1Cor 15:7-8 | KingComments | STEP | . To support the fact of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, Paul summarizes a number of witnesses, of whom some even were still alive when he wrote this letter. So it was a fact which could be verified by the Corinthians! After His resurrection Christ was never seen by unbelievers, at least, we cannot find this in the Bible. Wherever His appearance is mentioned in the Bible after His resurrection, it is to believers. The Holy Spirit does not let Paul mention all witnesses. So Mary Magdalene is passed by ( ) as are the two going to Emmaus ( ). The witnesses that are mentioned, are, so to speak, chosen because of their personal reputation (Cephas, i.e. Peter) or because of their number (the twelve, five hundred at the same time) or because of their special position (James, all apostles). In that way all doubts about the physical resurrection of Christ are removed. . At last Paul mentions himself. To him the Lord appeared in an exceptional way. The other witnesses saw the Lord during His forty days on earth after His resurrection ( ), but to Paul the Lord appeared after His return to heaven. In Acts 9 you read about this event ( ). His conversion also happened at that moment. That’s why he was too late born again to be able to see the Lord on earth as the Risen One. Therefore Paul calls himself here “one untimely born”. . While he is writing about that and looks back to the circumstances in which he found himself then, he again is impressed of God’s grace. It’s not possible for him only to talk about God’s truth intellectually. His heart is in it. And when he sees again what he was occupied with, he deeply humbles himself before God. He has not forgotten about his past. He was a persecutor of the church of God. He calls himself the “foremost” of all sinners ( ). He does not try to talk his way out of it, but he frankly admits how terrible his crimes were. He doesn’t do that out of some pride to show how bad he was. No, he does that to emphasize the grace of God even more. It is no humble pride when he calls himself “the least of the apostles”. It is no disguised form of self-praise when he talks about himself to be “not fit” of being called “an apostle”. He means what he says from his heart because he is impressed of God’s grace. You can learn here in which wonderful way you may be occupied with the truth of God. Whatever truth you read about in the Bible, God’s purpose has always been that the Lord Jesus becomes more important and that we get less important. John the baptist understood that well when he said: “He must increase, but I must decrease” ( ). That’s something you cannot pass on to each other; that must be the desire of your heart. When that is in your heart, then that admiration for God’s grace comes forward more and more every time you read something in His Word. You then take the right position before God so that He can use you, for in this way you are of value to Him. . Therefore Paul could say that the grace of God made him who he was. It is really wonderful to see how, on the one hand he is aware that everything is grace and that man is nothing, and on the other hand how exactly that awareness motivated him to great activity. He made every endeavor for God’s work that he could say without any form of self-praise that he had labored more than all of them. But even that he does not ascribe to himself, but ascribes that totally to the grace of God that was with him. So he says successively: 1. I am nothing; 2. what I am, I am by grace; 3. therefore I have labored more than whoever; 4. but even that abundant working I could only do because God’s grace gave me the power to. God wants to teach you to repeat these things. Not as a lesson you’ve learned by heart, but by practicing it in your daily life. . The result will be that He receives all honor from the ‘preaching’ that is reflected in your life. That is what Paul is presenting the Corinthians in . He himself was thoroughly aware of the grace that was shown to him at his conversion and during his life afterward, just like the other apostles. This is how they preached the gospel and this is how the Corinthians have believed it. When we are thoroughly aware of the grace that God proved to us at our conversion and which He still proves daily, we shall be able to preach like Paul and the other apostles have done. Not that we can emulate Paul, but the content and power of our preaching then comes from the Source from which Paul also drew. . In these verses it is proved in a simple way how far-reaching the denial of the resurrection is. When you read these verses carefully, you can sense the power of the apostle’s argumentation. It is clear and unambiguous. Paul says, as it were: ‘Beloved Corinthians, you should think it through what it actually means, if you do not believe in the resurrection of the dead anymore. Listen carefully: If no dead are raised, then neither Christ has been raised; if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, for you are then still in your sins. And that makes us false witnesses, for we have then just been pulling the wool over your eyes in our preaching. And those who are dead already, are perished. We would be no more than a bunch of fools, if only in this life our hope is in Christ. That would mean that we take distance from the fun and the pleasures of the world and experiencing trials instead, with nothing in return in the afterlife. Then we are the most pitiable of all people. Now we have nothing and in future we have nothing. It is all for nothing.’ Of course that was not the intention of the Corinthians, but Paul shows that these are the consequences of what some of them said. The raising of the Lord Jesus by God is exactly the conclusive proof that all sins of all believers are taken away. Here you see also how inseparable Christ is connected to the believers. What applies to Christ also applies to the believers. Are the believers not raised? Then neither Christ has been raised! I already indicated in the introduction to this chapter, and it is good to repeat it once again, that Paul is offering us a good method here to unmask a wrong teaching. That method is: Explore what the consequences of a certain doctrine are for Christ and His work. Now read 1 Corinthians 15:5-19 again. Reflection: What does the grace of God mean to you?

‏ 1 Corinthians 15:7-8

The Resurrection of Christ

1Cor 15:5-6. To support the fact of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, Paul summarizes a number of witnesses, of whom some even were still alive when he wrote this letter. So it was a fact which could be verified by the Corinthians! After His resurrection Christ was never seen by unbelievers, at least, we cannot find this in the Bible. Wherever His appearance is mentioned in the Bible after His resurrection, it is to believers.

The Holy Spirit does not let Paul mention all witnesses. So Mary Magdalene is passed by (Jn 20:11-18) as are the two going to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35). The witnesses that are mentioned, are, so to speak, chosen because of their personal reputation (Cephas, i.e. Peter) or because of their number (the twelve, five hundred at the same time) or because of their special position (James, all apostles). In that way all doubts about the physical resurrection of Christ are removed.

1Cor 15:7-8. At last Paul mentions himself. To him the Lord appeared in an exceptional way. The other witnesses saw the Lord during His forty days on earth after His resurrection (Acts 1:3), but to Paul the Lord appeared after His return to heaven. In Acts 9 you read about this event (Acts 9:1-9). His conversion also happened at that moment. That’s why he was too late born again to be able to see the Lord on earth as the Risen One. Therefore Paul calls himself here “one untimely born”.

1Cor 15:9. While he is writing about that and looks back to the circumstances in which he found himself then, he again is impressed of God’s grace. It’s not possible for him only to talk about God’s truth intellectually. His heart is in it. And when he sees again what he was occupied with, he deeply humbles himself before God. He has not forgotten about his past. He was a persecutor of the church of God. He calls himself the “foremost” of all sinners (1Tim 1:15). He does not try to talk his way out of it, but he frankly admits how terrible his crimes were. He doesn’t do that out of some pride to show how bad he was. No, he does that to emphasize the grace of God even more.

It is no humble pride when he calls himself “the least of the apostles”. It is no disguised form of self-praise when he talks about himself to be “not fit” of being called “an apostle”. He means what he says from his heart because he is impressed of God’s grace.

You can learn here in which wonderful way you may be occupied with the truth of God. Whatever truth you read about in the Bible, God’s purpose has always been that the Lord Jesus becomes more important and that we get less important. John the baptist understood that well when he said: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn 3:30). That’s something you cannot pass on to each other; that must be the desire of your heart. When that is in your heart, then that admiration for God’s grace comes forward more and more every time you read something in His Word. You then take the right position before God so that He can use you, for in this way you are of value to Him.

1Cor 15:10. Therefore Paul could say that the grace of God made him who he was. It is really wonderful to see how, on the one hand he is aware that everything is grace and that man is nothing, and on the other hand how exactly that awareness motivated him to great activity. He made every endeavor for God’s work that he could say without any form of self-praise that he had labored more than all of them. But even that he does not ascribe to himself, but ascribes that totally to the grace of God that was with him.

So he says successively:

1. I am nothing;

2. what I am, I am by grace;

3. therefore I have labored more than whoever;

4. but even that abundant working I could only do because God’s grace gave me the power to.

God wants to teach you to repeat these things. Not as a lesson you’ve learned by heart, but by practicing it in your daily life.

1Cor 15:11. The result will be that He receives all honor from the ‘preaching’ that is reflected in your life. That is what Paul is presenting the Corinthians in 1Cor 15:11. He himself was thoroughly aware of the grace that was shown to him at his conversion and during his life afterward, just like the other apostles. This is how they preached the gospel and this is how the Corinthians have believed it.

When we are thoroughly aware of the grace that God proved to us at our conversion and which He still proves daily, we shall be able to preach like Paul and the other apostles have done. Not that we can emulate Paul, but the content and power of our preaching then comes from the Source from which Paul also drew.

1Cor 15:12-19. In these verses it is proved in a simple way how far-reaching the denial of the resurrection is. When you read these verses carefully, you can sense the power of the apostle’s argumentation. It is clear and unambiguous.

Paul says, as it were: ‘Beloved Corinthians, you should think it through what it actually means, if you do not believe in the resurrection of the dead anymore. Listen carefully: If no dead are raised, then neither Christ has been raised; if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, for you are then still in your sins. And that makes us false witnesses, for we have then just been pulling the wool over your eyes in our preaching. And those who are dead already, are perished.

We would be no more than a bunch of fools, if only in this life our hope is in Christ. That would mean that we take distance from the fun and the pleasures of the world and experiencing trials instead, with nothing in return in the afterlife. Then we are the most pitiable of all people. Now we have nothing and in future we have nothing. It is all for nothing.’

Of course that was not the intention of the Corinthians, but Paul shows that these are the consequences of what some of them said. The raising of the Lord Jesus by God is exactly the conclusive proof that all sins of all believers are taken away.

Here you see also how inseparable Christ is connected to the believers. What applies to Christ also applies to the believers. Are the believers not raised? Then neither Christ has been raised!

I already indicated in the introduction to this chapter, and it is good to repeat it once again, that Paul is offering us a good method here to unmask a wrong teaching. That method is: Explore what the consequences of a certain doctrine are for Christ and His work.

Now read 1 Corinthians 15:5-19 again.

Reflection: What does the grace of God mean to you?