1 Cor

1 Cor. 15:1-11

3/23/2008

“He Was Raised According to the Scriptures”

Do you ever wonder whether all this resurrection thing is real? As you go through your day, busy with your daily chores, occupied with the various cares of each day, especially in this age of cell phones and laptops and HD TV’s, the thought of resurrection can feel so distant and odd. So we wonder. We know what we ought to believe and we recite our creeds. But what we believe seems so incredible, so out of sync with this world. I hope that the Word of God would put those questions to rest.

After dealing with many problems in the Corinthian church--and the Corinthians had many problems!--Paul in our passage addresses the most crucial one of all: the issue of resurrection. The problem is spelled out in v. 12: “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” What we see here is a significant deviation from the pattern, in which he addressed other problems of the Corinthian church. His usual pattern is to spell out the problem first and deal with it. We see an instance of this in 5:1: “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans….” Then, a distinct formula emerges as Paul goes from one problem to another: “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote…” (7:1); “Now concerning food offered to idols…” (8:1); “Now concerning spiritual gifts…” (12:1). So he introduces the issues first and then he goes on to deal with them.

But in our passage Paul does not state the problem until v. 12. Here, he begins by spelling out the core of the gospel first. Why this deviation? Because this question concerning resurrection strikes at the very vitals of the gospel. So he begins by reminding the Corinthians of the gospel which he preached (v. 1), which is the very foundation of their salvation (v. 2), which he delivered to them as of first importance (v. 3a) and which he himself received (v. 3b)--that is, something that is not uniquely his own but is the common message of the church. And the tone of his question in v. 12 shows Paul’s utter shock that they should be wrong at the most basic level of the gospel. In fact, the summary of the gospel that Paul presents in our passage is one of the earliest faith-formula of the early church, as most biblical scholars agree. These words--at least most of them--are what the Corinthians themselves memorized and recited regularly as the very confession of their faith!

What, then, is the gospel (which means “good news”)? Think about what the good news is not. The good news is not that our loans have been cancelled; that a fail-proof, quick way of doubling our asset is found; that a relationship guru came up with a fail-safe way of fixing all our relationships or matching us with a perfect soul mate; that a breakthrough has been made to cure our illness! We don’t want to disparage the many areas and levels of the needs we have. And it is not that the gospel of Jesus Christ has nothing to say about these things: it has a lot to say about our possessions and relationships and every area of our life. Nonetheless, all these needs pale in their import in comparison to the primary concern of the gospel. “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” This question Jesus posed reverberates through every generation, especially when we lift up our eyes from the busy-ness of our daily chores and distractions and look ahead into the deep, dark cave of our mortality. And it is with this question, this ultimate question of life, that the gospel is primarily concerned with.

What, then, is the good news? The way it is formulated in our passage, the gospel consists of four components: Christ dying for our sins and being buried and being raised and appearing to various eye-witnesses. But these four can be reduced into two essential components--the two, to which the phrase “in accordance with the Scriptures” is attached--Jesus dying for our sins and Jesus being raised on the third day. Being buried is the evidence for Jesus’ death as appearing to eye-witnesses is the proof of Jesus’ resurrection. The gospel in its barest essence is that Christ died for our sins and was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

Think about the strangeness of this good news. That someone died is usually not good news, unless it is a cruel tyrant or an infamous mass murderer. Why does death or the news of death produce so much uneasiness and anxiety and even fear? Because it means so much loss. When the death knell tolls, there is a profound sense of finality and loss and emptiness and helplessness. As someone noted, two minus one may be simply one in mathematics but not so in human relationships. When a husband is taken away after many years of deep, intimate communion, is the wife simply back to being just one person? When a child is taken away from the parents, is it simply “three minus one is therefore two”? No, it can never be so mathematical when it comes to people and their relationships. Death is that incalculable, devastating Minus. So we try to avoid even the thought of death.

How, then, can the dying of Jesus be good news? Was He a merciless tyrant? Was He a mass murderer? Of course not! If so many people mourn for the death of a rock star or a popular princess, wouldn’t it be terrible news that Jesus died? Think back on how the world reacted when Mother Theresa died, when John Paul II died. How much mourning and sadness there was! But that is precisely what sets Jesus apart even from others, even from the saints of the world. That Jesus died cannot be good news if He just died, going the way of all men. No, when Jesus died, He died “for our sins”. Jesus died for us. Can you imagine someone dying for you? Your father jumps in the line of fire and takes the bullet for you. Your mother pushes you away and she is hit by the coming car. The death you were supposed to die, someone dies in your place. What could be more humbling and more awesome than that? Jesus died for us!

But Jesus did not just die for us: He died for our sins! He did not save us from just one attempt at our life or from one fatal accident. As awesome as that may be, we will face in our lifetime more than one fatal accident, one close call. Someone, who survived the Normandy landings, could die in his own backyard. But Jesus did not just die for us; He died for our sins, which the Bible says is the punishment our sin deserves. That is why Jesus had to die to pay for our sins. Jesus did not just save us from one of many attempts at our life: Jesus saved us from the ultimate cause of our death! He died for us and for our sins so that we don’t have to die our death as the punishment of our sins! What an awesome thought! What good news!

But Jesus did not just die for our sins. Jesus was raised on the third day! Imagine His death without His resurrection! What would His death really mean, then? He died for us. But how do we know that? How do we know that His death actually saves us from sin and death? Did anything happen to death when He died? Can we say that death was conquered and destroyed? How can we know these things for sure if Christ was not raised from the dead! But if Christ was indeed raised from the dead, we know that death is conquered without a shadow of the doubt, Christ’s death is powerful enough to save us from death, to save us from our sins! And this could not be if Jesus rose again only to die again, like Lazarus and the widow’s son in Nain and so many others who were raised from the dead only to die again. The resurrection of Jesus had to be unto eternal life. That was the resurrection of Christ. The empty tomb testifies to it still. And this resurrection of Christ is the firstfruits of our future resurrection in Him, our participation in Jesus’ victory over death.

What is more, Jesus did not just die and rise again from the dead. He died “in accordance with the Scriptures” and he rose again “in accordance with the Scriptures”! You see, He was not some kind of freakish historical accident, a religious genius, who happened to acquire some great insights into the meaning and purpose of life and taught memorable lessons on how to live! His coming was prepared and prophesied and prefigured and anticipated in the Holy Scriptures--where He would be born, what kind of things He would accomplish and what kind of sufferings He would bear and what kind of death He would die for the redemption of His people and how He would be raised from the dead on the third day! Jesus is utterly unique.

“This is all good in theory,” some may say. “But did Jesus really rise again from the dead--not just metaphorically, not just spiritually but physically? That is so hard to believe! Such a thing just does not happen! If we had resurrection take place even once a century, we would believe it!” So, many theologians explained away the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a spiritual one! But there can be no doubt as to what Paul (and the Apostles) meant. When they declared that Jesus rose again from the dead and appeared to the eye-witnesses, they meant the literal, physical resurrection. As NT Wright points out, there would be nothing extraordinary about the dead appearing to people. Many see the dead in their dreams, especially after their loved ones die. There would be nothing extraordinary about that!

Sometimes we think that the people of Paul’s time were so primitive and superstitious in their worldview that they readily accepted the message of Christ’s resurrection. They might have believed in some kind of after-life more universally than our generation. The Jews quite uniquely believed in bodily resurrection but it would take place only at the end of history, not in the middle! But this idea of literal, bodily resurrection in the midst of history was a totally foreign concept even to the Jews. Just consider this. Earlier in the letter, Paul spoke of the gospel as the power of God and the wisdom of God to those who are called. But the same gospel is to unbelieving Jews a stumbling block and to unbelieving Gentiles foolishness (1:23-24). How could that be? Paul explains in 2:14, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” That means, there was something scandalous, ridiculous, about the gospel to normal people, even two thousand years ago. (In fact, the Greek word for “a stumbling block” is ska,ndalon, from which we get the English word, “scandal”.)

Think about the time in which Paul preached. The title “Jesus Christ” did not have the kind of status and renown as it does now. People really had never heard of this character, Jesus. Who was He? What was His name? Where was He born and what did He do? It was into that kind of context that Paul delivered his message. And think about how utterly ridiculous the message must have sounded to people! This man Jesus, who was born in an obscure town in Judea, which itself is but a small province in the vast Roman Empire, lived most of his life as a carpenter in another obscure town. Then for about three years He went around teaching and doing some amazing things, supposedly. But He never got out of Judea and Galilee. He never visited any cultural or political centers that are important. He had not known or interacted with any persons of renown. In fact, His associates and friends were mostly from the lowest strata of the society. But at the end of His short public career, He was handed over to the Roman authority by the Jewish religious leaders--by His own people!--and was crucified--crucified! He was executed by crucifixion, the worst form of punishment reserved for the worst kind of criminals! And this Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day and He is now the Savior of the world! In fact, He is the Lord of all, not Caesar! In fact, He is the incarnate Son of God! And it is only by believing and trusting in this Jesus and pledging one’s allegiance that one is saved! That is what you believe!

The question we must raise at this point is whether Paul was oblivious to all this. Was he a man of such substandard intelligence that he did not realize the sheer absurdity of his message? Certainly not! When Paul speaks of the gospel as a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, it shows how well aware he was of the scandalous nature of his message. And when he said that he preached in weakness and in fear and in much trembling (1 Cor. 2:3), maybe it was precisely because he knew how ridiculous his message would sound to the people--just like how you may feel when you try to share the gospel. Even so, when he preached the gospel, he did not do so with superiority of speech or of wisdom (1 Cor. 2:1), in persuasive words of wisdom (1 Cor. 2:4)--that is, he did not try to embellish and modify the message so that it might be more palatable and acceptable to the people. He simply presented the gospel as it was and he kept doing it right through many beatings and imprisonments and all kinds of persecution and all the way until he was executed for it. And consider the fact that he used to be a fiercest and most ardent persecutor of the Christian church. What drove him to do that, especially when he did not gain anything by it from this world? His life of prestige and respect was replaced with his new life of suffering and persecution. Then why did he do it?

The most logical and sensible explanation, as many have suggested, is that what Paul preached was indeed true--“that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve…” (vv. 3-5). And he preached it all over the known world because he could not deny the historical fact of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and its profound redemptive significance. This historical person, Jesus Christ, and His historical work of redemption, were what made up the true gospel, the greatest good news that the world had ever known and would ever know!

D.A. Carson points out the centrality of Jesus’ resurrection to Christianity by way of comparison. He raises these insightful questions:

“Suppose you could prove that Gautama Buddha had never lived…. Would you have destroyed Buddhism? No, of course not! Because the credibility of Buddhism depends finally on the coherence of the entire philosophical-religious structure, on its attractiveness as a system. It does not depend in any particular on any historical data from the life of Gautama. Now go to India…. Suppose you could prove… that Krishna never lived. Would you destroy Hinduism? Of course not! Hinduism has millions of gods…. The framework of advance is within a karma system, in which you can rise in increasing cycles, or fall back in decreasing cycles…. Now go to Islam. Ask a friendly Muslim…. ‘Sir, can you conceive that Allah, had he chosen to do so, could he have given his final revelation to somebody else other than Mohammad?’ Ask respectfully…. Almost certainly he will say, ‘It is inconceivable in the light of what happened. But the revelation is not Mohammad. God could have given his revelation to anyone he chose. We believe that he gave it to Mohammad…. But there is nothing intrinsic to him that makes him himself the revelation. Allah, Allah alone is god.’ Now come to Christianity. Suppose you can prove, I don’t know how as with the others…., that Jesus had never, ever lived. Would you destroy Christianity? The answer is, ‘Yes, utterly!’ Because the Christian claim is that God has disclosed Himself not only in words and events but ultimately in Jesus of Nazareth, Himself simultaneously God and man. The claim is so sweeping… that ultimately, if it is destroyed, there is no useful Christianity left…. If you could prove that Christ never rose again from the dead, you’ve destroyed Christianity.”

Then D.A. Carson refers to 1 Cor. 15: “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain…. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins…. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (vv. 14, 17, 19).

Why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ so important to Christianity? Because, at the most basic level, it is historically true. Christianity is not just a system of ideas, which cannot be proved or disproved. It is founded on a historical reality subject to historical investigation. The Apostles were preaching when these facts could have been challenged and proven wrong. It is so important to Christianity also because it is so crucial to humanity, to God’s relationship with humanity, to the redemption of humanity. Our sins and our death are real, historical realities. Our salvation, therefore, must be real and historical. It cannot be just some ideas or ideals, however great they may be. The resurrection is the evidence of Christ’s victory over our real, historical, individual and corporate death and His full, complete payment for our real, historical, individual and corporate sins. The resurrection of Christ also shows the completeness of our salvation in Him: as God made us body and soul, He will save us body and soul.

“Science studies the repeatable. History studies the unrepeatable.” History is full of surprises, full of unexpected, incredible events. Of all the incredible historical events, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ may be the most incredible of all. What else can we expect from the good news, which offers this kind of true, complete salvation? If our salvation must overcome the real, historical problems of sin and death, we expect it to somehow emerge from this world, which is part of the problem! It must come from outside of ourselves, from God Himself entering into the world to save us. The Apostles themselves, who preached it, was fully aware of the sheer absurdity of their message to the people, who cannot see beyond this world: it was a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. But when attempts were made to suppress their witness to the death and resurrection of Christ, they replied consistently and unflinchingly, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20).

This reality, this historical reality, of Christ’s death and resurrection demands decision from us. We cannot view our faith and religion merely as a subjective, inner reality, which works well when we feel good but is useless when we have a lousy day. If the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is not some kind of inner, spiritual reality but an objective, historical reality, our faith is anchored in something that transcends our fickle emotions and the vicissitudes of life’s fortunes and circumstances. This reality can humble us in moments of our glory and make us rejoice even in prison cells. And it is precisely when we feel depressed and hopeless we are to look and consider the empty tomb and say, “There is a reality far greater than the feeling I have now, which has changed a thousand times even today.” If Jesus did rise again from the dead, what greater hope is there than the hope that this resurrection offers? If death our greatest enemy is conquered, what about our sufferings and pain, which are but handmaids to death? If those, who enter into hell, must abandon all hope, those who place their trust in the resurrected Christ must abandon all despair.

If Jesus did rise again from the dead, then our life cannot be the same. His resurrection changes everything. How can it not? The grave is not the end of our life. This world is but our temporary lodging. Our life here is but a business trip. This is not our eternal home. This is not where we receive our ultimate reward. This place is not where we experience and enjoy full justice. This changes everything! This changes the meaning of our life. This changes the purpose of our life. This changes the priorities of our life. This changes the desires of our life. This changes the joys of our life. This changes the relationships in our life. This changes how we ought to think and what to think, how we ought to talk and what we talk about, how we ought to behave and what we ought to do with our life! The resurrection of Jesus Christ has pervasive, comprehensive ramifications for our life.

If the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ did happen, as it did, we cannot go on as if it did not happen. We cannot just stay home, doing our thing, when Christ came into this world and died and rose again and launched a new creation for us! If Jesus did rise again, as He did, “We can die, but we cannot deny the truth.” We cannot be ashamed of the gospel. To you God has revealed this and enlightened your heart and mind to understand and believe this absurd, strange message, which we ourselves would have rejected had it not been the fact that it is historically and really true as well as redemptive historically true (for all these things happened according to the Scriptures). The pulls of this world are strong. We get busy with our daily schedules and we often forget the ultimate issues of life. The Word of God, by pointing us to the death and resurrection of Christ, constantly draws our attention back to a reality more ultimate than our daily routines and chores. As we have been reminded of the death and resurrection of Christ, let us make the necessary decision to live in accordance with the Scriptures, in accordance with the hope we have for our resurrection in Jesus Christ. Let us live with the new goals, new desires, new priorities, new joys that this resurrection hope demands. For death shall not be our end. We shall be raised to eternal life (in body as well as in soul) in the risen Christ! “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58).