Or did the word of God come originally from you? Or was it you only that it reached? If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant. Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order.
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy 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 was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 14:34-15:20
The importance of the resurrection is clear, in explaining the truth, in the context of what saves us. The reason why it is important is because without it, there could have been no risen Christ to worship. More importantly, it would have made them liars when they preached.
What made them liars?
1) The alternate teaching, if correct, that in fact the dead do not rise; us or Christ.
2) To have been wrong at any one point in truth, would have made their message empty. It also would have made faith futile.
Next I experiment with a hypothetical....
Say an alternately important teaching was left out; that Jesus is the Messiah. If Jesus is preached as if he were not the Messiah but something other, could Paul have just as easily said to these teachers "But if Jesus were not the Messiah, he could not have been the prophecied One who died for all iniquity. And if He could not have died for your sins, you are still in your sins!"
The faith became futile when some exchanged the truth for a contradiction of it, and they preach the contradiction. These people are called "False witnesses" in verse fifteen, not "Un-witnesses," because they speak false things about Christ. They were never described here as being silent on the truth for a time or a purpose.
This is how this "gospel" is described:
A-received and in which they now stand
B-the means by which you are saved, on a condition:
C-that you hold fast to the teaching given
D-unless in the case that you never held fast to it
This book was written to believers so how could point D even have been mentioned, if we're talking about justification? The kind of "saved" discussed in B is a post-justification kind of salvation, the kind that comes from works, effort, holding fast, can be lost, etc. Therefore the teachings in C, those things passed from Jesus Christ to Paul, and Paul to his disciples in the Corinth church, are post-justification teachings.
Consider the context. See what the text says before this topic begins: chapter fourteen talks about the gift of tongues and prophecy in the church. As he concludes those regulations he reminds the Corinthians that the gift of prophecy does not originate with the people of Corinth themselves, but comes from God who wants us to remember His commands that regulate what is considered the truth. Then Paul immediately explains the truths in which we stand. It is a flow of reasoning he uses to compare the two issues: both require regulation to keep them able to perform their function. What is futile and empty in faith and preaching also can be true about tongues that are not spoken for the right reasons and in a right way during assemblies.
Summary:
Chapter fifteen's gospel, or good news, is a good news of further teachings for the body of those who already believe.
The common evangelical idea of the "saving content of the gospel" would begin to be described by them especially from this chapter! "Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures," his burial, and his resurrection. But why do they stop there, when Paul didn't? Without skipping a beat he says that Christ was seen by Cephas, and then by the twelve. Okay. Then he adds the apostles and then himself, not even pausing before taking a side-track of the issue of his unworthiness.
Is all of that "the saving content of the gospel?"
It doesn't seem to me it has any natural breaking point.
What kind of failure made the whole faith futile?
Was it silence, or leaving them without definition? No; it was not that these teachers were silent, for a time, about an aspect of the truth.
These chapters are teachings on how to regulate teachings and worship. "The gospel" meaning that which saves people to eternal life, is not mentioned at all in this chapter. Take a look once again; for no where is there any mention of faith in this list of teachings. "Holding fast to the word" isn't referring to faith, because holding fast to believing is the same as trying to judge whether a little bit of faith or a lot of faith is capable of making a man justified. As if we must muster around.
But we know that "the law is not of faith" (gal 3:12) and "now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe." rom 3:21-22
It is my conclusion for now that this passage cannot be applied to the "crossless, deityless" free grace gospel proponents. For nothing they preach is false, though their preaching may be stark in its silence on scripture.
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