In 15:1 and 2 Paul says, “Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you as the gospel, unless you believed in vain.” The gospel here is the full gospel, including the teachings concerning Christ and the church, as fully disclosed in the book of Romans (1:1; 16:25). We should stand in the full gospel, that is, in the entire New Testament, not just in certain teachings or doctrines.
In verse 2 “being saved” literally means in the way of salvation (Conybeare). After being justified in Christ and regenerated by the Spirit, we are in the process of being saved in the life of Christ (Rom. 5:10) until we are mature and conformed to Him in full (Rom. 8:29). On the one hand, we have been saved; on the other hand, we are being saved. We have been saved by Christ’s death, but we are still being saved in His resurrection.
In verses 3 and 4 Paul goes on to say, “For I delivered to you, among the first things, that which also I received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” Christ’s death for our sin, His burial for our termination, and His resurrection for our germination with life, according to the prophecies of the Old Testament (Isa. 53:5-8, 10-12; Psa. 22:14-18; Dan. 9:26; Isa. 53:9; Psa. 16:9-10; Hosea 6:2), are the basic items among the first things of the gospel. The last of these items is the most vital in the gospel, for it imparts life to us that we may live Christ. Other items of the full gospel include Christ as the mystery of God, the church as the mystery of Christ, and the New Jerusalem. Actually, the full gospel includes the whole New Testament.
In verses 5 through 11 Paul speaks concerning the witnesses of Christ’s resurrection. Verse 5 says, “And that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.” The Greek word rendered seen also means appeared to. The earlier apostles and disciples were eyewitnesses of Christ’s resurrection (Acts 1:22), and their preaching stressed their testimony to this (Acts 2:32; 4:33). They bore witness to the resurrected Christ not only by their teaching, but also by their living. They lived with Him by His living in resurrection (John 14:19).
In verses 8 and 9 Paul refers to himself: “And last of all He was seen by me also, even as to one untimely born. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” One who persecuted Christ and the church became an apostle.
In verse 10 Paul continues, “But by the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace unto me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” Grace, three times in this verse, is the resurrected Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit (v. 45) to bring the processed God in resurrection into us to be our life and life supply that we may live in resurrection. Thus, grace is the Triune God becoming life and everything to us. It is by this grace that Saul of Tarsus, the foremost of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15-16), became the foremost apostle, laboring more abundantly than all the other apostles. His ministry and living by this grace are an undeniable testimony to Christ’s resurrection.
“Not I, but the grace of God” equals “not I, but Christ” in Galatians 2:20. The grace that motivates the apostle and operates in him is not some matter or some thing, but a living Person, the resurrected Christ, the embodiment of God the Father becoming the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, who dwells in him as his everything.
In verse 10 grace is the Christ who is in resurrection and who is resurrection. By this grace Paul could be what he was and labor more than all the other apostles. When we compare 1 Corinthians 15:10 with Galatians 2:20, we see that grace is not a thing, but a Person. All the disciples and apostles who saw the resurrected Christ not only saw Him objectively, but experienced Him subjectively. Through their seeing of Christ, He entered into them and became the subjective One in them. When the day of Pentecost came, this was the reason they were living, energetic, and operative. The resurrected Christ was in them. Not only was Christ Himself resurrected objectively, but in resurrection He lived in Peter, John, and all the other apostles and disciples.
Throughout the centuries, all the living servants of God have had this resurrected Christ living in them. I can also testify that He lives in me, enabling me to do what I never could do in myself. Hallelujah, the Lord Jesus lives! How do we know He lives? As the hymn says, we know He lives because He lives in us (Hymns, #503). We may be persecuted and opposed, and we may suffer very much. But we have the resurrected Christ in us. The more we are opposed, the more alive and active we become. Nevertheless, our testimony is this: Not I, but the grace of God with us.
© Living Stream Ministry All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.