March 6, 2009 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

The Good News About Christ ~1 Corinthians 15:1-11~
Now, brothers and sisters, I want you to remember the Good News I brought to you. You received this Good News and continue strong in it. And you are being saved by it if you continue believing what I told you. If you do not, then you believed for nothing. I passed on to you what I received, of which this was most important: that Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures say; that he was buried and was raised to life on the third day as the Scriptures say; and that he was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles. After that, Jesus was seen by more than five hundred of the believers at the same time. Most of them are still living today, but some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all he was seen by me--as by a person not born at the normal time. All the other apostles are greater than I am. I am not even good enough to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But God's grace has made me what I am, and his grace to me was not wasted. I worked harder than all the other apostles. (But it was not I really; it was God's grace that was with me.) So if I preached to you or the other apostles preached to you, we all preach the same thing, and this is what you believed.

In this passage, Paul is re-examining Christ's resurrection and the gospel. Paul is talking to the Corinthian Church, telling them to remember, to never forget, the good news that he brought to them. The good news about Christ dying for our sins, for being buried and raised to life on the third day, and also being seen by his disciples after his resurrection, then by more than five hundred believers. Finally, he says that he was able to see Christ, although he is so unworthy.

This is where Paul brings up God's grace...that he was only able to see Christ through God's grace. That through this grace, he was able to work harder, not by his own might, but by God's. He's telling the Corinthian Church that they are in the same situation. That not only should you believe the good news about Christ, but through that belief, you will receive salvation and grace. And through those we are able to do God's will, sharing, spreading the wonderful messages of God, the gospel.