Lessons #517 and 518
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New American Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
+ 4. Text is based on 1984 edition of the NIV +
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Gospel Paul preached (1 Cor 15:1-11 NIV 84)
1Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve 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 to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
Some of us Christians quite often become passionate in defending the doctrines we believe. Of course, there is nothing wrong with being passionate about doctrines, but the problem is that it is not uncommon that we become mean-spirited or even vilify other believers who hold opposing views. Thus, the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul reminds us that even when we disagree with our fellow believers, we should not be hateful towards them, recognizing that we are in the same family of God in Christ. We say this because of the way the Holy Spirit directed the apostle in how he composed the doctrines of this epistle of First Corinthians that are points of contentions among believers. One of the most contentious doctrines in the church in Corinth as well as today involves application of spiritual gifts in a local church.
The major problem with the Corinthians concerns the gift of speaking in tongues. Today, it is still one of the doctrines that create division among believers. We go further today than perhaps the Corinthians in the matter of spiritual gifts. By this I mean that believers are divided into two major groups when it comes to spiritual gifts. Some say that every miraculous gift has ceased while others take the opposite view. Generally, those who take the view that these gifts have not ceased are often described as Pentecostals or Charismatics. I am one of those that do not like labelling believers because labelling people would usually result in one form of prejudice or the other. In other words, once you label a group of people you use a broad brush to paint them without recognizing that such painting may in fact be a prejudicial act. Furthermore, whatever you think is wrong with the group you labelled would cause you not to see something good about the group you have labelled. I contend that prejudice blinds people so that they are unable to see the truth even when that truth stares them in their face. My basis for this statement is what Joseph’s brothers said to him to his face. Remember they were looking at Joseph when they told him that they had a brother who was dead. The reason they could say this is because of prejudice. They in no way thought that the man in front of them was Joseph because they had labelled him as one who was dead. It is inconceivable to me that if you have a brother who left home at the age of seventeen, when most features of a man are usually developed, that when you see him thirteen years later, there is nothing in that person that would cause you to suspect that it might be your sibling. But prejudice based on a label of some sort would lock a person’s mind to cause the person not to think of the possibility that the other individual would be a sibling. This was the case with Joseph’s brothers. They had concluded wrongly that their brother was dead, added to the fact that they could not expect one sold in slavery to occupy the post of the Prime Minister of Egypt. Their conclusion or label on Joseph as being dead made it difficult for them to remotely recognize him although he immediately recognized them. Prejudice is the result of forming opinion or labelling of someone with a preconceived characteristic that keeps an individual from recognizing truth. What I am saying is that once you label a group of believers as Pentecostals or Calvinistic or Arminian, you will lock your mind to the possibility that the group may be right or that there is an aspect of doctrines the group is right.
Anyway, the point of my comment about labelling people in our passion to defend what we believe is that the Holy Spirit through the apostle reminds us of two doctrinal facts that should help us in being passionate about our defense of the doctrines we hold in such a way that it does not lead us to vilify other believers. The first is that love is the hallmark of believers in Christ as the Lord Jesus taught in John 13:34–35:
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
When we vilify other believers because they hold differing views of a specific doctrine even if we know with certainty that we are right, and they are wrong, we will then not be acting in love. The implication is that we do not show that we are disciples of Jesus Christ. It is important that we operate in love even when we disagree over a specific doctrine. Therefore, it is not surprising that Apostle Paul was directed by the Holy Spirit to reveal the importance of love in dealing with fellow believers. You see, the apostle introduced the subject of spiritual gifts in the twelfth chapter of the epistle we are considering. Then he followed that discourse with a discourse on love. After the discourse on love, the apostle then dealt with the problems of spiritual gifts, specifically that of speaking in tongues. The implication is that the Holy Spirit wants believers to operate in love as they grapple with their doctrinal differences, especially as it pertains to the gifts of speaking in tongues and prophesying. We are saying that the Holy Spirit through the apostle wanted to convey that it is important not to ignore love when dealing with disagreements of doctrinal matters. The Corinthians should not forget love as they take their positions regarding the speaking of tongues and prophesying. The second doctrinal fact that should guide believers as they passionately defend whatever doctrine they want to persuade others is right is that the most important doctrine of the Christian faith, so to say, is the gospel message. In effect, without the gospel no one will be a Christian. A believer in doctrinal error will be in heaven albeit that the person may not have much reward if the error affects the individual’s functioning on this planet. However, when a person rejects the gospel that individual would be excluded from heaven and will spend eternity in the lake of fire prepared for Satan and his followers. Hence, the apostle after his discourse on the problems of spiritual gifts immediately followed with a discourse on the gospel with specific focus on the subject of resurrection. The Holy Spirit directed the apostle to follow this approach to remind us that in the midst of our doctrinal quibbles, we should not lose sight of the fact that anyone that has believed the gospel message is in the same family of God in Christ as we are. So, when we remember this, we should be careful how we treat believers who hold a differing view from us on any particular doctrine of the Christian faith so long as the individual is a believer.
Be that as it may, as we have indicated, the apostle after the discourse on problems associated with the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues, in particular, turned to the issue of the gospel and related matter of the subject of resurrection. The apostle considered the subject of the gospel in the first eleven verses of 1 Corinthians 15. He began with introductory remark about the gospel in verses 1 and 2. This is followed by a review of the message of the gospel in verses 3 to 8. Then the apostle digressed to his apostleship in verses 9 and 10. This digression is to focus on the subject of grace that is no doubt related to the gospel message. The apostle then returns to make a conclusion in verse 11. Based on this brief review of the section before us, we can state a message that we believe the Holy Spirit wants you to understand. The message is one of responsibility which is: Be sure you are clear about the gospel message.
The apostle signaled that he was moving from the subject of spiritual gifts to another topic in that he began 1 Corinthians 15 with the phrase of verse 1 Now, brothers. He used this phrase severally in this epistle, especially either when he is moving to a new topic or simply to get the attention of the Corinthians in what he was about to communicate.
The apostle signaled a move to a new topic because of the word “now” is translated from a Greek word (de) that may be used to connect one clause to another, either to express contrast or simple continuation but in certain occurrences the marker may be left untranslated. Although it is often translated “but” in the English when there is a perceived contrast between two clauses, but it has other meanings such as “now,” “then,” “and,” “so” when it is used to link segments of a narrative. It can also be used to indicate transition to something new. In our 1 Corinthians 15:1, the Greek particle is used ether to indicate a continuation in apostle’s teaching to the Corinthians or to indicate a transition to another topic that apostle discoursed in this his first epistle to the Corinthians. It is probably that both interpretations are meant in that the apostle was continuing his teaching of important subjects to the Corinthians although he was moving to a different topic from the one, he had been teaching since the twelfth chapter, that concerns spiritual gifts.
Those who are the recipients of the new topic the apostle was about to introduce are described with the word brothers of 1 Corinthians 15:1. The word “brothers” is translated from a Greek word (adelphos) that has several meanings in the Greek. It could mean brother in the sense of a male person from the same mother as the referenced person. It is in this sense that the word is used by Apostle Paul to reference James as from the same mother as Jesus in His humanity as stated in Galatians 1:19:
I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother.
The word may mean “a believer” as that is the sense of the word “brother” in 1 Corinthians 5:11:
But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
The clause anyone who calls himself a brother should be understood as one who claims to be a believer. Hence the word “brother” is the same as “believer.” Thus, it is not surprising that the translators of the NIV translated the Greek word as “believers” in 1 Corinthians 6:5:
I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?
The phrase between believers is literally between his brothers. In keeping with this understanding, the word may mean “brother” in the sense of one who has the same beliefs with the one that uses the word, irrespective of gender, that is, the word refers to “a fellow believer.” It is in this sense of one who shares the same faith and so belongs to a specific Christian community, that is, a “fellow believer” that Apostle Paul used the word to describe Epaphroditus in Philippians 2:25:
But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs.
It is in this sense of fellow believers, regardless of gender, that Apostle Paul used it in his final greetings to the Ephesian church in Ephesians 6:23:
Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The peace the apostle wished on “the brothers” could not possibly apply only to male members of the church in Ephesus. Therefore, the word “brothers” has the sense of “brothers and sisters in Christ” here in Ephesians 6:23 as reflected in 2011 edition of the NIV. It is in this sense that the word is used in 1 Corinthians 15:1. The point is that when Apostle Paul used the word brothers in 1 Corinthians 15:1, he addressed all believers in Corinth regardless of their gender as those who belong to the family of God in Christ as himself. Hence, those he addressed are fellow believers.
The concern of the apostle that he wanted to convey to the Corinthians is given in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 15:1 I want to remind you. There is difficulty concerning how to translate the Greek sentence. This is evident in that some criticize the translation of the NIV while other versions give different translations. For example, the CEB reads I want to call your attention. The NET reads I want to make clear for you. The NKJV reads I declare to you. These various translations notwithstanding, literally, the Greek reads I make known to you. Before we consider further the Greek word translated differently in the NIV, we should point out that the apostle was emphatic in what he wants to communicate to the Corinthians in the sentence I want to remind you, or I make known to you. We say this because, it is not normally the case in the Greek to begin a sentence with a verb, as done in our verse, unless the author wants to emphasize the action of the verb. Thus, the apostle was emphatic regarding what he was about to say in the sentence we are considering.
The sentence I want to remind you of the NIV is translated from a Greek verb (gnōrizō) that may mean “to spread” as that is the sense the word is used to describe what the shepherds to whom an angel appeared to announce the birth of Jesus did with regards to the information they received about Jesus as we read in Luke 2:17:
When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child.
The word may mean “to make known, to reveal” as Apostle Paul used it to indicate that the mystery about Christ, that is, incorporation of Gentiles along with Jews into the body of Christ, was not made known to other generations but was revealed to the apostles and prophets as we read in Ephesians 3:5:
which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.
The word may mean “to present” request to God in prayer as Apostle Paul used it in his instruction to the Philippians about prayer as we read in Philippians 4:6:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:1, it has the sense of “to cause someone to know something.” The translators of the NIV used the meaning “to remind” which, no doubt, is implied here because those the apostle addressed already have heard the gospel, but it is probably that the apostle had in mind the sense of “to make clear” as well as to cause the Corinthians to know something that they had not heard previously that he would add in the passage before us. He was bent on providing an explanation to something that is important in the Christian faith, that is, the gospel message. You see, it is proper that a believer be taught what the gospel message is although the individual had already believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is necessary to be well acquainted with the elements of the gospel to help the believer be more efficient in explaining the gospel to others. The explaining of the gospel to new convers is certainly implied in the basic or elementary doctrines the human author of Hebrews referred in Hebrews 6:1–2:
1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
The thing the apostle wants to make clear that includes a reminder to the Corinthians is the gospel so that apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:1 I want to remind you of the gospel. The word “gospel” is translated from a Greek word (euangelion) that may mean “details relating to the life and ministry of Jesus,” hence means “good news of Jesus” as the word is used in the introduction of the book of Mark in Mark 1:1:
The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The phrase beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ is more literally beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ. The Greek word may mean “good news as a proclamation” and so means “gospel” as the word is by Apostle Paul to describe the message he preached to Gentiles, as recorded in Galatians 2:2:
I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:1, the apostle used it in the sense of the gospel, that is, the proclamation of the good news concerning salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is this gospel that the apostle wants to make clear to the Corinthians.
The apostle having indicated that his focus was on the gospel but before he gets to the contents or the elements of the gospel message, he posits four assertions about the gospel that is his focus in the section we are considering. The four assertions the apostle presented are to be recognized as the stages involved in eternal salvation as we will point out as we examine them. The first claim of the apostle about the gospel as it relates to the Corinthians is that he proclaimed it to them as we read in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 15:1 the gospel I preached to you.
The word “preached” is translated from a Greek word (euangelizō) from which our English word “evangelize” is most certainly derived. The word is used in a general sense of bringing or announcing good news about something, so it is the word that is used to describe the announcement by Angel Gabriel to Zechariah about the birth of John the Baptist, as we read in Luke 1:19:
The angel answered, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.
It is in the same general sense that the word is used by the angel that announced to the shepherds the news of the birth of Jesus Christ in Luke 2:10:
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
However, our Greek word is used specifically for proclaiming the divine message of salvation and so means “to proclaim or preach the gospel.” It may be used with the mention of the object of proclamation such as the word of God, as in Acts 8:4:
Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
The word can also be used with the mention of the thing or person proclaimed. Hence, it is used for proclaiming Jesus Christ as in Galatians 1:16:
to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man,
In 1 Corinthians 15:1, it has the sense of “to convey the gospel,” that is, to bring the good news that forgiveness of sins and gift of eternal life are possible through faith in Jesus Christ who died and resurrected for the forgiveness of our sins.
The apostle stated a fact regarding what happened concerning the gospel as it pertains to the Corinthians when he wrote the gospel I preached to you. The apostle used an aorist tense in the Greek for the word translated “preached.” The apostle’s use of the aorist tense was not concerned with merely either when the apostle first preached the gospel to the Corinthians or the last time he did so before he left them. No! He was also concerned to state a fact of his preaching of the gospel. It is probably that the apostle wanted to take the minds of the Corinthians back to the first time he declared the gospel to them during his missionary journey that brought him to Corinth as mentioned in Acts 18:1:
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
It was in Corinth that the Lord Jesus encouraged the apostle to continue to preach the gospel and to teach Christian doctrines as he did for a year and a half according to Acts 18:9–11:
9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
Of course, the apostle had already reminded the Corinthians that he was the first to preach the gospel to them as implied in 1 Corinthians 4:15:
Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
Anyhow, the apostle wanted the Corinthians to take a trip on a memory lane that should cause them to remember that he indeed preached the gospel to them. That is a fact that cannot be disputed by the Corinthians, especially those who believed when he was in Corinth. That is the first assertion of the apostle.
We stated that the assertions of the apostle given in the passage of 1 Corinthians 15 we are studying are the stages involved in our eternal salvation. This first assertion of the apostle of having preached the gospel of salvation is indeed the beginning point of eternal salvation from a human perspective. We should be careful that we understand that we are speaking in terms of human perspective because from God’s perspective everything about our salvation began in eternity with the decision to save some, that is, to elect some and then the sending of the Lord Jesus to the world to die for our sins. Anyhow, we contend that the first stage in the process of our eternal salvation is indeed the preaching of the gospel as the apostle stated he did with the Corinthians. Life in Christ must begin with hearing the gospel as the apostle conveyed in Romans 10:17:
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
The point is that the apostle’s first assertion of preaching the gospel to the Corinthians is indeed the first stage in eternal salvation.
The second assertion of the apostle about the gospel to the Corinthians is that they accepted its message. It is this assertion that is given in 1 Corinthians 15:1 which you received. The word “received” is translated from a Greek word (paralambanō) that may mean “to take with or along” as in the advice given to Apostle Paul by the elders in Jerusalem to help quell the charge of the Jews against him that he was teaching the Jews who lived among the Gentiles to abandon the Mosaic Law as we read in Acts 21:24:
Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.
The word may mean “to accept” as Apostle Paul used it to describe the gospel message the Galatians had accepted from him that should be the standard of comparing whatever anyone preaches in the name of the gospel of Jesus Christ in Galatians 1:9:
As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!
The word may mean “to receive” a task or an assignment such as the ministry, as it is used in the instruction to Archippus by Apostle Paul as stated in Colossians 4:17:
Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord.”
But when something is to be received in the mind such as instruction, it may mean “to learn, to instruct” so that it could be translated “to learn” or “to instruct” as Apostle Paul used it for the teaching he conveyed to the Thessalonians as we read in 1 Thessalonians 4:1:
Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.
The sentence we instructed you how to live is literally you have received from us how it is necessary for you to live. The standard Greek English lexicon (BDAG) suggested that the Greek may be translated you have learned from us how you ought to comport yourselves so that the Greek word that means “to receive” has the meaning “to learn.” In our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:1, it is used with the meaning “to receive” of a tradition in the form of authoritative teaching from approved source. However, when the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:1 which you received he meant not just that the Corinthians heard and accepted what he preached but that they actually believed in the Lord Jesus, which is the second stage in our eternal salvation. This stage of believing in Christ may be described as receiving Him as, for example, the apostle implied that receiving Jesus Christ is the same as believing in Him as we read in Colossians 2:6:
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him.
Receiving Christ as Lord implies believing in Him. That receiving Jesus Christ and believing in Him are essentially the same thing is borne out in what is recorded in John 1:12:
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
Those who received Christ are those who believed in Him so that the second stage in the eternal salvation is to accept the gospel message in the sense of to believe in Christ. That aside, the apostle asserted that it is a fact that the Corinthians received the gospel message from him and accepted its content in that they believed in Christ as implied in the third assertion of the apostle regarding the gospel as it pertains to the Corinthians.
The third assertion of the apostle about the gospel to the Corinthians is that they have maintained a spiritual stand or position with regard to the gospel. It is this assertion that is given in the last clause of 1 Corinthians 15:1 in which you have taken your stand. The expression “taken…stand” is translated from a Greek word (histēmi) that can mean literally to stand up on someone’s feet as in the instruction of the Lord to Paul at the point of his conversion, as per his testimony recorded in Acts 26:16:
‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you.
The Greek word can mean to stand firm so as to remain stable hence means “to stand firm, to hold someone’s ground”, as it is used in Romans 14:4:
Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
The first “stand” in this passage is to be understood to mean “to stand firm” or “hold one’s ground” although the entire clause to his own master he stands or falls probably meant whether one maintains one’s status or relationship to a master depends on the master’s judgment or evaluation. Anyway, our Greek word can also mean “to stand up against”, that is, “to resist.” In our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:1, it means “to stand” or “to maintain a position.” The apostle used a perfect tense in the Greek implying that the apostle stated something that occurred in the past with its result continuing to present with the Corinthians. The thing that happened in the past to the Corinthians is that they became believers in that they were saved. They lived, so to say, in the state or condition of being believers. Hence, the third step in our eternal salvation is existing in a state of having eternal life. The perfect tense the apostle used in our Greek verb gives the indication that once a person enters that condition of being a believer in Christ that state continues without any interruption in the large scheme of eternal relationship with God because of Christ’s work. The apostle made clear to the Corinthians that they are maintaining their spiritual position in the gospel. This fact is even made clearer in the next assertion of the apostle about the gospel.
The fourth assertion of the apostle about the gospel to the Corinthians is that they are being saved by it. It is this assertion that is given in the beginning clause of 1 Corinthians 15:2 By this gospel you are saved. The word gospel does not directly appear in this clause in the Greek but that is what is implied and so the translators of the NIV simply inserted the word “gospel.” We state this because a literal translation is by which also you are being saved. The context makes clear that the relative pronoun “which” in the literal translation refers to the gospel mentioned in verse 1. Thus, our clause is an additional but emphatic assertion of the apostle regarding the gospel since he used a Greek conjunction (kai) that is often translated “and” in our English versions. However, the Greek conjunction has several other usages. For example, it may be used to introduce a result that comes from what precedes and so may be translated “and then, and so.” That aside, the word may be used to emphasize a fact as surprising or unexpected or noteworthy with the meaning “and yet” or “and in spite of that” or “nevertheless.” Of course, it could be used simply for emphasis with the meaning “even.” It may be used to mark an explanation so that what follows explains what goes before it, leading to the translation “that is, namely, and so.” In our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:2, the apostle used it with emphatic force as well as a marker of additional assertion he made regarding the gospel.
The apostle is concerned with the gospel as the means of salvation of the Corinthians and its result since we read by this gospel you are saved. The word “by” is translated from a Greek preposition (dia) with a basic meaning of “through” but it has other nuances. The word may mean “by” used in different ways. The meaning “by” may be used a marker of the instrument by which something is accomplished. The meaning “by” may be used as a marker of the means between two events. The word may mean “because” as a marker of reason something happens. In our passage, it is used as a marker of means through which something happens.
The result associated with the gospel that the apostle was emphatic about concerns the salvation of the Corinthians as in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 15:2 you are saved. The word “save” is translated from a Greek word (sōzō) that is used in a physical or a spiritual sense. In a physical sense, it may mean to preserve or rescue from natural dangers and afflictions, hence “to save, keep from harm, preserve, rescue.” To save in the physical sense may mean “to heal”, that is, to rescue from torment of diseases or to be restored to health, as the word is used for the healing of a woman by the Lord Jesus according to Luke 8:48:
Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
The sentence your faith has healed you is literally your faith has saved you. The literal translation may imply that there is a physical healing as well as a spiritual healing. To save, may mean to keep from dying as in the instruction of Paul to the centurion taking him to Rome about not allowing the sailors to abandon ship to ensure no one died, as we read in Acts 27:31:
Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.”
To save, may mean “to deliver”, that is, to bring out safely from a situation fraught with mortal danger, so the word is used to describe Israel’s deliverance from Egypt in Jude 5:
Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.
The sentence the Lord delivered his people is literally having saved the people. In a spiritual sense, the word may mean to save or preserve from transcendent danger or destruction hence “to save/preserve from eternal death” with the implication of being preserved from judgment and from all that might lead to eternal death, for example, sin. It is in this sense that the word is used when Apostle Paul offered eternal salvation to the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:31:
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
It is, of course, in the spiritual sense of being saved from eternal death that the word is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:2. This eternal salvation would be fully realized in the eternal state which is the final step in our eternal salvation.
Be that as it may, what the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:2 you are saved is interesting and at the same time problematic. The interesting thing is that in the three previous assertions of the apostle regarding the gospel, he used either an aorist tense or a perfect tense. He used the aorist tense in his first assertion or in the first stage in our eternal salvation when he stated in 1 Corinthians 15:1 I preached to you, to convey what was done in the past or simply to state a fact that is not in dispute that he brought the gospel to the Corinthians. He used the aorist tense in his second assertion or the second step in our eternal salvation in that he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:1 which you received. The aorist tense the apostle used in the Greek translated “received” conveys something that happened in the past or states that which is a fact. It is a fact the Corinthians accepted the gospel message and so believed in Christ. Then in the third assertion or third stage in our eternal salvation, which is existing in the state of being believers, the apostle used perfect tense in the Greek in 1 Corinthians 15:1 which you have taken your stand. As we stated previously, the perfect tense is used to describe here what happened at the time the Corinthians believed in Christ in that they entered the state of being believers and that state was true when the apostle wrote what we are considering. The state the Corinthians entered with regards to the gospel continues to be true even as they read the epistle the apostle wrote them. However, in the fourth assertion of the apostle regarding the gospel or the fourth stage in our eternal salvation, the apostle used a present tense that is often used for an action that is ongoing per say.
The present tense the apostle used in 1 Corinthians 15:2 is problematic because it is one of the two occurrences of the present tense of the Greek word that means “to save” that is given in the passive voice meaning that someone other than the believer does the saving. The other usage of our Greek verb in a present tense and in a passive voice is by Apostle Peter. He wrote what is recorded in 1 Peter 4:18:
And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
The conditional clause If it is hard for the righteous to be saved is difficult to interpret. That notwithstanding, Apostle Peter meant that a believer is hardly kept from judgment by God in this life. In other words, believers are not kept from suffering or from being judged by God. As they are judged on this earth by God, they are either blessed in a sense or they are disciplined. We gave the interpretation of the difficult clause but if you want to understand fully how this interpretation is derived, I refer you to lesson #69 of the study of 1 Peter, on the website of the church. That aside, the use of the present tense in 1 Corinthian 15:2 is problematic. As we stated previously, the present tense in the Greek usually represents an ongoing action. The passive voice conveys that someone acts on the subject. Salvation is the work of God so if it is an ongoing action of God it is difficult to understand what it would mean that God who is powerful did not outright save a believer. But then, the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul presents salvation as a work of God completed in the past because an aorist tense is used in describing our salvation as recorded for us in Titus 3:5:
he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
The sentence he saved us in Titus 3:5 implies the apostle considered salvation as an act of God that took place in the past, implying that once that takes place it cannot be undone or repeated. This being the case, there is a problem in interpreting what Apostle Paul wrote using a present tense in the Greek of 1 Corinthians 15:2 By this gospel you are saved or more literally you are being saved. In interpreting what the apostle wrote in our clause, we should be aware that the apostle presents salvation as an event that involves three phases regarding time, that is, past, present, and future. The past phase is completed in the sense of permanent state of deliverance from separation from God. The apostle presents salvation as still ongoing, that is, the present phase of salvation. It is in this sense that he used the Greek word that means “to save” in 1 Corinthians 1:18:
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
The present phase of salvation involves continual deliverance from sins since salvation is concerned with deliverance from sin, as indicated in the declaration of Matthew 1:21:
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
The last phase of salvation is in the future so that the apostle could present salvation as something that is yet to take place, according to Romans 5:10:
For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
This final salvation means that we will ultimately be delivered from the power and presence of sin as well as from God’s judgment or wrath. Although we are saved but we still succumb to sin and so we draw God’s judgment but when the final salvation takes place we will no longer be under the control and power of sin and so there will no longer be any possible punishment for us. The point is that the apostle used the present tense to convey that while salvation is completed in the sense that the believer is eternally delivered from the wrath of God, but the believer is also being delivered continuously from God’s punishment on the earth as the individual avoids sin. This is a fourth stage in our eternal salvation. There is more, the use of the present tense is probably the apostle’s way of asserting that our final salvation is certain. We say this because sometimes a future event is described with present tense to convey that the event is so certain to occur that it could be conceived as having already taken place. Thus, the apostle is certain of the final stage of our salvation that he used present tense. There is more to the apostle’s assertion, but we will deal with that in our next study but let me end by reminding you of the message we stated which is: Be sure you are clear about the gospel message.
05/05/23