Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:54-57
Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-8; 12-22; 54-58
Throughout the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul has been dealing with various attacks and wrong beliefs that were brought into the church. The church of Corinth was full of divisions, bickering, sexual immorality, lack of discipleship, misunderstanding of Spiritual Gifts, and false teachings. At the end of the book Paul begins to address the teaching that the resurrection isn’t real. Many had come to the church and told them that the resurrection never happened, and that there was no future resurrection. Paul then writes to refute this false teaching and help set the church’s mind back on path. He writes against this with 3 key points; the resurrection of Jesus, the resurrection of the dead, and the resurrected body.
First, Paul assures the church of Corinth that Christ did indeed rise from the dead. This teaching is central to the Gospel. For if Christ did not rise, then everything that they had been teaching would be wrong and their entire belief system would crumble. However, the Scripture attests to the fact that Jesus was raised, and by this Paul is talking about the books of the Old Testament. Jesus fulfilled all of the prophecies of the coming Messiah including the ones about his death and resurrection such as Isaiah 53:5-6 and Psalm 16:10. On top of that, he was seen by hundreds of people after his resurrection. The disciples saw him at different times and even got to touch him. At one point 500 people saw Jesus at the same time. This list of people was given to the church so that they could verify the story. Most of those people were still alive and could be talked to and interviewed about those events. Paul adamantly proclaims the resurrection of Christ was true.
Because the resurrection of Christ is true, that then means that the resurrection of the dead will also be true. The fact that Christ rose from the dead establishes that the power necessary to raise from the dead is from God. With this power and this promise of the resurrection, the church has a new hope. For we do not have to grieve loss like others do, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14. We have a hope, or a confidence, in Christ and that his ability to rise from the dead means that we too will one day be gathered together with Him in glory. The resurrection power enables us to not fear the future because Christ is already there!
Paul finalizes his argument with an explanation of the resurrected body. The body we have now is nothing like the body that we will one day inherit. The things that are earthly are earthly and will be changed. This perishable body will be raised imperishable. It will no longer be a natural body but a spiritual body. Everything is to be made new.
With the resurrection established, Paul shares the importance of it. The resurrection means more than eternal life with God, it means victory. The thing that most people fear in life is death. There is an uncertainty in the unknown of what happens after death. This uncertainty brings great fear into the hearts of people. Paul wants us to know that there is nothing to be afraid of. For the thing which made death so scary was sin, which was empowered by the law. Through Christ however, the law is satisfied, and sin is paid for. Therefore, death has no more power and we are living in victory through Christ!
“My Heavenly Father and Savior, I thank you. Thank you for the great sacrifice you made for me on the cross and thank you for establishing your power through the resurrection. Thank you for the victory I have in your work and that I no longer have to fear death. I pray that you will give me a boldness to walk in life, to walk in your victory with no fear of the future. I pray that sin will no longer have a hold on me because of your fulfillment of the law and power of death. Thank you for the great gift your resurrection is to me. Amen.”