Print This ArticleThe gospel of salvation is revealed in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. This is the the passage that clearly defines the gospel by which people can be saved today. The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ are verifiable, uncompromised, rock-solid facts that occurred in history. At the core of the gospel are real, historical events. The gospel isn’t a matter of religious opinions, platitudes, or mythical tales. It is about real events which changed the history of the world and man’s relationship with God.
What the Gospel Does: Establishes a Standing
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand” (1 Cor. 15:1).
When Paul addressed the Corinthians as “brethren,” he expressed both his spiritual relationship to them and his love for them as family in the Lord. In Acts 20:24, Paul is quoted as saying, “and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” In Paul’s ministry and travels, when he came to Corinth on his second apostolic journey, he testified and preached the gospel of the grace of God to the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Paul reminds them of the gospel that he had preached to them.
The word “gospel” means good news or glad tidings. The gospel is good news from God to men. As verses 3 and 4 show, this gospel is the good news concerning the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
When Paul preached the gospel of grace to the Corinthians, they received it: “I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received,” and then, as a result of their receiving it, Paul told them, “wherein ye stand” (v. 1).
We learn three things in this verse about how a person is saved from all their sins. First, the gospel is made known and we hear it:
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17).
Second, we receive it, and we receive the gospel by faith alone: “In Whom [Christ] ye also trusted, after that ye heard the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in Whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:13).
Third, we have a standing with God: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By Whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1-2).
In the gospel of salvation we stand; it gives us a standing with God. No force that comes against us, and no sin or lack of faith on our part can affect this standing. Our standing is made no better or worse by our actions, good or bad, or our lack of actions. Our standing is who we are “in Christ.” It is the way that God sees us in Him. It is the result of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and all by the grace of God.
In Christ, we are accepted, redeemed, forgiven, and righteous (1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 1:6-7), and destined for the glories of heaven. Our standing in Christ is established, fixed, and unchangeable. It cannot improve or worsen; it stays the same eternally. We can never cease to possess the blessings of salvation that are ours in Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 tells us both what the gospel does and what the gospel is. And the point of verse 1 is what the gospel does. The Corinthians had received the gospel of salvation and trusted it, and they had an eternal standing in Christ. The gospel takes those who have no standing before God and gives them a high and glorious standing in Christ by grace.
What the Gospel Does: Delivers from Error
“By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain” (1 Cor. 15:2).
This verse has been troublesome to many because it sounds like a qualification, a work for salvation, that you have to continue to keep something in memory to be saved. As we must do with all Scripture, we must interpret this verse by its context. When we take a step back to consider this verse in light of the whole of chapter 15, we find that this entire chapter is devoted to the doctrine and importance of the resurrection, and as such, it is the most extensive treatment of this subject in your Bible.
A report had reached the apostle that there was a doctrinal problem in the Corinthian church in regard to the resurrection. The Corinthians were denying the resurrection of the dead. They were not denying the resurrection of Christ but the future resurrection of the body. In verse 12, Paul confronted this doctrinal error by asking, “…how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?”
Paul then built his case and showed the Corinthians that they must accept the truth of the future bodily resurrection of the dead or else reject Christ’s resurrection. As Paul wrote in verses 13 and 16, “But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen…For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised.”
Now the word “saved” means delivered, rescued from danger. The term does not always refer to the salvation of the soul from sin and hell. For example, in 1 Timothy 4:16, Paul wrote Timothy, “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”
In this verse, Paul challenged Timothy to hold firm to sound doctrine and to remain faithful to it. In doing this, Pastor Timothy would “save” himself and those in his local church who heard him preach and teach. Our question should be, “Save himself and his assembly from what?” The answer is not saved from the lake of fire but rather saved and delivered from the danger of doctrinal error and false teaching.
This is what Paul was referring to in 1 Corinthians 15:2. In verse 1, Paul told the Corinthians that he was declaring the gospel which he had previously preached unto them, which, as he wrote in verses 3 and 4, was that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and that He rose again the third day.
Then, he stated of this gospel, “By which also ye are saved” (v. 2). Our question again, should be, “Saved from what?” The answer is doctrinal error, the bad teaching and belief that was among them concerning the resurrection of the dead.
In verse 2, Paul referred to what he “preached unto you.” Verse 12 tells us what Paul preached to them: “Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?” Laying the foundation for his argument, in verse 2 Paul wrote of the need for the Corinthians to “keep in memory what I preached unto you,” concerning the gospel and Christ’s death and resurrection. Keeping in memory what Paul had taught them would save them from false doctrine concerning there being no bodily resurrection of the dead.
The phrase “keep in memory” means to retain, to hold fast, keep secure, keep firm possession of. It implies that false teaching, lies, and error seek to seize the truth and snatch it away from us, but in our stand for the truth, believers need to hold firmly to sound doctrine by the Spirit so we are not led astray into error.
The Corinthian “brethren” had received the gospel and believed that Christ died for their sins and rose again. Thus, believing that truth, Paul goes on to demonstrate in this chapter how Christ’s resurrection guarantees all future resurrections (15:23) and the future resurrection of our body at the Rapture (15:51-53).
In verse 2, Paul introduced the possibility, “unless ye have believed in vain.” He raised the thought that those who were teaching and believing that there was no resurrection of the dead had perhaps believed the gospel in vain. That is, their denial of the bodily resurrection of the dead might’ve been due to the fact that some of them had not really believed that Christ rose again from the dead.
What the Gospel Is: Christ Died for Our Sins
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3).
Paul did not keep the gospel to himself. As believers, we have good news to share, and Paul delivered this good news to the Corinthians. When Paul wrote, “For I delivered unto you first of all,” the words “first of all” mean that the gospel was among the first things Paul made known unto them in Corinth. The gospel is always of first and primary importance.
Paul wrote that he delivered to them “that which I also received.” Paul brought authoritative teaching from God to the Corinthians. The gospel of grace is something that Paul received, not something that he created, designed, or invented himself. Paul taught others the gospel he had received directly from the risen Christ.
“But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:11-12).
The gospel of salvation in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 is a message that Paul had received directly from Christ by special, divine revelation. Christ appeared to Paul to reveal to him this gospel of the grace of God. The Lord delivered it directly to Paul, and Paul, in turn, delivered it unto the Corinthians and many others in his ministry, and even to us within the pages of the Word of God.
In verse 3, Paul the reiterated what that gospel is, beginning with “how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” Paul did not mention a word about Christ’s life in Israel. Paul passed over the Lord’s birth in Bethlehem, was silent about the growing-up years in Nazareth, didn’t cover the journeyings of Christ up and down the hillsides of Galilee and Judea, and bypassed all the wonder of His teachings and mighty miracles. This gospel goes directly to Christ’s death.
There, in verse 3, Paul wrote the first part of the gospel. The good news is that Christ died for our sins. This death is monumental and infinite in its significance in the mind, heart, and eyes of God.
That Christ died for our sins is really good news for the sinner. We are all sinners (Rom. 3:23). In our sins, we are helpless, hopeless, spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1), under God’s wrath and condemnation, and headed for eternity in the lake of fire. We need to be saved from our sins.
Paul explained in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that at the Cross, “He [God the Father] hath made Him [Christ, God the Son] to be sin for us, Who [Christ] knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” God did something for us at the Cross: He placed all our sins upon His sinless Son. Christ did not die for His own sins because He was perfect and never sinned. Instead, He willingly bore and died for our sins as our Substitute. Christ took the full wrath of God against our sins, paying for them completely and perfectly, and satisfying God’s righteous justice and holy demands.
From the gospel we learn that God, by virtue of His Son’s death on our behalf, will now treat us in an entirely different way than we deserve. When we trust the gospel of salvation, God saves us, delivers us, and sets us free from all our sins. Christ’s death gives us life, a standing before God, and a home in His presence forever.
The fact that Christ died for our sins “according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3) reminds us that the death of Christ was prophesied, foreshadowed, and alluded to directly and indirectly throughout the Old Testament.
Almost from the beginning, after the fall, in Genesis 3:15 the Lord God predicted the bruising of the heel of the woman’s seed and the bruising of the serpent’s head. Christ’s death was foreshadowed in types and figures and represented by the many animal sacrifices under the law. The death of the Messiah is found plainly in prophecies such as Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. All along, Christ’s death has been predicted and anticipated, and was finally fulfilled at the Cross (Luke 24:25-27).
The question, however, should be asked that if 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 contains the gospel which remained a secret until Christ first revealed it to Paul, why does he state that Christ both died and rose again “according to the Scriptures”?
Speaking of the fact of His death and resurrection, Christ did die and rise again in accordance with the prophetic Scriptures because that was indeed revealed in them. However, this does not mean that the special revelation made known to Paul was prophesied or a fulfillment of prophecy; rather, it was according to or in accordance with prophecy. There was nothing in prophecy that contradicted his message. One important thing about this gospel of salvation, however, that was not made known prior to Paul was the feature of faith alone. You cannot find faith alone in Christ’s death and resurrection for salvation, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life in the prophetic Scriptures. It cannot be found outside of Paul.
What the Gospel Is: Christ Was Buried and Rose Again
“And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:4).
The second part of what the gospel is, is that Christ not only “died for our sins according to the Scriptures,” but “that He was buried.” It seems ironic that a burial, a funeral, is part of the good news, but it is the subsequent event that makes it such good news. Christ had to be laid in the grave before He could be raised from it. Christ’s burial also gives further confirmation of the fact that He did die for our sins on the Cross.
In the Book of Genesis, when Abraham purchased the field and cave of Machpelah, he did so for the purpose “that I should bury my dead out of my sight” (Gen. 23:8). We are reminded in 1 Peter 2:24 that Christ “bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” Thus, when Christ died, and His body—which bore our sins—was laid in that garden tomb, it portrayed the putting away of those sins out of God’s sight forever. As the old hymn of the faith, “One Day,” puts it so well, “Buried He carried / my sins far away.”
The third part of the gospel is “that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” Christ’s resurrection fulfilled the predictions found in the prophetic Scriptures, and therefore, He rose again according to the Scriptures. It was prophesied that He would die; it was also prophesied that He would rise again (Isa. 53:9; Psa. 16:10).
The way the gospel of salvation is presented in 1 Corinthians 15:3- 4 is that a fact is presented and then two irrefutable evidences are given for each fact. First, the fact is given that Christ died for our sins. The two irrefutable proofs of that fact are the fulfillment of the Scriptures and Christ’s burial. Second, the fact is presented that Christ rose from the dead. The two irrefutable proofs for that fact are the fulfillment of the Scriptures and then the eyewitnesses of Christ’s resurrection that are presented in the verses that follow (vv. 5-8).
The resurrection makes the gospel good news. Our sins were placed upon the Savior at the Cross. If Christ failed to pay for all our sins, He would have remained in death. If one single sin that God laid upon Christ had been left unpaid, Christ could never have risen from the dead.
Romans 6:23 reminds us “the wages of sin is death,” that death is the result of sin. The fact that Christ came out of that tomb on the third day assures us that every one of our sins was paid for by the Cross, that Christ won the victory for us, and that His sacrifice for sin was all-sufficient, complete, and accepted by the Father. No sin could keep the Son in the grave because He paid for all our sins at the Cross!
Now, God turns to us, points us to the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, and invites us to trust it. The gospel of salvation during the dispensation of grace is just to trust that Christ died for your sins, was buried, and that He rose again. When you do, God saves you immediately and eternally.
The gospel addresses our greatest need—our sins—and provides the only remedy for it. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 tells us the only way to be reconciled with God today, the only way to be saved and have eternal life. The gospel of salvation is based on trust in three profound truths: (1) Christ died for our sins, (2) He was buried, and (3) He rose again the third day. It is a message that all, even young children, can understand and trust. When we receive this gospel, we stand in Christ, and nothing can take our salvation away.
