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15:3 Paul reminds the Corinthians of what he taught them: that Christ died, was buried, and was raised. The resurrection is of paramount importance, the hinge on which our faith depends.
15:8 In his letters Paul often uses autobiographical elements to show his own weakness and the power of Christ. He persecuted the followers of Christ, but God’s grace made him an apostle. Paul wants every reader of the letter to realize that if God did this for Paul, God can do the same for us.
a. [15:3] 11:23 / 1 Pt 2:24; 3:18 / Is 53:4–12.
b. [15:4] Acts 2:23–24 / Ps 16:8–11; Hos 6:1–2; Jon 2:1.
c. [15:5] Mk 16:14; Mt 28:16–17; Lk 24:36; Jn 20:19.
d. [15:8] 9:1; Acts 9:3–6; Gal 1:16.
e. [15:9] Acts 8:3; 9:1–2; Gal 1:23;
Eph 3:8; 1 Tm 1:15.
f. [15:13] 1 Thes 4:14.
 CORINTHIANS -
to learn anything, they should ask their husbands at home. For it is improper for a woman to speak in the church. 36Did the word of God go forth from you? Or has it come to you alone?
37If anyone thinks that he is a prophet or a spiritual person, he should recognize that what I am writing to you is a commandment of the Lord. 38If anyone does not acknowledge this, he is not acknowledged. 39So, [my] brothers, strive eagerly to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues, 40but everything must be done properly and in order.
v. THE RESURRECTION A. THE RESURRECTION Of CHRIST
The Gospel Teaching.*
15*1Now I am reminding you, brothers, of the gospel I preached
to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. 2Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3* For I handed on to you as of rst importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures;a 4that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures;b 5that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.c 6After that, he appeared to more than ve hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7After that he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me.d 9For I am the least* of the apostles, not t to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.e 10But bythegraceofGodIamwhatIam,andhisgracetomehasnot been ine ective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God [that is] with me. 11Therefore, whether it be I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
B. THE RESURRECTION Of THE DEAD
Results of Denial.* 12But if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither has Christ been
* [15:1–58] Some consider this chapter an earlier Pauline composition inserted into the present letter. The problem that Paul treats is clear to a degree: some of the Corinthians are denying the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor 15:12), ap- parently because of their inability to imagine how any kind of bodily existence could be possible after death (1 Cor 15:35). It is plausibly supposed that their attitude stems from Greek anthropology, which looks with contempt upon matter and would be content with the survival of the soul, and perhaps also from an overrealized eschatology of gnostic coloration, such as that re ected in 2 Tm 2:18, which considers the resurrection a purely spiritual experience already achieved in baptism and in the forgiveness of sins. Paul, on the other hand, will a rm both the essential corporeity of the resurrection and its futurity. His response moves through three steps: a recall of the basic kerygma about Jesus’ resurrection (1 Cor 15:1–11), an assertion of the logical inconsistencies involved in denial of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:12–34), and an attempt to perceive theologically what the properties of the resurrected body must be (1 Cor 15:35–58).
* [15:1–11] Paul recalls the tradition (1 Cor 15:3–7), which he can presuppose as common ground and which provides a starting point for his argument. This is the fundamental content of
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all Christian preaching and belief (1 Cor 15:1–2, 11). * [15:3–7] The language by which Paul expresses the essence of the “gospel” (1 Cor 15:1) is not his own but is drawn from older credal formulas. This credo highlights Jesus’ death for our sins (con rmed by his burial) and Jesus’ resurrection (con rmed by his appearances) and presents both of them as ful llment of prophecy. In accordance with the scriptures: conformity of Jesus’ passion with the scriptures is asserted in Mt 16:1; Lk 24:25– 27, 32, 44–46. Application of some Old Testament texts (Ps 2:7; 16:8–11) to his resurrection is illustrated by Acts 2:27–31; 13:29– 39; and Is 52:13–53:12 and Hos 6:2 may also have been envisaged. * [15:9–11] A persecutor may have appeared disquali ed (ouk... hikanos) from apostleship, but in fact God’s grace has quali ed him. Cf. the remarks in 2 Corinthians about his quali cations (2 Cor 2:16; 3:5) and his greater labors (2 Cor 11:23). These verses are parenthetical, but a nerve has been touched (the references to his abnormal birth and his activity as a persecutor may echo taunts from Paul’s opponents), and he is instinctively moved to
*
self-defense.
[15:12–19] Denial of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:12) involves logical inconsistencies. The basic one, stated twice (1 Cor 15:13, 16), is that if there is no such thing as (bodily) resurrection, then it has not taken place even in Christ’s case.