Easter: Why the Resurrection Must Be Real

by Krisan Marotta | Apr 5, 2023 | 01 Podcasts, Corinthians

In this Easter episode of Wednesday in the Word, Krisan Marotta walks through 1 Corinthians 15 to make the case that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a inspiring idea or a helpful metaphor. It is a historical fact, and that distinction changes everything.

Key Takeaways:

Paul's gospel is grounded in verifiable, historical events that hundreds of people witnessed firsthand.
If the resurrection did not happen, the entire gospel collapses and believers are, in Paul's own words, "of all people most to be pitied."
The forgiveness of sins is directly tied to the resurrection. Without it, there is no atonement.
Believing something that isn't true has no value, no matter how good it makes you feel.
Easter is a celebration of something that actually happened, and the fact that it happened is what gives Christians real hope.

The Potluck Nobody Eats

Imagine showing up to your church's Easter potluck and hearing this announcement:

"Thank you for bringing such wonderful food to the celebration today. We realize the true meaning of your contribution is the thought and effort that everyone put into their cooking, and the true significance of this potluck is the opportunity we have to fellowship with each other and celebrate our church community. Since the real significance of the food is the thought behind it, instead of eating today, we will parade by the tables in single file and admire the food appreciatively. Feel free to snap a few photos on your phone and share them to your social media account. We want everyone to remember how good the food looked and how abundantly everyone provided, but no touching and no eating."

Ridiculous, right? Of course the significance of food is eating it. Not the idea of it, and certainly not looking at it.

Now, it is true that when someone gives you a gift you don't really want or need, it helps to remember that the thought counts. The intention behind a gift matters. But there is a category of things where the difference between the idea and the reality is significant. Whether or not there is food on the table is the difference between being full and going hungry. The idea of food does not fill an empty stomach.

The same logic applies to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel Paul Preached

On Easter, Christians celebrate the resurrection. The Bible tells us that Jesus was crucified, that his body was buried in a tomb, that the tomb was sealed, and that on the third day the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty because God had raised Jesus from the dead.

It is useless to say, "The resurrection is a beautiful idea. It gives me hope to think about a concept as wonderful as coming back from the dead, regardless of whether it's true."

Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 15 is that the historical fact of the resurrection is the whole point. It makes a real difference that it actually happened.

Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to a congregation in Corinth that considered itself sophisticated and enlightened. These were people who thought the physical resurrection of the body was a silly, old-fashioned notion. They were too modern and too cultured for it. So Paul responds by going back to the gospel he originally preached to them, the one they accepted and still claimed to believe.

¹Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ²and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. ³For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. -1Corinthians 15:1-5

Paul calls this the part of first importance. Christ died for our sins. Christ was raised on the third day. Both halves of that statement matter.

Why Christ Died for Our Sins

The phrase "Christ died for our sins" is familiar language in many churches. Unfortunately, it is not spoken of in all of them. Many American Christians today find the cross offensive and prefer to talk about God's love while quietly setting the cross aside. But Paul insists here that Christ dying for our sins is central to the gospel.

One of the core ideas of the gospel is that we are sinners who need a savior. We are not the people we should be. We don't love others like we should, we make wrong choices, we are selfish, thoughtless, and sometimes cruel. We stand in rebellion against God.

Sin is not just an unfortunate circumstance that makes life unpleasant. Sin is wrong. We have broken God's law and we stand guilty before him. We will be judged by our creator, and he will condemn us unless someone pleads for mercy on our behalf. That someone is Jesus Christ.

Many people saw Jesus die. They took his body down from the cross and buried it in a tomb, and his body lay dead there for three days. Then, just as the Scriptures had predicted, God raised him from the dead on the third day.

The Eyewitnesses

Paul does not simply ask his readers to take this on faith without evidence. He points to the people who saw it happen.

³For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. -1Corinthians 15:3-8

Paul does not list every encounter with the risen Jesus. He is not trying to be exhaustive. He is making the point that many people saw Jesus alive in a physical body after many people had already seen him dead and buried.

It is also worth noting when Paul wrote this. He wrote 1 Corinthians approximately 20 years after the resurrection. If someone today started questioning an event from 20 years ago, plenty of people would say, "Wait a minute. I was there. I saw it. I remember it."

That is exactly the situation Paul is writing into. The resurrection was still recent history. Many people who were alive when it happened were still alive as he wrote. They remembered it. Paul is not constructing an argument for skeptics here. He is reminding believers of what they already know to be true, facts that were still within living memory.

Paul Counts Himself the Least

After laying out the witnesses, Paul turns to his own credibility:

⁹For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not 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. ¹¹Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. -1Corinthians 15:9-11

Paul is transparent about his past. None of the other apostles started out trying to kill followers of Jesus. Paul did. He says plainly that if God gave him what he deserved, he would be guilty and condemned. He does not deserve to be an apostle. It is only by grace that he was given that role at all.

But here is his point. Even if you think Paul is the least credible of the apostles, it does not matter. He and the other eleven preached the same gospel. They all witnessed the same risen Lord. They all tell the same story. Jesus died, Jesus was buried, and God made him alive again. And he says to the Corinthians: that is the story you believed when I preached among you and you said you wanted to follow Jesus.

If the Resurrection Did Not Happen

This is where Paul's argument sharpens. He addresses head-on what it would mean if the Corinthians were right to dismiss the resurrection.

¹²Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. -1Corinthians 15:12-15

The gospel is about a person. It is about Jesus of Nazareth, a real historical man who lived, taught, died, was buried, and was raised. But if you reject the idea that human beings can be raised from the dead, you have pulled the ground out from under the whole story. If resurrection is impossible, then Jesus was not raised either. And if Jesus was not raised, then all the apostolic preaching is empty. There is nothing to hope for. The whole thing falls apart.

Paul keeps going in verses 16 through 19:

¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. ¹⁸Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. ²⁰But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. -1Corinthians 15:16-20

Notice what Paul ties together here. The resurrection is the foundation for the forgiveness of sins. If Christ was not raised, then he was not the Messiah, and his death did not atone for anyone. Everyone is still guilty. Everyone will still be condemned on judgment day.

But when God raised Jesus from the dead, it proved that the sacrifice worked. God demonstrated his acceptance of Jesus' death as payment for sin. The resurrection is the receipt. It is God's public declaration that yes, this man is the Messiah, and I accept his sacrifice on your behalf. Without the resurrection, there is no atonement, and the dead stay dead.

The Gospel Is Not "Whatever Works for You"

Paul does not leave room for a soft middle ground here. He is not saying, "Well, the resurrection is a lovely symbol, and if it gives you comfort, that's enough." He is saying the opposite.

If the resurrection did not happen and we have given our lives to this story, we are to be pitied. We will have spent our lives hoping for a promise that will never come. We will have chased a lie.

There is no value in believing a religion that makes you feel good but is not true.

Paul is not arguing, "My life is better because I'm a believer, so it doesn't really matter whether the gospel is true. I like my church community and this makes me happy, so I'll keep believing it." That is not his attitude at all. He says investing yourself in a story that is not true is foolish. People who do that deserve pity, not praise.

We invest in the gospel because it is true. We are looking for real salvation from real sins. The gospel says we will find that salvation in the blood of Christ, and part of the reason we know this is true is that God raised Jesus from the dead.

What Easter Actually Celebrates

Easter is a celebration of something that happened. A real person lived, died, was buried, and was raised. Hundreds of people saw him. Many of them were still alive and talking about it when Paul wrote his letter.

When we say that God loves us, we are saying more than how God feels. It is a comforting thought to imagine a powerful being who feels kindly toward us. But the Christian claim is bigger than that. Our God did not just feel love toward us. He demonstrated it. He took concrete action. He sent his Son to die in our place and pay the penalty for our sins. Then he raised Jesus from the dead to show that it worked.

That is what Easter is. Not an idea to appreciate from a distance. Not a beautiful concept to photograph and post. A real event, with real consequences, that gives real hope to people who know they need saving.