In Paul’s
letters to the Corinthians, we see two entirely different topics. The first is
on sexual immorality and how to deal with those kinds of people. The second is
addressing the Corinthians on why he is an apostle, and who to consider as
false teachers. However, despite these differences, they do share a few things
in common. One, they are addressed to a confused city. Two, they at least
mention the crucifixion and resurrection. Read for yourself:
1 Corinthians 15 (starting with verse 3 and ending with 19)
For I delivered to you
first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again
the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas,
then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at
once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen
asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then
last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
For I am the least of the
apostles, who am 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; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but
the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so
we preach and so you believed.
Now if Christ is preached
that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is
no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead,
then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is
empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of
God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not
raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then
Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are
still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have
perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the
most pitiable.
It goes
on like this for a while, but you get the message. God conquered death on the
cross and resurrected three days later. This was a strange idea to the Romans
and Greeks, mostly because the ancient philosophers theorized that death was
going to get you to an ultimate, spiritual paradise and that our bodies were
trash. (Sound familiar?) But God came back to Earth and resurrected, shattering
that ideal they had. They found that this life they had in God was better than
the life the philosophers had promised, and became followers of Jesus.
In the
modern day world, there are several groups like the philosophers. They believe they
will go to a paradise (e.g. Muslims, Hindus, etc.). Hindus believe that the
soul will reincarnate if you don’t go to paradise. The best form to reincarnate
into is a cow, while the worst form is a woman (touchy subject, I know). But
the Christian viewpoint is different. Our bodies will resurrect when Jesus
comes back, and be perfect and indestructible. This goes against a lot of views
and is why the Christian lifestyle is so strange to many.
That’s
it for this post. If you are still reading this blog at this point, then you
might be crazy. Please post opinions, yawn, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah, are
you even paying attention?! Never mind…
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