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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
September 10
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Today's Pathway:
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Paul is writing in chapter 15 to explain why there must be a future bodily resurrection of believers. He started by teaching that if there is no future resurrection of the dead, then Jesus Himself could not have risen from the dead. He then began listing reasons why the resurrection of Christ was necessary. He continues with that in today's passage.
According to verse 17, if God did not raise Jesus from the dead, then the Corinthians' entire belief system was in vain. As we have mentioned before, the Corinthian church members believed in the resurrection of Christ, but if the teaching that there was no future resurrection was true, then the belief that they had was empty and useless. And if their faith was useless, then they had not been cleansed from their sins. In Romans 4:25 Paul wrote that Jesus was
"delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification."
He paid the penalty for our sins on the cross. However, in order for us to be justified, or declared "not guilty", Jesus had to rise from the dead. Peter wrote,
"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (I Peter 1:18-19).
However, since Jesus said that He would rise from the dead (Matthew 16:21, Luke 18:33), if He did not rise from the dead then He is a liar, and He is not a lamb without blemish and spot, and the shedding of His blood on Calvary serves absolutely no purpose. And, since
"without the shedding of blood there is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22),
no one would have forgiveness for their sins, and all would be condemned to the Lake of Fire.
In verse 18 he adds that not only would the believers who were reading his epistle be lost, but all those Christians who had passed away previously were also unsaved. At the time of their death they immediately went to a place of eternal torment from which they would never escape because their sins had not been forgiven. What a terrible thought that is!
In verse 19 Paul sums it all up by stating that if belief in Christ only benefits us while we are alive on earth, then we are the most miserable people on earth. The word miserable carries the ideas of being pitiful, and wretched. It refers to someone who is deserving of sympathy because of their pathetic condition. Jack Arnold explains:
"A Christian is a person who has committed everything to the resurrected Christ. For Christ, he suffers; because of Christ, he denies himself; to Christ, he has given himself for service. Yet, if Christ be not risen, then He is not Savior or Lord. No one, therefore, is to be pitied more than a Christian because he or she has served, sacrificed and suffered for a Christ who does not exist. Christians would be the most duped and gullible people on the face of the earth. They have believed things that are not true and lived a life for no real purpose. Besides all that, the Christian has lost all that so-called worldly fun that he might have had in his lifetime if Christ was not raised. Christians are to be pitied if Christ is not raised, for, thinking they had the truth, they have been deceived. They must, therefore, return to a life of pessimism, despair and darkness. Without the resurrection, Christianity crumbles, and the Christian is left in utter despair."
But, thank the Lord for verse 20:
"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." There is no reason to fear. Believers are not to be pitied. Heaven is the Christian's eternal home. Why? Because Christ is Risen!
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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