Commentary on 1 Corinthians
Chapter 15. Resurrection
Lecture 1. Testimony to Christ
15:1 Now I make known unto you, brethren, the Gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received and wherein you stand. [n. 889]
15:2 By which also you are saved, if you hold fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain.
15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received: how Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures: [n. 893]
15:4 And because he was buried: and that he rose on the third day according to the Scriptures: [n. 896]
15:5 And because he was seen by Cephas, and after that by the eleven. [n. 898]
15:6 Then he was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once: of whom many remain until this present, and some are fallen asleep. [n. 901]
15:7 Then he was seen by James: then by all the apostles. [n. 902]
15:8 But last of all, he was seen also by me, as by one born out of due time. [n. 903]
15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, [n. 905] because I persecuted the Church of God. [n. 907]
15:10 But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace in me has not been void: but I have labored more abundantly than all they. Yet not I, but the grace of God with me: [n. 908]
15:11 For whether I or they, so we preach: and so you have believed. [n. 910]
888. After instructing the Corinthians about the sacrament and about the reality contained and signified in the sacraments, namely, grace and its effects, the Apostle now instructs them about a reality not contained but signified in the sacraments, namely, the glory of the resurrection, which is not contained in a sacrament, since the one who receives the sacrament does not obtain it at once, but the glory of the resurrection is signified in them, inasmuch as the grace is conferred in them by which beatitude is reached.
In regard to the first he does two things: first, he prefaces a tract on the resurrection; second, with this he proves the general resurrection of all men, at now if Christ be preached (1 Cor 15:12).
In regard to the first he does two things: first, he commends the Gospel’s doctrine; second, he declares what should be known about the resurrection of Christ, for I delivered unto you.
889. He commends the eminence of the Gospel’s doctrine as to four things:
first, as to the authority of the preachers, because they are apostles. And this is what he says: brethren, connecting himself to what went before, I make known unto you the Gospel, which is the same as good news, which begins with Christ. Hence, whatever pertains to Christ or concerns Christ is called a Gospel. Which I preached to you; as if to say: what I have preached to you about Christ I make known to you, i.e., I recall it to memory, as though the things I write are not new: to write the same things to you is not irksome to me (Phil 3:1).
And in this appears the authority of this doctrine, because it is from Christ, from Paul and from the other apostles: it was declared at first by the Lord and was attested to us (Heb 2:3).
890. Second, as to the common faith of all people; therefore, he says: which also you have received, all of you.
But Augustine says that this pertains to the evidence of this faith, using this argument: for believing things of faith, miracles are either performed or not. But if miracles are performed, I have my point, that they are most worthy and most certain. If none is performed, this is the greatest of all miracles, that by a certain few an infinite multitude of men were converted to the faith, rich men by poor men preaching poverty; by men of one language preaching things that surpass reason, wise men and philosophers have been converted: their voice goes out through all the earth (Ps 19:4).
But if it is objected that even the law of Mohammed has been received by many, the answer is that the cases are not alike, because he subjugated them by oppressing them and by force of arms, but the apostles by dying brought others to the faith, and by working signs and prodigies. For he proposed things which pertain to pleasure and lasciviousness, but Christ and the apostles contempt for earthly things: when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you received it. . . as the word of God (1 Thess 2:13).
891. Third, as to its strength, because it confirms and elevates to heavenly things. Therefore, he says: wherein you stand, namely, elevated to heavenly things. For he is said to stand who is erect and this the law of Christ alone does: justified by faith, we have access to that grace in which we stand (Rom 5:1). For the old law made one stand, but it curved one to earthly things: the eye of Jacob in a land of grain and wine (Deut 33:28).
892. Fourth, as to usefulness, because the new law alone leads to the end of salvation, but not the old law: the law brought no one to perfection (Heb 7:19). And therefore he says: by which also you are saved. Here already from the certitude of hope through the beginning, which is our faith, you are saved and in the future in the truth of the reality: receive with meekness the implanted word which can save your souls (Jas 1:21); but these things are written that you may believe and that believing you may have life (John 20:31).
Here he lays down two conditions, the first is when he says: if you hold fast. A Gloss explains it this way: if you hold to the reason why I preached that Gospel to you, i.e., the resurrection of the dead, by that reason by which I confirmed it to you, i.e., by the resurrection of Christ. In other words: you will be saved provided you hold, i.e., preserve the reason why I preached the Gospel of Christ to you.
He presents the second condition when he says: unless you have believed in vain. As if to say: you will be saved through faith, if you have not believed in vain, i.e., if good works are added to faith, because faith without works is dead (Jas 2:26). For that is said to be in vain which exists for an end which it does not attain. But the end of faith is the vision of God. Hence, if you are not saved, you have believed in vain, not absolutely but inasmuch as it does not attain the end. In other words: if you hold fast. As if to say: you should hold it fast, unless you would believe in vain.
893. For I delivered unto you. Here he clarifies his proposition.
In regard to this he does three things:
first, he shows the origin of the doctrine about the resurrection of Christ; second, he shows what things are contained in such a doctrine, at how Christ died for our sins; third, the agreement of preachers on this doctrine, at for whether I or they.
894. First, therefore, he says: you should hold fast to that, i.e., keep in your memory what I delivered unto you first of all, and still deliver.
Hence he says first of all, i.e., is among the things which should most primarily be believed, namely, the Trinity and the Incarnation. And first man should believe in what pertains to faith in the Incarnation, and then in what pertains to the Trinity. Hence, unto you first of all I delivered, namely, things concerning the Incarnation, and these are not from me or on my authority, but which I also received from Christ or from the Holy Spirit: Paul, an apostle (Gal 1:1); for I received from the Lord Jesus (1 Cor 11:23); what I have heard from the Lord of hosts (Isa 21:10).
895. The things he received and delivered are four, namely, the death, burial, resurrection, and appearance of Christ.
Therefore, he says: I have delivered to you, first of all, the death of Christ; hence he says, how Christ died. In these words he removes two suspicions, which can arise about the death of Christ. The first is that he died for his own actual sins, or original sin. This he excludes when he says: for our sins, not his: he was stricken for the transgressions of my people (Isa 53:8); Christ died once and for all for our sins, the just for the unjust (1 Pet 3:18).
The other suspicion is that the death of Christ was by chance or by the violence of the Jews. This he excludes when he says: according to the Scriptures: like a lamb he was led away to the slaughter (Isa 53:7); I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter (Jer 11:19); behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests (Matt 20:18).
896. I delivered to you, second, the burial of Christ; therefore he says: that he was buried.
But is the burial a special article of faith, because he makes special mention of it?
The answer is that according to those who number the articles according to the things to be believed, it is not a special article of faith but is included in the article of the passion and death of Christ. The reason for this is that faith is concerned with things that are above reason. Hence, an article of faith begins where reason falls short. But the first is that the Lord was conceived and, therefore, the conception is an article of faith; the second is that God was born of a virgin and, therefore, this is another. The third is that God, incapable of suffering, suffers and dies, and this is another, and along with this is also understood the burial. Hence, it is not a special article.
But the Apostle mentions the burial for three reasons: first, to show the truth of Christ’s death. For the evident sign of one’s death is burial. Second, to show the truth of the resurrection, because if he had not been buried, guards would not have been placed at the grave on these days, nor could they say that the disciples had stolen his body. Third, because the Apostle wants to induce them to believe in the resurrection, and this seems more difficult, that a buried person should arise: and his tomb shall be glorious (Isa 11:10); they made his grave with the wicked (Isa 53:9).
897. I also delivered to you the resurrection, that he rose on the third day: after two days he will revive us (Hos 6:2). He says, on the third day, not because they were three full days, but two nights and one day, by synechdoche. And the reason for this, as Augustine says, was that God by his simple death, which is signified by one day, i.e., by the evil of punishment, destroyed our double, i.e., punishment and guilt, which is signified by the two nights.