Commentary - 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Bird's-eye view

In this foundational chapter, the Apostle Paul addresses a catastrophic error that had crept into the Corinthian church: a denial of the bodily resurrection. To counter this, he does not begin with philosophical arguments but with a stark reminder of the gospel they had first received. He lays out, in a tight, creedal form, the non-negotiable historical facts that constitute the Christian faith. This gospel is not a set of inspiring ideas or moral principles; it is a proclamation of events. Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He was raised on the third day. These events are anchored in history by a list of eyewitnesses and grounded in prophecy by their fulfillment of the Scriptures. Paul then weaves his own testimony into this apostolic proclamation, showing how the grace that accomplished this great salvation in Christ is the same grace that transformed him from the chief of persecutors into the most laborious of apostles. The entire passage serves as the bedrock upon which the rest of his argument for our own resurrection will be built. If this gospel is not historically true, then everything else is vanity.

The core message is that Christianity stands or falls on the historical reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the lynchpin of our salvation, the proof of God's acceptance of Christ's atoning death, and the guarantee of our future. Paul is reminding the Corinthians, and us, that the gospel is something you receive, something you stand on, and something you must hold fast to. It is an objective reality outside of us, not a subjective experience within us. And this objective reality is so potent that it takes a blaspheming murderer and makes him an apostle, not by his own strength, but by the relentless, energetic grace of God.

Outline

Context In 1 Corinthians

Paul's letter to the Corinthians is a master class in pastoral theology, addressing a church that was gifted but deeply flawed. They were plagued by divisions, arrogance, sexual immorality, lawsuits, and disorders in worship. Having dealt with these practical and ethical issues, Paul now turns in chapter 15 to the foundational doctrinal error that likely underpinned many of their other problems: a denial of the future bodily resurrection of believers. This was probably influenced by the Greek philosophical disdain for the physical body. To correct this, Paul doesn't start with the future resurrection of the saints. He starts with the past resurrection of the Savior. He knows that if he can firmly reestablish the historical fact of Jesus' resurrection, then the resurrection of Christians logically and necessarily follows. This chapter is the theological anchor of the entire epistle. All Christian ethics and practice are meaningless if Christ is not raised from the dead. This section, vv. 1-11, is the statement of the case, the presentation of the evidence upon which the entire Christian faith rests.

Key Issues

The Non-Negotiable Core

In our day, as in Paul's, there is a constant temptation to redefine Christianity, to soften its edges, to make it more palatable to the spirit of the age. People want to treat the gospel as a collection of helpful suggestions for self-improvement or as a spiritual philosophy that makes you feel good. Paul will have none of it. Here he lays down the law. He reminds the Corinthians of the gospel he preached, the one they received, the one that saves. And it is not a philosophy; it is a news report.

The structure of his summary is crucial. He says he delivered what he also received. This is not his personal invention; it is a sacred tradition, a testimony passed down. And the testimony consists of a series of hard, historical facts: "that Christ died... that He was buried... that He was raised... that He appeared..." This is the irreducible minimum. You can take away anything else, but if you take this away, you no longer have Christianity. This is the bedrock, the foundation. Everything else in the Christian life is built upon these historical events. If they did not happen in space and time, then our faith is futile, we are still in our sins, and we are, of all men, most to be pitied.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1-2 Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which I proclaimed as good news to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I proclaimed to you as good news, unless you believed for nothing.

Paul begins with a formal reminder. He is not introducing a new topic but calling them back to the very foundation. Notice the sequence. The gospel is first proclaimed by the apostle. It is an objective message from outside of them. Second, it is received by the Corinthians. Faith is the reception of this proclamation. Third, it is the ground in which they stand. Their entire Christian position depends on it. Fourth, it is the instrument by which they are saved. Salvation is not an abstract experience; it is the result of this specific message. But then he adds a crucial condition: "if you hold fast." This is not to introduce insecurity, but to distinguish true faith from a superficial, temporary assent. True, saving faith perseveres. It grips the gospel and does not let go. The alternative is to have "believed for nothing," or in vain. This describes a faith that was spurious from the beginning, a house built on sand that cannot withstand the storm of false doctrine.

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

Here is the heart of the matter. Paul is a link in a chain of testimony. He delivered what he received. This message is not his own creation; it is authoritative tradition. And what is this message? It is "of first importance." This is the central hub from which all other doctrines radiate. The first plank of this gospel platform is "that Christ died for our sins." His death was not a tragic accident or a martyr's example. It was a substitutionary, atoning sacrifice. He died in our place, for our sins. The phrase according to the Scriptures is vital. This was not Plan B. The death of the Messiah was prophesied and prefigured throughout the entire Old Testament, from the animal skins in the garden to the sacrificial system to the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. Christ's death was the fulfillment of God's ancient, covenantal plan.

4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

The gospel proclamation continues with two more historical facts. First, "that He was buried." This is not a throwaway detail. The burial is the definitive proof of His death. He was not merely unconscious or mostly dead. He was dead and buried, a corpse in a tomb. This fact shuts the door on any swoon theories. Second, "that He was raised on the third day." This is the central, explosive event of all history. The same man who was dead and buried was made alive again by the power of God. And this too was according to the Scriptures. The Old Testament pointed to this reality in types and prophecies, such as Jonah's three days in the fish or the promise that God would not let His Holy One see corruption (Psalm 16:10). The death, burial, and resurrection form an inseparable trio of historical events that constitute the saving news.

5-7 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. After that, He appeared to James, then to all the apostles,

A proclamation of a historical event requires evidence. Paul now provides it, listing a series of post-resurrection appearances like a lawyer presenting his witnesses in court. This is not about mystical visions or subjective feelings. This is about people seeing the risen Christ with their own eyes. He appeared first to Cephas (Peter), the leader of the apostles. Then to the twelve as a group. Then, in a stunning display of public evidence, to more than five hundred people at once. Paul adds a critical detail: "most of whom remain until now." He is essentially saying, "Go ask them. The witnesses are still alive. You can verify this." This is not the stuff of myth or legend; this is a confident appeal to living testimony. He then lists appearances to James, the Lord's brother (and a former skeptic), and then to all the apostles again, likely a broader group.

8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

Paul adds his own name to the end of this authoritative list of witnesses. He is an apostle, and a qualification for apostleship was to be an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ. But he describes his own experience with striking humility. He was like one "untimely born" or abnormally born. The other apostles had a three-year "gestation" period, walking with Jesus during His earthly ministry. Paul was violently and suddenly brought into the apostolic family, ripped from the womb of zealous Judaism on the Damascus road. His apostleship was irregular, but the one who appeared to him was the very same Jesus who appeared to the others.

9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

Reflecting on his apostleship forces Paul to reflect on his past. He does not see himself as first among equals, but as the "least of the apostles." He feels a deep sense of unworthiness, not from false humility, but from a clear-eyed memory of his sin. He is not worthy of the title "apostle" because he was a persecutor, a man who actively sought to destroy the very church he now leads. He was an enemy of the gospel. This profound sense of his own sin is what makes the grace of God so glorious to him.

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

This is one of the most magnificent verses in the Bible on the nature of grace. Paul's entire identity, "what I am," is a product of God's grace. He takes no credit. And this grace was not an empty, ineffectual thing; it "did not prove vain." God's grace is a powerful, effective, working grace. It produced fruit. What fruit? Strenuous labor. Paul says he "labored even more than all of them." Grace does not lead to passivity; it fuels activity. It doesn't make you lazy; it makes you labor. But then he immediately corrects any possible misunderstanding. Lest anyone think he is boasting in his labor, he adds, "yet not I, but the grace of God with me." This is the great paradox of the Christian life. We work, we strive, we labor. And yet, at the end of the day, it is not us but the grace of God working in and through us. God's sovereign grace and our responsible action are not contradictory but perfectly complementary.

11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Paul concludes this section by returning to the unity of the gospel message. It doesn't matter who the preacher was, whether it was Paul, the latecomer, or Peter and the original apostles. The message is identical. "So we preach." There is one, unified, apostolic gospel. And this is the message that the Corinthians believed. He is calling them back to their own conversion, to the solid ground of the one true gospel, before he goes on to demolish the foolish notion that there is no resurrection of the dead.

Application

This passage is a potent antidote to the flimsy, subjective, and sentimental versions of Christianity so common today. The gospel is not, first and foremost, about you. It is not about your feelings, your experience, or your personal journey. It is about a set of historical facts that happened two thousand years ago. Christ died for our sins. He was buried. He rose again. These are the pillars of reality. Our faith does not make these things true; our faith is a response to the fact that they are already true.

Therefore, we must be people who are grounded in this objective truth. Our assurance should not be based on the ups and downs of our emotions but on the empty tomb in Jerusalem. Our preaching should not be a collection of self-help tips but the bold proclamation of this news. And our lives should be a demonstration of the same paradox Paul lived. We are what we are by the grace of God alone. We deserve nothing. And because we have been given everything in Christ, we are called to labor more strenuously than anyone, fueled not by our own grit, but by that same powerful grace. We work hard precisely because we know that it is not us working, but the grace of God with us. This is the bedrock. Stand here, and you will not be moved.