THE TWOFOLD WITNESS TO THE GOSPEL
1 Corinthians 15:1-6 NKJV
15 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 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.
Paul was beginning to conclude his letter to the Corinthians. I am still surprised at the amount of explanation and correction that this church required. In our verses for today, Paul is verifying the gospel that he first preached in Corinth. He preached, and the people believed. It was this gospel that they were standing on and Paul explains why.
Paul proclaimed that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. It was the Scriptures that foretold of God coming to earth as a man born of a virgin. It was the Scriptures that predicted Jesus would die for our sins. In the Scriptures, we see Jesus being made a sacrifice for our sins. Isaiah 53 is one of the most graphic descriptions of Jesus on the cross. "But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all." Isaiah 53:5-6 NLT. Paul was saying that Jesus' death on the cross was according to God's Scriptures.
Also in the Old Testament, there are verses that allude to Christ being raised from the dead. "You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay." Psalms 16:10 NASB. Sheol is translated as hell and the underworld, the place of the dead. Jesus was raised on the third day and spoke of it while He was on the earth. He spoke of Jonah being three days in the belly of the whale as a type of what would occur with Him. Jesus lived according to the Scriptures and gives us an example of how we are to live. To Jesus, the story of Jonah was not just a nice Bible story but a story that was relevant for His life.
Paul lists the Scriptures as the first witness of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. And then Paul lists the second witness. The second witness was the people who saw Jesus after He was raised from the dead. Peter saw Him, and then the other apostles. Five hundred people saw the risen Jesus at one time. Some of those people were still alive. The second witness to the validity of the gospel was the personal eyewitness to the risen Jesus.
APPLICATION
Scripture and personal experience are two witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ today. We have the Scriptures telling us what God has done for us in Christ, and we have our personal experiences. Always bear in mind that the witness of the Scriptures is the most important. Personal experience not validated by Scripture is weak and almost always error.
For example, the people who believe that healing has passed away have very weak arguments with me. I have Scriptures that verify that healing is a work of God that has not changed. The same Jesus who healed while on the earth still heals today. Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." And there is 1 Peter 2:24. So there are Scriptures. And I have the personal witness of having been healed and my wife and children being healed. Healed according to the Scriptures and according to personal eyewitness accounts.
Bottom line: Look for the Scriptures that point to or directly promise what you need. That will give you a strong foundation. Don't turn to personal experience first. Put things in their proper spiritual order, Scriptures, then experiences.
PRAYER
Lord, please show me more from Your Holy written word that I may apply to my life.