What was Paul's central understanding of Jesus in 1 Corinthians?

Answer 1

A:A detailed examination of Paul's Christology in the First Epistle to the Corinthians would occupy a small book, and then others would write books from a slightly different perspective. It is only possible to provide a brief answer. Paul seems entirely unaware of the gospel accounts that would be written some decades after he wrote this epistle. Some of the sayings that Paul wrote as his own would later be attributed to Jesus in the gospels.

1 Corinthians 15:12-13 tells us what Paul knew about the resurrection of Jesus: "Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:" Note that Paul only talks of Jesus as "preached" as rising from the dead and never declares his certain knowledge that Jesus really did, as one would expect from the account in Acts of the Apostles. He teaches that the belief in the general resurrection of the dead is all the evidence we need to believe that Jesus was resurrected.

His descriptions of the resurrection of Jesus and his discussions on the resurrection of the faithful have been described as suggesting that Paul saw the resurrection of Jesus as a purely spiritual one, or that the resurrection and ascension to heaven were exactly the same event. Some have gone even further and point out that Paul could have believed that Jesus did not live on earth and that the crucifixion and resurrection took place in heaven. This could be dismissed as fantasy, except that we find Hebrews, by a different author but from about the same time as Paul's epistles, talks of Jesus as the High Priest in heaven.

At 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Paul said that Jesus died and was buried, rose again according to the scriptures, then was seen by Cephas (Peter), then the twelve, then by more than 500, most of whom were still alive, then by James and all the apostles, and finally by himself. This account differ in several important ways from the accounts that would later form part of the gospels, but Paul implied that the appearances were all of the same nature. Either Paul saw Jesus in the flesh after his resurrection, for which there is no evidence, or he experienced the risen Jesus spiritually and therefore believed that the appearances to the disciples and other were also only spiritual.

Answer 2

Paul's central understanding of Jesus in 1 Corinthians is that Jesus is the foundation of the Christian faith and the source of unity among believers. He emphasizes Jesus' sacrificial death and resurrection as essential to the gospel message and the power of God. Paul also sees Jesus as the embodiment of wisdom and righteousness, contrasting with the wisdom of the world.