Without the resurrection of Jesus, the gospel falls apart, and so does your salvation.
We know God better when we know what is important to him. One way we know what is important to him is to see what he requires of a person to be saved. The gospel reveals these requirements. One thing the gospel says is that for a person to be saved he or she must believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
First, let me show the Bible teaches this, and then next week let’s explore what this implies about God.
“Believers” who deny the resurrection of Jesus
The apostle Paul dealt with a church that included people who claimed to believe in Jesus but denied his bodily resurrection. “Bodily” resurrection means his actual physical body rose from the dead in a supernatural work of God, in a new kind of human body that is physical and immortal.
Those who denied the bodily resurrection were in the church in Corinth, and Paul addressed those who had been misled in 1 Corinthians 15.
Verse 1–2 says, “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:1–2, ESV).
Notice several important things
- Verse 1 says he is reminding them of what “the gospel” says. Thus the resurrection of Jesus, which he will now reaffirm in the rest of the chapter, is an essential part of the gospel message.
- Paul says that at the beginning, when he led them to the Lord, they had “received” this message, including his teaching about the resurrection of Jesus. They had started out on the right footing. Paul had taught this to them in the beginning.
- Paul says they “stand” on this message, including his teaching about the resurrection of Jesus as seen in the following verses, and they are “saved” by believing this message. Here Paul explicitly states that the teaching that follows, about believing in the bodily resurrection of Jesus, is necessary for salvation.
- Then Paul puts a condition on their salvation: “if you hold fast to the word I preached to you.” He states what is at stake. They must hold fast to the original message. Those who forsake their original belief and deny this teaching can lose what they had, lose their salvation. This is so even if they continue to claim to believe in Jesus, to be a Christian, and attend the church, as the remainder of the chapter shows.
- To make sure there is no misunderstanding, Paul restates what is at stake: “unless you believed in vain.” In other words, they are in danger of having their original belief count for nothing. Their original belief was all in vain if they let go of the teaching that Jesus supernaturally rose from the grave in an immortal, resurrection body.
The resurrection is of first importance
Paul goes on to say,
“3 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” (1 Corinthians 15:3–4).
- Paul says three teachings are of “first importance.” 1. Jesus really, actually died for our sins. 2. He really was buried. 3. He really was raised from the dead. Thus the teaching of the bodily resurrection of Jesus is not a subsidiary, unimportant doctrine, but one of first importance, of the core content of the gospel, because, as stated in verse 2, it is necessary for salvation.
The resurrection of Jesus is the testimony of all the apostles
Paul goes on to give the evidence of the bodily resurrection of Jesus:
“5 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 15:5–8).
Paul is saying that all the apostles and the early church believed in the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Anyone who teaches the Corinthians otherwise is bringing them a new and different message.
I do not have space to elaborate on the rest of 1 Corinthians 15, but read it on your own to see that Paul regards the bodily resurrection of Jesus as a linchpin of the gospel. Pull that linchpin out, and your salvation falls apart. “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ [died] have perished” (1 Corinthians 15:17–18).
Our way and God’s way
Our way: Fallen humans can have difficulty believing that God is able to raise a dead human body to immortality.
God’s way: He raises the dead as easily as he created humanity at the beginning.
Life principle: Salvation depends on believing the gospel, and the gospel says that God raised Jesus from the grave in an immortal human body.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)