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§45 Back to the Basics (1 Cor. 15:1–11)

The letter moves toward its conclusion with a long, crucial defense of the truth of the resurrection of the dead and its intrinsic importance for all of Christian faith and living. The length and complexity of this reflection, coupled with its subject matter, make this portion of the letter important for understanding early Christian belief and practice, the foundational nature of resurrection faith for all of Christian theology, and the reconstruction of Paul’s overall understanding of God’s work in and through Jesus Christ. Interpreters have given this material extensive attention, making much of this discussion of resurrection faith because of its position, length, and subject matter. An unbelievable number of interpretations has been the result.

Paul has held this discussion until the end of his letter. Since he did not launch into this particular area at the outset of the correspondence it seems that this subject was not the central difficulty that he had to oppose and correct. The positioning of these remarks does give them a certain penultimate, perhaps even ultimate, importance, but Paul’s tone is more neutral in these lines than in his previous more caustic comments and emphatic directions.

Without denying the absolute importance of the material that Paul offers in chapter 15—this is a discussion of the very basis of all of Christian faith and practice—the following commentary will take a rather simple line in attempting to read what Paul is saying to the Corinthians. He seems to be concerned that some in Corinth deny the resurrection of the dead. It is clear from his comments that not all of the Corinthians are engaged in a full-scale denial of life after death (see 15:29). In fact, it may not be necessary to understand that anyone in Corinth denied the resurrection altogether; rather, what they held to may have been a particular understanding of life after death that Paul now finds it imperative to correct.

Many commentators argue that some of the Corinthians are focused on an overly-realized eschatology that insists they already have experienced or are experiencing the resurrection; thus, there is no future dimension to their belief in resurrection. Verse 19 is often the key element in such a line of interpretation and will require careful attention. Yet, while there are undeniable evidences of an overly-realized eschatology at work among some of the Corinthians, Paul’s text does not support this interpretation of the Corinthians’ contentions about the resurrection having already occurred. One does find such a problem overtly in the Pastoral Epistles (2 Tim. 2:17–18; perhaps 1 Tim. 1:6), but the materials here are not so explicit and do not support the weight of such an interpretive suggestion. What some of the Corinthians seem to be denying is a resurrection of the dead—they may believe in life after death, but they do not expect that life to take form in and through God’s raising the dead to new life. Life continues after death, but there is no need for the dead to be raised for such an afterlife.

Given the specific contents of Paul’s comments, the situation—as complicated as it has been understood to have been—seems simple. Some of the Corinthians believe that there is life after death without a resurrection of the dead. The simplest, most sensible solution to understanding what some of the Corinthians were saying is to see them affirming a continuation of life after death through the survival of the spirit of the persons who have died, but not through an act of new creation by God in resurrection of the dead. The early chapters of the letter revealed a concern in Corinth with a kind of dualism between body and spirit. The Corinthians behaved in bizarre ways to demonstrate the freedom of their spirits. They engaged in both licentious actions and ascetic practices to show their spiritual status and freedom. The status of the spirit was assumed to be independent of and superior to the reality of physical life. Paul argues for the absolute dependence or relatedness of all aspects of human life. The creature has no independent existence apart from the Creator and the gift of life from God. Humans are not independent spirits trapped in material bodies.

The following commentary pursues this line of interpretation: for some of the Corinthians, there is no need of a resurrection of the dead, for the dead live as being truly freed spirits. The dead have superseded mundane physicality by leaving their dead bodies behind. There is no need for a resurrection of the dead; such a notion is abhorrent, since the body has been left behind in death—and that for the better. Paul opposes this line of dualistic thinking. Note the odd comment in verse 46, where Paul argues for the necessity of the physical—for its priority and for its actual redemption and transformation in resurrection. The Christian does not begin a superior spiritual life in the context of this world that simply continues after death; the believer has a new relationship with God through God’s work in Jesus Christ, and based on that new relatedness the believer anticipates God’s gift of a new life after death through the resurrection (of the dead). This whole chapter is Paul’s argument against the Corinthians’ misunderstanding of resurrection, or life after death, as a simple freeing of the spirit through death. Paul insists that humans are creatures whose lives are created by God. If there is a life beyond this physical world, it is life as new creation because God who gave a first physical life now redeems that corrupt existence in a new, incorruptible gift of (spiritual) life through the resurrection of the dead. The Corinthians deny the reality or necessity of bodily resurrection—it is a disdainful notion to those who consider themselves to be liberated in the spirit and from the body by death. Paul insists that the resurrection of the dead, the granting of a new transformed life as a new creation, is not only true; indeed, it is the key to comprehending the reality of God’s saving work.

Thus, to make his critique and teaching clear, Paul takes the Corinthians back to the foundation of their faith. It is helpful to sketch the lines of Paul’s materials before examining the details of his remarks. First, verses 1–2 declare the absolute bedrock importance of the basic gospel message for Christian faith and life. Then, verses 3–8 restate the foundational teaching Paul had done in Corinth. The lines are rich and complex, so that interpreters generally recognize that in these tradition-laden verses there are one or two early Christian confessional formulae to which Paul adds his own commentary. As he writes, Paul recalls the substance of his primary teaching in a series of statements that finds its structure in a sequence of “that” (Gk. hoti) clauses: “that Christ died … that he was buried … that he was raised … that he appeared.” These phrases form the backbone of the confessional material in verses 3–5, and there is additional information both embedded in this basic framework and attached to it in verses 6–8. Thus, some interpreters suggest that two competitive confessions are amalgamated and adapted by Paul, although no polemical note occurs in the lines, and the phrase “that he appeared” is merely explicated through the ensuing series of statements in verses 6–8.

In turn, verses 9–11 explain Paul’s point so that there is no need to speculate about the sense of his metaphorical language. Specifically, Paul tells of his earlier, pre-Christian behavior that should have disqualified him as an apostle. Then, he grounds the reality of his calling in the reality of God’s transforming grace. The degree of the power of God’s grace is clear in that Paul was not merely redirected, so that his own zeal took new directions; rather, God’s grace grasped his life and made it into something new and different. Throughout this section, Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and appearances are taken in their full soteriological force; they are not reported as isolated propositions.

15:1–2 / In verses 1–2 Paul identifies what follows in verses 3–11 as the gospel [that] I preached to you, and he qualifies this gospel with the phrases which you [in turn] received and on which [in turn] you have taken your stand, and “through which also” you are saved. The verbs Paul employs are similar to those at 11:23, where he referred to the authoritative transmission of oral tradition, as he does here by using the same technical terms. This set of descriptive phrases makes it clear that Paul preached a definite message and that the Corinthians accepted that message in the specific terms of Paul’s presentation. In other words, at the outset of their belief, the Corinthians were in agreement with Paul concerning the substance of the gospel. Moreover, that message as preached and believed had the saving effect of bringing faith to the members of the church in Corinth. As Paul recalls the origins of faith in Corinth, he highlights that there was a definite foundation to the church’s beginning.

Then, Paul recognizes the troubling possibility that the Corinthians may have believed in vain. It is impossible from this conditional comment to determine whether Paul meant to refer to a frightening possibility or merely to state a shocking absurdity in order to gain the Corinthians’ attention. As one can see from the correspondence, the Corinthians have not abandoned belief, but apparently Paul regards them as having altered the content of the basic message that they heard and believed. Clearly they have gone too far, but exactly how far Paul estimates them to have gone is impossible to determine.

15:3–5 / Paul continues to recall the original message that he preached in Corinth by saying that he delivered that particular gospel tradition as of first importance (Gk. en prōtois). He may mean either that he delivered the teaching logically “above all” or temporally “in the first instance,” or both. In either case the words state Paul’s starting point in proclamation to the Corinthians. Thus, the material that follows this comment is of great interest and importance.

Verse 3 tells of Christ’s vicarious, sacrificial, atoning death (for our sins) that occurred as part of God’s will and work (according to the Scriptures). This description of Christ’s death solicits reflection and requires explication. Paul’s allusive references to the death do not specify the mechanics of how Christ died for our sins or according to which Scriptures his death took place. Paul simply states that Christ’s death had purpose and that it fitted with the Scriptures. Nevertheless, an informed early Christian reader might have associated the vicarious, even saving, significance of Jesus death with Isaiah 53 LXX, Zechariah 12:10, or any of several of the psalms. Moreover, the reference to the slaying of the paschal lamb in 1 Corinthians 5:7 already highlighted the connection between the early Christian understanding of Christ’s death and the Passover and exodus. Thus, Paul does not need to elaborate what he has in mind, for his readers would know certain Scriptures that were read in relation to the interpretation of the meaning of Christ’s death.

Verse 4 tells of the burial and the timing of Jesus’ resurrection (on the third day), which also occurred as part of God’s will and work (according to the Scriptures). The mention of the burial almost certainly is not intended to be associated with the reference to the Scriptures, although one might find a point of correlation between the burial and Psalm 16. Again Paul seems to assume a certain knowledge on the part of his audience, for he has no need to issue specific citations. The exact texts that Paul and the Corinthians might have brought to mind with regard to the raising of Christ are indeterminable, although Hosea 6:2, Jonah 2:1 (cf. Matt. 16:21), Isaiah 52:13; 53:10–12; or Psalm 15:8–11 LXX (Ps. 16:8–11 in the NIV; cf. Acts 2:25–28) are likely connections that would have been made. Indeed, the rhetoric of Paul and other NT authors concerning the scriptural bases of comprehending Christ, his death and resurrection, is often sufficiently general to support the suggestion of some commentators that Paul and other early Christians thought of Christ as the fulfillment or key to understanding all of the OT in and for the life of the church.

Paul’s recollection of tradition moves in verse 5 into the realm of historical memory. One learns of the initial appearance to Cephas (NIV, Peter), a partial explanation of the prominence of Peter in the life of the early church. This reference is similar to the mention of such an appearance in Luke 24:34. The interpretive problem with Paul’s statement, however, is more with what he does not say than with what he recalls. There is a strange, disturbing absence of reference to the appearance of the risen Jesus to the women at the empty tomb. The lack of this record leads to all kinds of speculations and interpretations. All these arguments, however, are from silence.

One does also learn of the subsequent appearance to the Twelve, an odd note given that for a time there were only eleven disciples in the inner group after the demise of Judas Iscariot; indeed, Acts records the addition of Matthias as a replacement for Judas among the Twelve (Acts 1:15–26) after the risen Jesus’ appearances and ascension into heaven (Acts 1:6–11). Nevertheless, one sees in Paul’s remark the early presence and importance of “the Twelve.” Thus, one finds in verses 3–5 clear evidence of the early interpretation of Jesus’ death and resurrection and an indication of the early church’s recognition of authorizing appearances that identified and formed the structures of the church. One could not ask for more in the space of three verses.

15:6 / Paul refocuses his report at the beginning of verse 6 with the temporal qualifier After that (Gk. epeita; lit. “afterward”). The additional information in verses 6–8 reports the subsequent appearance of Christ to more than five hundred believers at the same time and declares that most of them were still living at the time Paul wrote. Paul adds that some have fallen asleep, a common ancient euphemism for “died.” The overall report communicates a complex of important information in the discussion of the resurrection of the dead. Paul’s statements both document the reality of the appearances of Christ “from the dead” by taking them out of the realm of private hallucination and also register the undeniable point that even those who saw the risen Lord died.

15:7 / Paul begins still another additional sentence with epeita, translated in the NIV with then. The rhetorical pattern makes parallel statements of verses 6 and 7. In turn, the mention of James, the brother of the Lord, recognizes and perhaps explains his prominence in the early church; indeed, the remark may explain his being a believer, since he was no disciple of Jesus. Orr and Walther remark, “James’ new status as a believer offers an indirect proof that there was nothing he could remember from his acquaintance with Jesus in the family that would make such belief impossible” (1 Corinthians, p. 322). But the facts of James’s coming to leadership in the early church cut two ways: That James did not believe before and without this appearance is a direct proof that there was nothing he knew from the family or from his acquaintance with Jesus that compelled him to believe in Jesus! Moreover, the reference in verse 7 to the appearance to all the apostles seems to name a central criterion, perhaps the criterion, for apostleship from Paul’s perspective. Those who saw the risen Lord were ultimately those who were “sent out ones” (apostles).

15:8 / Paul moves to yet another moment of past time. He begins verse 8 literally, “But last of all,” telling of the final such appearance of the resurrected Lord, this one to Paul himself. At the time of Paul’s writing of this letter to Corinth, that last appearance had taken place approximately twenty years earlier. Nevertheless, Paul’s words are vivid, even shocking. He literally says he was born as of an “abortion” (Gk. ektrōma), a word that sometimes indicates a stillbirth or an untimely birth. The metaphor is not only violent and perhaps offensive but also odd. Paul experienced his encounter with the risen Christ after, not before, the others, so that the vivid birthing image does not fit precisely, for it suggests an early or a short-term delivery. The point of the image, however, seems to be the violent intervening character of the call that Paul experienced, a discontinuous development that produced unforeseen results. Thus, Paul aims at communicating the abnormal manner in which he became an apostle, although in this context his chief concern is to underscore the validity of the reports of the encounters of the apostles with the resurrected Christ. The Christ who was raised was the Christ who was seen in his risen form by a great variety of witnesses.

15:9–10 / Having mentioned the encounter with the risen Jesus that constituted his call, Paul goes on to explain the significance of God’s grace as he knew it from that experience. He understood grace to be unmerited and transforming. Grace characterized the power of God as it had moved in Paul’s life; but as one looks back through Paul’s references to tradition, one sees that grace characterized the appearances to the apostles, James, the five hundred, the Twelve, and Cephas; and even the resurrection of Christ himself. The power and continuity of God’s grace were Paul’s main concern, and his determination to allow the magnificence of God’s grace to be manifested in his own life was a sign of his genuine appreciation of the unmerited transformation by grace that he received in conjunction with the appearance and commission of Christ. For Paul the reality of the resurrection was but a manifestation of the reality of the power of God’s grace, and he was so persuaded of the ultimate importance of God’s grace that he lived his life to show the grace of God that was with him. Paul contends that God’s grace grants what cannot otherwise be had, as in the resurrection of the dead.

15:11 / Paul reminds the Corinthians that no matter from whom they heard the gospel, the message that they had heard was the one he had briefly reiterated in verses 3–8 and to which he had added his own adamant testimony in verses 9–10. Paul clearly expected no one to take exception to this teaching, for as he knew it and as he described it, this message about God’s work in Jesus Christ united and held together the entire work of the early church.