1 Corinthians 15:1-5
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
Believing the facts of 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 is not having the faith that saves. If that were the case, one could have nothing to do with what Jesus has spoken over the time of his ministry on earth and that is recorded for us in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but we all very much do. The key is here: if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain (v. 2). Is that "word" just the facts listed in verses 3 and 4 of the above passage? Don't ignore the "first of all" in verse 3, which points to the basics of the Christian faith.
But believing for salvation implies "doing" all of what Jesus has sent his disciples to teach to others to do themselves in order to be on the way to eternal life, entering that narrow door and walking on that narrow/constricted path (cf. Matthew 7:13-14, Luke 13:23-24). These are some of Jesus' last words to his apostles:
Matthew 28:19-20
19 Therefore go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey all things that I commanded you. And look, I am with you every day, even to the end of the age.
Faith implies obedience to Jesus' commandments (not the keeping of the Law of Moses given to the Israelites — no need to get into the "not of works" argument). A believer becomes a disciple, a follower of his master Jesus, and that's what a Christian is:
Acts 11:25-26
25 Barnabas went out to Tarsus to look for Saul. 26 When he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. It happened, that for a whole year they were gathered together with the church, and taught many people. The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
You have a choice here to believe that the facts of 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 are all that these disciples were taught. But that's not the case.
Paul himself left a record of what he taught to both Jews and Gentiles. Let's call this one Exhibit A:
Acts 20-20-21
(... you know...) 20 how I did not hold back from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks (Gentiles) 1) repentance toward God, and 2) faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
And this one Exhibit B:
Acts 26:19-21
19 “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. 21 That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me.
Be sure that Paul preached the above to the Corinthians while he was with them:
Acts 18:9-11
9 The Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city." 11 He lived there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
The purpose of his letters to them was to strengthen them and to correct them. There is nothing needing to be corrected if someone just believes what 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 says. But the Christians in Corinth needed to be strengthened on how to walk with God, understanding well what the walk of a believer/disciple is all about, especially in an environment full of false teachers passing as "men of God" (cf. Acts 20:29-31; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15). We are still in that perilous environment today and it is worse!
Notice two key things in what the apostle Paul taught: 1) repentance which is how one gets reconciled to God, forgiven of past sins and given a clean slate with God on the merit of Jesus' blood; and 2) faith in Jesus. Both of these things have been under attack by Satan for 2000 years now. You must be diligent about standing on the truth concerning these things.
Now some words from Jesus:
Luke 6:46
Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?
John 14:15, 21
15 If you love me, keep my commandments.
21 He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
John 12:46-48
46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness. 47 And if anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
//Comment: Jesus' words are not just true facts that He was speaking. He was giving instructions to those who were his disciples who trusted, loved and followed Him faithfully. They followed Him by obeying his word.
48 He who rejects me, and does not accept my words, has one who judges him. The word that I spoke will judge him on the last day.
John 8:31-36
31 Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will be made free?’”
//Comment: This same unbelief is in Christians who do not believe that what they call "salvation" is about being set free from their sins [video link], not just forgiven their past sins up to the point of coming to Jesus and hearing "I forgive you, now go and sin no more" (cf. John 8:11). See Romans 6:16-18 and Acts 3:22-26 also.
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 A slave does not live in the house forever. A son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Now we can have Christians ("believers") who are still in bondage to sin, still not set free by the Son (saved), and believing anything a false teacher will say as a lie on top of a lie.
John 8:12
Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
To follow Jesus is doing something. It's a work of faith. The Bible says this:
"For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26).
Galatians 5:6
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.
A parallel to the above is 1 Corinthians 7:19:
Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God [is what matters].
All throughout the Bible, faith moves people to act in obedience to God (Hebrews 11 gives several examples). It's never about "trusting" in what was done and doing nothing.
James 1:21-25
21 Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be DOERS of the word, and NOT ONLY HEARERS, deluding your own selves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect Law of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this person will be blessed in what he does.
1 John 2:3-4
3 This is how we know that we know Him: if we keep his commandments. 4 One who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1 John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous.
Don't fear to do what God expects you to do as a believer/disciple of Jesus. How do you or do you even have to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12) when your salvation hangs only on believing the facts of 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 and doing nothing? There is nothing to fear about these basic facts ever changing:
* Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures
* He was buried
* He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures
Believers/disciples of Jesus obey Him; believing/having faith in Jesus means obeying Him as One who is trusted, loved, and worthy to be followed to death!
Here is John 3:36 making the parallel clear:
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."
John 3:36 is not a contradiction to John 3:16 that everyone knows:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
Matthew 7:21-29
21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did not we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’ 23 And then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.’* 24 “Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, will be compared to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. 25 And the rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine, and does not do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.” 28 And it happened, when Jesus had finished saying these things, that the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he taught them with authority, and not like their scribes.
* Practicing lawlessness is going on sinning "under grace," in contradiction to Romans 6:1-2, Romans 6:12-15, 1 John 3:6, 1 John 3:9, 1 John 2:29 for instance. It's receiving the grace of God in vain or to no effect. In fact, it's the believing in vain as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:2.
The grace of God is so described:
Titus 2:11-14
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
The above is about the walk of faith that Jesus calls us to. His words are the foundation for that walk of faith. I pray you receive those scriptures for what they say. Repentance itself, as the other side of the coin, is another critical teaching under massive attack.
See also:
