Memory Verse Day 3: Ancient and Compact!
(1Corintios 15:3 NBLH)
"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures"
(1Corinthians 15:3 ESV)
So this is one of those passages where I’m going to memorize more than one verse in a row – in this case, verses 3, 4, and 5.
This is probably one of the oldest passages in the New Testament. It is common language that was used to hand on a specific body of information – such as a creed. Many believe that these verses are a creed of the very first believers, put together only a few years after Jesus’ resurrection, probably before any book of the New Testament was completed.
There is a whole lot of information packed into these few verses. Here in verse 3 we have…
- Paul reminds them that he shared this with them.
- He also claims it is "of first importance" (though some translations such as the Spanish here say simply that he shared it first – which kind of implies the same thing anyway).
- He acknowledges that he received it from others – this sounds like a well-known saying of the ancient church, that was passed on by word of mouth.
- Christ – the Messiah – that word alone is a huge claim.
- He died – this was not controversial.
- Why? For our sins. Of course this thought is expanded elsewhere, but already it says a lot – we have sins that were serious enough that the Messiah died, presumably as a Saviour.
- In accordance with the Scriptures… the Scriptures predicted the need for a Messiah to die for our sins long before it happened. This is not only a statement that the Scriptures (in this case the Old Testament) agree with this statement, but it also shows a high regard for the Scriptures – this is our source for the truth – the place we go to in order to verify the creed.
Yes, a lot packed into a few words. And we’re only part-way through the sentence!