Lessons #521 and 522
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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)
… 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.
Recall the message of 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 that we stated in our last study is this: Be sure you are clear about the gospel message. We considered introductory remarks of Apostle Paul regarding the gospel given in verses 1 and 2 in form of four assertions about the gospel. First, he asserted that he proclaimed it to the Corinthians. Second, that the Corinthians received it in the sense that they not only accepted the message but believed it. Third, that the Corinthians have maintained a spiritual stand or position regarding the gospel. Fourth, that the Corinthians were being saved by it. With these introductory remarks out of the way, the apostle focused on the gospel message he preached to the Corinthians and indeed to all others. It is with this message that we begin our study this morning.
It is not unusual a person that is saved may not be able to articulate the gospel message without further teaching. In effect, a person may hear the gospel of Christ and believe but if asked to articulate what the individual heard, the person may not be able other than to state that the individual believed that Jesus Christ died for the person’s sins. So, the apostle recognizing this wanted to present the gospel message in an orderly fashion. He, of course, indicated that he was about to provide an explanation of the gospel message he preached because of the first word for used in verse 3. The word “for” is translated from a Greek word (gar) that has several usages. For example, it can be used as a marker of inference with the meaning “so, then, by all means” or it can be used as a marker of cause or reason for something in which case it may be translated “for, because.” It can used as a marker of clarification or explanation so that it may be translated “for” or “you see.” It is in the sense of providing explanation that the word is used in our passage. In effect, the apostle signaled that he was about to explain or to summarize the contents of the gospel message that he and other gospel preachers preached.
Apostle Paul did not immediately deal with the contents of the gospel but began with what in a sense is a disclaimer. This disclaimer is that he was not the source of the gospel that he preached to them. The apostle wanted the Corinthians not to miss this important fact. Therefore, he wrote in the first clause of 1 Corinthians 15:3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance.
There is no doubt that the apostle was concerned with the gospel message because of the word what he used is translated from a Greek word (hos) that may be used as a relative pronoun with such meanings as “who, which, what, that.” It is with the meaning “which” that Apostle Paul used it to reference the gospel message he preached as a servant of Christ for which he also suffered for doing so as he informed the Colossians as we read in Colossians 1:23:
if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
It is with the meaning “whatever” that Apostle Paul used our Greek pronoun to instruct the Philippians to practice what he taught them as we read in Philippians 4:9:
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
The word may mean “what” as Apostle Paul used it to reference the gospel, he preached to the Galatians that they also accepted that he pronounced God’s judgment on someone who preaches a different gospel as we read 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 Greek word may be used as a demonstrative pronoun with the meaning “this” as that is the sense that it is used when Apostle Paul referenced the doctrine of the mystery of Christ that he espoused in his epistle to the Ephesians as we read in Ephesians 3:4:
In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ.
In our passage of 1 Corinthian 15:3, the Greek word is used as a relative pronoun with the meaning “what” that refers back to the word “gospel” the apostle used in 1 Corinthians 15:1.
Be that as it may, the apostle wanted the Corinthians and so all believers to recognize that the gospel he preached did not originate from him hence he wrote in verse 3 what I received. There is a sense that the apostle meant to convey to the Corinthians that just as they received the gospel message from him, so he also had received it. This is because it is the same Greek word he used in sentence of 1 Corinthians 15:1 which you received that he used in our present verse. 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 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 that 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 a passage we cited previously, that is, 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 Apostle Paul’s instruction to Archippus 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, it may mean “to learn, to instruct” such as instruction 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 15:3, it is used with the meaning “to receive” authoritative teaching from approved source.
Apostle Paul did not specify the source of the gospel he preached to the Corinthians probably because he assumed they should have known that it is from the Lord Jesus Christ. For after all, he had already referenced the tradition of the Lord’s Supper that he received from the Lord Jesus as he wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:23:
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread.
It is also possible that the apostle while he was with them that he gave his testimony of encountering Christ and so how he received the gospel message that he preached directly from Him as he wrote to the Galatians as recorded in Galatians 1:11–12:
11 I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
On a surface reading, the assertion of Apostle Paul in Galatians 1:12 that he did not receive from any human the gospel he preached, seemed to contradict what the apostle stated in 1 Corinthians 15:3 that indicates that he received the gospel by tradition. But there is no conflict if we recognize the apostle is concerned with two different things in the two passages. In Galatians 1:12 the apostle was concerned with the basic content of the gospel message he received by revelation from the Lord but in 1 Corinthians 15:3 he was concerned with the formulation of the gospel that involved using elements of the gospel that he received from tradition. Anyhow, to the apostle, it is a fact that he was well acquainted regarding the source of the gospel he preached both in its contents and formulation. He knew for fact that its content came from the Lord Jesus and its formulation from Christian tradition. We say this because the apostle used an aorist tense of the Greek verb translated “received” in 1 Corinthians 15:3. The aorist tense in the Greek conveys several nuances in the English. For example, it may be used for emphasis or dramatic effect or to state a present reality with the certainty of a past event. That aside, the apostle used it in our present verse to convey that what he said about receiving the gospel he preached is a fact that he knew with certainty that others should recognize as such.
The apostle was bent on emphasizing the fact that he preached the gospel message to the Corinthians probably more than how he received the gospel he preached. We say this because although there is no strict order that is followed in a Greek sentence, it is usually not the case that a Greek sentence begins with a verb as it is done in 1 Corinthians 15:3. Even then, we would have expected the apostle to have followed a natural order that would imply he received the gospel message and then proceeded to preach it. This being the case, we would have expected the apostle to begin verse 3 with a Greek word that is translated “received” as implied in the NIV but that was not the case. Instead, the apostle began verse 3 with a Greek word that the translators of the NIV rendered I passed on. I am saying that the apostle would have first indicated he received something before passing it on as we have in the NIV what I received I passed on to you as of first importance. Literally, the Greek order reads For I passed on to you among (the) first (things), that which also I received. The literal translation indicated the apostle began in the Greek with the word translated “passed on” instead of the word “received” as the reading of the NIV suggests. We, of course, do not mean that the apostle did not emphasize the fact he received the content of gospel from the Lord Jesus and its formulation from Christian tradition but that he put more emphasis on the passing on what he received than how he received it.
The expression “passed on” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (paradidōmi) that may mean “to betray” as it is used in Jesus’ statement regarding the arrangements to hand Him over to the Jewish religious authorities as recorded in Matthew 20:18:
“We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death.
The word may mean “to hand down” as in the charge against Stephen as we read in Acts 6:14:
For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
The word may mean “to commit” as it is used to describe the action of the local church in Antioch when they sent Paul and Barnabas on a missionary trip as we read in Acts 14:26:
From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.
The word may mean “to entrust” as Apostle Paul used it to describe obedience of the Roman believers regarding the teaching they received as stated in Romans 6:17:
But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.
The word may mean “to pass on to another what one knows, of oral or written tradition” with various nuances. Thus, the word means “to pass down” as it is used to describe the commands of the Lord as Apostle Peter use it to warn against backsliding spiritually as conveyed in 2 Peter 2:21:
It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:3, the word is used in the sense of “to pass on” to another what one knows of oral or written tradition. The thing apostle passed on to the Corinthians is not something only known by him although he received the content of the gospel, he preached directly from the Lord Jesus, but the formulation of the gospel message, he passed on to the Corinthians is a common tradition of the early church of Christ.
Apparently, Apostle Paul was aware of at least two traditions of the church that are essential in the church, the Lord’s Supper, and the gospel message. However, he conveyed that the gospel message is most important of all traditions of the church. We say this because of the phrase he used in 1 Corinthians 15:3 as of first importance. Literally, the Greek reads among (the) first because of the Greek words the apostle used. The word “among” we used in the literal translation is translated from a Greek preposition (en) with several meanings such as “in,” “with,” “by” but in our passage, it has the literal meaning of “among” as a marker showing location among other objects or in our case other traditions.
The word “first” in the literal translation is translated from a Greek word (prōtos) that pertains to being first in a sequence that involves time, number, or space. The meaning “first” as it pertains to sequence is the sense the word is used in the instruction of what a person had to do in case of problem with another, prior to offering his gift in the altar as we read in Matthew 5:24:
leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
The meaning “first” as it pertains to time is the sense of the word when it is used in Apostle Paul’s farewell address to the elders of the church in Ephesus as we read in Acts 20:18:
When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia.
It is in the sense of number that the word with the meaning “first” is used to describe the number of gates Peter passed when an angel released him from prison as we read in Acts 12:10:
They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
The word may pertain to prominence and so may mean “first, foremost, most important, most prominent” as it is used, for example, in the question of teachers of the Law to Jesus about the most important commandments as recorded in Mark 12:28:
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
The word may pertain to being superior in value to all other items of the same class hence means “best” as it is used in the description of the robe the compassionate father ordered to be put on his prodigal son after he came back, in the parable of the Compassionate Father or what is often described as the parable of Prodigal Son in Luke 15:22:
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:3, the word is used in the sense of “prominence” hence means “first, foremost, most important” although the sense that has to do with time is also possible. However, in our verse where our Greek word is used with the preposition that we said meant “among,” the Greek phrase that literally reads among the first becomes an idiom that reads most important things, that is, as of first importance as it is translated in the NIV.
It is quite understandable that the apostle would have considered the gospel message as of uttermost importance since no one is a Christian without responding to it and no tradition of the church is meaningful without being a Christian. Unfortunately, there are those today who are deep in traditions that are not rooted in the Scripture or even in any tradition of the church such as the Lord’s Supper, but such individuals are not Christians in the true sense of the word of one who has believed in Christ and so has received eternal life. To be correct, these groups should be straight in their minds about what the gospel message is all about. Therefore, the apostle indicated that he was about to help such individuals or those who are saved to know how to articulate the gospel message based on the formulation of the gospel message as proclaimed by the early church. Having indicated that the most important thing of all traditions of the church is the gospel message, the apostle proceeded to consider the elements of the gospel message.
A surface reading of what the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 suggests there are three elements to the gospel Apostle Paul preached but I will demonstrate that there are five elements to the gospel although the second and the third element of the gospel components are intricately intertwined.
The first element of the gospel the apostle wants us to recognize is that it is a message that is foremost about Christ before anything else. In effect, it is not even about us although we are the beneficiaries of the message but at its core, it is a message about Christ as in the clause of 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. The word “Christ” is translated from a Greek word (Christos) that also means “the Anointed One, the Messiah” as the fulfiller of Israel’s expectation of a deliverer. The word may be used as a personal name ascribed to Jesus. The apostle used the word here in the sense of “Christ” the fulfiller of Israel’s expectation of a deliverer. The use of the word Christ is a reminder that Jesus is the Son of God. We can recognize this truth by considering the confession of Apostle Peter when Jesus asked the disciples who they thought He was as we read in Matthew 16:16:
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
To be the Son of living God is the same as confessing that Christ is God. It is because it is important to recognize that the word “Christ” is linked to the deity of Christ that Apostle John in closing his gospel conveyed that belief in this fact is important for one’s salvation in John 20:31:
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Apostle Paul severally while speaking to Jews endeavored to prove to them that Jesus is the Christ. Thus, while speaking to the Jews in the Jewish synagogue at Thessalonica, he set out to prove that Jesus is the Christ as we read in Acts 17:3:
explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,” he said.
He did the same in Jewish synagogues at Corinth as we read in Acts 18:5:
When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
We are saying that the apostle’s use of the word Christ in his summary of the gospel message is significant. In effect, the apostle wants us to recognize that the central focus of the gospel is Christ, the God man. It is as we understand this truth that the gospel is about Jesus Christ that every other thing about the gospel makes sense. Thus, when you are getting ready to give the gospel message to an unbeliever you must think foremost that you are about to talk about Jesus Christ and no other person since the Holy Spirit asserted that it is only through Him that anyone receives salvation as stated in Acts 4:12:
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
Once you get squared in your mind that the gospel message is about Jesus Christ then you proceed to the second and third elements of the gospel that we said are intertwined as implied in the clause of 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
The second implied element of the gospel is that it is about sin as conveyed in the sentence Christ died for our sins. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of good news but to appreciate the good news, we should first bring the element of bad news that makes the good news welcomed. The bad news is sin exists in the world of humanity. Sin in its simplest definition is disobedience to God’s law. We give this basic definition because sin is presented severally in the Scripture. For example, sin in the NT is presented not only as the act of doing wrong but as an internal, personal force within each human. So, sin is a reality in the world we live in spite of those, such as the Christian Science group, who are bent on denying its reality. This aside, a fact that is inescapable is that all humans are sinners. This truth is stated in the sense of the fact there is no one who does not sin as we read in Ecclesiastes 7:20:
There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.
The Holy Spirit described this universality of sin through Apostle Paul in Romans 3:23:
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
The sentence all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God means all who are born in the natural way of through human parents are sinners who although created in the image of God forfeited being His image because of sin. We are sinners because we are descendants of Adam in the natural way of being conceived by a man and a woman as stated in Romans 5:19:
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
The fact that we are sinners implies that we are separated from God, that is, that we are spiritually dead. It is this death that is described as the wages of sin in Romans 6:23:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Apostle Paul in a sense elaborated this truth of humans being spiritually dead as he addressed the Ephesians that are typical humans as we read in Ephesians 2:1–3:
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
Prophet Isaiah acknowledged the fact that sin separated Israel from God in Isaiah 59:2:
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.
The point is that sin separated humanity from God. Therefore, it is important that the second element of the message of the gospel is indeed a piece of bad news that we are sinners, so we become aware of the necessity of a savior. You see, if a person does not understand sin or that the individual is a sinner, it is difficult to state to the individual that the person needs a savior. For the person would be asking “savior from what?” It is for this fact that I am wary when someone tells me that a child has been saved. I am saying that I have a hard time accepting that a child who does not really understand sin and its impact on humans has been saved since such a child could hardly know what the individual is being saved from. Anyhow, it is our assertion that the second element of the gospel message is really a declaration of the fact that humans are sinners. This second element may be considered a prelude to the gospel message but an important one. Often, this element is assumed by many when they present the gospel. That may or may not be correct. It depends on the person or the audience as to whether or not one emphasizes this second element of proclaiming the gospel. For, if there is no mention of sin in course of proclaiming the gospel, it is difficult to make sense of the third element of the gospel message that we will get to shortly. We are saying that somehow in course of preaching the gospel the fact of sin must be brought to bear on the hearer for the third element of the gospel to be coherent. It is the assumption of the fact of humans being sinners that is reflected in the explanation of an angel that appeared to Joseph in a dream to explain the virgin pregnancy as recorded in 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 angel that spoke to Joseph referenced sin to indicate that the Savior, Jesus Christ, was coming into the world to deal with the matter of sin since that separates humans from God. This being the case, it is important we recognize that the subject of sin should, in one form or the other, be brought to the sinner so that the individual would see the need for a savior from sin. Once this second element or prelude to the gospel message is presented then the third element that is concerned with the solution to sin makes good sense.
The third element of the gospel message Apostle Paul presented is the solution to sin problem which involves the death of Christ on the cross. It is this element that is given in 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
It is interesting to note that Apostle Paul used more the name Christ in describing the death of the Savior than he used the word Jesus. The clear example of the apostle using the name Jesus in describing the death of the Savior is in what is tantamount to a confession of faith as recorded in 1 Thessalonians 4:14:
We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
The apostle used the word “Christ” predominantly in his epistles to describe the death of the Savior. For example, he used it in Romans 14:9:
For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
He used it in 1 Corinthians 8:11:
So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.
There is no clear reason the apostle used the word “Christ” predominantly in describing the death of the Savior in his epistles. This notwithstanding, it is probably because he wanted to focus on the fact that the One who died on the cross is the expected deliverer of Israel and also to convey that He is God man. Anyway, the apostle stated in 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
The sentence Christ died for our sins is to be understood to mean that Christ died to atone for or to remove our sins. His atoning for our sins implies the death of Christ is substitutionary, that is, He died in our place. This concept is introduced with the word “for” that is translated from a Greek preposition (hyper) with several meanings. The word may mean “for the sake of someone or something” or “for, in behalf of” to mark that an activity is or an event is for someone’s interest as the word is used by Apostle Paul to describe a wish that conveyed his agony for his people of Israel’s salvation in Romans 9:3:
For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race.
The word may mean “because of” as Apostle Paul used it in his argument regarding food sacrificed to idol in 1 Corinthians 10:30:
If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:3, the word is used with the meaning “for” to convey that Christ death has a purpose of atoning or removing the guilt of our sins.
Our assertion that the death of Christ is substitutionary is a concept that was conveyed in the OT Scripture. God instructed Abraham to sacrifice his unique son Isaac. Abraham obeyed but just as he was about to slaughter his son, God provided him a substitute according to Genesis 22:13:
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
Later in God’s dealing with Israel the idea of substitute for one’s sin was conveyed through the concept of sacrificing an animal for the people’s sins as, for example, in Leviticus 1:4:
He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.
Jesus Christ Himself conveyed that He came to give His life for the elect as we read in Mark 10:45:
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The concept of Christ dying for us as our substitute was put in the mouth of Caiaphas, the high priest by the Holy Spirit at the time of death of Jesus Christ as we read in John 11:50–52:
50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” 51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.
After the death of Christ, the Holy Spirit conveyed the concept of Christ dying as our substitute in that He took care of our sins in terms of atoning for them. That is what Apostle Paul conveyed in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. It is not only through Apostle Paul that the Holy Spirit conveyed this truth. He did that through others. The human author of Hebrews conveyed that same concept by indicating that Jesus Christ tasted death for everyone as we read in Hebrews 2:9:
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Apostle Peter conveyed the same concept that Christ was our substitute in that He atoned for our sins as we read in 1 Peter 2:24:
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
Apostle John stated the same concept in 1 John 2:2:
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
So, one gets the idea that when Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Christ died for our sins he meant that Jesus Christ atoned for our sins. He took our place so that because of His death our sins are forgiven, and we receive God’s righteousness as the apostle also wrote in his second epistle to the Corinthians. I am referring to 2 Corinthians 5:21:
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Be that as it may, Apostle Paul knew that what he stated about Christ’s death is true but because he realized that the Scripture is authoritative, he appealed to it in the sentence of the passage we are considering, that is, 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. By the way, Scriptures here refer to the OT Scripture. The Greek phrase translated according to the Scriptures or more literally according to the Writings is a formula that we find in the Septuagint to refer to the OT Scripture as, for example, in the Septuagint of 2 Chronicles 30:5:
They decided to send a proclamation throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, calling the people to come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel. It had not been celebrated in large numbers according to what was written.
The point is that the phrase according to the Scriptures refers to the OT Scriptures. Hence, the apostle was referring to the OT Scriptures although we believe that some specific passages might have been in his mind as he wrote what we are studying.
We contend that the apostle in the phrase according to the Scriptures had in mind the OT Scripture but with focus on certain passages. This is because the death of Christ is one that is predicted in the OT Scriptures. Some contend that the death of Christ is hinted when God pronounced judgment on Satan following human’s fall as narrated in Genesis 3:15:
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
The psalmist severally referenced the death of Christ, as for example, in describing the suffering or the mocking of the psalmist in Psalm 22:7–8:
7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: 8 “He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”
We know that the passage applies to Christ because the words of this passage were echoed in what happened on the cross as we read in Luke 23:35:
The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”
The point is that there are several passages of the OT Scripture that spoke of the death of Christ on the cross but when the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures he was concerned probably with something specific. We mean that the phrase according to the Scriptures refers to a specific aspect of the death of Christ. It is very likely that the apostle was thinking of the words of Prophet Isaiah recorded in chapter 53. In effect, the apostle was probably thinking of the fact that the Messiah was to die for the sins of the people as conveyed in Isaiah 53:11–12:
11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
We are asserting that when the apostle wrote the phrase of 1 Corinthians 15:3 according to the Scriptures he was more concerned with the fact that the death of Christ was to be an atonement of sins of the world with specific application to the elect of God. In any event, the third element of the gospel that should be conveyed to an unbeliever is that the individual’s sins have been atoned by the death of Christ. The unbeliever is to be told that Christ bore the wrath of God on behalf of the sinner so that the sinner could receive forgiveness of sins. This brings us to the fourth element of the gospel message which is where we begin our next study but let me end by reminding of the message of the section, we are considering which is Be sure you are clear about the gospel message.
05/19/23