1 Corinthians 15: What happens to us now?

(NRSV, 1989)

In my estimation, 1 Corinthians 15 is one of the most doctrinally dense chapters in the New Testament outside of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Why the apostle writes what he does in here is easily in keeping with the rest of this letter, but the nature of its subject matter is not. In respect to the former, the Corinthians have strayed from what they were taught and had been demonstrated by Paul, and he was trying to get them back on track. When considering the latter, however, up to this chapter Paul has been focused more on practical or pastoral theology—the hows of the faith and where they have erred in their practice—but here in fifteen, Paul seems to be addressing error that has arisen in their belief. 

1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

The gospel—the Good News of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified and Risen—is the only instrument for salvation that is available to the Corinthians. It seems that there may have arisen some doubt within the congregation of the gospel’s uniqueness in this regard. The Corinthians had heard and accepted Paul’s message and had staked their lives on it: “on which you have taken your stand…” Paul was under the impression that this was a done deal; but the apostle’s response here seems to indicate that there is now some doubt: maybe springing from the Corinthians’ determination to keep up the practices of their former lives. 

Note that it is through the gospel that they “are being saved, if [they] hold to the message…unless [they] believed in vain.” This is not a doctrinal statement that some denominations and traditions like to hear. Salvation is a process here and not a single, exclusive act. The Corinthians must “hold to the message” to achieve complete salvation in the future. Thus, believing is not enough to assure salvation. Remember James’ words to a Church that had fallen to temptation: “Even demons believe…” So there is more to salvation than simple belief. 

As stated in the introduction, Paul’s letter has been focused on the need for the Corinthians to change the way that they live—or more specifically the need to engage each other and world in a new, Christlike, way. Salvation, then, is best understood to be a process that starts with belief and ends with a person’s total transformation. “Now I see dimly as in a mirror, then I will see face to face.” Belief—in reference to mental acceptance—is not enough to reach salvation. 

3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me.

Here is the Good News: “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures [by which Paul means the Hebrew scriptures], that he was buried, that he was raised [to new life] …and that appeared [to others for proof].” These then shared the gospel with others who then shared the gospel. 

9 For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy 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.

As Paul has stressed before to the Corinthians, the relationship with God has its cause in Him. Just as we can only understand God’s wisdom by the presence of the Spirit—remember, the wisdom of God is foolishness to the world—so, too, can we only become what we are supposed to be with God’s initiative. Paul doesn’t claim to be an apostle, he is an apostle by God’s action. Likewise, all the Corinthians can do is choose to respond in the way that Spirit desires them too, as demonstrated in the life of Christ. If they choose not to capitalize on what they have been given by God through Christ, they have received in vain. 

Salvation is a partnership—a collective action between God and the individual and God with the community and the individual with the community. To find proof of this, all one must do is recall the nine fruits of the Spirit: Three are between God and the individual; three are within the individual; and three are with others in community. Put another way, God does His parts, and we do ours—which we can only do by His presence and grace, ironically. Paul understands this. 

On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you have believed.

So, the purpose for Christ’s appearance to the apostles—the greatest and the least—is so that the Corinthians might believe and hopefully respond. Maybe they’ve got the first three fruits growing—love, joy, and peace—but the other six: patience, kindness, and generosity (with others) and faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (within themselves) so far in the letter appear to be lacking. In fact, maybe even the first three are hard to find. These first three fruits: love, joy, and peace, though, are Paul’s concern here in chapter fifteen. What these opening verses in chapter fifteen tell us is that the fruit that God demands is the product of our belief and our response, and that if we do not maintain a right belief in the gospel, there is no way for us to produce it. 

For some reason, it appears as though members of the Corinthian church are stepping away from the gospel that Paul had preached to them, “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,  that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” and it is this gospel that provides the foundation of selfless love (agape), joy, and peace that is only found in Jesus Christ.

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”? 13 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 proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith.

In abandoning their belief in the physical resurrection, the Corinthians are turning their backs on the first fruits of the Spirit. Gone is freedom from the fear of death. Perhaps their tendency to hold on to elements of their old lives is surfacing here, too. Previously, the Corinthians would have had no desire to be physically resurrected. (Visit the series on 1 and 2 Thessalonians for a deeper dive into Greek beliefs about death and the afterlife.) It is obvious that they once embraced Paul’s gospel, but now are falling away from it. We see in verse thirteen that the resurrection is central to the joy and peace bought by Christ’s selfless act on the cross. Without it, everything that Paul preached is in vain.