But I make known to you, brethren, the glad tidings which I announced to you, which also ye received, in which also ye stand,
Paul has spent this letter correcting a divided church. Now he turns to something more basic: he preaches them the gospel again. Why announce good news to people who already believe it? And what does it mean that they stand in it?
The opening words look strange, and one writer says so plainly before answering.
THE OPENING WORDS of chapter 15 appear at first sight rather extraordinary. Why, we may ask, should the Apostle declare the Gospel to people who had already received it?
The answer is that basic truth is not a stage a believer passes through and leaves behind.
we do well to remember that the Church of God always needs its basic teaching given again and again. It is not safe to treat God's first truths the way we treat the first principles of natural science. Gospel truth is the soul's necessary food. We gain and keep true spiritual strength only by constant meditation on what, as believers, we already know. So the enemy aims his hostility at this truth without ceasing, for he knows well how strong a support of faith it is. He never works more successfully against Christ's unwary sheep than when he tricks them into a flattering idea about themselves. They come to think that knowing such doctrine is only the needed first step towards a higher quality of knowledge. They think a truth simple enough to be food for babies can safely be ignored by those further on.
One writer counts what Paul presses on them, item by item.
It was humbling, but healthy, for these believers to hear the gospel made known to them again. They ought to have been sharing in its work instead. The apostle presses it on them (1) as what he first declared to them, (2) as what they had received, (3) as that in which they had their standing, and (4) as the means of their salvation. In this letter, as in many others, Paul speaks of salvation as still going on.
Paul preached this gospel, but he was not its source.
He says, "I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received." It did not begin in the mind of the preacher who declared it to them. As he states elsewhere, "the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ" (Gal. 1:11-12). So here he says he had received it, and he had announced it to them.
The word translated stand carries the sense of a fixed position rather than a shifting one.
The standing. — "Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand" (Rom. 5:2). The wording about our access implies permanence, and so does the wording about our standing. We stand steadily, without a break, in the favour of God. Scripture uses the same word for God's unchangeable foundation, set against the shifting character of what God has entrusted to man's responsibility — "God's firm foundation stands" (2 Tim. 2:19)… In every case the word implies an unvarying steadfastness. What a comfort to learn that we have entry into such a place of choice privilege! And we stand there on an unalterable basis and in an unchanging acceptance.
One writer sets a condition beside that standing.
The Gospel saves us if we hold fast its message. Some people do not like the "if," but it is there all the same. The real believer always holds fast; the unreal does not. With that proviso we can say to all who take the place of Christians, "The Gospel has saved you, and in it you stand." So anyone who tampers with the truth of the Gospel, and unsettles it, is cutting away the ground from under his own feet.
Some at Corinth were denying that the dead rise. Paul answers by going back to the gospel.
Since this denial of resurrection undermines the gospel, the Apostle first reminds these believers of the gospel which he had preached…
Deny the one and the other collapses with it.
This gospel, which the apostle had received, had three parts: Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, He was buried, and He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. If this gospel was true, the resurrection was true as well. To deny the resurrection, Paul goes on to state, was to deny that Christ had risen. It was to say that the apostles' preaching was in vain, and their own faith with it.
- Received — Paul passes on what he was given. The gospel did not start in the preacher's mind, so no preacher may change it.
- Preached — believers need the first message preached to them again. Basic truth is food, not a beginner's stage to outgrow.
- Standing — the word means a fixed place, not a shifting one. Believers stand on an unalterable basis and in an unchanging acceptance.
- Saved — Kelly notes that Paul speaks of salvation as still going on. Hold the message fast, and the gospel saves you.
- At stake — pull out the resurrection and the whole gospel falls. Whoever unsettles it cuts the ground from under his own feet.
by which also ye are saved, (if ye hold fast the word which I announced to you as the glad tidings,) unless indeed ye have believed in vain.
Paul is about to defend the resurrection of the dead. He starts by taking the Corinthians back to the message that first saved them. Everything turns on two short clauses: "if you hold fast" and "unless you believed in vain." Both have troubled readers ever since.
Paul lists what this good news has already been to them before he adds any condition:
It was humbling, but healthy, for saints to have the gospel made known to them again — saints who ought instead to have been sharing in its activities. The apostle presses it on them in four ways. It is what he first declared to them. It is what they received. It is where they stand. It is the means of their salvation. Salvation in this letter, as in many others, is viewed as going on.
One writer breaks the verse down, and shows what a hollow faith looks like:
Salvation here depends on three things: the word preached, the sincerity of the believer's faith, and holding fast what he has received. The word preached is the message of pure and sovereign grace... But a person can accept the message and still not believe on the Saviour in his heart. That is to believe, as he says here, in vain, with no serious acceptance of the teaching as the word of God. The gospel is preached to people for the obedience of faith. It does not come merely to win a lazy nod that it is believable, or a mental agreement with its teachings.
One writer refuses to soften the word, and lets time settle the question:
The gospel saves us if we "hold fast" its message. If we do not hold fast the word it does not save. Some people do not like the "If," but it is there all the same. It is easy to say, "I believe," and so be counted among the believers. Yet time tests us. The real believer always holds fast; the unreal does not.
Commentators differ on what the empty believing means. One takes it as the way a person believes — a careless reception that lets go as easily as it took hold:
He had told them before that there is salvation by the gospel for those who held fast the truth preached. The exception is anyone who believed carelessly, or at random. Such a person would be as ready to give up as to receive.
The other takes it as the thing believed. On this reading, the strength of the faith is not the issue:
The "believing in vain" at the end of the verse does not mean faith of a weak or faulty kind. It means faith — however strong — that rests on an unworthy or false object.
The denial in Corinth was not a side issue. It struck at the gospel they had believed:
This denial of resurrection undermines the gospel. So the apostle adds the words, "unless you believed in vain" — for if there is no resurrection, they had believed a myth. He also shows, in a remark set in along the way, that holding fast the word he announced to them as the glad tidings would prove their faith real.
This "if" answers the loose talk in Corinth. It does not touch the standing of those who have believed:
Some of these Corinthian saints were claiming there is no resurrection of the dead. Paul writes to them earnestly about it. He points out that if there is no resurrection, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, they were still in their sins. The very gospel of the grace of God was at stake. So here was a challenge to keep in mind the gospel they had received. The apostle timed this "if" well. Yet he did not write these words to throw doubt on the salvation of those who had believed on Christ. They were saved once and for ever.
- Received — one gospel: Paul declared it, they took it in, they stand in it, and it is saving them still.
- Held — the message saves those who keep hold of it. The "if" stands in the text, and time shows who is real.
- Hollow — a person can accept the message and still not trust the Saviour. Agreement of the mind is not the obedience of faith.
- Empty — writers differ on "in vain." It may mean careless believing, or firm faith in something untrue. Deny the resurrection, and Corinth had believed a myth.
- Secure — the "if" answers loose talk in Corinth. It does not cast doubt on those who have believed on Christ.
For I delivered to you, in the first place, what also I had received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures;
Some at Corinth were denying the resurrection. Paul answers by taking them back to the message he first preached there — a message he did not invent, but received and passed on. Three things carry the verse: where the gospel came from, what Christ's death was for, and why the Old Testament stands behind it.
When Paul defines the good news, he begins with an event.
What, then, is the gospel? In presenting it the Apostle Paul wrote, "I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ DIED for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3). It is the meaning and the results of the death of Christ that constitute the gospel.
Where did this message come from? Not from Paul.
He says, "I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received." It did not start in the mind of the preacher who had declared it to them. As he states in another place, "The gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ" (Gal. 1:11-12). So here he says he had received it, and he had announced it to them.
That origin decides how much is at stake in refusing it.
The Apostle is careful to note that the gospel he preached, he had "received". Another letter tells us how: "through a revelation of Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:12). So to reject his gospel is to question the revelation of Jesus Christ and the authority of Scripture.
Notice what Christ's death is connected to.
And what is the foundation laid? "That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures" (v. 3). Not for ourselves only. Not at all for our good ways, but for our bad — "for our sins." Who could have said or thought it but God? … Without the death of Christ for our sins, the gospel has no foundation. And the Old Testament has no adequate meaning or worthy end.
So what became of those sins?
He died for our sins. He suffered the judgment due to them. Then He gave up the life in which He bore them, and with that life given up, the sins of all who believe the gospel are gone out of existence. Our sins would have come up against us in the day of judgment. They are gone as completely as the life of flesh and blood in which Christ bore them.
The Old Testament does not just leave room for this death. Each of its parts points to it.
First, "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures". This brings before us the great work of propitiation that Christ did for the whole world, foretold in all the Scriptures. The law sets it forth in figure, the Psalms present it in experience, and the prophets announce it as prophecy.
Propitiation is the word for a sacrifice that answers sin before God. Two passages show how exactly this death was foretold:
In the twenty-second Psalm we hear Him saying, "they have pierced my hands and feet." And the prophet Zechariah declares that the Jews will yet look on Him whom they pierced. They shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son.
Commentators differ over how far to press the word "our" with someone who does not yet believe. Some say it is right to announce to anyone:
Paul told them "that Christ died for our sins" before they were saved: in fact this was the means of their salvation. It is therefore right to tell the whole world, "Christ died for our sins."
Others say we may preach it to all, but only faith makes it personal:
Now this is a great truth to lay before an anxious or truly enquiring soul. But you cannot apply it to an unbeliever except in a vague, general way… It is when the soul believes God about how effective Christ's death is that the burden of guilt is taken away. This has God's surest guarantee to everyone who believes.
- Received — Paul's gospel came to him by revelation of Jesus Christ, not from any man. To reject it is to question that revelation and the authority of Scripture.
- Delivered — he passed on what he received, and put it first. It is the foundation the gospel rests on.
- Died — the gospel is an event, not advice: the meaning and results of Christ's death are the good news itself.
- For our sins — not for our good ways but for our bad ones. Christ bore the judgment they deserved, and for believers they are gone out of existence.
- In accordance with the Scriptures — the law showed it in figure, the Psalms in experience, the prophets in prediction. Without this death the Old Testament has no worthy end.
and that he was buried; and that he was raised the third day, according to the scriptures;
Paul defends the resurrection by repeating the gospel he preached at Corinth. He boils it down to a few plain facts. Two of them sit in this verse: a grave, and a rising on the third day. Only the rising carries the words "in accordance with the Scriptures," and that difference matters.
Commentators read verses 3 and 4 as a compact summary with three parts, each doing its own work.
He at once sums up the glad tidings under three headings. First, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." This brings before us the great work of propitiation by Christ for all the world, foretold in all the Scriptures. The law sets it out in picture form, the Psalms present it as experience, and the prophets announce it as prophecy. Second, Christ was buried. That is the full evidence of His death, and the solemn fact that every tie He had with man on natural ground is cut. Third, "He was raised the third day, according to the Scriptures." That is the everlasting witness that death has lost its power, the devil is defeated, and God is glorified.
The burial is not padding. It settles whether He truly died. It also exposes what His followers expected.
"He was buried" — a fact that shows how real His death was. It also shows how little His disciples expected the very resurrection they so needed. "We had hoped," as one of them said, "that he was the one to redeem Israel." It is as if that hope was bound to be buried in the tomb where they had laid Him. His burial also has a spiritual meaning for us, as we know. The letters to the Romans and to the Galatians make it known.
Notice what Paul does not say about the burial. Where that missing phrase lands instead shows where the weight of the gospel rests.
So it is added to Christ's death (v. 4), "and that he was buried." Only here there is no mention of the Scriptures. Paul keeps that phrase for the immense fact of the resurrection: "and that he was raised the third day according to the Scriptures." The repeated appearances follow, and of course they carry no such backing from Scripture. It is not merely a side fact or a confirmation of Christ's death. His resurrection is the grand pivot of the chapter, the display of God's glory as regards man, the fullest answer to all unbelief, and the death-knell of Satan's power.
Paul had living eyewitnesses he could point to. Yet he anchors the facts in the older Scriptures first.
Even apostolic teaching was not to be taken for granted apart from an earnest search of the Scriptures… The many living witnesses, one would say, were enough to establish the truth. But he will not separate it from the testimony God had given through all the previous ages — testimony that makes that wonderful death the centre of history.
Where do the older Scriptures name the third day? The answers come from earlier pictures and prophecies, and one writer weighs each one honestly.
Abraham saw from far off the place where he would sacrifice Isaac, and this was on the third day (Gen. 22:4). That makes it more than likely that Isaac was set free from the altar on the third day. But this is not clear enough to be relied on as positive evidence on the point. Our Lord Himself pointed to Jonah as a picture of Himself when He said, "For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matt. 12:40)… The third day is also stamped with the divine mark of resurrection by the prophet Hosea — "After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him" (Hosea 6:2).
The resurrection does not only concern Him. It settles where you stand.
Scripture assures me that Jesus was nailed to the cross under the weight of my sins; but the same Scriptures assure me that He rose from the grave without one of those sins upon Him. Nor is this all. The same Scriptures assure me that all who put their trust in Jesus are as free from all charge of guilt as He is; that there is no more wrath or condemnation for them than for Him.
- Died — the cross was the great work of propitiation for the whole world, set out in the law, the Psalms and the prophets.
- Buried — the grave proves the death was real, and shows how little His followers were expecting Him back.
- Raised — Paul makes no appeal to Scripture for the burial. He saves it for the resurrection, the pivot of the whole chapter.
- According to the Scriptures — Paul had living eyewitnesses, yet he tied the facts to what God had said through all the previous ages. Jonah and Hosea 6:2 mark the third day with resurrection.
- No condemnation — He rose with none of our sins on Him. All who trust Him are as free from every charge of guilt as He is.