~9 min read
Ps Paul Cheng
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
“…the gospel is all about Christ…”
Dear Bethelites,
If you are an accountant, and someone asks you, “Can you summarize what accountancy means into one statement?” What would you say? Perhaps you may answer, “It is about accurately reporting the financial performance and cash flow of a business.” Or what about sportsmanship? It may be about respect, discipline, integrity and fair play.
But what if someone asks you, “What is the essence of the gospel message? How can you summarise the gospel message into one statement?” Here, in this passage, the Apostle Paul was speaking about the essence of the gospel message. What is the gospel?
I. The gospel is all about Christ
1 Corinthians 15:1, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand.
Firstly, the gospel has to be preached in order for it to be heard, then the gospel has to be received or embraced by faith (c.f. Romans 10:17), and finally, it has to be the foundation whereby the believers stand.
1 Corinthians 15:2, By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
Here it does not mean that one is saved because of his or her ability to remember the gospel, otherwise it would be a ‘gospel’ based on works.
Essentially, there are three parts in our salvation; justification, sanctification and glorification. In the past, we were saved from the penalty of sin (justification), presently, we are being saved from the power of sin (sanctification), and one day, we would be completely saved from the presence of sin (glorification). In other words, Paul was saying, “It is through the gospel that you are a true believer; you have been justified, and it will be evidenced by your sanctified and transformed life, and you will never forget the gospel (it is your foundation - keep in memory), unless you have believed in vain.” It is about the power of the gospel!
The gospel is the good news. Whenever people hear the word “gospel,” some would think of the four gospels, as in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But what was written in those four gospels?
- Matthew begins with the genealogy of Christ, and ends with the Great Commission.
- Mark begins with John the Baptist preparing the way for the Messiah (the word “Messiah” is the Hebrew word which means Christ, the Anointed One), and ends with the resurrection of Christ.
- Luke begins with the predictions of the births of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, and ends with the ascension of Christ.
- John begins with “in the beginning was the Word (referring to Christ, the Living Word),” and ends with Christ appearing to His disciples.
Notice, there was something common in all the four gospels which was Christ; His birth, His ministry, His teachings, His suffering, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, everything about who He was, why He must come, and what He did. Essentially, the gospel is all about Christ. So, whenever we think of the gospel, we must always think of Jesus Christ.
II. The gospel fulfills the Old Testament Scriptures
1 Corinthians 15:3, For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
First of all means this was what mattered, the foremost or of greatest importance. If you were to share what is most essential about the gospel, where would you begin? Is it about the birth of Christ, the sermon on the Mount, the parables or miracles of Christ? Whilst all these things are important, what is of special emphasis about the gospel? It is the truth that Christ died for our sins!
John the Baptist emphasised this truth — When John saw Jesus, he proclaimed, Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. He was the Lamb that was prophesied in the Old Testament, and just like the sacrificial lamb would always die, Christ was that Lamb.
Paul emphasised this truth — Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:23, But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness. Again, he said in 1 Corinthians 2:2, For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
Peter emphasised this truth — Peter said in 1 Peter 2:24, Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
1 Corinthians 15:4, And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
Why was it necessary to mention His burial? It was not so much about His burial but what it communicated; Jesus really died. Jesus was not just beaten, spat at, whipped or crucified. He did not just suffer, but His burial communicated this important truth that He actually died. Only a dead person was buried!
If Christ was not buried, then it would mean He might not have died. And if He did not die, then it would make His resurrection meaningless. So, His burial acted like a bridge between His death and resurrection.
The phrase, according to the scriptures, was a reference to the Old Testament. So, the gospel was a historical and biblical account that fulfilled the Old Testament. It was not a new message for it had been preached throughout the Old Testament - from Genesis to Malachi. Here, Paul confirmed that Jesus was indeed the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament!
III. The gospel is confirmed by eye-witnesses
The gospel was not just an old wives’ tale passed down from one generation to another. The resurrection which formed a critical part of the gospel was confirmed by eye-witnesses. When Jesus was crucified and buried, the disciples were so fearful that they went into hiding. But when Christ rose again from the dead, all of a sudden, they became a group of strong and courageous men who went around testifying and preaching the risen Saviour. They were beaten, imprisoned and martyred. No man would willingly die to preserve a lie. The disciples were willing to die because of the truth. The eye-witnesses account of the resurrection was another powerful testimony to the power of the gospel!
According to Acts 1:3, over a period of forty days between His resurrection and ascension, Jesus appeared to all the following people.
Peter and the twelve — 1 Corinthians 15:5, And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
One of the requirements to be an apostle was to have seen the resurrected Christ (Acts 1:22), and the first apostle to whom Jesus appeared, was Cephas or Peter. The Bible does not tell us the reason why the Lord appeared to Peter first, but maybe it was because of his great remorse for having denied the Lord. If that is true, then in going to Peter first, it was an emphasis of God’s grace. Peter might have forsaken the Lord, but He had not forsaken him.
This is an encouragement to all of us. So often, like Peter, we have failed the Lord, and we have forsaken and denied Him. Sometimes we hear testimonies of people who had backslided, and they had not been attending the church for many years. Then suddenly, they came back to church again, and they shared about how the Lord had turned their hearts back unto Him. Indeed, we may be unfaithful, but the Lord remained ever faithful, and He will never forget nor forsake us.
Next, Jesus appeared to the twelve. Here, the remaining eleven apostles minus Judas Iscariot, were still being referred to as the twelve. The apostles laid the foundation of the church, and they were used by the Lord to establish His church on the earth, and therefore, it was vital for Him to appear to them.
Five hundred brethren — 1 Corinthians 15:6, After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. We do not know who these five hundred brethren were, but they all saw Jesus alive after His resurrection, all at the same time and place. In a sense, Paul was like saying, “If you do not believe in the resurrection. Well, you can check-it-out with these five hundred brethren; some of them are still alive, while others have died. They have all seen the risen Christ!”
James and the apostles — 1 Corinthians 15:7, After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. We were not told to which James did Christ appear to. It could be the apostle James, son of Zebedee, or the apostle James, son of Alphaeus. But because of the following phrase, then of all the apostles, it seems to indicate that this James might not be an apostle. So many theologians believed that this ‘James’ was the half-brother of the Lord. Initially, like his other brothers, he did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, but later, he not only became a believer, he also became a key leader in the Jerusalem church. Some people believed that it was this experience of seeing the resurrected Christ that finally brought him to saving faith.
Paul — 1 Corinthians 15:8, And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. Here, Paul was referring to the experience he had on the road of Damascus when Jesus appeared to him (c.f. Acts 9). That experience happened several years after the ascension of Christ, that was why it was last of all.
In comparison to all those apostles who had seen the resurrected Christ, Paul described himself as one born out of due time. That is a very interesting word which means a premature birth, miscarriage, or something unexpected. Paul was persecuting the church, and as a matter of fact, he was on his way to persecute the Christians when Jesus appeared to him and called him. Of all the people called to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, he was the least expected. It was in this sense that he said, “I am one born out of due time. I am just like a premature baby which has no hope of survival. I was spiritually dead until Christ came and called me out of darkness and into His marvellous light.”
That was the reason why he continued to say in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10, For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to 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 which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
In other words, Paul considered himself the least, and not worthy to be called an apostle. Unlike the other apostles who were with Jesus through His earthly ministry, he was a persecutor of the church. But by the grace of God, he was called to be an apostle, and therefore, he worked harder than all the rest (not in a proud sense), for he acknowledged that it was yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Finally, Paul said, Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed (v.11).
Paul loved the Lord Jesus Christ so much that the only thing he wanted to do was to glorify Him and save the souls of men. It did not matter whether they had heard the gospel from Peter, John, Thomas, James or Paul; what truly mattered was that they had believed in the gospel!
Dear friend, (1) the gospel is all about Christ, (2) it fulfills the Old Testament Scriptures, and (3) it is confirmed by eye-witnesses. Essentially, the gospel is about the Person, death, burial and resurrection of Christ!
If you have been saved by the gospel, will you keep it only to yourself? Or will you share it with someone else, especially your unbelieving loved ones? You, who have been evangelised, must make evangelism your way of life!
In Christ,
Pastor Paul Cheng
1 CORINTHIANS 15The Essence Of The Gospel MessageThe Essence Of The Gospel Message1 Corinthians 15:1-11