1 CorinthiansНамуна

Up to this point, Paul has often dealt with practical questions about life together in the church. At the end of the letter, however, he returns to the fundamentals: the issue is the central truths of the Christian faith itself. Even in Corinth, these truths seem to be no longer taken for granted. Some in the church were apparently doubting the resurrection of the dead.

This is precisely what makes this text highly relevant today. Many people today also doubt the bodily resurrection and reduce the Christian faith to moral guidelines or spiritual impulses for a successful life. The idea that Jesus actually died as a substitute for our sins—the so-called substitutionary atonement—is now rarely taught openly, or is even rejected, in many congregations and churches.

But Paul makes it unmistakably clear: without the resurrection of Jesus, the Christian faith makes no sense. The core issue is not primarily about how we live our lives (as important as that is), but about whether Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead. This has been the message of the gospel from the very beginning—and it is well attested. More than 500 people saw the risen Christ, and many of them were still alive when Paul wrote this letter. They could have been questioned.

For Reflection

If this central message is lost, everything is lost. Faith then becomes meaningless and powerless. But because Jesus lives, our faith is well-founded—and our hope carries far beyond this life.