Week 32: Resurrection Hope

The Big Picture

This week marks the climax of Paul’s Corinthian correspondence and the beginning of his second letter to the troubled congregation. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul delivers what is arguably the most important chapter in the New Testament on the resurrection of Jesus Christ and its implications for all who believe. Some Corinthians had begun to deny the bodily resurrection of the dead, likely influenced by Greek philosophical assumptions that viewed the body as a prison and salvation as the escape of the immortal soul. Paul demolishes this position with a four-part argument: the historical evidence for Christ’s resurrection (vv. 1-11), the devastating consequences if there were no resurrection (vv. 12-19), the cosmic scope of Christ’s resurrection as the “firstfruits” of a universal harvest (vv. 20-34), and the nature of the resurrection body itself (vv. 35-58). Chapter 16 then closes the letter with practical matters – the collection for Jerusalem, travel plans, and final greetings – before Paul takes the pen from his secretary and writes the closing in his own hand.

Second Corinthians opens in a very different emotional register. Written perhaps a year after 1 Corinthians, after a painful visit to Corinth that went badly (2:1) and a severe letter that Paul regretted writing (7:8), 2 Corinthians is Paul’s most emotionally transparent epistle. Chapters 1-3 introduce us to an apostle who has been brought to the brink of despair by suffering in Asia (perhaps the Ephesian riot of Acts 19, or a serious illness, or an imprisonment), who has had to defend his change of travel plans against charges of fickleness, and who must explain why he wrote a harsh letter instead of coming in person. Yet out of this crucible of suffering comes some of the most profound theology in the Pauline corpus: the God of all comfort who comforts us so that we may comfort others (1:3-7), the new covenant ministry of the Spirit that surpasses the glory of Moses (3:7-18), and the transformative vision of believers who, with unveiled faces, are being changed from one degree of glory to another by the Lord who is the Spirit (3:18).

The thread connecting these diverse chapters is hope – the certain hope of bodily resurrection, the lived hope of comfort in suffering, and the transforming hope of glory. For Paul, hope is not wishful thinking but a reality so certain that it reshapes the present. Because Christ has been raised, death has lost its sting. Because God comforts us in affliction, our suffering becomes a ministry to others. Because the Spirit is removing the veil from our faces, we are already being transformed into the image of Christ.

This Week’s Readings

Key Characters

• Paul – Apostle writing from Ephesus (1 Cor) and later from Macedonia (2 Cor), deeply vulnerable about his sufferings
• Cephas (Peter) – Listed among the eyewitnesses of the risen Christ in the creedal formula
• James – The Lord’s brother, also an eyewitness of the resurrection
• The five hundred – A large group who saw the risen Christ, most of whom were still alive when Paul wrote
• Titus – Paul’s trusted emissary who carried the “severe letter” to Corinth and brought back good news
• Moses – Whose veiled face provides the typological basis for Paul’s new covenant theology

Key Locations

• Corinth – The church struggling with denial of bodily resurrection and strained relations with Paul
• Ephesus – Where Paul wrote 1 Corinthians and where he suffered a crisis that brought him near death
• Macedonia – Where Paul wrote 2 Corinthians after receiving Titus’s encouraging report
• Jerusalem – The destination of the collection Paul is organizing from his Gentile churches
• Troas – Where Paul hoped to meet Titus but could not rest when he did not find him

Key Themes

• The bodily resurrection of Christ – The historical foundation of the Christian faith, attested by multiple eyewitnesses and forming the basis of all Christian hope
• The resurrection body – Not a resuscitated corpse but a transformed, imperishable, glorious, spiritual body fit for the age to come
• The God of all comfort – God comforts the afflicted not as an end in itself but so they may become comforters of others
• New covenant ministry – The ministry of the Spirit surpasses the ministry of the law as permanent glory surpasses fading glory
• Transformation into glory – With unveiled faces, believers are being progressively changed into the image of Christ by the Spirit

Memory Verse

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 15:55-57