“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.” – 1 Corinthians 15:1-8
As we’ve been considering the glorious Gospel that Christ entrusted the Apostle Paul with, that which he passed on to Timothy, indeed, Paul succinctly stated it so well when he wrote Timothy that the faithful saying that’s worthy of all acceptance is- “that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” (1 Timothy 1:15) This is the faithful saying that Timothy had accepted and was to faithfully teach and preach to all, especially the saints in the Ephesian church and others he would minister to. As Paul had done himself through the right use of the law, the Ephesians needed to be convicted of the depth of their own sin. They needed to see Christ, His work, His mercy to sinners afresh and stand on it in faith and repentance. You and I need to do the same.
Though the congregation in Corinth had many problems and sins of their own, notice Paul’s words regarding his declaration of the good news he preached to them. It was that very pure and true Gospel of Christ that they received, stood upon, and were saved by, if they held fast the Word he preached to them- “unless they believed in vain” (v. 2). Now, many read these words about believing in vain and think that Paul is speaking about false conversions. What Paul is truly referring to, what he goes on to flesh out, regards the denial of Christ’s resurrection making one’s faith useless. (1 Corinthians 15:14)
It was also important for the saints in Corinth, even for you today, to know that Paul was a faithful apostle, a faithful preacher who faithfully delivered the Gospel to the people that he had first received and believed himself. The reality of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, according to the testimony of Scripture, are all essential to the Gospel truly being good news. The word of the cross originates with God. It’s His wisdom. These historical events support the verity of our faith, refuting any vanity.
We can have confidence that Christ truly rose from the dead as we consider the infallible proof of it in the multiple eyewitness accounts of many, hundreds even, seeing Jesus after His resurrection. Paul provides a list of many of them in verses 5-7, concluding with his own testimony of his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus in verse 8. What an amazing witness each of these provide, especially Jesus’ appearance to over five hundred brethren at one time! In case anyone would claim that such witnesses were just seeing things, that they were hallucinating, confirmation from 500+ people that they saw Him at the same time, along with the reality that many of the eyewitnesses were still alive and could verify their report, provide solid nails in the “Christ’s resurrection is a myth” coffin.
As Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection are truths that have been challenged, are challenged, and will continue to be challenged by skeptics, I want to encourage you to write the reference of this passage down. Memorize Paul’s testimony of the Gospel and the specifics of the eyewitness accounts. These truths will be most helpful in your stand in faith, in your joy in and adoration of Christ, as well as your defense of the faith as you have a strong and even stronger hold on the faithful Word that has been preached to you, and you have received.