What is so important about the Resurrection? - 1 Corinthians 15

In this episode, we dive into one of the most foundational truths of the Christian faith—the resurrection of Jesus Christ—through the powerful words of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Why does the resurrection matter so much? What does it mean for our faith, our hope, and our future?

The apostle Paul makes it clear: if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is empty and our faith is meaningless. But because He has risen, everything changes. The resurrection isn’t just a moment in history—it’s the victory over sin, death, and the grave, and the promise of new life for all who believe.

Join us as we unpack the truth, the hope, and the life-altering significance of the resurrection—and why it still matters today.

Transcript

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What is up everyone? Welcome back to the kitchen and welcome back to Conversations in the Kitchen. Um I'm your chef Corbin Cook and it has been a while since I've last posted an episode. Life has gone busy. I was on a mission trip in the Bahamas as of recent. It was a very great trip. Uh truly just incredible being able to reach out to the students and people of the Bahamas and just reach out for their spiritual needs. Truly just a blessing to also be able to preach the word down there. Um it was great. Might do a podcast episode in the future about that. Who knows? But today's episode, in light of it being Resurrection Sunday, today's topic is what is so important about the resurrection. And I will be dragging a bunch of my information, a bunch of the topic in this episode from 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul talks about the resurrection of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and Jesus as the first fruit of the resurrection. Now, Paul talks about this to the Corinthian church. I'll get more into detail why that is important surrounding the context of this, but to talk about the resurrection, the resurrection is the event where Jesus was risen from the dead. It is one of the most important events, not what not one of it is the most important event in human history for both humans and for believers. Now, this is a very this is the foundation of all Christian doctrine. This is the foundation of our faith. If you do not believe Jesus rose from the dead, you cannot call yourself a Christian. Now we all know at the end of Matthew, Jesus gives the Great Commission, and Jesus tells his disciples that he will leave his spirit with them. This is an important detail because in Acts 2 we see that Peter gave the first spirit-filled sermon, this first excuse me, first spirit-empowered sermon. And after that sermon was given, 3,000 people were baptized. And since then, there has been an estimate of 2.3 to 2.6 billion people professing their faith in Christ. Isn't that just a beautiful and crazy thing to think about? Billions of people believe the message of John 3 16 so that they would not receive the death they deserve, but receive the life they don't deserve. Now, Paul's first section in 1 Corinthians 15, it talks about the resurrection of Christ. There are a few things I want to note from this small section. Paul repeats the phrase according to the scriptures. This is showing that Jesus was prophesied and planned about multiple times in the Old Testament. The plans for his death were described in passages such as Psalms 22 and Isaiah 53, Isaiah 53 being one of the biggest prophetic chapters in the Bible. It is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible just because of the prophecy of Jesus, and I could go a lot more detail into it, but it's gonna be kind of sidetracking away from the main topic of today. Could be video for the future. But the plans for Jesus' resurrection are mentioned in verses such as Hosea 6:2, Jonah 1.17, Psalm 16.10, and merely mentioned in Genesis 22. The thing is, the Old Testament had no sure understanding understanding of the resurrection, they didn't understand what it would actually entail, what it looked like, but they knew that there would be a perfect sacrifice to bear the sin of the world. In verse 5 here of 1 Corinthians 15, it mentions that Jesus was crucified in front of 500 people, most of whom, most of whom were still living. There were 500 eyewitnesses to the crucifixion of Jesus, and Jesus was resurrected, and many of the people who saw him crucified saw his body when he was walking around town post-resurrection. The resurrection that happens here is physical. That'll be important for later. Now the Corinthian church believed in the resurrection, just not our resurrection. This is why Paul was going in depth with the explanation of the resurrection. They believed that we lived forever, but not in resurrected bodies. They were affected, most likely, by Greek philosophers and the Sadducees. Now, the resurrection, as of we as of what we know, the resurrection is the continuation of life after death in glorified bodies. Our spirits go up, and when Jesus returns, our heavenly bodies are made up. We see Jesus' spirit went up when he died, mentioned in Luke 23, 46 and John 19.30. But we're not talking about the spiritual aspect of the resurrection, neither is Paul. Paul is talking about the physical resurrection of Jesus. This principle of physical resurrection is where Paul does put a lot of his attention within this text. Now, the Corinthian church denied the reality of a resurrection while believing in a resurrected Jesus. So that is why Paul asks, how can some of you say that there was no resurrection of the dead? Paul explains it as so through, points as such. Now, and we truly look at it, if Jesus was never resurrected, resurrected, Paul then goes into detail here that our preaching is useless, and so is our faith, and we are then found to be false witnesses about God. We can follow this sort of logic within these points. If there is no principle of the resurrection, then Jesus did not rise from the dead. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then death has power over him and has defeated him. If death has power over Jesus, he is not God. If Jesus is not God, he cannot complete the sacrifice for our sins. If Jesus cannot offer a perfect sacrifice, then our sins are not completely paid for. If my sin isn't paid for, if our sin isn't paid for, then we are still in our sin. If Jesus is not risen, he is not able to save. Paul teaches through Romans these few different things. The divinity of Jesus rests on the resurrection, his sovereignty rests on the resurrection, and then justification rests on the resurrection, and ultimate resurrection rests on the resurrection. The points in order, as I just said, you can find the divinity in Romans 1.4, sovereignty in Romans 14. Justification in Romans 4.25, and ultimate resurrection in Romans 8.11. Separate idea. Peter mentions it in 1 Peter 1. We have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He goes in it, he goes before this talking about how we are chosen and we are exiles. We are chosen to be exiled from the world we live in today, but we are exiles chosen to inherit the kingdom. And that is our living hope as Christians, that we will no longer be exiles when Jesus returns. Paul talks about the idea of being of Jesus being the first fruit of the resurrection. What does this mean? First fruits is the Greek word, please forgive me if I slander this, apart. In the Septuagint, this word is used for the offering of the first fruits, and in the secular usage, the word was used for an entrance feed. In Leviticus 23, the offering of firstfruits brought one sheaf of grain to represent and anticipate the rest of the harvest. And as it says in Romans 6, for if we have been united with him in a death like this, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Paul refers to Jesus' 1,000-year reign mentioned in Revelation 20 here in verse 27. Which reads, For he has put everything under his feet. Now, when it says that everything has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God Himself, who put everything under Christ. In the Old Testament, the phrase under his feet refers to total conquest. And it goes on to mention that Jesus will be subject to the Father in verse 28. Now Jesus is not going to be superior to the Father. People will use this verse to deny the deity of Jesus. But here's the thing: in the administrative order of the Godhead, Jesus is to be subject to the Father. For the Son is always in submission to a Father. The Son will not be greater than the Father. Now, Jesus has the same power as God. As then, as the triune God is the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. But in the administrative Godhead, the Son is still in submission to the Father, even if they're of equal power. Paul goes on to mention in verse 29, now if there is no resurrection, what will those do? What will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? Paul is calling out a pagan custom, which is the baptism of the dead. Why does Paul mention this? He is trying to further prove his point that there is a resurrection from the dead. Now, 1 Corinthians 15 33, it is pretty well quoted, I would say. I quote it personally too in my life. But looking at the context behind this, we can see that Paul's calling out the Corinthian church for hanging around these Greek philosophers, Jews, and Sadducees. The Corinthian church was doing the opposite of Romans 12.2, and they were hanging around bad company, they were conforming themselves to the patterns of the world instead of transforming their minds to what Jesus has for them. Now, we have no clue what our resurrection bodies will look like. We truly don't. But in verses 42 through 44, Paul gives us some contrast to help us with this. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead? The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. Imperishable is greater than the perishable. The glory is greater than the dishonor. Power is greater than weakness, and the spiritual is greater than natural. In Luke 24, we see that the resurrection body of Jesus was material and could eat, yet it was not bound by laws of nature. And this goes on to what I mentioned earlier about the seeds. We are seeds that will eventually grow into our resurrection bodies. To seed our seed as we are, we are fit for the environment of the world. We are fit to grow, we're fit to grow in the conditions of what the world is. But when it is time to harvest this seed, when it's time to harvest, we will be prepared for the future environment that is to come ahead of us, which is heaven. I'm not thinking about that. Double like second guessing myself, that analogy was kind of like wonky and weird. Um Yeah. I it sounded a lot better in my head. I'm going to be completely honest. Switching over. Um Paul towards the end, he is answering the question, What is the need for the resurrection? Paul answers this like so. Our material bodies are flesh and blood, and our flesh and blood cannot inherit God's kingdom. John the Baptist in Luke 3 challenges the Pharisees. He mentions that they're brood a brood of vipers, and he mentions how they say that they are from the lineage of Abraham. The thing is, those people thought, not thought, they relied on the blood that was in their veins rather than the blood that was to be shed on the cross. Our flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Through the blood of Jesus, we can inherit the kingdom of God. Luke 24 gives a special distinction of earthly bodies and resurrection bodies. For Jesus' body was flesh and bones. This is a distinction most people will look over. It is very necessary to God. Do I know the answer as to why? No, I do not. Not at the current moment. Resurrection, though, is a must for our destiny. Our corrupt bodies must put on incorruption in order to enter God's kingdom. The way to enter into God's kingdom is to be holy and blameless. Now we're not obviously we're not going to be as holy as God is, but we are called to be set apart. We are called to be different from the world to the best of our abilities. We are to resist the flesh. In verse 55, we see a very, very beautiful truth. Where, O death, is your stake. Where, O death, is your victory. Paul is mocking death because it has no power over the children of God. We have nothing to fear at all. For Jesus has conquered death. We no longer have to walk around feeling defeated. For we are people who know the ending of the story. Victory has a name, and his name is Jesus Christ.