Fifty Two Weeks / 1 Corinthians 15

First Importance

Everything God has to say to us is important. There are some situations when some words are particularly important for that day and the Holy Spirit will magnify those words for us on those occasions if we will allow Him to. Still, not all doctrine is created equal. The Gospel trumps the Law; not because the Law is no longer relevant but because the Gospel is the fulfillment of the Law. Concerning the Gospel the following trumps everything else: Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again on the third day. Other things are important but this is of first importance.

The Resurrection

Everything hinges on the resurrection. 

Christ’s resurrection sets Christianity apart from all other belief systems. This is simply the most audacious claim ever made. This is the most important claim ever made. This is the claim on which everything rises or falls in our faith. If Christ was not raised then nothing else He did or taught, or that His followers did or taught, matters. If Christ was not raised from the dead the discussion is over and we should just rock out because we are all only going to be worm food anyway. 

But Christ was raised from the dead. He physically appeared to many witnesses. These witnesses conformed their lives to this truth and ultimately gave their lives for this truth. This wasn’t a difficult decision for them because they knew that since Christ had been raised from the dead that meant that we too would be raised from the dead! Life doesn’t end here. In fact, for those who put their faith in christ life is eternal. 

So How Does This Work?

This chapter reveals some wonderful insights into the resurrection.

• Our present bodies are merely like a seed. We really can’t imagine what we will be like in the resurrection. You can’t look at a grain of corn and imagine a corn stalk unless you had already seen one. Likewise you can’t look at an acorn and picture an oak or a grain of wheat and conceive of a tall green stalk of wheat. In the same way we really can’t imagine what the resurrection body will be like, but we do know four things about it.

• It is imperishable. Our present bodies are perishable indeed. We can work out and diet and spend money of cosmetic surgery but we cannot stop the perishing process. This will not be an issue with the resurrected body. That body will never diminish.

• It is glorious. No matter how beautiful or athletic or talented we are in these bodies there are still things and times when we are, quite frankly, just a bit disgusting. Even the grandest bodies among us are subject to dishonor. The resurrection body is something else, something glorious.

• It is powerful. Pump iron all you want, ounce for ounce you will still never come remotely close to being as strong as an ant. At our very best we are still relatively puny. The resurrection body is not weak, but powerful.

• It is spiritual. We tend to think of the spiritual as being somewhat flimsy, wispy, and insubstantial. In fact just the opposite is true. The material world is made up of atoms. Every atom is made up of a nucleus with electrons zooming around it. Different atoms have different configurations; however, all atoms have one thing in common - they are mostly made up of empty space. Everything you see in the material world is insubstantial. The invisible (to us) spiritual world is the solid, lasting, and real.

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom because it isn’t substantial enough for the Kingdom. But the day is coming when the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. On that day there will be the glorious taunt, “Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.