Sunday: Proclaiming the Resurrection of Christ
Daily Lesson for Sunday 16th of August 2026
Paul begins 1 Corinthians 15:1-58 by focusing on the gospel. He speaks about the gospel: (1) which he preached to the Corinthians; (2) which they received; (3) in which they stood; and (4) by which they were saved (1 Corinthians 15:1-2, NKJV). This opening prepares the reader for what comes next in the chapter and shows how essential Christ’s resurrection is for our salvation (see also Romans 10:9-10). His resurrection is such a vital part of the gospel message that denying it contradicts one’s faith in Christ.
Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Luke 24:44-47, and Romans 1:1-4. What do these passages have in common?
Image © Jim Howard at Goodsalt.com
In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, one can find a summary of Paul’s message. Whether the phrase “according to the Scriptures” refers to particular Old Testament passages or to the Old Testament as a whole doesn’t matter. Jesus’ death and resurrection fulfill God’s promises found in the Old Testament.
Read 1 Corinthians 15:2,11. Why do these verses place the concepts of believing and preaching side by side? What is the relationship between the two?
All who proclaim that Christ is risen must first believe that His resurrection is a historical event. In this case, 1 Corinthians 15:5-8 plays a critical role in the New Testament. This passage provides solid scriptural evidence that Christ was seen by numerous people after His resurrection, many of whom were still alive by the time Paul wrote the letter (1 Corinthians 15:6).
Basically, Paul is saying, Go ask them for yourselves what they saw. That is how confident he was in the reality of Christ’s resurrection.
These people were eyewitnesses. They were what Jesus said they would be, namely, “witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:48).
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What reasons do we have for believing in Christ’s resurrection? Also, what other things, secular or sacred, do we believe even if we haven’t seen them ourselves? |
The proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus is at the heart of the gospel message. However, what reasons do we have to believe this really happened? The Bible provides several key pieces of evidence.
1. The first and foremost is that Jesus was crucified and buried. Without Jesus dying, the proclamation of His resurrection is simply a myth. But the Bible firmly declares that Jesus died and came back to life (Acts 2:23–24, Acts 3:15, Romans 10:9, Luke 24:5–7, Mark 15:37–39, John 19:30–35).
2. The story concerning Christ’s death, burial, resurrection and appearances did not start after His death. It was well cultivated in the Jewish tradition, which Paul passed on to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). Much earlier, this was well written in Scripture (Psalm 16:10, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22).
3. Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection. This was not a fabricated story. They were willing to suffer and die for proclaiming His resurrection. This is the sincerity of their belief in the resurrection.
4. Jesus appeared to Paul after His resurrection. This is particularly important because he was not part of the 12 disciples, and he was initially hostile to the Christian movement. Now willing to suffer and die for Christ’s sake provides evidence for his total conviction of Jesus’s resurrection.
5. Jesus appeared to James (His brother), who once did not believe in Jesus. Something very profound must have happened to change the mind of a sceptical family member into an ardent follower. It is fair to hypothesise that what sparked his conversion was Jesus’ resurrection. He was never a follower while Jesus was alive.
6. The empty tomb adds credible evidence to Jesus’s resurrection. Jesus is God. The tomb has no power to hold the Son of God among the dead. He has the keys of death and hades. “I am the living one. I died, but look, I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.” (Revelation 1:18, NLT).
The resurrection of Jesus is not a mere historical event to reflect upon. Jesus is alive today. Jesus is a living God. “Since I live, you also will live” (John 14:19, NLT).
A dead God knows nothing, hears nothing and feels nothing about the concerns of the living. But our Jesus is alive, and He is coming soon to take us home.
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” (John 14:1-3, NLT).
I love Paul’s rationale in this passage:
This is not a forensic defence of the resurrection but a powerful description of why he is what he is. Paul nails it! “I don’t deserve to be included”. Paul’s defence for his ministry is that he had a personal encounter with the resurrected Jesus. And it is a reminder to those of us who live in the twenty first century that we need a personal encounter with Jesus. It may not be as dramatic as Paul’s encounter, but it should be an axiom changing experience, even for those of us who regard ourselves as Christian.
Resurrection occurred ten times in the Bible as a demonstration of the power of Jesus over death:
From The Old Testament:
1. Son of a Widow in Zarephath.
The first person the Bible records as raised from the dead is the son of a widow in Zarephath by Elijah. (1 King 17:17-24).
2. Shunammite Woman’s Son
Elisha, also raised the boy from the dead. (2 Kings 4:18–37).
3. An Unnamed Man
In one of the more bizarre resurrections, a dead man’s body is hastily thrown into Elisha’s tomb. When the dead body touches Elisha’s bones, it comes to life and stands up, very much alive (2 Kings 13:20–21).
From the New Testament:
4. Son of a Widow from Nain
Jesus commands the dead boy’s body to get up. The corpse sits up and talks (Luke 7:11–17).
5. Jairus’s Daughter
Jesus resurrected Jairus daughter (Luke 8:40–56).
6. Lazarus
Jesus commands Lazarus to come out. Lazarus does (John 11:1–44).
7. Many Holy People in Jerusalem
When Jesus dies, the curtain in the temple rips in half, the earth quakes, and tombs crack open. The bodies of many holy people buried in the cemetery come to life. They experienced resurrection. (Matthew 27:50–53).
8. Jesus
The most significant is Jesus’s resurrection from the dead (Matthew 28:1–10, Mark 16:1–7, Luke 24:1–49, and John 20:1–29).
9. Tabitha/Dorcas
In the early church, Peter also raised Tabitha from the dead. (Acts 9:36–42).
10. Eutychus
Paul raises Eutychus from the dead. (Acts 20:7–12).
Every resurrection by the power of Jesus, how could He, the Resurrection and Life not conquer death and emerge victorious from the grave?
To the Jews and Gentiles I rather refer them to their brothers and neighbors to confirm that the One that resurrected them from death cannot be bound in the grave,
Resurrection is our advantage over other religions and whether you believe Christ resurrected or not, He now has the power to conquer death and the devil and none can do anything about it.
Hebrews 2:14-15 (KJV) Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Isaiah 25:8-9 (KJV) He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.
And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Thank you for organizing this for us.
If Christ is not risen, then Christian preaching and faith are empty, believers would remain in their sins, dead believers have perished, and Christians are of all people the most pitiable.
However, His resurrection guarantees eternal life to those who accept His gift of salvation by faith!!!
Death remains a vicious, cold-hearted tyrant. Every culture and people have had lavish laments for the destruction brought about by death. “Sin reigned in death,” Death is a tyrannical emperor that has reigned. Death, even in the days of Christ, just like in our days, walked and has continued walking with cruel and bloody boots through the pages of human history, and not a single nation is exempt from death’s tyranny. It is for this reason there is no religion in the world for which history is so important as Christianity, for it is in Christianity where the proclamation of resurrection matters most. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” Without the proclamation of resurrection and, by extension, Christ rising from the dead, we could all be wasting our time in church. But we thank God because Christ has been raised, the first fruit from the dead.
It is important to note that the proclamation of Christ’s resurrection happened in an era when a testimony of women was not sought in any court of law. As a matter of fact, the disciples’ response was with incredulity about the women’s reports in Luke 24:9-11: “When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James and the others with them who told this to the Apostles.” Luke 24:11, “But they did not believe the women because their words seemed to them like nonsense.” This particular information needed most likely to be entrusted with men as per the culture of the day. But God made it plain that he wanted women, along with men, testifying to the truth of the Gospel to the ends of time and to the ends of the earth.
Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death,” and only by the payment of a death penalty can we be forgiven and reconciled to a holy God. Just as death messed with people’s emotions on that first day of the week, Jesus had this to say to them: “‘How foolish you are, how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did not the Christ have to suffer these things. And after that enter into his glory and beginning with Moses and the prophets, all the prophets.’” He changed their emotions by explaining to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. Later they said, “‘Were not our hearts burning within us when he opened the Scriptures to us.’” —Luke 24:25-27. Indeed, the proclamation of the resurrection changed everything forever!
As much as the resurrection glorifies Jesus as our redeemer, it glorifies him as our creator as well. For God to re-create us as the same persons with new bodies from dust and breathing into us the breath of life is like a re-inactment of Adam being formed from the dust of the ground.
Jesus gave his disciples and the Pharisees fair warning that he would rise again on the third day. They all missed, or misinterpreted it. Even after the women brought back a report of an empty tomb they didn’t consider the possibility. In their mind the only plausible explanation was that someone had moved or stolen the body. The Bible records Jesus raising three specific people from the dead during his earthly ministry: the daughter of Jairus, the widow’s son in Nain, and his friend Lazarus. How is it possible that those who had witnessed Jesus’s miraculous deeds, even raising people from the dead failed to consider the possibility that he was resurrected?
Sometimes our own preconceived ideas can get in the way. It even startled the disciples when Jesus walked through the wall and appeared to them. They seemed to not believe even then. Jesus had to calm their fears and assure them that it was indeed himself. I think that within each of us is a bit of “doubting Thomas” theology. Yet Jesus pronounces a blessing upon those that don’t need to physically see the evidence to believe. (John 20:29)
As I mentioned yesterday, there is no power in a dead Savior. We often mention that Jesus died for our sins, and that is true, but we forget to complete the thought that on the third day he rose up from the dead.
The risen Christ has radically transformed, and is transforming my life. A memory can’t do that. The eye of faith sees things that no one else can see. “You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart.”
He Lives, hymn #251, sing it like you believe it!
[Moderaator: ChatGPT Translated from Portuguese]
Not believing that we will be resurrected is to deny the entire process of salvation. Believing in the immortality of the soul? It depends on what the disbelief in the resurrection is based on.
We die and in order to live eternally we need an immortal, incorruptible body, or we would not endure eternity. Our body is mortal. Even those who are alive at the moment of Jesus’ return will not be physically prepared for eternal life.
We will receive eternal life in the physical body as well.
How can we live eternally if we are not resurrected?
Will Adam and Eve not be resurrected? Moses was the first to be resurrected, even before Jesus. He appeared with Elijah at the transfiguration with Jesus.
After the resurrection, Jesus remained here for another forty days.
There is no room for doubt; the resurrection is a reality because Jesus resurrected some people before being resurrected.Oi…
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Não acreditar que ressuscitamos é negar todo o processo de salvação. Acreditar na imortalidade da alma? Depende no que se baseia a descrença da ressurreição.
Nós morremos e para vivermos eternamente precisamos de um corpo imortal, incorruptível, ou não suportaríamos a eternidade. Nosso corpo é mortal. Nem os que estiverem vivos momento da volta de Jesus, estarão preparados fisicamente para a vida eterna.
Receberemos a vida eterna no corpo físico também.
Como viver eternamente se não ressussitarmos?
Adão e Eva não ressussitarão? Moisés foi o primeiro a ser ressussitado, antes mesmo de Jesus. Apareceu com Elias na transfiguração com Jesus.
Depois da ressurreição Jesus ficou aqui ainda mais quarenta dias.
Não há espaço para dúvidas, a ressurreição é uma realidade porque Jesus ressuscitou algumas pessoas antes de ressuscitar.
Hi people. Resurrection hope I leaned as a child from Charlotte Bronte.. courtesy birthday gift from parents. Jane Eyre records..letter from st john missionary to india…my master..he says has forwarned me. Daily he announces more distinctly…surely I come quickly! And hourly I eagerly respond..amen..even so come lord Jesus! Reneanne
Question,
(1)Why not today were are not given the power of raising the dead like the past were doing (2) or God liked the past than us now
We believers (adventists and Sunday keepers) have no problems with scriptural proofs of Jesus’ resurrection, but the secular people .Do we have outside bible poof beyond reasonable doubt that Jesus resurrected? Secular are the highly educated who do not believe in biblical information ,they push away the bible describing it as myth and irrelevant,then what about the Muslims,Atheists,Budhists who equally have the disdain of the scriptures,even israel the epicentre of resurrection are sceptical! So how do we help these ones.
Look up Christian Apologetics. There is plenty of evidence that Jesus rose from the dead, but there is nothing that will convince anyone “beyond a reasonable doubt.” “Besides, a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”
God doesn’t force Himself on anyone, not even with irrefutable evidence. There will always be hooks on which those who don’t want to believe may hang their doubts. It requires a willingness to submit to the Spirit of God to truly believe.
For that matter, Satan and his demons KNOW for absolute certainty that Christ rose from the dea, but that knowledge does them no good. They lost the willingness to submit to God thousands of years ago, and God will not force them to submit.
Probably the best evidence is the body of genuine believers in this world and, particularly, all those who have died for their faith in Jesus.
Christians today are not as pure as christians of the early church that’s why God hasn’t given them full power to do miracles (Great Controversy by Ellen G white chapter 2 last paragraph.) The church should seriously repent of all sins then God’s power will be poured out freely, and mighty miracles will be done than ever before.