First Fruits

Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I
preached to you, which also you received, in which also you
stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the
word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also
received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas,
then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than
five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain
until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared
to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all,
as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am
the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God
I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain;
but I labored more than all of them, yet not I, but
the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they,
so we preach and so you believed…

…Now I say this brethren, that flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does
the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep,
but we will all be changed, in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet;
for the trumpet will sound, and the dead
will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For this perishable must put on the imperishable,
and this mortal must put on immortality.
But when this perishable will have put on
the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on
immortality, then will come about the saying
that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.
O Death, where is your victory, O Death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;
but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast,
immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

-1 Corinthians 15:1-11,50-58

Very tempted to write all of 1 Corinthians 15. I refrained. What glorious words. What beauty. What truth. Glory be to God, forever and ever. Amen.

Leave a comment