Christianity’s Core Belief – Part 1

Written by faithandselfdefense

The core belief of Christianity is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul made this bold statement:

“… if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” 1 Corinthians 15:17

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is THE core belief of Christianity. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, our faith is futile and we are still in our sins. We can talk about a lot of things in the Bible that are important to what we believe, but if Jesus did not rise from the dead then everything we believe as Christians is pointless (futile).

Here’s the full version of Paul’s statement:

“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. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.” 1 Corinthians 15:12-21

Paul wrote as someone who preached the resurrection of Jesus Christ because he was an eyewitness of the risen Christ:

“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.” 1 Corinthians 15:3-7

Three Weeks to Easter

We are three weeks away from Easter Sunday 2019. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then there is no reason for us to celebrate this year because our faith is futile and we are still in our sins. A pointless faith that means we are still living without forgiveness of sins is no reason to celebrate. That would actually be something to mourn. However, since we know that Jesus rose from the dead we have everything to celebrate because we are forgiven and our lives will continue beyond the grave!

During the next three weeks in this special series we will look at many reasons to believe that Jesus rose from the dead. I hope you’ll join us here each day for insights into the Christianity’s Core Belief.

We also invite you to watch a different video about the Resurrection each day of this special series. Today’s video is with my good friend Jonathan McLatchie.