“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”
-1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (ESV)
Welcome to the third post in our series on the Gospel.
What did Paul Preach?
In my first post, I set up the idea of the Gospel beginning with the word itself as it might have (within our educated ability to guess) been understood in its cultural and socio-economic context. Then I used Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 15:3 to show how some solid evidence points to an early and clearly articulated Gospel message going back to the period immediately following Jesus’ resurrection. Now I’d like to turn our attention to the actual content of the Gospel as Paul articulates it, paying attention to what is actually said, rather than what it means specifically. In posts to come, I’ll “double-click” on each aspect to open it up and examine its fuller meaning.
There are four distinctives that Paul points out: the death of Jesus, the burial of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, and the appearance of Jesus to the disciples, and many others. This cannot be overlooked. This reflects both the essentially Jewish nature of the message and its potential to be seen as dangerous to the authority of the Roman Empire. It is Jewish in the sense that it reflects decisive “happenings” in history which barrel towards a purpose and a fulfillment. They are not events that “keep happening”, but rather events that happened once for all (Heb 10:10):
“There are four distinctives that Paul points out: the death of Jesus, the burial of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, and the appearance of Jesus to the disciples, and many others.”
“While Hellenic religious thought tended toward the abstract and analytic, Judaism’s mode was more concrete, dynamic and apodictic…For the essence of the Judaic faith rested on a burning expectation that God would actively renew his sovereignty over the world in a dramatic transfiguration of human history, and by Jesus’ time this expectation centered on the appearance of a…messiah.”[1]
As we saw earlier, there was a particular story that the Empire was telling: their ruler was the most important thing in history. The only way to combat a powerful story is with another story. In this sense, Paul, in expressing a very Jewish notion of “good news” subverts and undermines the “good news” that has been going throughout the land since Rome first planted her standard in the dirt. As N.T. Wright has argued, “The more Jewish we make Paul’s ‘gospel’, the more it confronts directly the pretensions of the Imperial cult…”[2]
Next, Paul makes it clear that Christ “died for our sins.” Paul’s Gospel saves. The important thing to remember, however, is that Paul does not make it clear how exactly this saving works. He doesn’t lay out a particular theory of the atonement at this juncture. But Jesus died for our sins. The preposition for (hypo) is something to dig into further, which I will in the posts to come.
“the Gospel is connected to what has come before, not separated from it.”
Moving on, an integral aspect of this passage is the fact that the different events in Jesus’ life, which comprise Paul’s Gospel, happened “in accordance with the Scriptures.” Paul is a veritable wellspring of Old Testament citations, quoting over 100 different times in his letters specifically, and alluding to them an untold number of times. Everything that Paul writes has its grounding somewhere “according to the Scriptures,” and the Gospel is no exception. The story of Jesus Christ is inextricably locked into the story of God’s people. The earliest Christians saw the entire Scriptural witness as leading and pointing and, again barrelling toward the trials, tribulations, blessing, and accomplishment of God’s Messiah. Paul seems to see it the same way – that Jesus’ story is the continuation and fulfillment of Israel’s story.
Next, Paul highlights Jesus’ resurrection. That he was “raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” Which Scriptures? It’s hard to say exactly, but a very important point continues to be made by Paul – the Gospel is connected to what has come before, not separated from it. More will be said about resurrection in the Scriptures in weeks to come.
Moreover, he points to the expanding circle of physical appearances that Jesus engaged in during that period between resurrection and ascension. And of course, he describes his own personal visitation on the road near Damascus. Which reminds me….
“Paul recounts meeting this man in his exalted reality, and it seems as if that encounter forever colored everything he did from that point forward.”
Something that is easy to miss in this passage is the person of Jesus in Paul’s understanding of the Gospel. We know that, as he mentions these key events in Jesus’ life, he isn’t just thinking of the events themselves, he’s thinking of the man, the exalted Lord, who acted them out. Paul recounts meeting this man in his exalted reality, and it seems as if that encounter forever colored everything he did from that point forward. We in turn should also see that same beautiful person inhabiting the message that Paul is proclaiming. Which is why I think we can include “Jesus lived” as sort of a background to the message proclaimed in this passage. More on that to come as well.
So there we have Paul’s Gospel, the Apostolic Gospel, proclaiming the story of Jesus as rooted in the Scriptures from beginning to end. A specific content, with depth and layers that require a long time to uncover fully, but also a fairly straightforward message to share.
Jesus lived. Jesus died. Jesus rose. Jesus appeared to many. And it was all in fulfillment of the Old Testament’s story and sweep. This is a message of both eternal depths and child-like simplicity. And of course, the wellspring out of which the Church has flowed for 2000 years would HAVE to be a message designed for both. In the next few posts, I want to highlight some of those depths and articulate just what each piece of the message means in light of the New Testament’s teaching.
To this question, we turn next. Do the “Gospels” themselves back up Paul’s “Gospel”?
[1] Richard Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind, 104, (New York NY, Harmony, 1991) 104
[2] N.T. Wright, “Gospel and Theology in Galatians”, Web. 1994. Accessed May 3 2012. <http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Gospel_Theology_Galatians.pdf>
Part 1 of this series – Have You Ever Heard of Lake Itasca? – Finish the Race Ministries (ftrministries.com)
Part 2 of this series – The Gospel is Narrow – Finish the Race Ministries (ftrministries.com)
