Victory in Jesus

Reading:  1 Corinthians 15:50-58
    
    Paul’s teaching on the resurrection reaches a crescendo here.  “I tell you this, brothers:  flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable”(1 Cor 15:50).  We must be made immortal to receive the ultimate blessings God has planned for us.  “Behold!  I tell you a mystery.  We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed”(1 Cor 15:51-52).  Not everyone will die, but the resurrection means that all of us will be changed together.  If we do die before that moment, we can remain confident that we will be raised and transformed as well.  The change will be instant—“in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”—at the end.

     This is huge.  It fulfills this great promise from Isaiah:  “Death is swallowed up in victory”(1 Cor 15:54, Isa 25:8).  It fulfills this triumphant statement from Hosea:  “O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?”(1 Cor 15:55, Hos 13:14).  God has long foretold the conquering of death and has begun to fulfill it in Jesus’ resurrection.  Paul explains:  “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”(1 Cor 15:56-57).  Jesus eliminates sin through his sacrifice and fulfills the law.  He has defeated death from the inside.  Now we live free from sin and free from the law—and will someday live free from death.  God “gives us the victory” he has achieved over death.

     Death is our great enemy.  We are powerless before it.  Worse, we deserve death for our sin and can do nothing to avoid this disaster.  Death also consigns our works to oblivion:  what good are my daily choices to help others and live a holy life if I am just going to the grave?  This is the great power of the resurrection.  Jesus has defeated death and now God “gives us the victory.”   We will live again.  Our sins are removed.  And we are deeply motivated for daily service to Jesus because “in the Lord your labor is not in vain”(1 Cor 15:58).

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One Thing to Think About:  What will life be like without death?

One Thing to Pray For:  Endurance to keep abounding in Jesus’ work until he returns
 

A New Body

Reading:  1 Corinthians 15:35-49
    
    Having established the need for a resurrection, Paul now answers some questions from the skeptics about how precisely the resurrection will work.  “But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised?  With what kind of body do they come?’”(1 Cor 15:35).  First, he explains that resurrection is not outside human experience.  “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.  And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.  But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body”(1 Cor 15:36-38).  When we sow seeds, they “die,” yet emerge more impressive, more glorious, and with a different body.  This is a kind of resurrection, along with a God-given body equipped for new life.

    Paul wants us to embrace this contrast in anticipation of the resurrection.  “What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.  It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory.  It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body”(1 Cor 15:42-44).  Death is not to be feared; it is the gateway to resurrection and greater glory.  Our present existence is marred by the curse of sin and its accompanying death, dishonor, and weakness.  The resurrection will see us emerge with far more glory in a different type of body.  In another place, Paul explains that Jesus “will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself”(Phil 3:21).  We will be raised and given a new body.

    Of course we long for details about that new body.  Will we look like we do now?  Will we need to eat or sleep?  We only have experience in this body and it is hard to imagine a new body.  While Paul does not answer all of our questions, he gives essential encouragement:  I may die, but I will live again.  And because of Jesus’ resurrection, that new life will far surpass what I now know.  

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One Thing to Think About:  Why do we find the idea of a new body appealing?

One Thing to Pray For:  Confidence in Jesus’ power, even though I don’t fully understand
 

Then Comes the End

Reading:  1 Corinthians 15:20-34
    
    Paul has been addressing some in Corinth who deny the resurrection of the dead.  He argues that this denial necessarily means denying Jesus’ resurrection also—which creates obvious problems.  “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep”(1 Cor 15:20).  Jesus’ resurrection is the “firstfruits," the first part of a crop that promises more to come.  His resurrection promises more resurrections.  “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive”(1 Cor 15:21-22).  Jesus’ resurrection means that God is undoing the death and damage Adam began.  It is the beginning of a new hope for all.

     “But each in his own order:  Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.  Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power”(1 Cor 15:23-24).  The timing of the resurrection is laid out for us.  It will happen “at his coming.”  The only other event on Paul’s eschatological map here is “the end,” which is signaled by Jesus delivering the kingdom to the Father, having conquered all other authorities.  “Then comes the end” leaves no room for raptures, literal millennia of Christ’s reign, or intermediate stages.  Jesus returns.  People rise.  Then comes the end.

     We get a glimpse here of the ultimate plan of all things.  God has begun the process of undoing death through Jesus’ resurrection.  He has also begun the process of putting all enemies under the feet of Jesus—which will only be completed when even death is conquered (1 Cor 15:26).  We live between the beginning of this process and its completion—and eagerly await the end, when all enemies are destroyed.

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One Thing to Think About:  How does Jesus’ victory over death impact me personally?

One Thing to Pray For:  Jesus to come quickly 
 

Why Resurrection Matters

Reading:  1 Corinthians 15:12-19
    
    Having established that the gospel message includes the resurrection of Jesus, Paul comes to his point:  “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?”(1 Cor 15:12).  Some of the Corinthians believe that “there is no resurrection of the dead”—probably referring to a general resurrection of the dead at the end of time.  Jews believed this while Greeks often struggled with it (Acts 17:32).  Yet Paul stresses that arguing against resurrection does more than just describe current humanity; it also guts the gospel of its power because it means that Jesus has not been raised.  “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised”(1 Cor 15:13).  Now we’ve got problems.

    Paul spells it out:  apostolic preaching is worthless, Corinthian faith is worthless, the apostles are liars, all believers are still in their sins, and those who have died in hope of resurrection are simply gone (1 Cor 15:14-18).  In Paul’s logic, we are putting our faith in a dead man and the apostles are encouraging others to believe in this dead man.  Every time Paul affirms that Jesus rose from the dead (as he has just done, v. 4-8), he is bearing false witness about God.  We are not forgiven of our sins because Jesus does not live to make intercession for us.  “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied”(1 Cor 15:19).  Christianity without resurrection is a powerless delusion.

     Can God raise dead people and give them new life?  It is a question that has both personal and cosmic implications.  Yet Paul argues that God has already proven that he can and will do this.  The proof is in Jesus.  Because Jesus has been raised, apostolic preaching and witness are powerful and life-giving.  Because Jesus is raised, we are saved from our sins.  Because Jesus has been raised, those who have died in Christ will live again.  The resurrection is the key to everything.

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One Thing to Think About:  Why might we be tempted to argue that “there is no resurrection of the dead”?

One Thing to Pray For:  A deeper, richer hope in the resurrection—for others and myself
 

By the Grace of God I Am What I Am

Reading:  1 Corinthians 15:1-11
    
    Paul shifts gears here to address a teaching problem in Corinth regarding the resurrection.  He retreats to their common understanding of the basic facts of the gospel (v. 1-2).  “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:  that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised the third day in accordance with the Scriptures”(1 Cor 15:3-4).  There are certain facts and historical events at the core of the Christian faith:  Jesus’ atoning death (prophesied in Scripture), his burial (proving that he actually died), and his resurrection on the third day (also prophesied).  Denying the resurrection of Jesus means that Christians serve, follow, and hope in a dead man.

    Paul then recounts several witnesses who testify that they saw Jesus resurrected.  He appears to Peter and the other apostles (v. 5) as several gospel writers mention.  “Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep”(1 Cor 15:6).  Paul’s words imply that these people were still living witnesses bearing their testimony, a direct link to the heart of our faith.   Jesus appears to James and the other apostles (v. 7).  And there is one more:  “Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.  For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy 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 toward me was not in vain”(1 Cor 15:8-910).  Paul is given the special gift of witnessing the resurrected Jesus.  He is deeply thankful and humbled.  He knows the tremendous honor of being in this prestigious list—and how disqualified he should be.  It is “by the grace of God.”

    These verses drip with Paul’s gratitude for an undeserved gift.  Sometimes we mistakenly conclude that because God gives grace, there is nothing for us to do but receive it.  Yet Paul says “I worked harder than any of them”(1 Cor 15:10).  And as soon as we start to think that this is about his work, he adds, “though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me”(1 Cor 15:10).  God grants us rich gifts.  He changes how we think, work, and love.  We act in response to him, yet “by the grace of God I am what I am.”

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One Thing to Think About:  Do I attribute my spiritual successes to God or myself?

One Thing to Pray For:  The humility to see God’s work in me for what it is