Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, (2) by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you – unless you believed in vain. (3) For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (4) and that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, (5) and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.  (6) After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.  (7) After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.  (8) Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.  (9) For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy 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 toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.  (11) Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. 

The first letter to the Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. Our verses today address the bodily resurrection of the faithful. Paul founded the church in Corinth and the early Christians DID believe in the resurrection of Christ Jesus, but questioned the resurrection of  the faithful – in a letter to Paul they asked for clarification of this doctrine. So chapter 15 of Paul’s letter was not written to prove to Christians that Christ Jesus literally rose from the dead but to assure them that so also will they.

Paul begins by restating what was already accepted by the Corinthians – the resurrection of Christ.  The transformation of people in a corrupt culture like that of ancient Corinth was the first proof of the truth of the gospel.  In a world where the gospel was revolutionary and  upended the wisdom of the world, Christians, by grace, received the gospel – believed it and stood by it – meaning they showed evidence of their radically changed lifestyle.  These early Christians were the early church and the very existence of the church testified to the truth  of the gospel.  Something was sure going on in that ancient world that a revolutionary – and universal – doctrine was established so quickly.  The world was turned upside down

Paul moves to cite the testimony of scripture – the Old Testament prophecied exactly the circumstance of the promised messiah.  There was the testimony of eye witnesses; literally the resurrected Christ appeared to the apostles and many others.  The apostles went from a frightened group of men who had abandoned their leader in terror and were hiding in an upstairs room to a group of men of unshakable conviction – they were witnesses to the resurrected Christ unto death.  Paul then tells of the 500 witnesses to the resurrected Christ, many of whom were alive and could be easily questioned.  The change of behavior and transformation of the convicted could not have been fabricated – again something astonishing was gong on.  And, finally, the testimony of Paul himself; a man who had been the enemy of Christians had been totally transformed to become God’s chosen instrument.  The completed work of Christ Jesus was the singular event in history – out of time and space God entered the world and through Christ’s acceptable sacrifice man was made right with God – through grace, not the law.