Reading Through The New Testament In 2016. Day 147. 1 Corinthians 15

Guys this is probably my favourite chapter in the whole bible. Why? It gets down to a simple gospel and why the gospel is so cool.

If you ask people what the Gospel is, 95% will say ‘Jesus died for your sins’. That’s a pretty great part of the gospel, but it’s not the whole thing. I think it’s also not even the coolest part of the gospel.

Paul opens this chapter by saying the message he’s about to give is the most original gospel there is. It’s the gospel he preached, and which converted the whole church. It’s not some new twist on the gospel, it’s the simplest form of it.

What is this simplest form of the Gospel? The resurrection. Dude! The resurrection is the greatest thing. Paul here says ‘you know, dying to sin is cool and all. You know what’s even cooler? New life in Christ.’ He gives you 1 verse of the typical gospel line, then 4 on how the resurrected Jesus was seen by a tonne of people, rehashes that this is the purest gospel, and then about 10 of just what the resurrection means, then breaks, then comes back to the resurrection again. It’s like Paul is so stoked about the resurrection he can’t stop talking about it!

We focus all the time on the cross and maybe we should shift some of that to the empty tomb, without which the cross has no meaning.

Seriously guys. Resurrection is the bomb.