3-7 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: 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, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles….
112 words, 1 Corinthians 15, NIV
This OMG in verses 3-7 (starting with “that Christ died for…”) is the earliest creedal expression we have of the gospel. In verse 1 Paul introduces it as the gospel he gave to the Corinthians on his first visit there, which was about two decades after Jesus’s crucifixion in 30 AD.
In verse 3 Paul says this gospel did not originate with him. He received it and then passed it on to the Corinthians. From whom did Paul receive this OMG and when?
Paul’s conversion while on the road to Damascus was probably in 33 AD. In Galatians 1:18-19, he says his first trip as a Christian to Jerusalem happened three years later and that he met Peter and James (the brother of Jesus) then, the only two whose names appear in this early gospel. So, Paul “received” it from them on his visit to Jerusalem in 35 or 36 AD.
But this OMG goes back a bit further yet. N.T. Wright says, “This is the kind of foundation-story with which a community is not at liberty to tamper. It was probably formulated within the first two or three years after Easter itself, since it was already in formulaic form when Paul ‘received’ it” (The Resurrection of the Son of God, 2003, p. 319, emphasis mine).
That makes this OMG the earliest gospel creed!
Starting today, posts will come once a week rather than twice.
Next post: Tuesday, January 30, 2024, “The Only Lasting, All-Satisfying Source of Joy” from John Piper
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