43 Why Christ’s Resurrection Matters (1 Corinthians 15:1-19)

Krisan Marotta: Welcome back to Wednesday in the Word. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. We will be studying 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 1 through 19. This is the 43rd talk in my series on 1 Corinthians. As always, you can find lecture notes for today's talk on the link below the podcast, or you can find those on my website, wednesdayintheword.com slash 1 Corinthians 4 3. The lecture notes contain an outline for today's talk and links to anything I mention. You'll also find lots of helpful information on my website on how to improve your Bible study. There is no charge for it. I have no spam, no ads, and no clickbait on the site. Only Bible study. Thanks for listening. We are starting the last major section of 1 Corinthians today. You'll remember that Paul is responding in part to a letter that the Corinthians wrote to him, and the vast majority of the letter is his answers to the questions they've asked him. After he finishes one question, he moves on to another, and we have come to the last one. He's been starting each of these sections with the phrase now concerning or sometimes just now, and in 15 1 he starts with a very similar phrase now I would remind you brothers. It's unclear whether Paul's responding to a specific question that the Corinthians have asked him or if this is just something he wants to remind them about, something he wants to tell them. The topic we're going to be looking at throughout chapter 15 is whether or not there is a resurrection. A group in Corinth denies that idea. They deny the idea that believers are looking forward to a bodily resurrection. We don't know exactly what view or philosophy he's correcting. There were several different groups in Greek culture at that time who either denied the physical resurrection or downplayed the idea that there's a physical resurrection. We have some evidence of this in scripture. At the end of Paul's sermon in Athens, where he's on Mars Hill, he talked about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and then we find this verse, this is Acts 1732. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, We will hear you again about this. So we get this impression from Acts that Paul's listeners were tracking with him until he started talking about the resurrection, and then they began to mock him. And that probably reflects the cultural view that it's just foolish to believe in a resurrection. There were a number of strains in Greek philosophy that rejected the idea of physical resurrection as ridiculous and philosophically unsound, and so some form of that belief has gotten into the Corinthian church. Paul's going to make it clear that a bodily resurrection is essential to what we believe as Christians, but he begins his argument by saying of course resurrection is possible. We've already seen an example of it, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I'm going to read chapter fifteen verses one through eleven, and then we'll go back and look at each section. So this is fifteen one through eleven. Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preach to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you were saved if you hold fast the word which I preached you unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, and after that he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared to me also, for I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me did not prove vain, but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believed. Let's go back and look at fifteen one and two. I'll read those again. Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, and by which also you are saved if you hold fast the word which I preached you unless you believed in vain. Paul is writing to a group of people who have heard the gospel before and have already made a claim to faith. This is the Corinthian church, and he's reminding them what they claim to believe, and he's going to go on to argue that a physical, bodily resurrection is at the heart of the gospel. So he starts with this phrase, the gospel I preached you, but he's not going to go back and explain the entire gospel. He's not going back to square one and teaching them the gospel all over again. He intends to make a point about one facet of the gospel, not give them the entire story, and he does this frequently. You'll find in his letters he says things like the gospel is that Jesus Christ is Lord, or the gospel is that the Gentiles are part of God's people along with the Jews. Or the gospel is love your neighbor as yourself. He even says at one point the gospel is that God will judge the world. And those are all facets or aspects or implications of the gospel, but they're not the entire story. In each of those cases, he's discussing one aspect of the gospel because the particular people he's talking to or writing to need to hear that aspect, and that's what he's doing here in chapter 15. He's going to argue that one of the central aspects of the gospel is that Jesus rose from the dead. So he starts by reminding them this is the gospel I preached to you, this is the gospel you accepted, and this is the gospel you claim to believe. This is the gospel that will save you if you continue to believe it, and it involves a bodily resurrection. And he adds this phrase unless you believed in vain in 15 2. I used to think that he meant this gospel will save you if you persevere in it, unless you believed in vain, that is, unless your claim to faith was never really genuine and you fall away. And that is a possible interpretation, but as I got farther into the context, I think he's anticipating the argument he's going to make farther down in the chapter. Part of what he's going to say is if there is no resurrection from the dead, then what's the point of believing the gospel? Our belief would be in vain if there's no resurrection. There's no point to it. And he's going to argue if you are right in what you think about the resurrection, then this gospel would be in vain. It would be for nothing. But what you think is not true. So I think he's anticipating the argument ahead that he's about to make. He goes on, then speaking of this gospel, this is verses three and four, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. So he starts out, I delivered to you what I also received. And there are two senses in which he can say this. Paul makes it clear in other letters that he was taught by Jesus Himself. He claims he is a true apostle, and he was taught and sent by Jesus Himself to proclaim this message. So the first way he received this message is that Christ taught him. The second, he also heard the testimony of the other apostles and those who walked with Jesus during his earthly life. So he has spoken with eyewitnesses, and he is the recipient of that as well. So he received the gospel these two ways. Jesus taught him directly, and he heard the testimony of the other apostles. Then he says the part of the gospel I want to discuss now is that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scripture. Now Christ died for our sins is a very familiar concept for us. If you've been around the church for any length of time, you've probably heard that language often. Unfortunately, today it's not spoken of in as many churches as it there used to be because there's a group of American Christians today who find the cross offensive and they think it's just too weird, too offensive to seekers, and so they want to downplay its significance. And you can just Google it. I've found articles and I've heard talks of people saying, no, no, no, don't talk about the cross. You have to talk about God's love and ignore the cross, and then maybe we'll, you know, we'll bring that in later. But Paul is insisting that this idea that Christ died for our sins is central to the gospel, and it's a significant part of the story. One of the central concepts of the gospel is that we are sinners in need of a savior. We're not the people we should be, we don't love like we should, we don't make the right choices, we're selfish, we're thoughtless, we're cruel and evil, and we stand in rebellion to God. And sin is not just unfortunate, it's wrong. We have broken God's law and we stand guilty before Him, and we will be judged and condemned unless someone pleads for mercy for us, and that someone is Jesus Christ. Now Paul tells us this was in accordance with the scriptures, and there are any number of passages we could look at, but I'll just pick one. This is Isaiah fifty three, four through six. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And then skipping down to fifty three twelve, therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. So here in Isaiah, Isaiah is predicting a suffering servant who will take the penalty for the sins of God's people, and we know that servant to be the Messiah, and the Messiah is Jesus Christ. And for the purposes of Paul's argument here, I think his emphasis is that Christ died for our sins. People saw it happen. He went to the cross, he suffered, he bled, he died, and he was buried. As the Messiah, Jesus willingly went to the cross and died in our place. And that's important because Paul's going on to talk about death and not the nature of atonement or propitiation. He goes on to talk about death and how Christ's death and resurrection are going to solve that problem. Let me read 15, 3 and 4 again. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. I think that last, according to the scriptures, that last phrase goes with the he was raised, not with the phrase he was the third day. So I would understand that he was raised in accordance with the scriptures, and that happened on the third day. But his point here is people saw him die. He was buried. They took his dead body down from the cross and they buried it in a tomb. And the fact that he was dead and gone has implications for the resurrection. He was buried and he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. So his point is he was dead in the tomb and then he was alive. And how do we know? Because lots of people saw him alive again after that event, this is fifteen five through eight. And that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared to me also. Now Paul isn't listing every encounter that people had with the risen Jesus. He doesn't mention Mary Magdalene, for example. He's making a point that many, many people saw Jesus alive again. He's not trying to give an inclusive list. So Cephas here in 155 is another name for Peter. I think he's probably referring to the breakfast on the beach story that's found in John 21. Peter had denied knowing Jesus three times, just as Jesus had predicted he would, and then Peter had gone away in despair, and in a scene very reminiscent of his first meeting with Jesus, Jesus appears after they've been fishing and caught nothing, tells them where to catch fish, they catch an abundance of fish, and then as they're eating a fish breakfast, Jesus asks Peter three times, Do you love me? And Peter humbly responds that he does, and Jesus says, Feed my sheep. The next appearance he mentions is the twelve, which is a nickname for the twelve original apostles. Now we know there were only eleven apostles at immediately following the resurrection because Judas, who had betrayed him, had killed himself. And there are some meetings where Thomas wasn't present, for example, so this is a nickname, it's not meant to be an exact count. Then he says more than 500 people at one time saw him, most of whom are still alive. What events he talking about here? Well the short answer is we're not really sure. No event that's recorded in the Gospels specifically mentions that large of a gathering, but just because it's not recorded doesn't mean it didn't happen. I think the most likely speculation is that Paul is referring to what scholars call the Galilee event. This is Mark 16 7. But go and tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee, then you will see him just as he told you. So they're speaking about Jesus. Go and tell his disciples and Peter that he's going before you to Galilee, and there you will see him. The eleven remaining apostles, plus the women who discovered the empty tomb, went to Galilee and they met Jesus, and they could have gathered over five hundred believers. It's not recorded, but given the excitement of the news, it's likely that a large crowd gathered. Matthew may also be referring to this event. This is Matthew twenty-eight, sixteen and seventeen. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them, and when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. So scholars think that Matthew is referring to the same event that Mark mentions, go to Galilee, because they both talk about being told to go to Galilee and that they will meet the risen Lord there. Matthew adds this phrase some doubted. It seems unlikely to me that that phrase some doubted refers back to the eleven remaining apostles. It's more likely that that phrase refers to all the other people who came with them, the women, the other disciples who followed him, and anyone who heard this exciting news, there could have been over five hundred people there. We aren't told, and we aren't even really told what happened at this event. But in any case, Paul is emphasizing the bodily resurrection of Jesus was an actual historical event. Lots of people who are still alive can bear witness to it. This recording of more than 500 people at one time shows that the appearances can't be explained away as a personal hallucination because five hundred people don't have the same hallucination at one time. Luke tells us that the risen Jesus was on earth for forty days before his ascension and that many, many people saw him and many of them are still alive. They were alive when Luke was writing and they are still alive as Paul writes this. Paul is writing this letter approximately twenty years after the ascension. If I started questioning something that happened 20 years ago, lots and lots of people would say, wait a minute, I was there, I saw it, I remember that. So if I started saying, you know, George W. Bush was never president, or Bill Clinton was never president, lots of people go, wait a minute, I lived through that. Well that's the situation Paul's in as he writes this. The ascension is still very recent history and lots of people remember it. Now he's not making an apologetic argument to a non believer. He is talking to a group of believers and he's reminding them what they know to be true. And at the time he's writing, the resurrection is a known fact. People alive remember it and they can talk about it. The James he mentions is probably the brother of Jesus. We don't know anything about this meeting other than Paul's mention of it here. We do know from the gospels that James, the brother of Jesus, was not one of Jesus' followers before the cross, but after the resurrection, James becomes a devout follower of Jesus and a leader of the church in Jerusalem. So how did he get from disbelief to leader of the church? Well, one very plausible explanation is that the risen Jesus appeared to him and called and commissioned him just as he appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus. And that meeting turned James into a believer. But we don't know for sure, the meeting's not recorded for us, but the language implies that Jesus sought James out just like he sought Peter out and Paul out. And we know from church history that Jesus had specific callings for these three, and they each seem to have received a unique meeting with the risen Lord, where he commissioned and gave them that position of leadership in the early church. Then he says, Then to all the apostles, perhaps Paul is referring here to the final appearance in Acts where all the apostles were gathered together, and Jesus gives his final words and then ascends into heaven. Jesus appeared many times to the eleven, but Paul's list seems to be in somewhat chronological order, so perhaps this last reference in fifteen seven is to Jesus' last appearance before the ascension. Then in fifteen eight he says, and last of all as to one untimely born, he appeared to me also. Here Paul is referring to his experience on the Damascus Road, which is recorded in Acts nine. Paul is on his way to persecute the church when the risen Jesus appears to him and converts him to belief. And in Galatians, Paul also tells us that he was taught personally by Jesus during his time in Arabia. So Paul didn't have just this one meeting with Jesus. He tells us Jesus took him aside and taught him. I think this phrase untimely born is a reference to the fact that unlike the other apostles, Paul didn't know Jesus during his earthly ministry. The other apostles saw him in both his earthly life and after the resurrection, but Paul only met Jesus after the resurrection. So the other apostles became apostles in a more normal way, and Paul is different. He came later, he is untimely born in that sense. And you'll remember there's a group in Corinth who don't think very much of Paul. They've rejected his teaching in favor of Apollos. Second Corinthians tells us some have rejected his claim to be an apostle entirely. And we find Paul often has to defend himself against the charge that he was not really an apostle because he wasn't among the original twelve. We see that in Galatians, for example. And he has to explain why he was not among the original twelve and is playing such an important and significant role in bringing the gospel to the Gentiles. And so we see this tension in his defense. He says, both, I'm not a big deal, and I am an apostle. So we get this tension of I'm just a regular guy, but you need to be a good idea. Take my authority seriously. And he does this, I think, very well. He walks this typerope between defending his apostleship but not putting himself forward as a person. He draws this distinction between I am not a big deal, but the message and authority I have been given is a big deal, and you need to pay attention. So fifteen eight, nine and ten, and last of all, as to one untimely born he appeared to me also, for I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me did not prove vain, but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. None of the other apostles started out by hating Jesus and trying to kill his followers, but Paul did. And Paul is saying, Look, if you stop and think about it, I'm really not worthy to be an apostle. If I were to get what I deserved, I would be guilty and condemned. I would get exactly the opposite of what I have. It is only by the grace of God that I was given this role in building up the church because before I met Jesus, I was trying to wipe that church out. So no, I don't deserve this apostleship. I am the least of the apostles, but nevertheless, I am an apostle by the gracious gift of God. And that's a common theme in Paul's writings, that his apostleship is a gracious gift of God. Which is interesting that he talks about it as a gift because his life was extremely difficult. He suffered greatly for spreading the gospel. He was beaten numerous times, shipwrecked, imprisoned, and yet he says, This is a great gift, this thing God has given me, this role of being an apostle. And we saw this same attitude in chapter 12. Paul says all the roles God gives to his believers are good gifts of God. They come to us out of his mercy and kindness. It's a gift to us that he lets us play a role in serving his kingdom and encouraging each other and building each other up in the faith. But notice again this tension. Paul acknowledges I am the least of the apostles, but he's not afraid to say, I worked harder than any of them. And even that was through the grace of God. So we have this both sides of the coin. Look, it's true I'm the least of the apostles. I don't deserve to be an apostle, but I am an apostle, and God has called me to work harder at it than all of the rest of them. So he labored hard at spreading the gospel, he was the one called to go to the Gentiles and to get repeatedly beaten for doing it. He was given a big job to do, and he was given that job by God. Not because he was such a great person, but it was a gracious gift of God that he was able to do the things he did. So while he doesn't think highly of himself as a person, nonetheless he says, God graciously called me to do great things. Now remember, he's bringing this up, he's emphasizing the fact that he's an apostle because he wants to make it clear that this story about Jesus and his resurrection is true, and Paul is one of the people who saw the risen Lord. He is one of those witnesses. And that's the point he goes on to emphasize. 15 eleven whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. So he says, Look, even if you think the original eleven apostles are a bigger deal than me, it doesn't make any difference. We preach the same gospel, we witness the same risen Lord. We are telling you the same story. Jesus died, he was buried in the tomb, and he rose from the dead, and we saw him alive again. Not as a ghost, not as an apparition. He was a human being who died and then God made him alive again, and we saw him and we touched him and we talked to him. And he reminds them, so you believed, Corinthians, that's the gospel you believed. When I, Paul, preached among you, and you said you wanted to be a follower of Jesus, you accepted the resurrection as part of the truth I taught you. Now Paul gets to the reason that he's reminding them that Christ's resurrection is a fact. I'm going to read the next section. This is fifteen, twelve through nineteen. Now if Christ has preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain. Your faith also is in vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. Let's look at fifteen twelve through fourteen again. I'm gonna read those again. Now if Christ has preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is in vain. This is the issue he wants to correct. How do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? People in Corinth are saying that look, there's no such thing as resurrection from the dead, and the rest of you guys are foolish to believe in this resurrection. Now we're not exactly sure where they got this idea. They were probably influenced by their Greek culture. Perhaps they thought the resurrection was unique to Jesus and no one else would be raised, or maybe they didn't believe Jesus was raised at all. We don't have much evidence to know what they're thinking, but somehow some in Corinth are denying a physical resurrection as part of the gospel. So Paul just gave all this testimony. The gospel is about Jesus of Nazareth. It's about a person who is the Christ, the Messiah. All these people, including the apostles, knew him. They saw him, they worked with him, they followed him. Jesus the man lived, died, was buried, and God raised him from the dead. The gospel is about the resurrection of a human being, but if you don't believe that the resurrection of human beings is possible, then not even the man Jesus has been raised. If it can't happen to humans, then it couldn't have happened to him either. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile. If there's no resurrection, we have nothing to hope for and our preaching is in vain. And here's that language that we saw back in fifteen two. He's saying if there's no resurrection, then the gospel doesn't have the power to save anyone, and it's all futile, it's all in vain. Moreover, he goes on, this is fifteen fifteen. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. So he's saying if Jesus wasn't raised, then we apostles are liars because we've been telling you Jesus was raised. And implied in that is, and if we're liars, why did you believe us? If the dead are not raised, then we've been lying to you, or we don't know what we're talking about, and we're just crazy because we've been telling you this gospel is the story that is validated by the man Jesus being raised from the dead. He goes on in sixteen through nineteen, for if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. So notice Paul sees the resurrection as the foundation for the forgiveness of sins. If Christ hasn't been raised, then your faith is worthless and you are still in your sins. If he isn't raised, then he was not the Messiah, and his death didn't do anything for anyone. We are still guilty of our sins and we will be condemned on judgment day. Now earlier he said Christ died for our sins, and now we see that God raised Christ from the dead in part to show that his death worked. God willingly accepted the sacrifice of Jesus as payment for our sins, and God raised him from the dead to show yes indeed, this man Jesus is the Messiah, and I accept his sacrifice on your behalf. So the resurrection is central to the gospel story because the forgiveness of our sins, the very salvation we're looking for, is tied to the resurrection. The resurrection shows that Christ's death was in fact an acceptable atoning sacrifice for us. Without it, there's no atonement and the dead will stay dead. So he's pointing out to the Corinthians, look, if you deny the resurrection, you are undermining the very salvation we believers are hoping for. Because if Christ wasn't resurrected, then his sacrifice was not accepted by God and we are all still in our sins. Because the resurrection completed the salvation that his death brought about. Not only that, if there's no resurrection, then we Christians are to be pitied. Part of the hope of the gospel is that death is not final. If there's no resurrection, then death is final, and we will have wasted our lives chasing a lie. The reason we put our hope in the gospel is because it's true. All the events described in the gospels really did happen. There was an actual historical man called Jesus of Nazareth. He lived, he taught, he died, he was buried, and he was resurrected. The story is true and we believe it because it's true. I think Paul's argument undercuts this idea that truth is whatever works for you. This is not a case of, well, if you believe it, then it's true for you. This is a case of if you believe it and it turns out to be a lie, then you're a fool. Paul is saying this story about Jesus is true, and if it's not true, we were the most foolish people on earth. We will have spent our lives hoping for a promise that will never come true. But that's not the case. We know that this story is true, and part of the way we know it's true is that Jesus Christ was resurrected. Now remember, he's answering the specific question, is this story about resurrection from the dead true or not? And that's the issue he's focusing on. But notice he doesn't have the idea, well, you know, my life is better off because I'm a believer. It doesn't really matter whether it's true or not. The gospel story makes me feel better. I like all my church friends, it's great to be part of their community, so I'm just gonna continue to believe it regardless of whether it's true or not, because it makes me happy, it fulfills me. That is not Paul's attitude. He's saying investing yourself in a story that is not true is foolish, and people who do that are to be pitied. There is no value in believing something that isn't true. We're invested in the gospel because it is true, and we are looking for salvation from our sins, and the gospel tells us where we will find that salvation in the blood of Jesus Christ. And part of the reason we know this to be true is that God raised Jesus from the dead. If the resurrection from the dead doesn't happen, then the problem of our sins has not been solved, and we better start looking for a new Savior. I think Paul's trying to shock them. He's saying this idea you're proposing is a fundamental denial of the gospel. This is not abstract theology. This is not some fringe, unimportant academic debate topic. This idea is fundamental to the gospel you claim to believe. Now, before we move on to look at the next section, which we're going to do in the next podcast, I want to put this issue in perspective. It's really important that we understand that the question of the resurrection is not a doctrinal question for Paul. And by that I mean this issue is not just high abstract theology. For Paul, this is not some kind of systematic theology test and he's calling them to account because they haven't put down the right answers. So this is not a quiz you have to answer correctly to be part of our group. The issue of the resurrection is more fundamental than that. The question on the table is do you believe the claims of the gospel or not? And as Paul builds his argument through this chapter, he's going to say bodily resurrection is a large part of our hope. It is our goal and it's the culmination of history. But this issue is personal for each of us. Ultimately, the issue is about what do we think this life is about? What do we think is true and valuable? What are we going to stake our lives on? And those are decisions each of us has to make every day. And we make those decisions based on what we believe to be true about life, death, and reality. Now I know I teach this a lot and I say this a lot, but I really do think it comes up a lot in the New Testament. The underlying issue of this question of resurrection is what do I truly believe? What am I hoping for? What am I counting on? Do I believe that I need to live life to its fullest because we only go around once and then we die? So should I follow the eat, drink and be merry crowd? Or do I believe everything in the universe is one and I'll come back reincarnated in some other form eventually? Or do I believe the claims of Jesus of Nazareth that my life right now is part of a bigger story that will eventually culminate in a new heaven and a new earth and a resurrected body? Do I believe the claims of the apostles that God demonstrated that Jesus was in fact the Messiah and that his message is true and reliable by raising him from the dead? What you believe is true makes a lot of difference in how you live your life. Should I go for the gusto now or should I put my hope in the promises of the gospel? Should I love my neighbor as myself, or should I look out for number one? This issue of resurrection is not some abstract what if principle about something that might happen someday. This issue is about my fundamental picture of the world, of reality, of life and death, and where is God taking me? And Paul has just argued that if you reject the resurrection, you're rejecting God's view of reality. And as we get deeper into his argument, we're going to see just how important the resurrection is. But here, so far, we've seen him say, look, if you reject the resurrection, then the gospel is a lie and there's no point in believing it. This is not a fringe issue debated by scholars. This is a fundamental part of the gospel. And if you reject it, you're rejecting the gospel itself. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word, the podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but shows you how to figure it out. I really appreciate you listening, and I have three favors to ask. Subscribe to the podcast, leave a positive rating or review wherever you listen to your podcast, and tell a friend what you learned. And where you learned it. And if you can only do one of those things, telling a friend is best. Our theme music is graciously provided by my friend and favorite musician Reggie Cook. You can find more of his music on heartfeltmusic.org. I'm Kristin Murata, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.