According to the Scripture

From the Bible in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, the apostle Paul writes, “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to Scripture, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to Scripture.”

Looking closer at this Scripture, we first see that, “Christ died for our sins according to Scripture.” It’s noteworthy that Paul does not recount the life of Jesus -- the virgin birth in Bethlehem nor His teachings and miracles. Paul focuses directly on the Lord’s death and resurrection.

He doesn’t just say “Christ died” as there’s nothing unusual about someone dying. But what makes the death of Christ striking and special is that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” – a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah as seen in Isaiah 53:12, “He poured out His life unto death.”

Jesus willingly died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. The effectiveness of Jesus’ sacrifice applies to us when we believe in Him, confess our sins and change to live for Him, “... if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

As a second observation of Paul’s words from Scripture, specifically “He was buried,” we note the importance of this fact since Jesus did actually die and was buried.

Then, thirdly, Paul states, “He was raised on the third day according to Scriptures.” Once again Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. Jesus is life and death has no power over Him. His resurrection is the supreme validation of His deity, authenticating His own claim that He would be raised on the third day (Mark 8:31). Furthermore, He was not merely restored to the same mortal life as before; He was resurrected to life in a form of glorified immortality.

The overlying condition that Paul set forth in Corinthians was that “by this Gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly” to the Words of Scripture! It is possible to have a superficial faith, accepting the words of the Gospel, or Good News, but not allow it to change our lives. Paul says, if the Gospel doesn’t affect the way you live, you have “believed in vain.”

According to Scripture, Jesus loves us and gave His life for those who trust in Him so that they can share His triumph over death (1 John 5:11–12). We have assurance that when we believe in and live for Jesus, we will personally experience a resurrection into a glorious eternity with Him when we leave this earth. According to Scripture, Jesus promises, “I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies” (John 11:25).