The Why
Now I would remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you.* (1Cor 15:1-2)
It’s interesting to me that Paul starts 1Corinthians CHAPTER FIFTEEN with the phrase, “Now I would remind you of the Gospel…”
Fourteen chapters into a sixteen chapter book, and now Paul’s reminding us of the Gospel?
To be fair, Paul began the book talking about how the Gospel and how the Gospel defines who we are, and not our noble birth or other apparent advantages.
But then Paul begins to deal with one controversial issue after another: personality conflicts, church discipline, lawsuits, sexual immorality, questions about marriage, grocery shopping and idol worship, conflicts over spiritual gifts, who’s in charge, the Lord’s Supper… So many issues and conflicts!
“Now [in chapter 15] I would remind you of the Gospel…”
Because otherwise—if it weren’t for the truthfulness of the Gospel—who cares? Why bother with kindness? With love? With chastity? Who cares about life in a local church?
Literally everything Paul’s been teaching about—everything they’re fighting over—is just so much stuff-and-nonsense… unless the Gospel is true.
If the Gospel is true, then what we do with our bodies, minds, relationships, marriages, churches, worship, our everything, matters. It matters. God cares. The world needs it.
So Paul immediately reviews the historicity of the Gospel—“Christ died… was buried… was raised on the third day… and He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive… Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all… He appeared also to me.” There’s a chain of historical custody that was even then important to review.
And Paul attaches this to the Gospel’s astonishing significance: “…According to the Scriptures… according to the Scriptures…” All that God had promised has come true.
The story is all facts; the consequences of the facts are… life for the world.
Paul says in 2Timothy 1:10, “Our Savior Jesus Christ abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.”
“Now I would remind you of the Gospel…” because through all the unpleasant conversations that happen when a group of disparate people try to comprehend eternal things and live life together, we’re abolishing death, we’re serving the spread of life.
Whether it’s the Lord’s Supper or human sexuality, lawsuits or spiritual gifts, when you’re tasked with abolishing death and serving life, everything matters.
In 1Corinthians 15:1, Paul returns us to The Why.
There are times when I get overwhelmed by… life. Stuff. People. Noise. Fear. Pain. So forth.
I cry out to God. And after a bit, sometimes, I have to talk myself through everything. And what I get back to, what’s at the bottom, The Why, is what Paul points to 1Corinthians 15—Jesus Christ was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures.
There is a God. This is Him. And so forth and so on.
So get up, get back on track, go on, stand firm, hold fast.
We need to be reminded of the Gospel so that we’ll continue on in the Gospel. Life is hard, but it matters.
Photo by Dimitar Donovski on Unsplash