1 Corinthians 15:2

The Risen Christ, Faith’s Reality

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel ^awhich I preached to you, which also you received and ^bin which you stand,

2 ^aby which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless ^byou believed in vain.

3 For ^aI delivered to you first of all that ^bwhich I also received: that Christ died for our sins ^caccording to the Scriptures,

4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day ^aaccording to the Scriptures,

5 ^aand that He was seen by¹ Cephas, then ^bby the twelve.

6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have¹ fallen asleep.

7 After that He was seen by James, then ^aby all the apostles.

8 ^aThen last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

9 For I am ^athe least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because ^bI persecuted the church of God.

10 But ^aby the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, ^byet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Commentaries:

Barnes' Notes

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1 Corinthians 15:2

By which also ye are saved - On which your salvation depends; the belief of which is indispensable to your salvation; see the note on Mark 16:16. The apostle thus shows the "importance" of the doctrine. In every respect it demanded their attention. It was that which was first preached among them; that which they had solemnly professed; that by which they had been built up; and that which was connected with their salvation. It does not mean simply that by this they were brought into a salvable state (Clarke, Macknight, Whitby, Bloomfield, etc.), but it means that their hopes of eternal life rested on this; and by this they were then "in fact" saved from the condemnation of sin, and were in the possession of the hope of eternal life.

If ye keep in memory - Margin, as in the Greek, "if ye hold fast." The idea is, that they were saved by this, or would be, if they faithfully retained or held the doctrine as he delivered it; if they observed it, and still believed it, notwithstanding all the efforts of their enemies, and all the arts of false teaching to wrest it from them. There is a doubt delicately suggested here, whether they did in fact still adhere to his doctrine, or whether they had not abandoned it in part for the opposite.

Unless ye have believed in vain - You will be saved by it, if you adhere to it, unless it shall turn out that it was vain to believe, and that the doctrine was false. That it was "not" false, he proceeds to demonstrate. Unless all your trials, discouragements, and hopes were to no purpose, and all have been the result of imposture; and unless all your profession is false and hollow, you will be saved by this great doctrine which I first preached to you.

**Other Barnes' Notes entries containing 1 Corinthians 15:2:**

Romans 1:5
1 Corinthians 1:6
1 Corinthians 15:12

<< 1 Corinthians 15:1

1 Corinthians 15:3 >>

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