listening to the wrong crowd

Posted on June 4, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

June 2016 (4)

1 Corinthians 15:32-34

1Co 15:32 From a human perspective, what have I gained from fighting wild animals at Ephesus? If the dead ones are not raised, we should just eat and drink, because tomorrow we are dying.
1Co 15:33 Do not be led astray! Listening to the wrong crowd corrupts good habits.
1Co 15:34 Sober up as you should, and stop making that mistake, because some are just ignorant of God –to your disgrace.

listening to the wrong crowd

Paul had been making a careful, reasoned apologetic argument in favour of a future, bodily resurrection. Now, he gets a bit emotional as he recounts the fact that he has put his life on the line — daily — to preach the gospel of resurrection life. And, some ignorant people sit around asking themselves whether a resurrection is necessary! This crowd of theologians is not only undermining the gospel truth, they are also keeping the Corinthians from sharing the gospel. So, Paul tells the church that they should be ashamed of themselves for listening to the wrong crowd.

LORD, feed us on your truth, and develop in us a distaste for any ignorant talk that might distract us from it, or from sharing it.

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baptism for the dead

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

June 2016 (3)

1 Corinthians 15:29-31

1Co 15:29 If this were not so, why do people get baptised for these dead ones? If the dead are not raised at all, why be baptised for them?
1Co 15:30 And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour?
1Co 15:31 I die every day! That is as certain as my boasting of you– a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord.

baptism for the dead

This text has really been abused and misrepresented. Paul is not saying that people are getting themselves baptised as proxys for their dead relatives. He’s talking about the missionaries and proclaimers of the kingdom who had first shared the gospel, and led people to Christ. If a person had been won to Christ, he or she would be baptised at the request of the missionary who led them to faith. That is what it meant to be baptised for someone. Paul had mentioned that some of those early missionaries were already asleep in Christ (15:6,18). He is arguing here that if there is no resurrection, the believers who they won to Christ had been baptised for the dead. Even Paul, who put himself in danger all the time — is doing it for nothing if there will be no resurrection.

LORD, thank you for those who now sleep, awaiting your resurrection. Thank you that they cared enough to lead us to faith, and baptise us. We know it was not for nothing.

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the resurrection in God’s plan

Posted on June 2, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

June 2016 (2)

1 Corinthians 15:26-28

1Co 15:26 The last hostile thing to be eliminated will be death.
1Co 15:27 Because “God has subordinated them all under his feet.” But when it says, “subordinated them all,” it is plain that he who subordinated them all under him is excluded.
1Co 15:28 When they all have been subordinated to him, then the Son himself will also be subordinated to the one who subordinated them all to him, so that God may be all in all.

the resurrection in God’s plan

Paul argues that the resurrection is absolutely necessary because God has a plan to eliminate everything in the universe that does not conform to his holiness. He has a plan to be all in all again. Since the rebellion of Satan, and the consequent fall of humanity in Eden, God has not been all in all in his universe. He is sovereign, and in control of it all, but everything is not subordinated to his wishes. Everything does not conform to his being.

His plan to rectify that problem included sending Christ to die to reconcile those he planned to rescue through resurrection. His plan will include the eventual eradication of death — the last hostile holdout. Then, Christ will be able to hand the kingdom back to the Father, and God will be all in all again.

LORD, fulfil your plan. All creation groans in expectation of our complete redemption.

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the return and resurrection

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

June 2016 (1)

1 Corinthians 15:23-25

1Co 15:23 But each crop will be harvested in its own order: Christ, the first harvest, then the ones to be harvested by Christ when he makes his appearance.
1Co 15:24 Next the end of the harvest will happen, when he gives back the kingdom to God and Father, when he has eliminated every rule and every authority and power.
1Co 15:25 Because it will be necessary for him to reign until he has put all the hostile ones under his feet.

the return and resurrection

Paul had shown the necessity of the resurrection as it relates to the gospel, and to the person of Christ. Now he shows how the resurrection fits into God’s plan for the return of Christ.

  • Since Christ is the first harvest, his resurrection took place first.
  • When Christ appears again, all those who sleep in him will be raised by him to experience a resurrection like his — unto eternal life.
  • When Christ appears again, he will begin a reign on earth which will eventually eliminate every sort of opposition to the kingdom of God.
  • At the end of this reign, Christ will give back the cleansed kingdom to God and Father.
  • So, Christ begins his return with a rescue of all the saints who are asleep. He concludes his reign by returning the universe to the Father, after it has been set from from sin.

LORD, come and restore us to the life you wanted for us.

Posted in deliverance, kingdom of God, resurrection, second coming | Tagged | 2 Comments

inextricably linked

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

May 2016 (31)

1 Corinthians 15:20-22

1Co 15:20 Except Christ has been raised from among the dead ones now — the first to be harvested from among the sleeping ones.
1Co 15:21 Because since death originated through a man, resurrection from the dead ones will also originate through a man.
1Co 15:22 Because just as everyone in Adam is dying, in the same way everyone in Christ will be made alive.

inextricably linked

Paul had made the point that the gospel is not the gospel without the resurrection. Now he shows how inextricable the message of the resurrection is with our knowledge of Christ himself.

  • Christ is not the first to have ever died, but he is the first to be harvested — the first to ever come back from the dead permanently. All the dead have fallen asleep to await a resurrection. Only Christ has been permanently woken up from that sleep.
  • Adam made a choice to disobey in Eden, whech led to death. Christ made a choice to obey in Gethsemane, which led to life again.
  • The difference is going to be whether you are in Christ of simply in Adam. All those in Christ will be made alive when he returns.

The hope of the gospel is inextricably linked to the fact of Christ’s resurrection, and absolutely necessitates the resurrection of believers at his return.

LORD, come again, and rescue us from the sleep of death.

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the gospel without resurrection

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

May 2016 (30)

1 Corinthians 15:16-19

1Co 15:16 Because if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised;
1Co 15:17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
1Co 15:18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have been destroyed.
1Co 15:19 If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.

the gospel without resurrection

Paul addresses those teachers in Corinth who had abandoned the gospel of resurrection and replaced it with a gospel without resurrection. He points out the absurdity of such a view. If our hope is not in a future resurrection, then even Jesus’ resurrection is called into question. Without Jesus’ resurrection, there is no salvation: we are all still in our sins. All who have fallen asleep in Christ have been destroyed — they are gone forever. And if our faith is only a present day delusion that will not change our destiny either, then we are to be pitied more than anyone.

My challenge to you, Christian brother or sister, is this: Does your theology require a resurrection? Many Christians teach a gospel of survival at death, and immediate soul-migration to either heaven or hell. If that is the case, why believe in a resurrection? Some of the Corinthians had asked themselves the same question, and had concluded that Paul had lied to them about the resurrection. Paul replies to that argument with a defence of the absolute necessity of a physical resurrection. A gospel without resurrection is a false gospel.

LORD, purge us of our pagan theological contamination.

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doctrinal contamination

Posted on May 29, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

May 2016 (29)

1 Corinthians 15:12-15

1Co 15:12 But since Christ is proclaimed, that He has been raised from among the dead ones, how can some among you say that there is no resurrection from among the dead ones?
1Co 15:13 But if there is no resurrection from among the dead ones, then not even Christ has been raised.
1Co 15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our time proclaiming was misspent and your faith is misdirected.
1Co 15:15 Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified against God that he raised Christ from the dead, whom he did not raise, if indeed the dead are not raised.

doctrinal contamination

The Corinthians had all grown up in an environment of immortalism. They had no use for a resurrection from among the dead ones. They did not believe that the souls of their ancestors were dead in the grave. Like Plato, they assumed that death liberates the soul. But along comes Paul, who teaches Christ as having been raised from the grave. By virtue of their contact with other eyewitnesses of the event, or trusting in Paul’s word, or some other verifying work of the Holy Spirit, they chose to believe in the resurrected Christ.

The problem now is, some of them had begun to realise that survival of the soul conflicts with the doctrine of future resurrection. So, some Christians in Corinth have chosen to do what Augustine did: merge the two doctrines. The problem is that once they had done that, it was too simple to downplay the somewhat unnecessary doctrine of resurrection, and before long, they had begun to teach Plato’s view of soul survival as the Christian view. Hence, the resurrection was seen as a myth. And, since Paul was responsible for teaching them that myth, his integrity is questioned.

LORD, purge us of our syncretisms; decontaminate our theology.

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last on the list

Posted on May 28, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

May 2016 (28)

1 Corinthians 15:8-11

1Co 15:8 But last of all, as though to a person born at the wrong time, he was seen by me too.
1Co 15:9 Because I am the least of the missionaries, not worthy to be called a missionary, because I persecuted the church of God.
1Co 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been misspent, but I worked even more than all of them, and not I, but the grace of God with me.
1Co 15:11 Therefore whether it was me or those others, this is the way we proclaimed him, and this is the way you believed him.

last on the list

Paul had listed the witnesses to the resurrection:

  • First, the scriptures which predicted it,
  • Then, the eyewitnesses who proclaimed it,
  • Last on the list was Paul himself, who witnessed the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus.

Paul put himself last on the list of people that anyone would consider a reliable source of information about God. He had not been one of the twelve, or of the five hundred, or one of the original missionaries sent out. He had persecuted the church before he met Jesus. Consequently, he had to work harder than any of them to verify the gospel he preached. It was purely the power of the Holy Spirit which led people to believe his message. The same is true of us. We cannot prove what we proclaim. We must rely on God himself to do that. We just need to be faithful to him.

LORD, we offer no excuses. We just commit to proclaiming your gospel, and trusting you to convince those we share it with.

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legacy of the eyewitnesses

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

May 2016 (27)

1 Corinthians 15:5-7

1Co 15:5 and that he was seen by Peter, then by the twelve.
1Co 15:6 Then he was once seen by over five hundred brothers, most of whom are still with us now, but some have fallen asleep.
1Co 15:7 Then he was seen by James, next by all the missionaries.

legacy of the eyewitnesses

After Paul had made his main point that the resurrection of Jesus fulfilled the scriptures, he now appeals to the personal testimonies of numerous eyewitnesses. The progression can be stated another way: the resurrection was first planned and orchestrated by God, then observed and authenticated by human witnesses. Some of those witnesses may even have been known by some of the Corinthians, which would have explained why they came to accept Paul’s testimony, and came to faith. Those eyewitnesses left a legacy of belief in the resurrected Christ.

LORD, may we leave a legacy that will lead future generations to faith in you.

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resurrection faith or random faith

Posted on May 26, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

May 2016 (26)

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

1Co 15:1 Now, I want to share some information with you brothers; this is the gospel I evangelised you with, which you recieved, in which you also stand,
1Co 15:2 and by which you are being saved, if you own it, unless you have come to believe randomly.
1Co 15:3 Because I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received– that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,
1Co 15:4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures,

resurrection faith or random faith

Paul had heard that some within the churches at Corinth were beginning to question the veracity of the resurrection. He begins responding to that rumour by explaining that the very gospel message that he had proclaimed which led the Corinthians to accept Christ was firmly grounded on the reality of the resurrection. Three events — Christ’s death, his burial, and his resurrection — were listed as the three first things that Paul taught, when he was explaining the gospel. He did not begin with their sin, and he did not begin with God’s love. He began describing three events, and taught the significance of those events to the scriptures. The result was that the faith the Corinthians eventually accepted was a resurrection faith.

Now, Paul asks them whether their faith is a resurrection faith, or did they just come to believe randomly. It made a difference for Paul. The gospel proclaims Christ as having died and having been raised from the dead. Any other “faith” is just random faith, not saving faith.

LORD, thank you for the good news of a saviour who died for us, and has been raised from the dead.

Posted in faith, gospel, resurrection | Tagged | 1 Comment