Hold fast? Hold fast to what? Paul has been saying that they must hold firmly to the Word that he preached to them. And now, he is going to remind them exactly the Word that he preached to them.
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me” (1 Cor 15:3-8).
Let’s summarize:
- He died for our sins (according to the Scriptures)
- He was buried
- He was raised on the third day (according to the Scriptures)
- He appeared to others, some who are still alive
We tend to get 2/4 of these right when we talk about sharing the faith. We miss that he was buried. We miss that he appeared to others. And sometimes we miss that these events happened as fulfilled prophecy (according to the Scriptures). So all of us need to tighten up on our facts of importance in our presentations.
But what I see is very interesting.
We see
1) The Purpose of Jesus – salvation from our sins
2) The Prophecies of Jesus – they tell of his coming, his death, and his resurrection
3) The Proof of Jesus’ work – He was buried, he was raised from the dead and there are living witnesses to testify to it.
These are of first importance, said Paul. It is the message of the Bible.
It’s interesting too that God has been kind to give us so many proofs.