Lead:

Why is 1 Corinthians 15 an important chapter when making a case for the truth claims of Christianity? More importantly, what is one bedrock idea you can share?

Intro:

Let me start today, and end today, with my own idiocy. And how you can avoid my mistake.

An acquaintance of mine posted a link on Facebook to an article by some ex-Christian spouting off about why you can’t trust the Bible. And I say spouting off because he was lobbing out assertions, not arguments (we must remember that someone making a claim with no evidence is just an assertion). Worse, they were amateurish. BUT somebody in the universe – namely an acquaintance of mine – posted it. This is the importance of what we do here.

I pointed out that there are real scholars who object if he wants real objections, but that Christians don’t just roll over and have no evidence or use of reason. I was kind in my response. I even rewrote it a couple times to make sure it didn’t sound like I was calling my friend an idiot.

What I should have said, though, didn’t occur to me in the moment. Duh.

Today’s All Our Minds segment is going to illuminate why 1 Corinthians 15 is like Christmas! It’s a gift to confidently defending the truth claims of Christianity. And I’m going to hare with you one bedrock thing you can say…that I should have used!

Today’s Bible segment wraps up the book of 1 Corinthians, and Paul takes his argument superpower up a notch. His big point? If the resurrection didn’t happen, we are all idiots and liars. That’s a rather sobering point.

Sponsor:

You! Please consider “liking” our FaceBook page?

Bible:

Passage: 1 Corinthians 15-16
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 82
Words: ~1739

All Our Minds:

The credit for what I’m going to share today goes almost entirely to Gary Habermas and Mike Licona, to scholars who both did their doctoral dissertations on the resurrection. Mike’s dissertation was turned into a book that’s 700 pages, one I had to read in the program I’m in. However, they co-authored a book that’s understandable by mere mortals (affiliate link) and the citation and link are in show notes (forthehope.org, search for #932).

Today I’ll lay out for you three things. An introductory background to what is called the “minimal facts argument” for the historicity of the resurrection and how 1 Corinthians 15 helps one aspect of the case for Christianity. Then I’ll share with you that bedrock statement you can own and share.

The minimal facts argument necessarily also includes skeptical scholarly evidence.

There are four and a half historical facts for the argument — and I say “half” jokingly, but you’ll catch what I mean momentarily. Habermas and Licona use two criteria to meet to be a ‘minimal fact’ (meaning it’s admissible as evidence, like in a court case):

The data are strongly evidenced.
The vast majority of scholars, even skeptical ones, agree.

Now remember, the argument is historical, not theological. Theology may help us assign meaning to the resurrection, but this is about the fact of the resurrection.

Jesus died by crucifixion.
His disciples believed he rose and appeared to them. They spoke about it, wrote about it, and died for it.
Saul, later Paul, was persecuting the church and yet made a sudden and dramatic change of position.
Jesus’ brother James was a skeptic and also suddenly and dramatically changed.
(4.5!) The tomb was empty. This is a ‘half fact’ because, as Habermas reports, only about 75% of scholars, including skeptical ones, agree.

Overall, 1 Corinthians is important because, like surveying the landscape of scholars that includes skeptics and atheists and those with a bone to pic, it’s one of the most widely accepted as authentic and reliable historically. This has to do with the quantity and reliability of manuscripts, and super-important, scholarly acceptance of it being early — meaning the writing happened close to the event, not hundreds of years later.

1 Corinthians corroborates important elements of the minimal facts argument such as the conversion of James.

Not all of these are from 1 Corinthians 15, but you’ll see how it fits into making case.

Gospel writers Mark and John both report that Jesus’ brothers were unbelievers, including James. Mark literally writes that His family thought He was nuts.
The earliest creed is reported by Paul in 1 Co 15 to the church in Corinth. That creed, “Jesus is Lord,” means trust in his sinless life, atoning death, and bodily resurrection. It can be traced back to within 3-6 years of the resurrection event.
And remember how he likes to use rhetorical questions when he’s making an argument. He tells them they know it’s true because they presumably trust these people…Peter and James among them. And then you can go ask most of the other 500 people who were eyewitnesses since most of them are still alive.
In both Galatians and Acts James is identified as a leader in the church.
James later also died as a martyr.

Doing something crazy like dying as a martyr doesn’t prove it’s true, but it demonstrates that they believed it was true. They were eyewitnesses – didn’t just believe someone else’s story, it was their story. They knew it. And Paul knew they had so many other witnesses that he told them to go talk to them. But do you see how, even for ONE aspect of many (James’ conversion as evidence), 1 Corinthians helps make the case? Liars make lame martyrs.

The bottom line

The way that I should have responded in that Facebook post was with a bedrock statement that I want you to own. Again, I heard Gary Habermas say this:

If the resurrection, then Christianity follows.

If the resurrection is true, Christianity is true. Other worldviews are false. As it regards my argument, this precedes an argument for the veracity of the Bible, because even if you wanted to question that, you’ve got to contend with a question of eternal consequence — will you trust Jesus as Lord? And if He is, then His corroboration of the Divine authority of the Old Testament and promising the Divine authority of the New Testament starts to be something you’re going to have to wrestle with. Because if He’s not God, to riff off a CS Lewis argument, He’s a master deceiver, a raving loonie, or a legend in someone’s mind. But if He’s God, then He’s Lord whether you acknowledge it or not.

If the resurrection is actual history, Christianity follows as factually and logically true.

Wisdom:

Passage:
Translation:
Verses:
Words:

Love you!

-R

ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.

Sources and resources:

Thank you for supporting this ministry should you choose to use the Amazon affiliate links below.

(1) Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications), part 2. If you want something with a rocking scholarly foundation but is readable and actionable, this is it.

Not used today, but stuff I like:

J. P. Moreland, “God and the Argument from Mind,” in Christian Apologetics: An Anthology of Primary Sources, ed. Khaldoun A. Sweis and Chad V. Meister (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), 403. (link)

J. P. Moreland, Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), Kindle location 656-657. (link)

The Story of Reality, Greg Koukl — Love this book. A killer intro to the Christian worldview that is philosophically and theologically sound while being accessible to all readers.

How to Read the Bible Book by Book, Fee & Stuart — Just bought this myself (and haven’t read it), but Fee’s book on how to read the Bible for all it’s worth is a mega-best-selling classic.

#932: 1 Corinthians 15-16 | If the resurrection, then...