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The Daily Word of Righteousness
First Corinthians, Fifteen, #5
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; (Ephesians 3:8)
Paul considered himself to be the worst of sinners.
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (I Timothy 1:15)
Here is a good attitude for every one of us to maintain. Salvation is of the Lord, not of us!
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. (I Corinthians 15:10)
God knew of Paul's zeal and diligence in religious matters. God understood that Paul would hold himself before the Lord consistently, seeking the Lord's will at all times. God knew that Paul would pray without ceasing until the message of the Kingdom had been presented accurately and completely.
The grace of God worked through Paul in the preaching of the Kingdom of God until he could say, "I worked harder than any of the other apostles." Is this true of us? Can God trust us with an important work of the Kingdom, knowing that we shall seek the Lord diligently until the work He has assigned to us has been completed?
Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. (I Corinthians 15:11)
What was preached? That Christ died for our sins and that He was raised bodily from the dead. It is time for all true ministers of the Gospel to come before the Lord and ask Him what His attitude is toward the churches of today; what it is that He wants preached.
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? (I Corinthians 15:12)
Perhaps this is the same error referred to by the Apostle John.
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. (I John 4:3)
It may be true that some teachers of the first century were stressing a spiritual Christ, discounting the flesh-and-bone aspect of Christ and of His bodily resurrection.
We have much the same error today. First, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God has turned into the gospel of "go to the spiritual Paradise when you die." Instead of the coming of the Kingdom to the physical earth we have the going of the saints to live forever in the spiritual Heaven.
Second, the emphasis on the ascension to Heaven of the believers has obscured the concept of a bodily resurrection from the dead. The majority of believers who have been taught the any-moment pre-tribulation "rapture" of the believers have little or no concept of the resurrection from the dead.
To be continued.