The Spectator., 1916-04-21

raised from the dead. the first fruits of them that are asleep.-I Cor 152O
 If teachers can impress indelibly upon the minds of their scholars the fact that Jesus rose from the dead and is as truly alive today as when walk ing the hills of Galilee this repetition of the Easter story will not be in vain. For the pupils to take notes of the points of the argument and to recite upon those notes at the end of the class hour would greatly help to fix | the facts in their minds. This account considered today Is perhaps the old est written record we have of this great fact, written about 56 A. D., hence the significance of verse six.
 1. Tho Triumphant Fact (vs. 1-4). If Christian workers would be more fa- miliar with this passage they would more intelligently understand what the term Gospel" means. The fact of the resurrection loomed larger in Paurs mind than the virgin birth; the former was and is the greater miracle. This, one of the supreme chapters of the Bible, tells us what the Gospel is, and what its results are to be- CD | What 1t Is. Not new cure for tuber- culosis, nor new social environment, but the good news of one who was God incarnate (Paul does not use his earth | lyy sCf hA tod One, who died for our sins just as the Scriptures had foretold, and was bur- fed. On the third day. according to the Scriptures" He rose again and is now and ever shall be alive. Any Cos pei that ignores the incarnation, pas sion and resurrection of Jesus is false to the Scriptures and lie. (2) The result of preaching or testifying to this great program is twofold first. salvation, saved, restored to right relations with God;" and second, per severance wherein ye stand The "God-story," good news, evangel or gospel-they are all the same-is the power of God unto salvation" and the strong doctrine of the resurrection will cause men to walk straight, to stand upright Christ died for my sins according to the Scriptures" Qso. 53: 5-10).
 II. Witnesses to the Fact (vs. 5-12). Paul (v. 8 received the resurrection truth from many witnesses, whom he l proceeds to enumerate, for it was not matter of his own invention. The in- 1 credulity of the disciples at the first ! is frankly recorded Guke 24:12). Je- sus did not appear first to John, Pilate or the Sanhedrin, but to woman, and the change of the apostles from spirit of despair to that of confident, ! joyous certainty was most astonishing. There are eleven recorded appear ances of Jesus after his resurrection, and not one of them was made to his enemies. Paul does not mention all of the appearances. He is probably naming only those persons, witnesses of his appearances, with whom he had conversed. or at least a few from each group. CD Peter, referred to indirect ly in Luke 24; 34: CD the apostles, to be exact. the first ten, Judas being dead and Thomas absent: (3) the apos- ties with Thomas present: (Q five hundred the only record of this great company, though perhaps implied in the brethren" of Matt. 2S10. Half thousand witnesses are enough to establish any case" Of these the greater number were alive twenty-five years after the event: (5) James, prob ably our Lords brother. the honored | head of the Jerusalem church; (6) Then all the apostles" a larger cir cle than the twelve tsee Luke 2S4S, Acts 1;6-S) This may have been the appearance in the morn at the Sea of ! Galilee: CD me also"
 III. The Fact Applied. (vs. 1S-20). The Corinthians, to whom Paul was writing, did not deny Christ's immor- tality, but seemed to deny that the same power which had raised him could be applied to us who are only human. Paul answers this by present ing four arguments:
 CD The resurrection of Christ proves the possibility of the resurrec- tion from the dead, if only of Jesus. The Sadducees taught the contrary. The Stoics taught that the dead were re-absorbed in God To say Christ is not risen is to claim death as annihila. ton. to destroy faith in Jesus (v. 1D and to impugn the testimony of those who had seen him (v. 15). A dead Christ means dead Christians (v. ID and our heaviest sorrow will be to face the grave (v. 1S).
 (2) The Christian is in Christ and his resurrection carries ours with it