AMEN! Exactly as God graciously wills.
Paul anticipates our human need for evidence and persuasion, and so he reminds us God had kindly answered that need and given us the "proof" our feeble hearts long for. He even goes so far as to say without the proof of the resurrection, our faith would be a lie.
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins." -- 1 Corinthians 15:12-17"Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
We should note, too, that Paul says in verse 17 if Christ has not been resurrected, we are still in our sins, meaning we are still condemned by our sins and burdened by their weight and need for atonement.
Yet we know Christ has been resurrected, and therefore we are not now condemned in our sins, but acquitted by Christ whose stripes have healed us, contrary to the RCC view that says our sins must be repeatedly washed clean each time the sacraments are given.
As Paul tells us over and over, once Christ paid for the sins of His sheep by His death on the cross, the sins of His sheep were forgiven, once for all time. Christ did not redeem us merely to give us the freedom to act righteously. He actually freed us from the penalty of our sins. Even the sins of tomorrow have been forgiven by God because Christ died to pay for every one of them, and rose from the dead to prove it all true.
Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." -- Hebrews 10:14,18"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified...
That is Christian liberty. That is the freedom Christ has given His flock which His death accomplished in full and His resurrection proved in fact...
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." -- John 8:32
Amen!
AMEN! Thank you for the perfect scripture on this. As WM has said and you say now, the ultimate miracle and proof is the resurrection itself. This is a core Christian presupposition. DO WE KNOW IT AS A FACT? Or, do we "accept" it on blind faith, with nothing behind it?
Yet we know Christ has been resurrected, and therefore we are not now condemned in our sins, but acquitted by Christ whose stripes have healed us, contrary to the RCC view that says our sins must be repeatedly washed clean each time the sacraments are given.
Christ was an idea man, not a doer. :)
That is Christian liberty. That is the freedom Christ has given His flock which His death accomplished in full and His resurrection proved in fact...
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." -- John 8:32
Amen. It is true indeed!