📖WEB · 1 Corinthians 15:3
What does 1 Corinthians 15:3 mean?
"For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,"
— 1 Corinthians 15:3 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand,
by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the 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,
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.
Explanation
1 Corinthians 15:3 records Paul beginning his summary of the gospel message with a statement that has both simplicity and depth. In plain language, Paul is saying that the core message he originally preached to the Corinthian church was not something he invented, but something he himself had received and was now passing along: that Christ died for our sins, and that this death fulfilled what the Scriptures had spoken of beforehand.
The context matters greatly here. Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, a congregation he had founded, likely around AD 53-54 from Ephesus. By this point in his letter, chapter 15, Paul is addressing a serious problem: some in Corinth were denying the resurrection of the dead. To correct this, Paul goes back to the foundation of the gospel itself, reminding them of what he had taught them "first of all" when he first came to them. The language he uses, "delivered" and "received," reflects standard Jewish and early Christian practice of carefully passing down authoritative tradition. Scholars widely recognize verses 3-5 as containing an early creedal formula, likely one that predates Paul's own writing and may go back to the earliest years of the church, possibly transmitted to him by the apostles in Jerusalem. This means Paul is not offering a personal opinion but citing the church's earliest, most established confession of faith.
Theologically, this verse establishes two crucial points. First, Christ's death was not a tragic accident or mere political execution, it was substitutionary and purposeful: he died "for our sins." This points to the heart of the gospel,
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