1 Corinthians 15:1-8 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
After discussing appropriate behavior within the Corinthian church, Paul now wants them to reflect on how they became Christians. He reminds them to hold firmly to the word he has preached to them. If they are merely members of a community of believers without an understanding of who Christ is and without a personal faith in his works and not their own, they are nothing more than just members of an organization. But if they have really received Paul's words and have taken their STAND on the truth of those words, they are "saved." As "saved" people, they are not just participants with a group of believers, they are members of the body of Christ. As members of his body, they are imaging God here on Earth through the fruit of the Holy Spirit. They are no longer finite, but eternal with their hope not in this world, but in the world to come. They have been saved to be with God as his sons and daughters, adopted by Christ's blood into the family of the Most High. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate," says the Lord. "Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters," says the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:16-18) Paul wants them to remember the essence of the gospel, that they are new creatures, belonging to the family of God. They have died, been buried, and risen with Christ. As Christ is, so are they: eternally alive with God the Father. However, if they do not appreciate the Good News and hold passionately to its tenets, their salvation is not sure, for salvation faith is an adamant belief in the account and works of Christ and complete trust in his shed blood for the remission of sin.
Paul was abnormally born. He met Christ on the road to Damascus when Jesus encountered him, asking, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads." (Acts 26:14) His conversion was abnormal because through this event, he was not only saved from eternal damnation, he was given a commission to deliver the Good News to the Gentile world. "Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me." (Acts 26:16-18) In his ministry to the Corinthians, he was fulfilling this commission. However, for the Corinthians and all Gentiles, to forsake the customs and the traditions of their forefathers was a scary proposition. Their religious practices and ways of living were ingrained into the very fabric of their being. To accept Christ and his works as their way to knowing God, placed them outside of their society, their community. To be a Christian, meant they lost the comfort of the institutions that they and their forefathers had believed in for generations. For Gentiles to believe emphatically in Christ's efficacious work, a Jewish man's work, represented a difficult step for them to take since this confession would cut them off from their families and communities. In the above focus, Paul restates for them the essence of following Christ. Down to and including our generation, we must leave our old ways and ideas about life behind us, crucifying the old self at the cross with Christ. We must hold firmly to the Good News, the new life, for IN CHRIST we live. As Paul wrote: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
John reminded the church to hold fast to their faith. See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us — even eternal life. (1 John 2:24-25) If what we have heard remains in us, we will remain in the Son and in the Father; we will have eternal life; we will be saved from destruction. We will be changed! I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:50-52) The Bible tells us the joy of the Lord is our strength. When we hear these words, we know in whom we believe. Jesus Christ and his works give us this great hope of life eternal, on Earth and in our heavenly home. When Paul describes the glorious plan of salvation for the Gentiles, he says, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13) Christ won this life for us by shedding his blood at the cross, so we do not have to die under the judgment of sin. Our bodies grow old because of the corruption of sin, but our hope of life eternal rests IN CHRIST. The Gentiles needed to know that. They needed to abandon their old lifestyle, their former way of making sense out of the world. The Jews needed to abandon their old way of trying to please God. They needed a savior, just as much as the Gentiles needed a savior. Paul came to the Gentile world to announce the Good News to them. We who are living today, need to announce the Good News to everyone we know and love. God is alive: He is the Most High God! He knows the hairs on your head; he knows how many sparrows fall today. He has an inventory of all the stars and galaxies in existence. He is bigger and mightier than our imaginations. YET, HE HAS SAID, I WANT SONS AND DAUGHTERS TO BE MANIFESTED FROM THE FLESH OF HUMANITY. He has made us special, in his image. He has brought the salvation message to us, to transform us so his Holy Spirit can abide in us, so we can abide with him in oneness. What a great plan for the Gentiles! What a great plan for the Jews! What a great plan for the World! All Creation will be FREE by the grace and mercy of the Lord. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. (Galatians 5:1)
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