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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
15:1-58 The Futility of Faith If the Dead Are Not Raised. Many people in the ancient Greco-Roman world believed that death extinguished life completely or led to a permanent but shadowy and insubstantial existence in the underworld. The concept of a physical, embodied existence after death was known mainly from popular fables and was thought laughable by the educated. Paul deals with the Corinthians' denial of (v. 12) and confusion about (v. 35) the future, bodily resurrection of Christians. These issues were probably raised in their letter to him (7:1).
15:1-11 The Truthfulness of the Traditions about Christ's Resurrection. Paul first establishes the historical reliability of Jesus' resurrection in order to lay a firm foundation for his argument that it was only the first step in the resurrection of all deceased Christians.
15:1-4 you received . . . I delivered. Paul is using commonly recognized language for handing on, intact, a body of information that one has received from others (see 11:2, 23; Mark 7:13; Luke 1:2; Acts 6:14; Phil. 4:9; Jude 3). in accordance with the Scriptures. See also Luke 24:27; John 2:19, 22; Acts 17:2-3; Rom. 1:2-4. Paul may be thinking especially of Isa. 53:3-12, which describes the substitutionary death and the vindication, after death, of God's servant, but also of other OT passages. For the resurrection, see also Hos. 6:2 and Jonah 1:17; 2:1 (Matt. 12:40), and for the OT in general pointing to Christ, see Luke 24:25-27 and the article, Overview of the Bible.
15:5 Cephas is the Aramaic name for the apostle Peter (Gal. 2:8-9). He and John were the first of the men who followed Jesus to know that his tomb was empty (Luke 24:12; John 20:5-6; cf. Mark 16:7). The twelve includes Judas's replacement, Matthias (see Acts 1:21-23, 26).
15:6 These witnesses were still alive and therefore able to give firsthand testimony to the truth of this tradition. though some have fallen asleep. Paul is careful not to exaggerate (cf. 7:10, 12, where he carefully distinguishes between his own words and Jesus' words), evidence of the great care that early Christians took in their preservation of the historically accurate details about Jesus.
15:7 James was the brother of the Lord (Gal. 1:19) and leader of the Jerusalem church (Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18; Gal. 2:9, 12). See note on 1 Cor. 9:4-5. all the apostles. The group of apostles is larger than "the Twelve," including, among others, James and Paul (1 Cor. 15:8). One of the qualifications for apostleship was seeing the risen Lord (9:1).
15:8 Last of all. Sandwiched between vv. 7 and 9, this suggests that Paul thought there would be no more apostles chosen after him. appeared also to me. Making Paul an apostle (see note on 1:1).
15:9 On Paul as persecutor of the church, see Acts 7:58; 8:1-3; 9:1-2; Gal. 1:13; Phil. 3:6; 1 Tim. 1:13.
15:10 grace of God. Paul considered his conversion from "persecutor" to "apostle to the Gentiles" to be a free and wholly undeserved gift of God (Rom. 15:15-16; Gal. 1:15; 2:9; Eph. 3:7-8; Phil. 1:9; 1 Tim. 1:14). God's grace did not lead to passivity, however, for it prompted hard work on Paul's part.
15:11 I or they. Cf. 3:6; Phil. 1:18. Paul does not care who gets the credit for the gospel's advancement, only that it advances.
