Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Today we wrapped up First Corinthians, which is Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, at least, because there's also the book we're calling Zero Corinthians.

If you're doing our New Testament plan, you just finished your ninth book, and if you're doing the whole Bible, you just finished your 48th book. Congratulations. Paul spends most of chapter 15 driving home the importance of the resurrection, which was a point of debate in the church at Corinth. Some even seem to be on the same train of thought as the Sadducees, who don't believe in the resurrection of anyone.

So Paul lists a bunch of evidence proving that Jesus rose from the dead, including the 500 witnesses, many of whom are still alive at this time.

In other words, Paul is saying, you can go ask them.

He calls Christ's resurrection the most important thing about our faith.

If Jesus didn't have victory over death, we would be hopeless.

But because he did, that hope permeates every area of our lives. But Paul knows it's easy to forget

this with everything that happens in life, so he reminds them that time is the test of what we

truly believe. If God has given us new hearts, then he's given us his spirit, and his spirit reminds us of

the truth, and his spirit seals us for the day of redemption. So if we truly belong to God, we will

persevere in the faith. He will finish what he started in us. But those who only affirmed the

truth without it taking root, like the rocky soil and the thorny soil we read about in Mark 4,

those are the ones who believed in vain. If Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, Paul says,

then much of what he has been doing is lying about God. If Jesus wasn't raised from the dead,

then everyone is still in bondage to sin. If Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, there is no afterlife

and there is no hope.

He points to the hope that Christ resurrection demonstrates. He calls it the first fruits.

This is a nod to Leviticus 23 and the Feast of First Fruits. This is where the priests and the people

praised God for the first harvest of the season because it represented a greater harvest still

ahead. They trusted there was more coming.

The resurrection of Jesus foreshadows the resurrection of all God's kids into eternal life.

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