Easter 2025

1 Corinthians 15:1-22 1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. 12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 

Paul is addressing an argument by some people in the Corinthian church, most likely Greeks who came to faith in Christ. They may have believed the Gospel to be true, Christ died and rose again, but they were not sold on the idea that regular people would experience resurrection after death. They might have been influenced by Greek philosophy and believed that when a person dies they are freed from the body and would never want to return to the unclean prison, or it was a form of Epicureanism where a person's existence at death ceases entirely. Either way, Paul is up for the debate and understands the ramifications of a misunderstanding concerning the issue at hand.

The Gospel is something that happened. 

The Gospel is not advice! 

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 “1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” 

2 Timothy 2:8 “8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel,”

Paul begins this section with a distinction about what the Gospel was. He delivered to them what was the most important information: Christ died and rose again.  

The Gospel cannot and must not be reduced to self-help tactics that make us a more successful version of ourselves. Christ crucified and resurrected calls us and causes us to be less us and more like Christ.
The self-help Gospel falls short of defeating sin and death and relies on our ability to manage outcomes. Learning a good way to live by observing a man named Jesus will not free you from sin. Believing he died for your sin and resurrected victorious over sin and death, making him Lord of your life, brings salvation and the hope of resurrection. You do not need help to get better; you need to be set free. Salvation provides that. Hope is found in the resurrection of Christ which provides victory over sin. 

Paul also makes the argument that the people who were witnesses of the resurrection were still alive at that time, including himself. 

1 Corinthians 15:5–8 “5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” 

The Gospel was preached by people who had seen the risen Christ. This was not a philosophy passed down. They were eyewitnesses, and it was that very testimony that had caused the Corinthians to initially believe that Christ was God come to earth and they had received salvation through his death and resurrection.

If it doesn’t happen, then it didn’t happen.

1 Corinthians 15:12–16 “12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.” 

1 Corinthians 15:17–20 “17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” 

Paul argued that if we do not have the hope of resurrection, then Christ did not rise and, to make it worse, they had then preached a lie to the Corinthians. If Christ had not risen, they had misrepresented God in their testimony to the church. Paul was saying we told you that there was victory over sin and death when there was none.  Paul states that if Christ be not raised, our faith is futile and we should be pitied. If Christ is not risen, we are at best wishful thinkers engaging in a futile pursuit of hope through the suffering of one man.

He has indeed risen.

1 Corinthians 15:20–22 “20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”

He has risen. 

Matthew 28:5–7 “5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”” 

Paul repeated to the Corinthians the same thing the angel said to the women at the tomb. 

Romans 6:1–7 “1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.” 

Romans 6:8–11 “8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” 

Paul would make the same argument to the Romans. We have freedom from sin because of the death and resurrection of Christ. We can be freed from the power of sin because Christ resurrected and that power is available to us. How could we go on sinning if we died to it? Paul wasn’t only highlighting Christ's death but his power over it and what that makes available to all that believe.

Peter makes the same claim that our salvation and resurrection was directly connected to that of Christ. 

1 Peter 1:3–5 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 

The resurrection of Christ is the evidence that God has the power to forgive us and free us from sin and death. Jesus died in place of all humanity as the price for all of our sin, but it was his resurrection that gave us the power over sin and death. That very power is what we are celebrating this morning and available to you in this moment to free you from the curse of sin and give you hope and peace.