Scripture Text (NRSV)
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
15:19 If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all
people most to be pitied.
15:20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first
fruits of those who have died.
15:21 For since death came through a human being, the resurrection
of the dead has also come through a human being;
15:22 for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.
15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at
his coming those who belong to Christ.
15:24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the
Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and
power.
15:25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his
feet.
15:26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Comments:
Yuri Gargarin,
the first man in space, a Russian raised under godless Communism,
looked out the window of his spaceship and said that he saw no god.
That is exactly what we expected him to say.
Stephen Hawking said that time didn't exist before the Big Bang so
there was no time for God to make the universe in...the simplest
explanation is that there is no god. "No one created the universe and
no one directs its fate... I think belief in an afterlife is just
wishful thinking. There is no reliable evidence for it and it flies in
the face of everything we know in science."
Both were applying natural science methodology to the realm of the
spirit. "No man has ever seen God. The only Son, who is in the bosom
of the Father, he has made Him known." Science cannot know God.
The Church has experienced God. It experiences the Risen Christ alive
every day in her public liturgies and private prayers. It is a deep
knowledge, deeper than words can express, but it is a knowledge that
gives hope to the world that in the end, good will win over evil, and
that death is by no means the final word about our condition. As
impossible as it must be, never the less, Christ is Risen!
Sam Platts
For Paul, the resurrection of Christ is the basis for Christian hope.
Because Christ has been raised, those who are in Christ know that they
too will be raised to a new life beyond death.
For Paul, hope is found in the resurrection of Christ. Because Christ
has been raised from the dead, those who are grounded in Christ's
promises will also be raised to a new life. Jesus, then, becomes the
"first fruits" (15.20) of those who have died. Paul's argument is
based upon this promise: if Christ were not raised from the dead,
Christ's death is nothing but a wasted act. Christianity without the
resurrection means nothing. How does your belief in the afterlife
affect your actions now? How can this hope for the future provide
courage for today?
One must appreciate the logical arguments presented here from Paul
about the Living Christ. His argument started from the theoretical
(Christ resurrection was consistent with the hope/belief in the
afterlife, v.12-13) and ended with the practical (therefore, we are no
longer in sins, we can have hope in Christ and die in Christ, v.17-19)
One of my professors pushed the significant of resurrection this way.
He asked, "If Jesus did not die on the cross, but he died by another
cause, would he still pay for our sin?" "Of course!" Many of us
concurred. "What about Jesus just died, but never resurrected, would
he still pay for our sin?" Many of us didn't really know what to say.
Verse 17 here said that "If Christ has not been raised then we are
still in our sins". Perhaps the singular sin would have been paid for,
but the plural sins would have still entangled us.
Christ resurrection would have to move from the theoretical into the
practical, so that we can testify to that ultimate reality in the
day-to-day reality we live in.
Sadly, I am not anywhere there yet. I am still in sins. I know the
ultimate reality of Christ death for my forgiveness of sin, but I
don't know the ultimate reality of Christ resurrection to be out of
sins yet.
But perhaps, that's where faith comes in. We have faith that the
resurrected Christ will lead us out of our sins, and finally perfected
us when we get to see Him. That's the hope we have in Christ.
Coho, Midway City
I have decided that I will be preaching on this text on the 15th. I
will be traveling next week, and so must make all my plans for worship
before Monday. Here's what I've got so far.
The secular world is fascinated by Jesus Christ; Time magazine
regularly runs an issue with a cover along the lines of "who is
Jesus?" or "Is there a God?" They do this at least once a year, and it
is generally one of their better newstand sales.
Walk into the business section of any chain bookstore and you can find
management books with titles like "Jesus as CEO" or "Jesus on
Management."
The world celebrates Christ's teachings on loving the neighbor and
concern for others. Many modern philosophers have have praised Jesus
as a good and wise teacher. The world frequently honors Christ for his
message.
But the church, to be church, must go beyond the warm and fuzzy
concept of Jesus as a good and wise teacher. The world may
occaisionally celebrate the message that Jesus has.
But we believe that Jesus not only HAS the message, Jesus IS the
message. Jesus not only points out the way, Jesus IS the way.
Jesus was wise and a great teacher. But we are not saved by wisdom. We
are not saved by knowledge. We are saved by grace. And Christ is the
sole mediator of that grace by the virtue of his death on the cross.
Without his death as resurrection, our faith is nothing more that a
good idea, a pleasant dream. Only if Christ overcomes death, only then
can our faith conquer our own innevitable deaths.
We are not saved by wise teachings, or by good teachings. We are only
saved by grace. And if Christ lacked the power to raise himself, then
there would be no power to give us life either. We are joint heirs
with him. If he is not raised, then we have no kingdom to inherit.
Jesus claimed to be the way and the truth and the life. If he was
wrong about this, then he didn't know himself; he could not be called
wise. We can't call him good if his teachings are not true. So for
Jesus to be a wise and good teacher, he must be teaching the truth.
The sum of our faith stands, or stumbles, on that stumbling block of
golgotha. But our faith stand, because in fact Christ HAS been raised
from the dead, as a promise and foretaste of the Kingdom to come. This
is what Paul is saying in this text, and saying it more powerfully and
succinctly than I can. Joe Nortex
Thanks for your comments Joe. I once heard a really great sermon from
Andy Stanley. He stated that the only reason we are here today trying
to gain disciples for Christ is the concept of a dead man walkin'. If
Jesus doesn't rise from the dead, he is just another philosopher, a
good teacher among thousands.
However, Jesus said he would be killed and then rise again. When he
did that, he proved himself the Messiah, the Son of God. That is why
we proclaim his words two thousand years later.
My working title is "The Fundamental Truth - Dead Man Walkin'!"
I'm open to other title suggestions AND your ideas.
Peace & blessings
Rich in Bama
My thoughts, based on where the Gospel and OT seem to be taking me are
along the lines of one of my seminary profs, Bill Mallard, asked the
question, "Will we recognize the Incarnation when it's right in front
of us?"
My question, to add this scripture would be, "Will we recognize the
risen Christ when he's right in front of us?" Sometimes he can be
right there and we're blind to him.
My first idea for a title is "Truth is Stranger than Fiction." Don't
know if I'll keep it.
Sally in GA
It is almost uncanny how modern those Corinthians were. Many of their
problems are ours as well--family life was in turmoil, their parties
tended to get out of hand, their churches were divided over foolish
issues, and they just could not wrap their minds around the idea of
Christ risen from the dead. In our modern conceit, we sometimes like
to think we are the first generation that cannot, with "intellectual
honesty," accept the idea of Christ risen from the dead. As though
that had ever been an "easy" thing to affirm! Yet, it is painfully
clear in these verses that Paul anchors the meaning of Christian faith
to the risen Christ. For Paul it is clear: no risen Christ, no
Christian faith.
But Paul is clear on what he means by "risen Christ," and we
frequently are not. A sermon could well deal with Paul's idea of the
"transformation" which accompanies, indeed is, resurrection from the
dead. Draw on 1 Cor 15:35-38, 42-50. Paul is not talking about a
revivified corpse. He is talking about a new order of reality. He
calls it a "spiritual body." Our old bodies (flesh and blood--v.50!)
are no more worthy of God's kingdom than our old ways of life.
Resurrected reality is transformed reality, transformed by God through
a new creative act as powerful as that act by which he first created
the world and man. This is the point of the doctrine of Christ risen,
and ought to be the emphasis of a sermon on the resurrection. Those
transformations which the Christian faith brings about in men's lives
are manifestations of the transforming power of Christ's resurrection.
They are glimpses of God's power, which ultimately will re-create the
whole of reality. Note that Paul does not dwell on the corpse of
Christ, or even mention the empty tomb. The sermon on the resurrection
ought not dwell on such points either, since they call attention away
from the meaning of resurrection. Resurrection for Paul is
transformation into a form suitable for God's tru worship and service.
Of course Paul thought that Christ's physical body was transformed
into another order of reality, but that is not his main point. His
point is the power of God which demonstrates in the risen Christ the
power already at work among men of faith, transforming their lives.
That power, which one day will transform us from "physical, weak,
perishable, mortal" existence to "spiritual, strong, immortal,
imperishable" life (vv.42-43, 53), is already at work among us. To
deny Christ risen is to deny ourselves such power from our faith. Let
that be the thrust of preaching about the resurrection.
I'm preaching the Apostles' Creed in the weeks of Lent and before
Pentecost, so I figure I'd better hold this passage till then. No
passage speaks better about our resurrection than this one.
In a message by Dr. Warren Wiersbie, he pointed out that this passage
has little to do with the resurrection of of Christ, but actually
about our resurrection. The resurrection of Christ is assumed (v. 12).
The Corinthian problem had to do with whether or not the rest of us
would be raised.
JG in WI
