As Paul begins to wrap up his letter to the Corinthians, what do you think he wants to convey? It is the same thing he has emphasized throughout the letter, the subject that burns in his heart and motivates his every action: the gospel of Jesus Christ!
Now, brothers and sisters, I want you to remember the Good News I brought to you. You received this Good News and continue strong in it. And you are being saved by it if you continue believing what I told you. If you do not, then you believed for nothing.
1 Corinthians 15:1-2 NCV
Question 1. According to 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, what does Paul want the Corinthians to remember?
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
Paul was passionate about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was living and growing in the gospel himself and wanted the Corinthians to follow him in this pursuit. And, friend, God wants you to remember that the message of the cross is the message of power (1 Corinthians 1:18) and love (1 Corinthians 13) for your life. When applied, it deeply affects our hearts and changes our lives. It is the message of Jesus' death on the cross for our sins and of His resurrection three days later that grows us up in Jesus, unites the Church, and fills our hearts with joy!
Question 2. Please write the two points of the gospel listed in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
I passed on to you what I received, of which this was most important: that Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures say; that he was buried and was raised to life on the third day as the Scriptures say; and that he was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles.
1 Corinthians 15:3-5
It is critical to be able to define the gospel accurately. The gospel is not to "love God and love people," "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son," or "all the wonderful things Jesus has done for us." While those things may be results or aspects of the gospel, the gospel itself is a very specific message, and it contains just two points: 1) "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" and 2) "He was raised to life on the third day, according to the Scriptures." In short, Jesus died for our sins and rose again.
In 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, Paul includes the confirming evidence for these two points: the proof that Jesus died is that He was buried, and the proof that Jesus rose again is that He was seen by numerous people.
After that, Jesus was seen by more than five hundred of the believers at the same time. Most of them are still living today, but some have died. 7 Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8 Last of all he was seen by me--as by a person not born at the normal time. 9 All the other apostles are greater than I am. I am not even good enough to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But God's grace has made me what I am, and his grace to me was not wasted. I worked harder than all the other apostles. (But it was not I really; it was God's grace that was with me.) 11 So if I preached to you or the other apostles preached to you, we all preach the same thing, and this is what you believed.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 NCV
Notice that grace is given through this message of the gospel: "But God’s grace has made me what I am, and his grace to me was not wasted. I worked harder than all the other apostles." Only when you focus like a laser on the gospel can you experience the power of God’s grace that enables you to work hard in God’s kingdom.
When you look at the cross, you see Jesus working hard to reconcile you to God. Christ sweat blood, shed tears, fought Satan, and received our condemnation, taking to Himself all the sins of the world. He did it all out of love for you, my friend. Now, as we remember and meditate on that awful scene on Good Friday, as we see Christ rising out of the tomb on Resurrection Sunday in power, we experience the Holy Spirit in a powerful way. In this way, we are enabled to follow Christ and work hard in His power.
Question 3. Do you see the connection between embracing the gospel and working hard by grace? What are your thoughts?
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.