1 CORINTHIANS LESSON 24

     We will begin this lesson in I Corinthians 15:1 "Moreover,
brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you,
which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;"

     Paul had not only preached the good news of the gospel to them,
but had even started this church here at Corinth. Paul is also saying,
that he has taught them what they know about the Lord. It appears that
Paul feels that he is the founder of the church and its doctrine. It
is as if he is saying, you have a church here, because I brought you
the message of God and you accepted it.

     I Corinthians 15:2 "By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in
memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain."

     We must remember that the Corinthians had written Paul a letter
about the problems going on in their church. Paul is reminding them,
here, of the simple message of salvation that he had brought to them.
Notice in the above verse Paul says, are saved, in the present tense.
He says, were you just caught up in the emotions of the moment and
went through the procedure without truly believing? Did you believe,
or did you not believe? To go through the formality of being saved
without truly a change in your heart, would be in vain.

     I Corinthians 15:3 "For I delivered unto you first of all that
which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures;"

     I Peter 2:24 "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on
the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness:
by whose stripes ye were healed."  Jesus, actually, was our
substitute. It was our sin that crucified Him. In the sacrifice of the
animal in the tabernacle, the sinner placed his hands on the animal's
head and symbolically placed his sins on the animal. That is what
Jesus did for us. He took our sin on His body. Our sin died on the
cross. All of the sacrifices in the tabernacle, and later in the
temple, actually symbolize the crucifixion of Jesus for our sin.

     I Corinthians 15:4 "And that he was buried, and that he rose
again the third day according to the scriptures:"

     Luke 24:46 "And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it
behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:"
The hope of the Christian is the hope of the resurrection. In another
book {Leviticus}, we go into great detail why it was important for
Jesus to be crucified on Passover, to fulfill the feast of unleavened
bread, and that it was terribly important for Him to fulfill
firstfruits, on the third day thereafter. I Corinthians 15:20 "But now
is Christ risen from the dead, [and] become the firstfruits of them
that slept." He not only fulfilled firstfruits by raising from the
dead on the third day, but is, in fact, the first of the firstfruits
Himself.

     I Corinthians 15:5 "And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the
twelve:"

     Before we get to the account of the others that Jesus appeared
to, we must look at who Jesus appeared to first. John 20:15 "Jesus
saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She,
supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have
borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him
away."  John 20:16 "Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself,
and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master."  Mark 16:9 "Now
when [Jesus] was risen early the first [day] of the week, he appeared
first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils."  We
see the two witnesses here, that tell of Mary seeing Jesus first. Why
this is omitted by Paul, I cannot say. Since there was such an
extensive list of the others, I thought we should tell of this, also.

     Peter and Cephas are the same person. Peter and John went to the
tomb together. We know, also, that Jesus appeared to Peter and the
others, and served them fish on the seaside.

     I Corinthians 15:6 "After that, he was seen of above five hundred
brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present,
but some are fallen asleep."

     We know that the Lord Jesus ministered on the earth 40 days and
nights after He rose from the tomb. He was establishing the church.
We, also, know that ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, there
were 120 disciples waiting in the upper room for the Holy Spirit to
come upon them .  Acts 1:15 "And in those days Peter stood up in the
midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were
about an hundred and twenty,)"  The figure of 500, here, is probably a
very low estimate, considering these things. Paul wrote this letter to
the Corinthians approximately 20 to 25 years after the resurrection,
so it would have been likely that many of these same people were still
alive at this time. The specific number of 500 people is not
mentioned, but was probably on the mountain where Jesus ministered.

     I Corinthians 15:7 "After that, he was seen of James; then of all
the apostles."

     The James, here, is probably the half brother of Jesus. He was
not a believer that Jesus was Messiah, until after Jesus rose from the
tomb. This is the same James that was the head of the church at
Jerusalem, and I believe, is the same who wrote the book of James.

     I Corinthians 15:8 "And last of all he was seen of me also, as of
one born out of due time."

     Paul really had not seen the face of Jesus, but had seen the
bright Light. Jesus spoke to Paul from this Light. Paul had been like
James, he had not believed Jesus to be Messiah, until Jesus appeared
to him in this great Light. The statement {born out of due time}, just
means that Paul did not believe, until after Jesus rose from the tomb.

     I Corinthians 15:9 "For I am the least of the apostles, that am
not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of
God."

     The word "apostle" is not speaking of the 12, but of all who are
ambassadors of the gospel. The word "apostle" means ambassador of the
gospel, commissioner of Christ, and he that is sent. Paul was actually
present at the stoning of Stephen. He was on his way to capture and
imprison the Christians, when he first encountered Jesus Christ in the
great Light. Paul regretted this, after he became a Christian. He was
like so many of us who regret our behavior, before we came to Christ.

     I Corinthians 15:10 "But by the grace of God I am what I am: and
his grace which [was bestowed] upon me was not in vain; but I laboured
more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which
was with me."

     It is the grace of God that makes each of us better than we ever
could have been in the flesh. "Grace" is unmerited favor. We can see
probably why Paul worked so hard in the Lord's work in the next
Scripture. Luke 7:47 "Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are
many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is
forgiven, [the same] loveth little."  Paul worked very hard to make up
for the errors he had made earlier. He knows that, except for the
grace of God, he never would have understood. Paul not only worked
hard, but suffered much for the work the Lord Jesus had given him.
Ephesians 3:7 "Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of
the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power."
Ephesians 3:8 "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is
this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ;"

     I Corinthians 15:11 "Therefore whether [it were] I or they, so we
preach, and so ye believed."

     Paul is saying, in this, that the message is the same regardless
of which apostle brings the message. Paul has just finished naming
Peter and many of the other apostles who are preaching. It really does
not matter, who brings the message. The important thing was, that they
believed and were saved. One of the problems at this time was, there
were no real guidelines set for the apostles to use.

     I Corinthians 15:12 "Now if Christ be preached that he rose from
the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the
dead?"

     This had been argued by the Jews, even before the resurrection of
Jesus. It seems that many of the teachings of the Jewish schools were
still being believed by many of the converts to Christianity. Paul is
saying, if they accepted Jesus as their Saviour, part of the belief
was that he rose from the dead.

     I Corinthians 15:13 "But if there be no resurrection of the dead,
then is Christ not risen:"
     If Christ is not risen, then the basis for the Christian belief
would be gone. Jesus defeated Satan and sin on the cross, and defeated
death when He rose from the grave. If a person did not believe that
Christ rose from the tomb, then their Christianity is of no avail.

     I Corinthians 15:14 "And if Christ be not risen, then [is] our
preaching vain, and your faith [is] also vain."

     If there is no life after physical death, why bother? If Christ
did not rise, then there is no Spirit of the risen Christ. The sad
thing in all of these problems they were bringing up is, that they
were not believing the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, but the old
news of the Jewesh traditions. I see this in all of the problems, not
just the doubt about the resurrection.

     I Corinthians 15:15 "Yea, and we are found false witnesses of
God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom
he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not."

     One of the fundamental teachings of Christianity is, the third
day he arose. As I said above, this is some leftovers from their
Jewish teaching. Paul is saying, here, that if this one thing is not
true, then they are all lost, because they have believed a lie. The
assurance that Jesus was God was the fact that He rose from the tomb.
We serve a risen Saviour.

     I Corinthians 15:16 "For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ
raised:"

     This is almost identical to verse 13. One of the things that sets
the Christian apart from the world, is that the Christian has hope of
the resurrection. We know that because he rose, we shall rise, also.

     I Corinthians 15:17 "And if Christ be not raised, your faith [is]
vain; ye are yet in your sins."

     Just as Moses redeemed the children of Israel out of Egypt {type
of world} and took them to their promised land, Jesus will redeem us
from this earth and take us to our promised land {heaven}. The Lord is
going to redeem those who are looking for Him. It is a dangerous thing
to doubt the resurrection. I Thessalonians 4:14 "For if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him."

     I Corinthians 15:18 "Then they also which are fallen asleep in
Christ are perished."

     We will continue on with the promises in I Thessalonians 4:16
" For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in
Christ shall rise first:"  I Thessalonians 4:17 "Then we which are
alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the
Lord."   Jesus is our resurrection and our life.
                      1 Corinthians 24 Lesson


1.  What had Paul done, besides preach the gospel to them?
2.  Paul feels that he is the founder of the _______ and its
    _________.
3.  What kind of message had Paul brought them?
4.  What was the if, to their salvation in verse 2?
5.  What profit would there be in going through the formality of
    baptism, if you did not believe in your heart?
6.  Quote 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 24.
7.  Why did the sinner place his hands on the head of the sacrificial
    animal?
8.  What did all of the sacrifices in the tabernacle and the temple
    symbolize?
9.  Jesus arose on the _______ day.
10. What is the hope of the Christian?
11. In chapter 15 verse 20 of 1 Corinthians, Jesus is called what?
12. Who was Jesus actually seen of first when he rose?
13. What did Mary call Jesus in verse 16 of chapter 20 of John.
14. Who is Cephas?
15. Who was with Peter when he went to the tomb?
16. Verse 6 says that Jesus was seen of how many people at once?
17. Approximately, when was the book of 1 Corinthians written?
18. Who was mentioned individually in verse 7 who saw Jesus?
19. Which one of the people with this name was this?
20. What was a peculiarity of James?
21. What does Paul have to say about himself in verse 8?
22. When had Paul begun to believe in Jesus?
23. Why did Paul call himself least of the apostles?
24. Where was Paul headed, when he saw the Light of Jesus?
25. Quote Luke chapter 7 verse 47.
26. Paul not only worked hard, but _________ _________ __ ____.
27. What would Paul preach to the Gentiles?
28. What is verse 11 saying about the message of God?
29. Who had argued for years about the resurrection of the dead?
30. What would cause the basis of Christianity to be gone?
31. What 2 things would be vain, if Christ had not risen?
32. What is one thing that sets the Christian apart from the world?
33. Quote 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 14.