Paul reminds the people about who he used to be and how far he has come. He also goes through the Resurrection of Christ. Apparently there are some who don't believe in the resurrection of the dead. Paul tells them that if they don't believe that to be possible then they don't believe that Jesus was ever resurrected therefore, their faith is a delusion.
This is the kind of circular logic that Jamie and I often find ourselves discussing. If you believe this to be true then you can't believe that to be true......that sort of thing.
I LOVE 15:38-44. Here he explains that just as we have an earthy body we also have a spiritual body. No one who has ever had a great idea or created a piece of art, or laughed at something funny, cried while listening to a song or loved anything at all......can argue that this is untrue. Having a physical body doesn't begin to explain how or why these things happen. This is something else that we were just talking about a few days ago.
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Adam was man, and when he sinned, he gave us all over to death. Because we died in him (a man), we had to be saved (rise in) a man (Jesus). So Paul is making it clear that if you don't believe in the resurrection, then you might as well not believe at all. The whole crux of the Christian faith is that Christ rose from the dead, and since we died in man, we likewise, will rise in man. That's why Easter is really much more "important", for lack of a better word, than Christmas. I believe I've already said that the first step to becoming a Christian is acknowledging that you are a sinner....that is, you were born into sin and have an inherent sinful nature [because of Adam and Eve.] The second is what we read in the Gospels - that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He died on the cross for our sins. The third, that we read at the end of the Gospels and whose importance is stressed here, is that Jesus rose from the dead thereby allowing us to be free from sin and death, and so, giving those who believe/accept the opportunity to do likwise.
The last thing I'd like to point out is the hard work ethic that Paul so strenuosly espouses and consistently brings up. In this text he keeps it on the 'dl', but it is still there. I think we can see that by all of his references to hard work, industriousness (is that a word?), and self-sufficiency, coupled with all of the references in the O.T. of private property rights, and the FREE(voluntary) giving, it should be clear that the Bible wholly supports capitalism and the free market, and absolutely does not support socialism - esp. since there is no mechanism within socialism that is conducive to or promotes hard work.
Tomorrow is 2 Cor. 1-4
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