1 Corinthians 15:1–2

March 15th, 2022

FAITH pleases God and allows Him to work in your life for your good and the good of the Church. He is a rewarder of those who put their trust in Him. 

God is love. Seek Him and you will  find Him!

St. John of the Cross’ reminder was straightforward, “When you find no love, put love, and you will find love.”
And yes, we say amen to that.
And yet. I confess, that there’s a part of us that still assumes, some people are more wired for this than others. You know, the ones with the spiritual gift of compassion.

Do you remember as children, singing—right index finger raised—“this little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine?"
From Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others.”

Jesus used the verb “let”.
Is there a synonym for let?
Yes. Allow. Terry Hershey “SabbathMoments “

1 Corinthians 15:1–2

15 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

Paul provides thorough teaching about the resurrection of Christians from the dead. This is a direct counter to some group of Corinthians who did not believe in such a resurrection. He shows that natural death is not the end of life for Christians; it is the last step before receiving a glorified, resurrected body like that of the risen Christ. That ''spiritual'' body will be as different from our current bodies as a star is from a fish. In that moment, for all who have believed in Christ, living and dead, death will be defeated for good.

Paul has set out to clear up some misunderstanding among the Christians in Corinth about resurrection. He began in the previous verse by asking them to remember the gospel as he first preached it to them when establishing the church in Corinth. 

Paul will insist that the content of the gospel, and their belief in all of it, is the foundation for everything that is true. He has reminded them that they received the gospel as it was presented to them; they continue to have a right standing before God because of their faith in the truth of the gospel. 

Now Paul adds that they are in the process of being saved by the gospel right now. When Paul and other New Testament writers talk about salvation, they often use the past, present, and future tenses. Those in Christ have been saved, in the sense that our sins are forgiven and our place in eternity is secure. We are being saved; God is active right now in sanctifying us to be like Christ. We will be saved when the moment comes for us to stand before God in eternity, and we're freed from all sin. 

There's a problem, however. Paul describes those who have received the gospel as "being saved" if they hold firmly to the truth as he preached it to them. The word "if" is easily interpreted as "since," because this statement is tied to them holding fast to the word preached to them. But the Corinthians have believed the gospel in vain if they did not and are not believing the gospel as he preached it to them. In other words, if anyone is believing a false version of the gospel of Jesus, that person should not think that they have any standing before God. 

The part of the gospel Paul will emphasize in this chapter is faith in Christ's resurrection, as well as His death. Both must be believed to hold to the gospel as Paul preached it to them.