The last devotional, I talked about Paul and how he was such a serious individual when it came to the spiritual things of life. Paul was enamored with the finality and the reality of the human experience. Paul was not "ashamed of the gospel." He understood very well that there was power in the Good News of Jesus Christ, and it was that power that he spent his life preaching and teaching to others about.
I do believe that Paul was not only serious about the gospel, but he lived and breathed the gospel. Looking at Paul's approach to the gospel is much different from how the Word is dispense today. Paul saw time of an essence, so he wasted no time, whether in person or writing to a particular church on a particular subject. Paul was adamant about the gospel.
In the Book of 1 Corinthians, beginning at the fifteenth chapter, Paul opens this chapter by taking the Corinthians back to the point when they first believed. Paul starts by saying, "Now, Brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). It is so easy for people to forget why they first trusted Jesus Christ, as their Lord and Savior. Especially the church of Corinth, for most of them were only a few years removed from paganism. Perhaps they wanted to look like they were "mature" in the eyes of their friends. Yet their Christian walk only had begun when they realized what it meant to be a Christian; therefore, they needed to understand the Doctrine of Salvation. Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins and for our sins too.
Allow me to make this point clear, the gospel is the "Good News," and the "Good News" is Jesus Christ. The gospel is a series of facts that extends hope to all, whosoever will receive it. There is no gospel apart from these three facts. Jesus Christ, first of all died for us. Jesus Christ was buried for us, and He rose for us. From these facts, we must believe that there was a birth and that He was sent from heaven.
Hint, hint, the gospel does not tell us of something that we must earn. The gospel tells us what Jesus Christ has already done for us. The glory of the Christians' faith is, that it never view life as ending with death. After the believer dies, the believer lives with Christ forever in eternity.
Paul's writing is extensive, yet he is not the inventor of the Good News, but the deliverer of it. There is nothing original with him. As he present the gospel, him like John the Baptist, were both in the wilderness of humanity, crying loudly about the message of salvation.
The Doctrine of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ was central to the early Christians. Even Peter's speech in Jerusalem, at Pentecost, emphasized how the resurrection had been predicted by David in the Psalms.
The Corinthian's Christians were denying, "not the resurrection of Jesus Christ." The Corinthian's Church was predominately made up of Gentiles. Some of them was were having problems accepting the fact that dead people will never come back to life again. But Paul said, "For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ must still be dead. And if he is still dead, then all our preaching is useless and your trust in God is empty, worthless, hopeless; and we apostles are all liars because we have said that God raised Christ from the grave, and of course that isn't true if the dead do not come back to life again" (1 Corinthians 15:13-15). You see the church at Corinth was in the heart of Greek culture. Most Greeks did not believe that people's bodies would be resurrected after death. They saw the afterlife as something that only happened to the soul. You had some people that was preaching a heresy contrary to the Doctrine of the Resurrection.
Therefore, Paul found it needful to respond to this congregation in writing. Many of the issues were resolved. You only have to look at the theme of 1 Corinthians, to get an understanding of what Paul was confronted with, "Christian Conduct." But here in Chapter 15, which is often referred to as the resurrection chapter, he begins his communication with these words, "Now, Brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand."
Now listen to these words as Paul talks about his communion, "For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me'" (1 Corinthians 11:23-24). Paul, unlike the other disciples, had spent three years in the Arabian desert, as the Lord, by revelation delivered this gospel to him. The disciples had a knowledge of Jesus, but Paul had a personal one on one experience, as he was prepared to take the "Gospel of Grace" across racial and ethnic lines.
Paul could talk with authority, because he was the ambassador sent personally by Jesus Christ to make the "Gospel of Grace" known. It took more than just believing in the name of Jesus Christ, but also His death, burial, and resurrection was and is the absolute foundation for all Christians to understand.
Paul in the opening verse of chapter 15 is simple saying, "Let me remind you, since it seems as though it has escaped you, my brothers, of the gospel," it is the glad tiding of salvation. I can clearly see where Paul is coming from. Every day of the week, especially on Sundays, preachers all around the world are reminding men and women about God, and reminding them of the Word of God. We can never assume, but must make every attempt to keep the Word forever fresh, by repeating what you might already know or have heard and read.
In the beginning of the second verse of chapter 15, Paul states, "By this gospel you are saved." I previously stated to you that the gospel was "the power of God unto salvation," in The Gospel According to Paul - Part One. Paul was speaking to the Romans, contingent upon their believing. Here, Paul states that to the individuals, "By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain."
In the third verse, Paul delineates the heart of the gospel. Paul says, "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." What Scriptures? There was no New Testament Scripture, so Paul emphasized that the Old Testament validated what he was saying and, "That he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (15:4).
"The Gospel According to Paul" is foundational in understanding the Doctrine of the Resurrection. The gospel declares your position in Christ, because verse 1 states, "which you received and on which you have taken your stand." The gospel guarantees your salvation, because verse 2 states, "By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word." The gospel lives in the Scriptures, because verse 3 states, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." Paul was speaking of the Old Testament, because the New Testament had not been written. The gospel removes all doubt about Jesus' death. Christ died and verse four states, "He was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." The gospel is supported by human credibility and eye witnesses, because verse 5 states, "That he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve."
The Apostle Paul wrote to believers. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. Paul preached a post resurrection message to whosoever would listen, but predominately to the Gentiles. Paul makes it clear that 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, is the Gospel of Grace, and it is by this gospel that we are saved. The New Testament writers, with the exception of Paul, preached the Gospel of the Kingdom. That gospel was on Jewish ground. It is not the pre-resurrection gospel that we are saved by today, because this faith left out Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection to the highest doctrinal value. We are not saved by just believing in the name of Jesus or on his name. For Jesus was then still alive, but today we know He died, but He now lives.