Day 1 – A Faith Staked On History

Comment

Last week we considered the beauty of Christianity as it is revealed in the beauty of Jesus. But something may be attractive without being true. This week we ask a further question: does Christianity make sense of the evidence, the Bible, our world and our lives? We all approach that question from a starting point. Our assumptions about whether God could exist, whether miracles are possible and what counts as evidence shape what we see. Christianity invites us to recognise those assumptions and then to look honestly through the person of Jesus, in whom the world comes more clearly into focus.

Paul begins with what he calls ‘of first importance’ (v. 3). Jesus died for our sins, was buried, was raised on the third day and appeared to witnesses. This is not advice about how to become more spiritual. It is news about something God has done in history. Some beliefs can survive even if the stories associated with them prove not to be historical. Christianity cannot. It stakes everything on the claim that the crucified Jesus was bodily raised.

The wording in verses 3–5 appears to be an early summary of Christian belief which Paul himself had received and then passed on. That matters because it takes the resurrection proclamation back to the earliest years of the Christian movement, not to a legend that developed centuries later. From the beginning, Christians proclaimed both the meaning of Jesus’ death—‘Christ died for our sins’ (v. 3)—and the event of his resurrection—‘he was raised on the third day’ (v. 4).

The witnesses matter too. Paul names Cephas, James and the apostles, and refers to more than five hundred people, most of whom were still alive when he wrote. His claim was therefore public and open to investigation. Paul himself had persecuted the church. His encounter with the risen Jesus did not confirm what he already wanted to believe; it overturned his convictions and redirected his life. The earliest Christians had no army, government, wealth or obvious influence. Yet, despite fierce opposition, their message spread across the ancient world. Their costly confidence that Jesus was alive demands an explanation.

Paul is equally candid about what follows if the resurrection did not happen. ‘If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith’ (v. 14). Christian witnesses would be false, faith futile, sins unforgiven and the dead lost. Christians do not believe the resurrection because Christianity is comforting; Christianity is ultimately comforting because Jesus rose. If he did, then his identity, his cross, his promises and our future must all be reconsidered.

This is why Christianity welcomes honest investigation. It is not asking us to believe without evidence, still less against it. We normally make important decisions on the basis of sufficient evidence rather than waiting for absolute certainty. Yet when a conclusion may require us to change, we can quietly raise the standard of proof. Faith is not shutting our eyes and wishing; it is trust based on what we know. The question is not whether resurrection normally happens—it does not—but whether God raised this particular man, vindicating him as Lord. That claim deserves the same fair scrutiny we give other serious claims, because the answer bears upon every part of life.

Why does God want me to hear this today? Perhaps because I have treated the resurrection as an inspiring symbol or a detachable doctrine rather than the foundation of everything. Paul invites me to examine the claim honestly and then to take my stand upon it. If Jesus has been raised, the gospel is not merely one attractive possibility. It is news that changes reality and calls for my trust.