City Life Starter

The Word: I Corinthians 15:1-11

1Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand,

2by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

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

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

5and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

6After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep;

7then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles;

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

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

10But 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.

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

By Scott Fiddler

Some dates help put this passage of Scripture in perspective. Dating events this far back are not precise, so consider the dates that follow rough estimates. Fortunately, knowing the exact date is not necessary to understand the significance of what is happening in these verses.

First, Jesus is crucified and resurrected from the dead in April of 30 A.D.  Then, Jesus appears to Paul on the road to Damascus in 34 A.D. Paul is converted. Paul visits Corinth for the first time in 51 A.D. Then, in 54 A.D., Paul writes the passage of Scripture above that is part of his letter to the Corinthians that we know as I Corinthians.

In this passage of Scripture, Paul starts by telling the Corinthians he is going to remind them of the gospel he previously preached to them (vv. 1, 3), presumably the first time he came to Corinth in 51 A.D.. Then, Paul reminds them of some of the evidence he had previously given them for the resurrection, i.e. that after His resurrection Jesus appeared to (1) Cephas (Peter) and the other disciples; (2) more than 500 people at one time, many of whom are still alive; (3) James, and all the disciples again; and (4) Paul. (vv. 5-8).

If Paul was first telling the Corinthians about these events in 51 A.D., that would have been 17-21 years after the events had occurred. This would be like me telling you about the Y2K scare of 1998 and 1999.

Application

In 1998 and 1999, there was widespread concern that computer systems would begin to crash on 1/1/2000 because so much software had coded the  year 2000 as “00.” The problem was real and needed to be fixed, and people were concerned. You can still read about it on the internet. However, in the church, I attended many overreacted and began stockpiling food and purchasing expensive generators believing our economy and food supply chain would grind to a halt on 1/1/2000.

Of course, the economy did not collapse on 1/1/2000, and civilization as we knew it did not grind to a halt. The people in our church who had stockpiled food ended up giving much of it away to food banks. If you don’t believe me, there were about 500 people in our church at that time, most of whom are still alive, who can verify this.

Instead of stockpiling food, Cindy and I purchased stock in Cisco Systems, a technology firm that provided Y2K remediation services. The stock went from $10 per share in 1998 to over $80 per share by March of 2000.

I’ve just told you about a historical event (the Y2K scare), supplied witnesses, and told you about my personal experience with it. Temporally and evidentially, this is analogous to what the Corinthians experienced when Paul first shared the gospel with them. Paul provided them with objective evidence (witnesses) and subject evidence (his experience) of a verifiable historical event. Paul was not telling them a fairy tale. The Corinthians responded in faith. (v. 11)

Still, it should be remembered that evidence alone is not enough. It is possible that at the time Paul was persecuting Christians he knew of the claims of witnesses who saw Jesus after his resurrection. But it wasn’t until Paul had a personal encounter with Jesus that he was converted.

Knowing the evidence for why you believe is important in responding to objections people may have to Jesus. The late Francis Schaeffer called this “pre-evangelism.” But when it comes down sharing the gospel, the anointing (i.e. the presence of the Holy Spirit) is always more important than an argument. So, if you are sharing the gospel, be prepared to provide evidence but pray for the assistance of the Holy Spirit.