I Corinthians 15, The Last Enemy

 

I Corinthians 15 – The Last Enemy.                                              

Paul presented this letter to the Greeks who had difficulty comprehending the resurrection of Christ. They listened intently to Paul at Athens until he mentioned the resurrection, then they mocked him and dismissed him. They did not question the immortality of the human soul, but the resurrection was a foreign concept to them.

Paul offers strong proof of the resurrection in this letter. The Corinthians were being saved daily by the Gospel and Paul reminds them of this and encourages them not to take it superficially or insincerely. He spoke first of Christ’s death for our sins, that we might be free from our guilt and bondage. Then he spoke of the burial and how God raised Him from the dead. It wasn’t by Jesus’ strength that He arose, but by God Himself as scriptures stated. Paul explains the witnesses that saw Jesus after He had risen, even Paul Himself saw Jesus. To bring his speech around to the comparison of the physical and spiritual, reverts to Adam and his sin.

Death entered the world because of sin. When Adam sinned, death came to all human beings. As Paul wrote, “the wage of sin is death” Romans 6:23. One man, Adam, caused sin to enter humans, and so death from sin. And one man, Jesus, brought the promise of the resurrection from the dead. He accomplished this by becoming human, dying, and then rising again.

Someday in God’s new creation, death will be destroyed: “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” I Cor. 15:26. Until then, all human beings will die, but for believers’ death is not to be feared, for it is a gateway to eternal life with God. First century believers were prosecuted for their faith and faced death continually. Like them we must always be ready to die, ready to stand before God, and ready to thank Him for all He has done in giving us salvation.

 

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