Day #337

Sermon - Audio
1 Cor 15-16 - Reading
1 Cor 15-16 - Audio

Daily Insights - Please Comment

1 Corinthians 15-16
Paul in these verses holds out the centrality and the central importance of the resurrection for our faith to be real. If there is no resurrection (a literal, bodily resurrection of Christ), then our faith is foolishness.

* 15.1-11: The resurrection is essential to the Christian faith.
* 15.7: Apostles are commissioned messengers. There are more apostles than the 12 disciples in the early church.
* 15.12: Some in Corinth were denying that those who died as followers of Jesus would be raised from the dead. They believed that Christ had been raised, but they didn’t believe his followers would be raised.
* 15.13: Paul argues that either all are raised or none are raised, not even Christ.
* 15.14: For those in our day who speak of the resurrection being the coming to faith of the disciples, Paul argues that Christ’s literal resurrection is central to a true Christian faith.
* 15.17: The resurrection is God’s “yes” to the work and ministry of Christ. It is also the final victory over sin. If Christ only died on the cross, his death is useless to us. The resurrection is essential for our forgiveness. This reminds us that while we often focus on the cross as the place where our sins are taken away, that if there is no resurrection, the cross just a place where a person died. To truly have forgiveness there needs to be a dual emphasis on cross and resurrection.
* 15.19: Given all the suffering that comes the way of the Christian, what they give up to follow him, and the investment of their lives in his life, if he has not been raised then we are people who deserve pity. We have invested all that we are in a lie.
* 15.20: The first fruits of a harvest were a guarantee of the ingathering of the rest of the harvest.
* 15.24: Christ will destroy all that is in opposition to the Father. This may serve as a warning to those who deny the resurrection. They are in opposition to the teaching about and the work of Christ.
* 15.28: Throughout the New Testament we see that there is a functional subordination of the Father to the Son. The Son is not less than the Father, just as the Spirit is not less, but the trinity has chosen that the Father will finally be the one who is ruler over all.
* 15.29: This little verse has caused great debate. There are over 200 explanations for Paul’s words. What seems most likely is that people in Corinth are being baptized for believer who died before they could be baptized. But whatever the meaning, Paul is using this practice to bolster his case that the dead are raised. In fact, that is the central point we should get from this verse.
* 15.32: The wild beasts are not literally beasts, but those who opposed Paul in Ephesus.
* 15.33: These words, “Bad company ruins good morals” reflects Jewish teachers who held that failure to believe in the resurrection were immorality. Paul’s point is that hanging out in the bad company of those who said the dead are not raised can put us in danger of giving up this central teaching/doctrine of the church.
* 15.37: The picture that Paul gives in this verse excites the imagination. If we sow the barest of kernels with this body (which is already in the image of God), what will yet be when we are raised for the dead? The glorious resurrected body will outshine our present body as a kernel of wheat compares to a golden field of wheat
* 15:43 dishonor … glory. These terms have to do with outward physical appearance: the Christian’s resurrection body will be physically attractive beyond anything imaginable. ESV Study Bible
* 15.46-49: Paul’s words draw us deeper into the wonder of our new bodies. They will be akin to Christ’s resurrected body, rather than like fallen Adam’s. Not only so, but these bodies will be animated by the Holy Spirit so that we will no longer sin.
* 15.50: We need resurrection to inherit the kingdom of God. We cannot fully inherit the kingdom in our present state.
* 15.58: Paul wants the good news of the resurrection to spur the people on to living for God.

* 16.2: The idea of saving up or putting aside seems to mean to bring the amount you have saved and bring it with you to worship. The church will do the saving so Paul or his companions can simply pick up the offering and not have to go about collecting it from each family.
* 16.6: In a bit of a surprise Paul is now willing to take assistance from the people whom he earlier would take nothing. Since the church is a maturing group they can now give to the missionary cause.
* 16.8-9: Paul’s words here are an interesting contrast. Ephesus is a place of effective work and a place of many adversaries. We might assume that a place would be one or the other, but Paul experiences both and rather than running from his adversaries stays to carry out the work.
* 16.11: Paul calls on the Corinthians to do two things. First of all, they are not to despise Timothy which means to treat him as worthless or of little value. Given the attitude in the Corinthians church of arrogance this could be a very real possibility. Second, they are to help Timothy on his way—which means helping him with paying for his travel. Paul is not shy to ask and even command this congregation to be generous.
* 16.12: Paul shows his solidarity with Apollos. As an excellent teacher Paul wanted him to help in Corinth. This solidarity flies in the face of those who want to say that they belong to Paul or to Apollos (see chapter 3).
* 16.13: Early in his letter Paul has called the Corinthian Christians “infants”, those who are unschooled, who lack wisdom, and are untrained. Now he calls on them to act like men which means they are to act according to the ways of the gospel and not the culture.
* 16.18: Paul speaks of his spirit being refreshed. This usually means to give a person a break from work so they can be physically refreshed. It seems that these visitors to Paul made it possible for him to have some respite from a very arduous time of work and preaching the gospel. When it speaks of them also refreshing the church at Corinth it may hint that these are very wealthy individuals who care for the poor.
* 16.18: In a church where people are trying to get ahead, Paul is so bold as to suggest that some people really do need to be acknowledged for their contribution to the congregation and to him.