“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.”
1 Cor. 15:3-8 (NASB)
The Gospel that we have been entrusted to share is reliable. We can boldly proclaim the fact that Jesus dies for our sins, that He was buried and that He was raised from the dead on the third day. We can have confidence in the reality of Christ’s resurrection because of the testimony of the scriptures. We can have confidence in the reality of Christ’s resurrection because more than 500 people saw Him alive again. Many of these people would eventually die rather than renounce their testimony. Finally we can have confidence in the reality of Christ’s resurrection because of the countless millions of lives (including Paul’s) that have been transformed by the power of the living Christ. Be bold in your proclamation of the gospel and be urgent in sharing it because only the gospel contains the words of life that can rescue the souls of men.
Questions for application…
Why did Paul consider the gospel to be of “first importance”?
How do we know that the facts concerning the resurrection are reliable?
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