Why
Be a Christian in the First Place?
[1st
Corinthians chapter 15, verses 1-19]
Since
the 15th
chapter of 1st
Corinthians is noticeably longer than the one we just completed, I
will be dividing chapter fifteen into 4 lessons to allow me to get
into some real depth regarding the apostle Paul's letter to the
church at Corinth, which was located in modern-day Greece. As we
begin to read at verse one, we find Paul reminding the Corinthian
church of the reasons for its faith, which is unconditional belief
and unshakable confidence in the saving power of Christ. I would
liken this portion of Scripture to a coach going over some of the
basic fundamentals of the game during a team meeting, reminding the
players that if they stick to the basics consistently, they will
ultimately win. Being a follower of Jesus is a lot like that, and so
in one way you may think of Christ as your Spiritual coach.
“Now,
brothers, I want to remind you of the Gospel I preached to you, which
you have received and on which you have taken your stand. By this
Gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the Word I preached to
you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I
passed on to you as of first importance: That 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, and that He
appeared to Peter, and then to the twelve. After that, He appeared to
more than five hundred of the 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, as to one abnormally born. For I am the least of the apostles
and do not deserve to even be called an apostle, because I persecuted
the church of God. 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. Whether,
then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you
believed.” (1Corinthians chapter 15, verses 1-11 NIV)
The
basis of Christianity and of belief in Christ as the Son of God is
summed up in Paul's words “ …..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, and
that He appeared to Peter, and then to the twelve. After that, He
appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same
time.......”
So we have basic fundamental teaching and instruction here from Paul
to the brethren in the early church, which is the ultimate
sacrificial offering of Jesus as atonement for the sins of all
mankind who freely accept His salvation. Without this faith, all the
good deeds and personal sacrifice in the world will do us no good at
all, and we will “have believed in vain”. Based on this portion
of scripture I would say that one of our primary tasks as practicing
Christians is to make sure our belief is genuine – that is, that we
exercise our faith in such a way that our passion for Christ strives
to approach and imitate His passion for all mankind when He died upon
the cross. As He gave His all for us, so we must be willing to give
our very best for Him. In fact, a time is coming soon to America when
Christians will begin to be slain for their faith. That's not just my
opinion, that's a prophecy! The apostles saw the risen Lord, but we
believe having not seen Him (yet).
At
this point I would ask that all those reading this who are
knowledgeable about the Bible, or who have been Christians for a long
time like I have, to bear with me for a few moments while I explain
something to the newer believers regarding what Paul wrote about
himself towards the end of the above passage. Paul wrote, “For
I am the least of the apostles and do not deserve to even be called
an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 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”.
Paul is referring to his initial meeting with the Spirit of Christ on
the road to Damascus, which is documented in chapter 9 of the book of
Acts in the New Testament. He was blinded for three days and
instructed to go to a certain house where he met the apostle Peter,
who laid his hands on Paul and healed his blindness. Before all this
happened, Paul was one of the leaders of Judaism at that time who
actively persecuted Christians prior to his conversion. The book of
Acts also documents Paul's being present at the execution by stoning
of Stephen in chapter six. And yet ever since meeting the Lord on the
road to Damascus, Paul had been converted and was actively preaching
and teaching throughout the world of that time. This is why Paul
calls himself “the least of the apostles”, but Paul does one
thing here that we all should learn to emulate. He gives all the
credit for his conversion to the faith to God through His grace,
taking none for himself. He even mentions working harder in his new
ministry than anyone else in an attempt to make up for his previous
life as a persecutor of the followers of Christ. God gets all the
credit for our conversion because He loved us first, not the other
way around. Remember what Jesus said, “Those
who exalt themselves will be humbled, but those who humble themselves
will be exalted”.
Therefore, if we humble ourselves in our faith by giving all the
credit for our salvation to Jesus and to God's grace (which means
unmerited favor), we will be rewarded with higher places in heaven
when our physical lives are over and our eternal Spiritual lives
begin. I will teach more on this topic at some point in the future.
I will now continue today's study at verse 12.
“But
if it has been preached that Christ was raised from the dead, how can
some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there
is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is
your faith. 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. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been
raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is
futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen
asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in
Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (1Corinthians
15, verses 12-19 NIV)
Based on what the apostle Paul wrote here, perhaps
there was some disagreement among the members of the Corinthian
church regarding whether the resurrection of Christ was real or a
myth. What we are seeing here is one of the first indicators of
denominational teaching. Paul clearly wanted this practice stopped
immediately, but history teaches us that not only did this not occur,
but the fragmentation of the original church into divisions that were
set against one another is an unfortunate reality that continues into
modern times. But Paul responds back then by pointing out an obvious
truth, which is that being a Christian while not believing in the
resurrection of Christ, along with all who have believed on and
trusted in His name, defeats the very purpose of one's belief. The
crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the morning of
the third day is the very basis for all Christian faith. Even the two
greatest commandments as they were taught by Jesus in the four
gospels – love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength,
and love your neighbor as yourself – are impossible to follow
without a belief in the deity of God through Christ. And a belief in
God through Jesus Christ is unworkable without belief that Jesus rose
from the dead, and that in so doing He gave all of mankind a chance
to have the same opportunity to have eternal life without end that He
already has. None of us can ever achieve immortality on our own, but
we can all have it through Christ, the Son of God. And that's a goal
worth shooting for every day of the year.
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