Saturday, April 11, 2020

On 1 Corinthians 15:1-3, 17


In his translation of the New Testament, LDS scholar Thomas Wayment rendered 1 Cor 15:1-3 thusly:

Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the gospel which we proclaimed to you, which you received and in which you stand, by means of which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I proclaimed to you, unless you believed in vain.

In this text, Paul is speaking, not to false Christians, but true Christians as they are, at the time of writing, in a saved state. Notwithstanding, Paul warns them that they can fall from their salvation, urging them to “hold firmly” to such; furthermore, Paul presents their salvation as an on-going process, using σῴζεσθε, the second persona plural indicative present passive of σωζω.

Notwithstanding the abuse of this passage by many Protestants (see Is 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Exhaustive of What Is Required to Believe for Salvation?), this is a very un-Protestant verse, like 1 Cor 3:15 (see  1 Corinthians 3:15: A very un-Protestant Biblical Verse).

Additionally, as we learn in Rom 4:24-25, in 15:17, we read:

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless and you are still in your sins.

Christ’s atoning death merely does not bring about salvation. For it to be applied, Christ must have been raised from the dead and no one would receive forgiveness of sins. This refutes the naïve Protestant (mis)interpretation of John 19:30 and τετελεσται. For a discussion of this passage (and Rom 4:24-25 and the salvific efficacy of Christ’s resurrection), see: