The Resurrection: So What?
/in Steadfast Hope“If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19).
Without Christ’s resurrection, our individual Christian lives would be pathetic exercises in futility.
The Resurrection: A Belief That Matters
/in Steadfast Hope“How do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:12).
Without the truth of bodily resurrection, the Christian faith would not make sense.
Even though Paul and the other apostles made the resurrection of Christ and His followers from the dead a central part of the gospel message, some new Gentile converts (the Corinthians especially) had difficulty accepting the idea of bodily resurrection.
A Special Testimony
/in Steadfast HopeThroughout history, reliable eyewitness testimony about a person or event has been one of the most accepted forms of courtroom evidence. The apostle Paul appeals to the eyewitness record as an important confirmation of the Resurrection’s reality. He cites the examples of Peter, the apostles (twice), 500 believers, and James (1 Cor. 15:5-7). And with today’s verse, Paul presents himself as a special eyewitness to the fact of Jesus’ resurrection.
