First Corinthians 15:3
‘Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures…. He was buried and…rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures!… He was seen by above 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present — but some have fallen asleep…. Christ…rose from the dead. Why do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?… If, for this life only, we have hope in Christ — we are the most miserable of all men!’ First Corinthians 15:3-19.
Calvin comments: “‘Christ died’…. He mentions the death of Christ and…His burial…. He was like us in both of them. The same thing applies in regard to resurrection…. He Himself has entered into death along with us, so that we might rise along with Him…. The death and resurrection of Christ were foretold in many passages of Scripture…. In none more clearly than Isaiah 53, Daniel 9:26, and Psalm 22….
“The appearance to ‘more than 500’ took place…. Such a great company had been gathered together at Jerusalem, when He showed Himself visibly to them (Luke 24:33)…. Not only the twelve [Apostles], but also the disciples to whom He had entrusted the task of preaching the Gospel…. Paul now begins to prove the resurrection of all of us, from the resurrection of Christ…. If Christ has risen, then we shall rise!… Christ did not die or rise again for Himself, but for us…. There would otherwise have been no reason or purpose for His rising again!…
“In Adam, we die. Only in Christ, do we gain life again. It follows from that, that His resurrection is the basis of ours. So that if His is taken away, there will be none for us!… Let us…remember that the main foundation of the whole Gospel, is the death and resurrection of Christ!… We must devote special attention to them!…
“‘If in this life only we have hope in Christ, (we are the most miserable of all men)!’… (Then,) we are spending our time and effort in vain when we believe — in view of the fact that the benefit derived from our faith (then) perishes at death!… (Then,) it is even better not to believe at all!… To believe ‘in this life only,’ means here to confine the benefits derived from our faith to this world — so that our faith no longer looks or extends beyond the bounds of this present life…. Resurrection means the completion of our salvation…. The man who says that our resurrection has already taken place — leaves us with nothing better to hope for, after death….
“This verse…gives no support at all to the nonsense of those who imagine that our souls sleep along with our bodies until the Resurrection Day!… Paul was not dreaming of Elysian fields and silly nonsense of that kind!…. He has taken it as an undoubted fact, that Christians direct their hope entirely to the Day of the Last Judgment!”
Calvin also says in his Treatises III:411: “It is indeed a miserable thing to die! O, seven times wretched we — whom Paul declares (First Corinthians 15:19) to be ‘of all men the most miserable’ — if we have confidence in the present life only!”
Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures! But better, He also rose again!
