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The Resurrection of Christ

15 And now I want to remind you, my friends, of the Good News which I preached to you, which you received, and on which your faith stands firm. That is the gospel, the message that I preached to you. You are saved by the gospel if you hold firmly to it—unless it was for nothing that you believed.

(A)I passed on to you what I received, which is of the greatest importance: that Christ died for our sins, as written in the Scriptures; (B)that he was buried and that he was raised to life three days later, as written in the Scriptures; (C)that he appeared to Peter and then to all twelve apostles. Then he appeared to more than five hundred of his followers at once, most of whom are still alive, although some have died. Then he appeared to James, and afterward to all the apostles.

(D)Last of all he appeared also to me—even though I am like someone whose birth was abnormal.[a] (E)For I am the least of all the apostles—I do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted God's church. 10 But by God's grace I am what I am, and the grace that he gave me was not without effect. On the contrary, I have worked harder than any of the other apostles, although it was not really my own doing, but God's grace working with me. 11 So then, whether it came from me or from them, this is what we all preach, and this is what you believe.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 15:8 whose birth was abnormal; or who was born at the wrong time.

The Resurrection of Christ

15 Now I want you to understand, brothers and sisters, the good news[a] that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand,(A) through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.(B)

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures(C) and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures(D) and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.(E) Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.[b] Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.(F) Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.(G) For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.(H) 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me.(I) 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you believed.

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Footnotes

  1. 15.1 Or gospel
  2. 15.6 Gk fallen asleep

15 Now, brothers, I must remind you of the Good News which I proclaimed to you, and which you received, and on which you have taken your stand, and by which you are being saved — provided you keep holding fast to the message I proclaimed to you. For if you don’t, your trust will have been in vain. For among the first things I passed on to you was what I also received, namely this: the Messiah died for our sins, in accordance with what the Tanakh says; and he was buried; and he was raised on the third day, in accordance with what the Tanakh says; and he was seen by Kefa, then by the Twelve; and afterwards he was seen by more than five hundred brothers at one time, the majority of whom are still alive, though some have died. Later he was seen by Ya‘akov, then by all the emissaries; and last of all he was seen by me, even though I was born at the wrong time. For I am the least of all the emissaries, unfit to be called an emissary, because I persecuted the Messianic Community of God. 10 But by God’s grace I am what I am, and his grace towards me was not in vain; on the contrary, I have worked harder than all of them, although it was not I but the grace of God with me. 11 Anyhow, whether I or they, this is what we proclaim, and this is what you believed.

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Resurrection

15 1-2 Friends, let me go over the Message with you one final time—this Message that I proclaimed and that you made your own; this Message on which you took your stand and by which your life has been saved. (I’m assuming, now, that your belief was the real thing and not a passing fancy, that you’re in this for good and holding fast.)

3-9 The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. It was fitting that I bring up the rear. I don’t deserve to be included in that inner circle, as you well know, having spent all those early years trying my best to stamp God’s church right out of existence.

10-11 But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I’m not about to let his grace go to waste. Haven’t I worked hard trying to do more than any of the others? Even then, my work didn’t amount to all that much. It was God giving me the work to do, God giving me the energy to do it. So whether you heard it from me or from those others, it’s all the same: We spoke God’s truth and you entrusted your lives.

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