The Bible Says Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15

1 Corinthians 15:1-2 urges the Corinthians to remember the gospel message Paul taught to them. They believed it, they are Paul's brothers and sisters in Christ, but they need to also live it out daily to be saved from the power of sin. We have believed in Christ to no useful end in our daily lives if we don't also live out our faith, living in God's power apart from sin's power.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 reiterates the gospel message, the most important and central belief that Paul and the Corinthians share. Jesus is the Messiah, He died for the sins of humankind, His dead body was buried, and then God raised Him back to life. All of this was prophesied in the Hebrew scriptures. God promised that these things would happen, and now they have. This faith in Jesus's death and resurrection is what we build our lives on.

1 Corinthians 15:5-8 shows that after resurrecting to life, Jesus appeared to and interacted with Peter and the other 12 apostles, as well as five hundred other believers (most of whom are still alive as of Paul's writing of this letter), and His brother James, then to many others who had followed Him. Lastly Jesus appeared to Paul, who was persecuting the church, trying to destroy all believers in Jesus. But Paul, seeing Jesus, believed, and became a preacher of the gospel.

1 Corinthians 15:9-11 records Paul's self-reflection on how God's grace saved him. He did not deserve to be called to be an apostle of God. He had persecuted the church, intending to kill all believers in Jesus. Jesus appeared to him and He reversed the course of his life. Paul believed in Jesus, an enemy of Christ no longer. It was God's favor and compassion on Paul that saved him. So Paul works as hard as he can, or rather, God's grace works through Paul, so that he can serve God and do the works God has called him to; namely, to preach the gospel.

1 Corinthians 15:12-14 addresses a false teaching in the Corinthian church. Paul has established the foundational importance of their faith, of the existence of the Corinthian church, being founded on belief that Jesus rose from the dead. That being the case, why then is there a false teaching circulating the Corinthian church that claims that believers will not also rise from the dead in the future, as promised? If there is no resurrection of the dead, as the false teachers claim, then Jesus was not raised from the dead. If Jesus was not raised and is still dead, then Paul has preached nonsense to no purpose. Which means the Corinthians' faith and church assembly is pointless.