Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 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 on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 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. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. (1 Cor 15:1-11)What we have here is the gospel, Reader's Digest version. It's the gospel in the simplest form. Perhaps "simplest" isn't accurate, because it is packed with content.
Paul reminds them of what they already knew -- "the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved." It is what he termed "of first importance." And it is fairly simple. Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day. One, two, three. Not much more. But he adds points in there for support.
What does Paul use to prove (or, rather, support, since they already believed) the gospel? First, the Scriptures. All three points were "in accordance with the Scriptures." Simply put, "You believe the Bible? Then you believe this. Is God's Word reliable? Then so is this. Is God's Word authoritative? Then so is this." Then he offered witnesses -- an interesting group of them. There was the "failed disciple," Peter, who became the leader after the Resurrection. There were the 12. "Yeah," a skeptic might say, "but they were all confederates of Christ." "Okay," Paul says, "then there were more than 500. Hey, you know what? Most of them are still alive. I can give you their email addresses and you can ask them." (Or something like that.) If you were to parade 500 people through a courtroom where all 500 testified to the same thing, it would be pretty convincing. "Still," the skeptic says, "they were all his 'tribe', so to speak." Okay, then there's James. What do we know about James? James was Jesus's brother -- Jesus's unbelieving brother. James is the testimony of an unbeliever, a skeptic. "Well, okay, that's something," the skeptic continues, "but that was his brother. He had loyalties." Then all the apostles. The reference is to the Ascension. The reference alludes to Pentecost. The reference speaks of incredible power. But Paul is not done. "And then," he adds, "there was me." Who was Paul? He wasn't merely an unbeliever; he was an enemy. He was the ultimate "hostile witness." He was killing believers. That's Paul's evidence. "I, an enemy of Christ, saw Him alive after His death."
So that's why we are to believe the gospel. Lots and lots of witnesses. What is the gospel? Jesus died. Well, that's not remarkable; everyone dies. But Jesus died for our sins. No one else has. Jesus was buried. Jesus rose from the grave. It is that gospel upon which the Corinthians based their salvation. It was that gospel that was being preached as one message (1 Cor 15:11). And if we deny that Christ lived, or that He died, or that He died for our sins, or that He was physically buried, or that He rose again (and self-identified "Christians" throughout the years have denied each of these), then we don't get to call ourselves "saved." We don't get to be called "Christians." We don't believe the Gospel. Simple as that.
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