This Sunday we continue our series called The Body of Christ: Learning & Re-Learning How to Be a Christian. We started at the beginning with the Baptism of Jesus, and have spent several weeks on Paul’s understanding of the Body of Christ and remembering our call to love.
This week, the text invites us to go back to where we started. Paul suggests we start at the very beginning of our spiritual lives. In this way, we can reclaim our initial acceptance of the faith, when we first said yes to Jesus. Do you remember when you first heard this amazing, good news, heard it in a way that changed your life? Hold on to that moment, Paul says.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (CEB)
1 Brothers and sisters, I want to call your attention to the good news that I preached to you, which you also received and in which you stand. 2 You are being saved through it if you hold on to the message I preached to you, unless somehow you believed it for nothing. 3 I passed on to you as most important what I also received: Christ died for our sins in line with the scriptures, 4 he was buried, and he rose on the third day in line with the scriptures. 5 He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve, 6 and then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at once—most of them are still alive to this day, though some have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me, as if I were born at the wrong time. 9 I’m the least important of the apostles. I don’t deserve to be called an apostle, because I harassed God’s church. 10 I am what I am by God’s grace, and God’s grace hasn’t been for nothing. In fact, I have worked harder than all the others—that is, it wasn’t me but the grace of God that is with me. 11 So then, whether you heard the message from me or them, this is what we preach and this is what you have believed.
Consider these questions:
- Paul reminds his readers “of the good news” that he proclaimed to them. How do you define “good news?” What makes it good? What does Paul say in this passage about how he understands the “good news”?
- Christians often speak about when they were “saved” or having been “saved.” Here Paul notes that we “are being saved.” Why is the way Paul puts it so important? Is this a change for you? If so, is it significant? Why or why not?
- What might be the significance of Paul noting he is the “least of the apostles” (v. 9)?
- How many times does Paul use the word “grace” in verse 10? How is God’s grace the source of empowerment and Paul’s credential for being an apostle?