1 Corinthians 15: 1-4.
The gospel in a nutshell: “Christ died for our sins” must be the declaration of every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Anyone who does not believe this and the facts recorded in our text cannot be called a ‘Christian.’
[1] He died.
At the cross there were four people standing there. These were: Jesus’ mother Mary, Mary’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene (John 19:25). As they stood there and watched what was going on, Mary the mother of Jesus might have cast her mind back to what Simeon said in the temple when Jesus was presented at eight days old for circumcision: “a sword will pierce through your own soul” (Luke 2:35). Imagine her feelings at this time. Later on the risen Christ would join two disciples on the road home to Emmaus as recorded in Luke 24. One of these was named “Cleopas” and this was probably the husband of the Mary who is referred to as “the wife of Clopas” in John 19:25.
So we have these two disciples trudging the seven miles home from Jerusalem. They were discussing all that had happened and were trying to ‘work it all out,’ with their reason. At this point the risen Christ (unbeknown to them) came alongside them. In the course of their conversation with the Lord He “expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). Then after He went to their house for a meal and He revealed Himself in the breaking of bread, we read that “their eyes were opened and they knew Him” (Luke 24:30,31). Jesus then vanished from sight but even though they had travelled the seven miles home, nevertheless we read that “they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem” (Luke 24:33).
It seems clear that being with the risen Christ empowered them to rise up and head straight back to Jerusalem! They had an energy from having their eyes opened and have recognised that Jesus was risen. Christ died for sins. They felt forlorn at His death but now they are excited with strength renewed like the eagles. Paul was led by the Spirit of God to write these words in 1Corinthians 15:1-4. Christ is central to Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. He is the author and finisher of our faith, the altogether lovely one, the alpha and omega, the resurrection and the life. Is He your Saviour? Is He your beloved One?
Christ died for our sins. He willingly sacrificed Himself. He laid down His life for us. No one took the Lord’s life from Him, for He laid it down of His own will (John 10:18). The Lord Jesus came to do the Father’s will. He came not to do His own will but the will of the Father. He willingly went to Calvary and He willingly paid for sins. John 3:16 teaches us that the Father sent the Son so that whosoever believes will never perish.
Christ was buried. He had literally died and He was placed in a tomb as a corpse. All our sins were taken by Him and paid for, and so our sins have been buried too. But death had no power of the Lord Jesus! So on the third day He rose again having fully satisfied all that the Father gave Him to do. In Romans 6:23 we learn that the wages of sin is death and that the free gift of God is eternal life. The Lord Jesus bore our guilt and the penalty of our sins. He paid the debt He did not owe, and He bore my sins on the tree. Now, since He paid in full, sin and death no longer has any grip over Him. So He lives! I am alive eternally because of Him (if I believe truly). The Lord Jesus shared our likeness for the purpose of destroying him who had the power of death (the devil) (Hebrews 2:14). The devil is the enemy of souls. He hates us. He was determined to bring us down to hell. But the Lord Jesus paid the penalty for sins and in the process destroyed the one who had power over death. Death is therefore no more to be feared. The Lord defeated sin, He conquered the devil, and He has overcome the world.
Paul writes a bit later in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Christ is not risen, then faith is of no account and we are still in our sins. But the facts of the matter are clear. Christ did die for sins. He was buried. He did rise. So our faith is true. We believe in Christ for salvation. We believe His death was sufficient to pay for sins. We believe that He was raised from the dead for our justification. These are sure and certain truths. Christ ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and one day He will return to receive His people into glory.
[2] The vital importance of Scripture.
The Spirit of God stresses here the importance of Scripture. We are told that Christ died for our sins “according to the Scriptures” (1Crinthians 15:3). And we are also told that His burial and resurrection on the third day was “according to the Scriptures” (1Corinthians 15:4). The Scriptures are vital. What Scriptures is Paul speaking of here? It was the Old Testament for much of the New Testament was still to be written. Psalm 22 which records much prophecy of Christ’s work on Calvary was written about a thousand years before His death. In Psalm 16:10 we read a prophecy of Christ’s resurrection. Seven hundred years before the first advent of Christ Isaiah records another detailed prophecy of the Lord’s work on Calvary in Isaiah 53.
We cannot do anything except through Scripture. We must do all “according to the Scriptures.” The word of God is truth. The Scriptures tell us all about Christ. The Scriptures are the very word of God to us. Peter’s first sermon makes use of important Scriptures. Paul quotes the Scriptures in his letters. When Jesus met the two disciples on the road to Emmaus He pointed to the Scriptures. It is not ideology, nor opinion, nor what man has made up. The Scriptures are that which we have “received.” They are not man-made but detail the very words of God.
[3] The importance of the resurrection.
Why is the resurrection so central? Well we have noted already that if Christ is not risen then faith is of no value and we are still in our sins. Without the resurrection we have no good news, no gospel. Christ Jesus is alive! But all other gods, and all other ‘pretenders to truth’ are dead. But what of all those who have died? If Christ is not risen then these have died in vain. If we have a hope only in this life we are of all people to be pitied.
The night before He died, the Lord Jesus told His disciples not to be afraid. He said they were not to be troubled for the Father’s house has many mansions or rooms (John 14:3). He then said that he was going to prepare a place for His disciples and that he would return or come again so that His disciples could be with Him. Because He paid for sins in full, and because He is faithful, the resurrection guarantees the fulfilment of His promises. What about all those who have ‘fallen asleep’? I once knew a pastor who purchased an area in a cemetery for all his congregation so that when the Lord returned they could rise all together!
In 1 Corinthians 15:42 we read that the “body is sown in corruption” and that “it is raised in incorruption.” The Lord said the night before He died: “because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19). In 1Thessalonians 4:13-18 we learn that the dead in Christ will rise first when the Lord returns and that living believers will be caught up in the air to be with the Lord forever. The resurrection proves who Christ is and that he has power to save. The resurrection is a guarantee that the bodies of believers will be raised anew. We will have new resurrected bodies when Christ returns. Christ described Himself as “the resurrection and the life” to Martha Lazarus’ sister (John 11:25). Was He late in coming to Lazarus? Never! He is the resurrection and He is the life.
Penuel Baptist Chapel, Roch 