Boreham remembers the first time he heard D.L. Moody preach. He was only a lad and he went to listen to the great evangelist on the common of Tunbridge Wells. This is what he recalled 50 years later: To me, the astonishment of that afternoon lay in the circumstance that I could understand every word! I had somehow assumed that preachers of eminence must be very abstruse, recondite, and difficult to follow. I had hoped that, by intense concentration, I might occasionally catch the drift of the speaker's argument. But Mr. Moody took a text in which there was no word containing more than a single syllable: The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. He used the simplest and most homely speech: he told stories that interested and affected me: he became sometimes impassioned and sometimes pathetic; he held my attention spellbound until the last syllable had died away. That is how to preach the gospel!

    (c) He appealed to Scripture. Paul made plain his reliance on Scripture when he wrote: For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for ours sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures ... . v3and4.

    It was not difficult for Paul to teach from Scripture that Jesus fulfilled and brought to completion the sacrificial system. However, it is not easy to find many references to the bodily resurrection of God's Christ in the Old Testament.

    One of the features of Billy Graham's messages was the number of times he said, "The Bible says .... ." There is absolutely no doubt that this gave power to his preaching.

    (4) He preached with passion. Who can doubt that Paul spoke with fervour and conviction. We can detect that fervour in his epistles - even in the passage under consideration in which he wrote: And last of all he appeared to me also ... as to one abnormally born. v8. But by the grace of God I am what I am. v10.

    There were many things that doubtless puzzled Paul but there were some things of which he was completely persuaded: I know whom I have believed and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. 2Tim1v12. He was convinced and he wanted to convince others too!

    Many years ago F.W. Boreham was entertained by an old widow, Bessie Primrose, in her quaint old-fashioned cottage in East Sussex. During his stay F.W. Boreham learned the secret of the text engraved on the bedroom window: This is the day that the Lord hath made: we will rejoice and be glad in it.

    Bessie first saw her future husband Dan in the pulpit of a small Methodist church in Cornwall. She said, "When I first saw him in the pulpit, I pitied him: he looked so ridiculously young and so painfully nervous. But I forgot all that when he began to preach. His face lit up; his eyes shone; he pleaded like a man who pleads for his very life. His text was: This is the day that the Lord hath made: we will rejoice and be glad in it."

    Dan was preaching on the beauty of the Lord's day - something not difficult to accept on a perfect summer's morning in rural Cornwall. But the preacher eventually turned his sermon into an impassioned evangelistic appeal. "This is the day!" he cried. "Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation! This is the day that the Lord hath made! He made it on purpose! What a day of days this day will be if it is recorded in heaven and muttered in hell that, this day, your redeemed soul entered by simple faith into the kingdom of God!"

    In that service where Bessie met her future husband she also met with her Lord. She received the gospel - accepted Jesus - and entered by simple faith into the kingdom of God. She was a trophy both of grace and passionate preaching. Bessie could say with Paul: For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. AV. 2Tim1v12.

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