What follows is an excerpt from a 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Bible Study lesson. Visit that page for more context, the bibliography, and even a crossword puzzle (✞-word).
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul begins by saying:
Now I declare to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I proclaimed to you, and which you accepted, and on which you have taken your stand (1 Cor 15:1, AT)
Now, more literally, to his brothers and sisters in Christ 1, Paul says he wants to remind or make known (γνωρίζω | gnōrizō) to the Corinthians something they should known already.[1]
This is likely a mild rebuke.[2] For it seems they have forgotten something that should be unforgettable.2
You ever have to remind someone of something you already told them some time ago?
When I was younger, my parents had to remind me of many things. Like, “Didn’t I tell you to clean your room?” “Didn’t I tell you to take out the trash?”
And, from time to time, my parents had to remind me just whose house I was living in – through the laying on of hands.
You see, when people are out of line, the loving thing to do is to straighten them out. From time to time, when it comes to staying on the right road, we all need reminders.
Now, Paul has already preached the gospel to them, they have already accepted[3] it, and on it they have already taken their stand.[4] For the Corinthians, this gospel[5] is not new material; this is review.[6] This is a refresher course.
You see, Paul had founded the Corinthian some years earlier (Ac 18:1f.), and stayed in Corinth for a year and a half (Ac 18:1-11) – likely around AD 51-52.[7]
As we see in Acts 18:5-6, it says:
5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. 6 But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” (Acts 18:5-6, NIV)
You see, as Jesus says (Mt 7:13-14), most people will not believe the Gospel. Yet, if we do our duty, if we proclaim the true gospel to people, and they reject it – that’s on them, not on us (cf. Eze 3:18-19).
We’re not the authors of the Master’s message, we’re just messengers who are sent with the Master’s authority. If people reject the Master’s message, they reject the Master. And at some point, we’re told to just shake it off and keep it moving (cf. Mt 10:14)
In any case, continuing in Acts 18:7-11, it says:
7 Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. 8 Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.
9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. (Ac 18:7-11, NIV)
So, as we see, Paul spends quite a bit of time with the Christians in the Corinthian church. They likely would not be Christians if it wasn’t for Paul, since he is their founder.[8]
And the foundation the founder laid was based on the Resurrection of Christ.[9] That is the solid rock upon which the Corinthians Christians had taken their stand.
Paul uses the same word group in Ephesians 6:13, when, in light of the sinful spiritual forces in the heavenly realms, he says:
Because of this, take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand in resistance [ἀνθίστημι | anthistēmi] on the day when evil comes and, after having prepared everything, to stand [ἵστημι | histēmi]. (Eph 6:13, AT)[10]
The Corinthians were to stand firm. Yet, false teaching had begun to infest the church.[11]
Some ungodly guidelines had spread like gangrene; This rotten church needed a refresher.
[1] Morris, 197; William Baker, “1 Corinthians,” in Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, vol. 15 (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2009), 210; Blomberg, 295. Cf. 12:3; Gal. 1:11; 2 Cor. 8; Garland, 682; Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 1183.
[2] Taylor, 369; Ciampa and Rosner, 743.
[3] BDAG, 768; NIDNTTE, 84; EDNT, 30.
[4] Morris, 197.
[5] The word gospel simply means “good news.” And, in the later chapters of the prophetic book of Isaiah, the prophet foretells of the “good news” of God’s coming kingdom, of God’s reign. “…reaches back to the promise of return from exile in the Old Testament (Isa. 40:9; 41:27; 52:7; 61:1). In Isaiah 40–66 the return from exile is linked with the fulfilment of God’s promises to Israel and the coming of the new creation (Isa. 65:17; 66:22).” Thomas R. Schreiner, 1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. Eckhard J. Schnabel, vol. 7, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2018), 302. Jesus speaks of this good news when he quotes Isaiah 61 at the beginning of His ministry: “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor” (Is 61:1, NIV) – that is, to the humbled (cf. Num 12:3). https://catchforchrist.net/isaiah-61-1-commentary-memorize-meaning/ Cf. 1 Cor 4:15; 9:12, 14, 18, 23 “and its verbal cognate ([1 Cor 1:17]; 9:16, 18; 15:2).” Baker, 210; Thiselton, 1184.
[6] “he is repeating the facts, not adding to them.” Prior, 259.
[7] Witherington, 300.
[8] Fee, 801; Ciampa and Rosner, 743; Garland, 682.
[9] Soards, 317.
[10] Cf. 2 Cor 1:24; Eph 6:13–14; Col 4:12; Baker, 210.
[11] “rooted in a radical pneumatism that denied the value/significance of the body that was expressed by way of a somewhat “overrealized,” or “spiritualized,” eschatology.” Fee, 796.