For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
--1 Corinthians 15:16-19 (NKJV)
From the daily Bible reading on June 4, 2013 of Psalm 105:1-11; 1 Corinthians 15:1-34; 2 Samuel 23:8-24.
Because of their Greek cultural background, the Gentile converts in Corinth had difficulty accepting resurrection of the dead as a possibility. They generally believed that the soul was immortal, but they could not believe that the body could be resurrected, nor did they even want to. These early Christians felt the body to be the home and source of all man's sins. The death of the physical body was welcomed as it provided release of the soul from sin. To them, if the body is resurrected, the soul would once again be enslaved.
Paul countered this way of thinking with what has become one of the basic tools of Christian Apologetics: witnesses to the fact. That Jesus died on the cross and was buried in a sealed tomb was a widely held and (for all intents and purposes) uncontested fact. Too many people, both Jews and Gentiles, believers and non-believers, saw these events transpire. Paul carries the argument to the next step. After Jesus died and was buried, He appeared first to Peter (Cephas, in Paul's telling), then to the twelve disciples as a group. Next comes the clincher. Peter and the disciples may have thought to conspire together and lie so that this movement Jesus started could continue under their leadership. Maybe Jesus didn't really rise from the grave. Maybe His followers stole His body and made up this whole story of resurrection just to further their own agenda. Paul dispels this notion by declaring that 500 men (and we have no idea how many woman and children) saw the risen Christ all at the same time! Not Christ in the Spirit, but Jesus in the flesh, in His body, complete with fresh scars! At the time of the writing of this letter, the majority of these eyewitnesses still lived. Paul is saying if you don't believe him, go and ask some of them. Yet no one refuted Christ's appearance in the body after His death and burial. No one of these witnesses denied His resurrection.
The resurrection of the body is the cornerstone of our Christian faith. The Apostles included it in their Creed, one of the aspects of the Three Persons of God in which they and we believe. Jesus died and in so doing defeated death. God raised our Christ from the dead, and that is our promise, through Jesus, that He will do the same for us. In Jesus is our only hope, that we will be raised from this first life to live for eternity with God and Jesus, avoiding the second and lasting death. Without the resurrection, we have no hope and our belief and faith is all just wasted effort. Had Jesus just died and that was the end of it, Christianity would be a sham and we would be pitiably hopeless. But too many people witnessed the risen Jesus. His story did not end at the grave, and neither will ours. Christ lives, and so will we. All glory to God, and to Jesus His Son, for ever and ever! Amen.
Fairest Lord Jesus, even death could not stop You nor the grave hold You. You died and conquered death and so will we. Our Father raised You from the grave and He will do the same for us. This is the promise of the empty tomb, of the bare cross. You rose so that we might follow. Thank You, blessed Jesus! In Your glorious name, dearest Jesus we pray. Amen.
Paul countered this way of thinking with what has become one of the basic tools of Christian Apologetics: witnesses to the fact. That Jesus died on the cross and was buried in a sealed tomb was a widely held and (for all intents and purposes) uncontested fact. Too many people, both Jews and Gentiles, believers and non-believers, saw these events transpire. Paul carries the argument to the next step. After Jesus died and was buried, He appeared first to Peter (Cephas, in Paul's telling), then to the twelve disciples as a group. Next comes the clincher. Peter and the disciples may have thought to conspire together and lie so that this movement Jesus started could continue under their leadership. Maybe Jesus didn't really rise from the grave. Maybe His followers stole His body and made up this whole story of resurrection just to further their own agenda. Paul dispels this notion by declaring that 500 men (and we have no idea how many woman and children) saw the risen Christ all at the same time! Not Christ in the Spirit, but Jesus in the flesh, in His body, complete with fresh scars! At the time of the writing of this letter, the majority of these eyewitnesses still lived. Paul is saying if you don't believe him, go and ask some of them. Yet no one refuted Christ's appearance in the body after His death and burial. No one of these witnesses denied His resurrection.
The resurrection of the body is the cornerstone of our Christian faith. The Apostles included it in their Creed, one of the aspects of the Three Persons of God in which they and we believe. Jesus died and in so doing defeated death. God raised our Christ from the dead, and that is our promise, through Jesus, that He will do the same for us. In Jesus is our only hope, that we will be raised from this first life to live for eternity with God and Jesus, avoiding the second and lasting death. Without the resurrection, we have no hope and our belief and faith is all just wasted effort. Had Jesus just died and that was the end of it, Christianity would be a sham and we would be pitiably hopeless. But too many people witnessed the risen Jesus. His story did not end at the grave, and neither will ours. Christ lives, and so will we. All glory to God, and to Jesus His Son, for ever and ever! Amen.
Fairest Lord Jesus, even death could not stop You nor the grave hold You. You died and conquered death and so will we. Our Father raised You from the grave and He will do the same for us. This is the promise of the empty tomb, of the bare cross. You rose so that we might follow. Thank You, blessed Jesus! In Your glorious name, dearest Jesus we pray. Amen.
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