The Fatal Flaw in the Christian Faith
1 Corinthians 15:1-34
When people write propaganda they keep things simple, repetitive and they never, ever allow negative thoughts to enter what they write. These are the golden rules that the advertising industry, live by. By their standards the people who wrote the Bible were amazingly honest, or naïve, or both.
When Paul wrote this letter to Christians in first-century Corinth he acknowledged that some of them had their doubts but instead of brushing them aside he tackled them head on. We are going to do the same because times have changed but the issues are the same. There is, according to many, a fatal flaw in the Christian faith.
Two huge problems
Paul flags up two familiar objections to Christian faith:
First, the allegation that Christianity was never true in the first place because the events it is built upon never happened (2). When Philip Pullman wrote his book Northern Lights it was the first of three Children’s novels that deliberately set out to undermine Christian faith in those who read it. In The Amber Spyglass one of the characters is a former nun who explains to the heroine, Lyra Belacqua, that Christianity was just a big mistake.
It is clear that the church in Corinth was a mixed bunch (34) and some of them were wondering the same thing – maybe you are too! There seems to be a fatal flaw in the Christian faith.
Second, it is widely accepted that Christianity could never be true because the claims Christians make are just ridiculous (12 – some of the Corinthian’s friends were very resistant indeed to the supernatural side of Christian faith, even if they were happy with the ethics and the community life). “Everybody knows”, I can hear them say, “That miracles don’t happen, that dead people do not rise, and that people who pray are just talking to themselves”. Some of the Corinthian Christians and their friends were tempted to believe that – maybe you are too! There seems to be a fatal flaw in the Christian faith.
Now the people who wrote the Bible were not really interested in propaganda – the repetition of simple formula so that everyone was mesmerised into accepting what they said –but they were interested in truth. Truth was very important to them.
You see their concern for truth in the gospels, especially when they report the death of Jesus. Having established that Jesus is the Messiah, the promised rescue-agent who would enjoy God’s full approval, they describe how he dies on a Roman cross asking the question, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The guys who sell Coca-Cola would have left that bit out; it just seems to confuse the issue, doesn’t it? The gospel writers left it in – they were passionate about truth.
In this letter, Paul is trying to answer people who feel that Christianity is fatally flawed (33-34 – clearly, Corinth was a mixed congregation). Let’s do a thought-experiment. We have just discovered ths letter and it is dated to around AD 53-54.
How does Paul answer the critics of the Christian faith?
Some things that really happened
At the heart of the Christian faith are three claims (3-9): that Christ died on a cross and that he was buried and that he rose from the dead on the Third day: he died on the Friday and on the Sunday he came back to life again.
How do we know this? And how did these events affect so many tens of thousands of people so quickly? Paul gives three reasons:
The first is three little words (one word in Greek) “he was seen”: by Peter, by the twelve (Jesus close friends), by 500 people at the same time, by James, by all the other apostles (people recognised as leaders in the first Christian communities but not part of the original twelve). Last of all, Paul saw him too. Against all the objections that anyone could ever raise Paul appeals to the simple truth that he and his friends were eye-witnesses of the resurrection.
Those fatal flaws in the Christian faith start to melt away when you consider how many people were involved. “He was seen”.
Paul once found himself on trial before a small-time kinglet called Agrippa who had been brought into the court by the Roman governor who was quite puzzled by Paul’s case. Paul told his story to Agrippa, encouraging the king to trust in Christ for himself. As Paul explains the gospel to the king he says, “I am sure these events are familiar to you, for they were not done in a corner!” A very large number of people were witnesses to the events of Jesus life. “He was seen” by a very large number of people indeed, and this account was written whilst most of them were still alive.
Second reason: these first Christians were prepared to take huge risks, even to get themselves killed, to tell the world about Jesus. Would they do this if the event Paul describes here are not true?
Paul himself describes this (30-32) – how the crowds in the city of Ephesus almost ripped him and his friends apart because they were so angry with the Christians. “What is the point of this”, Paul is asking us, “If I didn’t actually see this with my own eyes?”
The fatal flaw in the Christian faith starts to melt away when you recognise the facts, the things that really happened.
Third reason: Paul says that Christians have a faith built on facts (20). Paul was happy to stake his entire life’s work on the fact of the resurrection (12-19) if this is not true then Christians are pathetic individuals and we are all wasting good drinking time (verse 22b). But Christians have a faith that is built on facts and not on make-believe (20). Because Jesus rose from the dead, you can have eternal life.
So what does it all mean?
First, Jesus’ resurrection is not a one-off (20). Jesus had taught the disciples that he would suffer crucifixion and rise again – he spoke about being the Resurrection and the Life and that those who believed on him would die and rise again. You and I will rise from the dead if we are related to him by faith.
What does the resurrection mean? It means that death is defeated and a new life lies before you. We know this because Jesus really did rise from the dead.
Second, it means that humanity is back on course. Look around you – we live in a word full of selfishness, pride, greed and pain. The Bible says that this is a result of human sin, God’s response to this is death (you wouldn’t want people who do this stuff to live forever, would you?) – Paul spells this out in verses 21-22. Our relationship with the first human who sinned means that we sin and we die too.
Christ came to reverse this, to challenge it and get humanity back on course (45-50). Look around you and you see a world that is not normal, in the kingdom of God normality is restored – we will change to become like Christ and death will no longer threaten or frighten us.
What does the resurrection mean? It means that the human race can become what it was always meant to be. We know this because Jesus really did rise from the dead.
Third, it means you will one day receive a heavenly body. I don’t know what you think of when you read the phrase, ‘Heavenly body’? Some innocent souls immediately think of the stars and the planets whilst others… well, fill in the gap for yourself. In the L’Oreal adverts, stunningly beautiful women encourage us to by eye-wateringly expensive cosmetics to rub on our bodies to make them… heavenly! It won’t work. You need world-class make-up people, a team of stylists, a bottomless bank account and the miracle of Photoshop to look like that!
But listen to this (42-49). You know, if you want a healthy body you need to put the right things into it; what you rub on the outside only lasts a few hours; health and beauty depend on diet and lifestyle; but you are still going to age, you are still going to die. But Jesus’ resurrection means that our bodies will be renewed forever – a deeper therapy than diet and lifestyle because it works at a spiritual level (43). CS Lewis once suggested that, if we met our glorified self now, we would be tempted to worship it! You can understand that idea when you read these verses.
What does the resurrection mean? It means that if you are related to Jesus by faith you are going to have a new body. We know this because Jesus really did rise from the dead.
Finally, the resurrection means that there is hope: that life has a goal and a purpose. If death is the end there is no hope and no purpose (32), but if you are related to Jesus by faith then everything you do takes on special significance (58).
You now have to choose, and I am going to present you with option 1 and option 2:
Option 1 – you can just reject this out of hand: miracles don’t happen, that dead people do not rise, and that people who pray are just talking to themselves. Then you have got to find some wreckage to cling to that gives you life meaning – to make life bearable. A love affair, a family, or just drink ‘till you feel better (32).
I am sorry to be so blunt, but it is a matter of huge importance.
Option 2 – you accept that Jesus has risen and you put your faith in him for yourself. When you do this a new life begins and everything changes. You become ‘related to him by faith’ all this can be true for you because Jesus really did rise from the dead.
And remember that Christian faith is not a blind leap based on no evidence – faith is trusting in Jesus and his message because of the evidence. There are only two options – which will you choose?