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NOW I MAKE KNOWN TO YOU,
BRETHREN, THE GOSPEL WHICH I PREACHED TO YOU: Gnorizo (1SPAI) de humin adelphoi,
to euaggelion o eueggelisamen (1SAMI):
(1Cor
15:3-11;
1:23,24;
2:2-7;
Acts 18:4,5;
Galatians 1:6-12)
This verse literally reads
the gospel
(euaggelion) which I
gospelized (euaggelizo)
to you
1Corinthians 15 is devoted entirely
to the doctrine of the resurrection, and as such is the most extensive
treatment of this subject in the Bible. Paul explains that without the
truth of the resurrection Christianity would be little more than
wishful thinking like all other speculative religious and
philosophical thought concerning life after death. Therefore it is not
surprising that the unbelieving world energized by Satan and his
minions would seek to relentlessly attack the veracity of the doctrine
of the resurrection, for if Christ did not live past the grave, those
who place their trust in Him are without hope as Paul writes in verse
19...
If we have hoped in Christ in
this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. (1Cor 15:19).
Paul explains in Romans 10 why
belief in the resurrection is central to Christianity writing...
that if you confess with your
mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him
from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man
believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses,
resulting in salvation. (See notes
Romans 10:9;
10:10)
(Comment: If one does not believe in Christ's resurrection
clearly they will not be saved!)
Vine introduces this chapter
commenting that...
The subject of the
Resurrection does not seem to have been one of the questions asked of
the apostle by the church at Corinth. Apparently, a report had reached
him that some were spreading the error that there was no such thing as
the resurrection of the dead. While some of the converts may have been
Sadducees, the error no doubt sprang from Greek conceptions. Even
those Greeks who had accepted the Platonic teaching of the immortality
of the soul, would be inclined to view the idea of the resurrection of
the body as foolishness. So it was regarded in Athens (see notes
Acts 17:18, 32-33).
A denial of the doctrine of the resurrection of the body would tend to
further the moral laxity in the church. God often overrules the
efforts of Satan to introduce error among His people by causing His
faithful servants to meet it by truth. This was now the case, in a
special way, in regard to the apostle’s divinely-imparted power to
write this chapter for the strengthening of the faith of His saints.
The chapter has four distinct sections: (1) 1Cor 15:1-11: the
Resurrection of Christ, an essential truth of apostolic testimony; (2)
1Cor 15:12-34: the Resurrection of Christ a guarantee of that of
believers who die, and all an essential part of God’s plan; (3) 1Cor
15:35-50: the nature of the resurrection of believers; (4) 1Cor
15:51-58: the effects, future and present. (Vine,
W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson
or
Logos)
Hughes notes that
One of the problems the Corinthian
church faced was that some were saying, “There will be no resurrection
of the dead” (1Cor 15:12). It has been suggested that these were
Sadducees (Matt. 22:23–33), but this is unlikely since the Sadducees
were associated with the Jerusalem temple, which was far from Corinth.
They were probably Gentiles influenced by Greek philosophy. To the
Greeks, immortality was a spiritual concept, and they had no place for
the resurrection of the physical body. Since matter was considered
essentially evil, release from a physical body was regarded as
liberation, and a physical resurrection would amount to a return to
bondage. Paul addressed these views through implications drawn from
Christ’s resurrection. (Hughes, R. B., Laney, J. C., & Hughes, R. B.
Tyndale Concise Bible Commentary. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House
Publishers)
Ray Stedman has this
introduction...
We are beginning this great
"resurrection" chapter, the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians,
which is undoubtedly the climax of this letter.
In the first eleven chapters the Apostle Paul has been dealing with
what we have called "the carnalities," the things concerning the
flesh, the hurtful, false and divisive things that were occurring
there in the church at Corinth. These same things are also present in
the churches of California, therefore, the letter is very pertinent to
us.
But then, beginning with Chapter 12, Paul introduced what he himself
called "the spiritualities," the things concerning the spirit, what
the Spirit of God has come to do in your life and in mine. The Apostle
pointed out that there was: First an indwelling of the Spirit, whose
object is to exalt and magnify the person of Jesus our Lord. Then
there were the "gifts of the Spirit," which are imparted to every one
among us so that we have a ministry of our own by which we may see
God's power manifest through us individually. This is the basis for
all personal ministry. Then that merged, in Chapter 13, with the
"fruit of the Spirit," how the exercise of gifts to one another is to
help us produce in our lives that amazing fruit of the Spirit, which
is love and all its manifestations. Finally we come in this section to
the ultimate truth about the Spirit, the resurrection of the body
after death.
You recognize that one of the most relevant questions of our day is,
"What happens after death?" A dozen books have come off the presses
recently dealing with this theme. Many are speculating about it; many
testimonies are being given about various experiences of those who,
supposedly, have died and then come back to life again. The apostle is
dealing with that very theme in this chapter. Here he brings us face
to face with the great reality of life, one that is even more certain
than taxes, and that is death.
You may evade paying your taxes, but you are not going to avoid
growing old and ultimately dying. We may try to avoid it. I know a lot
of people who are working hard at it; they are trying to cover up all
the evidences of age and decay. But we have to face the fact that
there is an invisible, irresistible, and inevitable process going on
in every one of us right now. No matter how old, or how young, we may
be, this process is slowly stealing the bloom from our cheeks, taking
the spring from our steps, reducing the sharpness of our senses so we
do not see quite as well or hear quite as accurately, decreasing the
potency of our sexual powers, and in many ways depriving us of what we
thought to be the joy of living. (I read somewhere recently that death
is nature's way of saying, "It's time to slow down.") (1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Of First
Importance)
Have made known (1107)
(gnorizo) means to cause information to be known by someone
through communication of things before unknown or as in the present
case of reasserting things already known by the Corinthians, in this
case specifically the knowledge of Christ's resurrection. One author
notes that gnorizo was used to introduce a solemn statement.
The idea is that Paul is beginning this section saying "I draw your
attention". Paul thus begins by stating the foundation truths he had
ministered to them at the first. In essence he wants them to know what
they should already know since they had believed the gospel that he
had preached to them. He later reminds them that some of the
Corinthians were questioning the resurrection so vital to the
integrity of the Gospel...
1Cor 15:12 "Now if Christ is
preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among
you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?"
Charles Ryrie comments
that...
Nothing in the Greek background of
the Gentile converts at Corinth led them to believe in the
resurrection of the dead. In general, they (pagan Greeks) believed in
the immortality of the soul, but not the resurrection of the body. To
them, the body was the source of man's weakness and sin; death,
therefore, was the welcomed means by which the soul was liberated from
the body. Resurrection, in their thinking, would only enslave the soul
again. (The
Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Translation: 1995. Moody
Publishers) (Comment:
In fact it is worth noting that
because the idea of resurrection was foreign to Greek thought, there
existed no technical words in Greek to describe it.)
One is reminded of Paul's encounter
with the pagan Greek philosophers in Athens, Luke recording...
And also some of the Epicurean
and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. And some were saying,
"What would this idle babbler wish to say?" Others, "He seems to be a
proclaimer of strange deities,"-- because he was preaching (euaggelizo/euangelizo)
Jesus and the resurrection....(And on Mars Hill Paul explained
that God) ...has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in
righteousness through a Man Whom He has appointed, having furnished
proof to all men by raising Him from the dead." 32 Now when
they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer
(literally throw out the lip, and so to scoff, mock, deride with
words, etc, but others said, "We shall hear you again concerning
this." (see notes
Acts 17:18, 31-32)
The resurrection is the same central truth Paul
preached everywhere he went, as for example on his first visit to
Thessalonica where Luke records...
And according to Paul's
custom, he went to them (into a synagogue of the Jews), and for three
Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures (Old Testament
writings), explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to
suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus Whom I am
proclaiming to you is the Christ (the Messiah)." (see notes
Acts 17:2-3)
Richards adds that...
The culminating experience in
our personal transformation is to be resurrection. Yet, some in
Corinth denied this completion. They carried over into their new faith
the typical Greek attitude toward life after death; they could not
accept the idea of a bodily resurrection. Christian faith might have
meaning for the here and now. It might even offer some astral form for
their personalities after death. But, a literal resurrection? No.
(Richards, L., & Richards, L. O. The Teacher's Commentary. Wheaton,
Ill.: Victor Books)
Brethren (80)
(adelphos from collative a = denoting unity + delphús
= womb) is literally one born from same womb and so a male having the
same father and mother as reference person. Figuratively, adelphos
as in this verse refers to a close associate of a group of persons
having well-defined membership, specifically here referring to fellow
believers in Christ who are united by the bond of affection. What Paul
does by
addressing them again as
brethren (he had called them brethren in 1Cor 1:10;
2:1; 9;3:1; 10:1; 11:33; 12:1; 14:6, 20, 26; 15:1, 58; 16:12, 15)
is to assure his readers that he recognizes them as fellow believers.
Adelphos serves not just to express Paul's spiritual identity
but also his love for the Corinthian saints.
Gospel (2098)
(euaggelion
from eú = good + aggéllo = proclaim, tell;
Saxon = gōd-spell = lit. "good tale, message")
means good news, glad tidings.
Euaggelion
originally referred to a reward for good news and later became the
good news itself. The word euaggelion was in just as common use
in the first century as our words good news today. “Have you any good
news for me today?” would have been a common question.
In this secular
use euaggelion described good news of any kind and prior
to the writing of the New Testament, had no definite religious
connotation in the ancient world until it was taken over by the "Cult
of Caesar" which was the state religion and in which the emperor was
worshipped as a god (see more discussion of this use below).
The writers of
the New Testament adapted the term as God's message of salvation for
lost sinners. Euaggelion is found in several combination
phrases, each describing the gospel like a multifaceted jewel in
various terms from a different viewpoint (from the NASB, 1977).
It is the Gospel...
•
of God
(cf
Mk 1:14,
Romans 15:16 (note), 2Cor 11:7,
see notes
1Thess 2:2,
2:8,
2:9,
1 Peter 4:17)
because it originates with God and was not invented by man
• of God...concerning His
Son -
Ro 1:1;
1:2;
1:3 (notes)
• of His Son -
Ro 1:9 (note)
• of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
Mk 1:1
because it centers in Christ
• of our Lord Jesus -
2Th 1:8
• of Christ -
Ro 15:19 (note), 1Cor 9:12, 2Cor 2:12, 9:13, 10:14, Gal 1:7,
Phil 1:27 (note),
1Thess 3:2 (note)
• of the glory of Christ
-
2Co 4:4
• of the grace of God -
Acts 20:24
• of the glory of the blessed God
-
1Ti 1:11
• of your salvation -
Eph 1:13 (note)
• of peace -
Eph 6:15 (note)
• of the Kingdom -
Mt 4:23; 9:35; 24:14
• of the Kingdom of God
-
Lu 16:16
• an eternal gospel -
Revelation 14:6 (note) (Some such as C I Scofield
interpret this as a "different gospel" than the other "gospels"
mentioned above but I
think such a distinction is incorrect and is poorly substantiated).
• my Gospel -
Ro 16:25,
26 (see
note) Paul called
it “my Gospel” indicating the special emphasis he gave the gospel in his
ministry.
For a rewarding exercise, study the preceding references in context
making notation of the truth you observe about the gospel (Download
InstaVerse.
to enable you to read the verse in your favorite version and in
context... anywhere on the Web!) If you would like a special
blessing, take an afternoon to go through all 76 uses of euaggelion
in context making a list of what you learn about the gospel. The
Spirit of God will enlighten your heart and encourage your spirit in a
very special way...and you'll want to share the "good news" with
someone because of your "discoveries"!
Euaggelion
was commonly used in the Greco-Roman culture as "a
technical term for "news of victory." The messenger appears, raises
his right hand in greeting and calls out with a loud voice: "rejoice
…we are victorious". By his appearance it is known already that he
brings good news. His face shines, his spear is decked with laurel,
his head is crowned, he swings a branch of palms, joy fills the city,
euaggelia are offered, the temples are garlanded, an agon (race) is
held, crowns are put on for the sacrifices and the one to whom the
message is owed is honored with a wreath...[thus] euaggelion is
closely linked with the thought of victory in battle. " (Theological
Dictionary of the New Testament) This is a convicting definition -
here a pagan messenger radiantly announces good news of an earthly
victory. How much more radiant should we be who are the bearers of the
great news of Christ's eternal triumph over sin, Satan, and death!
Euaggelion
was used in secular Greek chiefly in connection with
oracles (i.e. the promise of some future event) and in the imperial
cult that euaggelion acquires a religious meaning. In the latter
sphere news of the "divine" ruler’s birth, coming of age or
enthronement and also his speeches, decrees and acts are glad tidings
which bring long hoped-for fulfillment to the longings of the world
for happiness and peace (albeit a counterfeit hope and peace). An
instance of this is the decree of the Greeks of the province of Asia
c. 9 B.C. marking the birthday of Augustus (23 September) the
beginning of the civil year (this is worth reading as an example of
thinking that has become darkened) --
“It is a day which we may justly
count as equivalent to the beginning of everything—if not in itself
and in its own nature, at any rate in the benefits it brings—inasmuch
as it has restored the shape of everything that was failing and
turning into misfortune, and has given a new look to the Universe at a
time when it would gladly have welcomed destruction if Caesar had not
been born to be the common blessing of all men...Whereas the
Providence which has ordered the whole of our life, showing concern
and zeal, has ordained the most perfect consummation for human life by
giving to it Augustus, by filling him with virtue for doing the work
of a benefactor among men, and by sending in him, as it were, a savior
for us and those who come after us, to make war to cease, to create
order everywhere...and whereas the birthday of the God [Augustus] was
the beginning for the world of the glad tidings that have come
to men through him...Paulus Fabius Maximus, the proconsul of the
province . . . has devised a way of honoring Augustus hitherto unknown
to the Greeks, which is, that the reckoning of time for the course of
human life should begin with his birth” (compare our use of BC to AD
because of the birth of Christ!) (E. Barker: From Alexander to
Constantine: Passages and Documents Illustrating the History of Social
and Political Ideas 336 B.C.-A.D. p337, 1956)
In contrast to the counterfeit
gospel, the human proclamation of the gospel (euaggelion) does not
merely herald a new era, but in fact actually brings it about because
the euaggelion has within it the inherent power to germinate and
generate salvation in those who hear it proclaimed. If this is true
(and it is), then why are so many saints shy about speaking forth the
good news of the greatest story ever told?!
The new
testament evangelists appropriated euaggelion in reference to the good
news of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. "Gospel" in
fact was Paul’s favorite term for his message and occurs nine times in
Philippians (more proportionately than in any other letter). In the NT
in Paul’s letters the meaning of euaggelion narrows down to the
specific sense of the "good news" that God has acted to save people
from their sins and to reconcile them to Himself in or through Jesus
Christ (cf
Mt1:21;
1Co15:1–3;
2Co5:19). For Paul, the
gospel is not merely good news in the sense of words spoken and heard,
i.e. a good story, but is itself "the (inherent, dynamic)
power of
God for
salvation to
everyone who
believes, to the
Jew
first and
also to the
Greek" (see
exposition of
Romans 1:16-17). The gospel
then possesses the inherent power to deliver (rescue and preserve)
otherwise eternally lost sinners "from the domain (the power = right
and the might) of darkness" and transfer them "to the kingdom of His
beloved Son" (see exposition of
Colossians 1:11-13).
Paul
reiterated the truth of the living, dynamic aspect of the gospel in
his epistle to the Colossians writing that because they were saved,
the saints now had a
"hope laid up (reserved, laid away
for preservation, waiting, in store) for (them) in heaven, of which
(they) previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel, which has
come to you, just as in all the world also it (the gospel) is
constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it (gospel)
has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it
(gospel) and understood the grace of God in truth just as you learned
it (gospel) from Epaphras...." (see note
Colossians 1:5,
6-7)
The gospel is
not a stagnant system of ethics but is the Word of Truth which is
living, moving, growing, bearing fruit and spreading.
The gospel
possesses a divine energy that causes it to spread like a mustard seed
growing into a tree (Mt
13:31–32).
The gospel
produces fruit both in the internal transformation of individuals, and
also in the external growth of the church. The living gospel is the
power that transforms lives. As it does so, the witness of those
transformed lives produces fruit, including new converts. So as the
gospel produces fruit in individual lives, its influence spreads.
Finally, note
that although the gospel reaches its consummation in the NT with the
truth of the birth, death, burial, resurrection and soon, sure return
of Jesus Christ, the gospel was also proclaimed in the Old Testament.
Paul
teaches us that
"the Scripture (in context the Old
Testament), foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith,
preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE
NATIONS SHALL BE BLESSED IN YOU." (Gal
3:8)
In other words,
Old Testament saints were saved by faith in the gospel, just as are NT
saints. In fact even in the face of man's first sin, God promised the
gospel declaring to Satan "And I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you (Satan)
on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” (Ge
3:15) The salvation we enjoy today was promised by the
prophets, though they did not fully understand all that they were
preaching and writing (see exposition of
1 Peter 1:10-12).
William Tyndale,
Christian martyr in the 1500's said...
Euaggelion (which we call
gospel) is a Greek word, and signifies good, merry, glad, and joyful
tidings, that makes a mans heart glad, and makes him sing, dance, and
leap for joy.
A. B. Simpson
is reported to have said that the gospel...
Tells rebellious men that God is
reconciled, that justice is satisfied, that sin has been atoned for,
that the judgment of the guilty may be revoked, the condemnation of
the sinner canceled, the curse of the Law blotted out, the gates of
hell closed, the portals of heaven opened wide, the power of sin
subdued, the guilty conscience healed, the broken heart comforted, the
sorrow and misery of the Fall undone.
Christ commands believers to share
this Good News with the rest of the world. This Good News is Christ’s
life-giving message to a dying world
Go into all the
world and preach
the gospel to all creation. (Mk
16:15)
Which I preached (2097)
(see word study of
euaggelizo/euangelizo
in next verse). The use of the
aorist tense
in this verse views the total ministry of Paul, emphasizing the one
gospel which he preached.
WHICH ALSO YOU RECEIVED, IN
WHICH ALSO YOU STAND: humin o kai parelabete (2PAAI):
(1Cor
1:4-8;
Mark 4:16-20;
John 12:48;
Acts 2:41;
11:1;
1 Thessalonians 1:6;
2:13;
4:1;
2 Thessalonians 3:6)
Which you received - This
same picture of reception of the Gospel is beautifully
portrayed in the lives of the Thessalonian saints Paul writing...
And for this reason we also
constantly thank God that when you received (paralambano)
from us the word of
God's message, you accepted (dechomai)
it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God,
which also performs its work in you who believe. (See note
1Thessalonians 2:13)
Commenting on the
difference between received and accepted Warren Wiersbe writes
that the verb received or paralambano "means simply
'to accept from another' while the second (dechomai) means
'to welcome.' One
(paralambano) means 'the hearing of the ear,' while the other
(dechomai) means “the hearing of the heart.' The believers at
Thessalonica did not only hear the Word; they took it into their inner
man and made it a part of their lives...How do we appropriate the
Word? By understanding it and receiving it into our hearts, and by
meditating on it so that it becomes part of the inner man. Meditation
is to the spiritual life what digestion is to the physical life. If
you did not digest your food, you would die. It takes time to
meditate,
but it is the only way to appropriate the Word and grow. (Wiersbe,
W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor
or
Logos)
Received
(3880)
(paralambano from para = beside + lambano =
appropriate, receive) means to receive from another, to receive
alongside or to take to
oneself.
The
aorist tense
looks back to the time when the Corinthians heard the proclamation the gospel and records their active response
(active
voice = made a
decision of their will) to the message -
they took hold of the divine message. They received it
alongside. They took it to themselves as their possession.
Barclay writes that the
good news...
was something which the Corinthians
had received. No man ever invented the gospel for himself; in a
sense no man ever discovers it for himself. It is something which he
receives. (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press
or
Logos)
Paralambano also has nuances of seizing or taking
to one's self or taking something into one's possession How do I
respond when I am confronted with the word of God's message?
Paralambano is the verb
the Lord used to to encourage Joseph's reception of Mary after her
conception
Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife...And Joseph...took
her as his wife (Mt 1:20, 24)
John uses this verb describing
the failure of most of the Jews (in contrast to the predominantly
Gentile population at Thessalonica) refusal to receive Jesus as their
Messiah...
He came to His own, and those who
were His own did not receive (paralambano) Him. (John 1:11)
Paralambano denotes an
objective, outward receiving. It was used for the reception of words which were
to be conveyed, Paul writing...
For I received (paralambano)
from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus
in the night in which He was betrayed took bread (1Cor 11:23)
Paul used paralambano in
the context of the gospel proclamation in other epistles...
As we have said before, so I say
again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that
which you received (paralambano), let him be accursed...12 For
I neither received (paralambano) it from man, nor was I taught
it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
(Galatians 1:9, 12)
The things you have learned and
received (paralambano) and heard and seen in me, practice these
things; and the God of peace shall be with you. (see note
Philippians 4:9)
As you therefore as you have received (paralambano) (the)
Christ Jesus the Lord, so
walk
(present
imperative)
in Him" (see note
Colossians 2:6).
Paralambano is the verb especially used of receiving a message
or body of instruction handed down by tradition, to be delivered
(paradidomi) to others in turn. Paul uses it in this sense in
2Thessalonians...
Now we command you, brethren, in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep aloof from every
brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition
(paradosis derived from paradidomi - give alongside) which you
received (paralambano) from us. (2Thessalonians 3:6)
In summary, the verb paralambano conveys the idea that the
Corinthians had received
the Gospel into their mind and thus they
had learned it.
IN WHICH ALSO YOU STAND:
en o kai estekate, (2PRAI):
(Romans
5:2;
2 Corinthians 1:24;
1 Peter 5:12)
In which also you stand -
Picture the saints at Corinth standing in the Gospel. Like when we
hear someone say "So and so took their stand on the truth." The Gospel
is not spiritual quicksand but a sure foundation upon which their
faith can stand.
Ray Stedman commenting on
the gospel in which we stand...
There are two things, then,
the gospel does for you, Paul says, two simple divisions: First, it
makes you stand. Notice he says, the gospel, which you
received, by which you stand.
That means you have a
foundation; you have a place to handle life; you have a security to
which you can resort at any time of pressure and problem and you can
stand steady, no matter what kind of force comes against you. When you
believe that God has forgiven your sins for Christ's sake, when you
believe that God loves you and has accepted you as His child, when you
believe that He is working in you by the power of His resurrected life
to enable you to love and to live as you ought and to give you power
to say "No" when you need to say "No," you have a place to stand that
can handle anything that comes. That is what Paul said these
Corinthians had. They were loved by God, therefore they had a place of
emotional security. That is the first thing the gospel does.
In a dangerous and slippery world like this, it is a tremendous thing
to have a place where you can find love and acceptance and
understanding and support in all the pressures. Well, that is what the
gospel does. When things are frightening and foreboding all around,
the gospel gives you a place of reassurance. I do not know how you
feel when you pick up the newspaper and read that China has now
invaded Vietnam, that Russia is standing by, ready to retaliate. These
two great powers are about to leap at one another's throats. The
Middle East is all aflame and in turmoil; wars are breaking out in the
African states; the South American countries are restless and filled
with violence and the threat of revolution. What does it do to you,
living in a world like that? Who knows, warfare may break out very
shortly and nuclear bombs will scream across our country?
Well, in the face of an
uncertain future the gospel gives us a sense of certainty. It reminds
us, as we read in those wonderful words from Colossians 1:16, that
there is One who is above all principalities and rulers and
authorities and powers; He is in charge of all human events. When you
fail and slide away and slip, the gospel is the place where you find
recovery and an ability to come back again, sick of soul and hungry of
heart, and find relief and forgiveness and healing for your hurting
heart. That is the gospel -- the fact that God loves you despite all
your failure and all your weakness. He is always ready to pick you up
again and wash the hurt away, to start you out anew and teach you to
walk in His strength and by His grace. That is a place to stand. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Of First
Importance)
Stand
(2476)
(histemi) means literally to take up or maintain a
specified position or posture. Paul uses histemi figuratively
in this verse meaning that the Corinthians had adopted and remained in
a resolute position or attitude regarding the Gospel.
Guzik comments that...
Despite all their problems
with carnality, lack of understanding, strife, divisions, immorality,
and weird spirituality, they still stood for the gospel. This is in
contrast to the Galatian church, who was quickly being moved away to
another gospel (Galatians 1:6 "I am amazed that you are so quickly
deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different
gospel").
The
perfect tense
pictures the abiding results. They
stood and they are still standing. How do they continue to stand? The
same way they began to stand, by grace through faith (not sight).
Barclay writes that the
gospel...
was something in which the
Corinthians stood. The very first function of the good news was
to give a man stability. In a slippery world it kept him on his feet.
In a tempting world it gave him
resistance power. In a hurting
world it enabled him to endure a broken heart or an agonized body and
not to give in. Moffatt finely translates Job 4:4, “Your words have
kept men on their feet.” That is precisely what the gospel does.
(Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press
or
Logos)
John MacArthur adds that
Paul's...
point of the first two verses is
that the Corinthian believers were themselves living evidence that
this doctrine was true. The fact that they came out of the spiritual
blindness and deadness of Judaism or paganism and into the light and
life of Christ testified to the power of the gospel, and therefore to
the power of the resurrection. It also testified that they already
believed in the truth of Christ’s resurrection. It was the gospel of
the resurrection of Jesus Christ that Paul had preached to
them, that they had received, and in which he assures them they
now stand and by which they are saved, delivered from
sin’s power and condemnation. Because of the reality of Christ’s
resurrection and of their trust in it, they were now a part of His
church and thereby were evidence of the power of that resurrection. (MacArthur,
J: 1Corinthians. Chicago: Moody Press
or
Logos)
C H Spurgeon writes
that...
There were people in the Apostles' days who had an idea that there was
no resurrection. Paul endeavours to refute the idea, and teaches the
Corinthians that there was a resurrection from the dead. From the 1st
to the 11th verse he proves the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and upon
that grounds the doctrine of the resurrection of the just. Now, we expect to hear a whole list of doctrines when the apostle
says "I declare unto you the gospel;" but instead of that, he simply
tells us of the resurrection of Jesus, for that is the very marrow of
the gospel, the foundation of it—that Jesus Christ died and rose again
the third day, according to the Scriptures.
Raymond Ortlund, Jr has a
powerful and convicting "Afterword" on the Gospel in his
excellent book
A Passion for God: Prayers and Meditations on
the Book of Romans.
Ortlund entitles his "Afterword"... | 
