Saturday, December 28, 2019

Is 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Exhaustive of What Is Required to Believe for Salvation?



Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you--unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance which I turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. (1 Cor 15:1-4 NRSV)

Some critics of the Church, in an attempt to claim LDS theology on baptism, theosis, and other doctrines are antithetical to the true gospel as they are not explicitly mentioned in the above text. Indeed, some critics believe that this text presents, albeit simply, the one true gospel. As one such critic, Matthew Paulson, wrote after quoting this pericope:

This gospel is what saved the Corinthians and it is what saves people today. If people truly believe gospel they will be saved. However, if they believe something different then the Apostle Paul says they have believed in vain. (Matthew A. Paulson, Breaking the Mormon Code: A Critique of Mormon Scholarship Regarding Classic Christian Theology and the Book of Mormon [Livermore, Calif.: WingSpan Press, 2006, 2009], 37)

Elsewhere, Paulson wrote:

In Christianity, the saving knowledge is the simple gospel message (1 Cor. 15:1-4). (Ibid., 79)

Notice that a number of things are not mentioned by Paul in this pericope, such as the virginal conception and birth of Jesus; the two natures of Jesus; the personal pre-existence of Jesus, the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit, and other core doctrines, all of which Paulson and others would claim are central to the Gospel and that one knowingly rejecting such doctrines puts one outside the realm of salvation, which should caution even those who agree with Paulson and his Protestant theology from absolutizing this pericope.

Furthermore, note that Paul is addressing those who already had been baptised. Why is this significant? Some use this passage against baptismal regeneration, notwithstanding this being explicitly taught by Paul in 1 Cor 6:9-11 and 12:13. As three New Testament scholars noted about Paul’s theology of baptism and its relationship to justification wrote:

Paul himself ties justification to baptism. This is evident, for example, in 1 Corinthians:

You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor 6:11)

In this verse, Paul makes a direct connection between being “washed” [apolouō] and being “justified” [dikaioō]” (1 Cor 6:11). Some commentators dispute a baptismal reading, insisting that the language is simply intended as a metaphor rather than an allusion to ritual immersion. This is unlikely. First, not only does the New Testament indicate that baptism was widely practiced in the early church, we know that the ritual had an important place in the communal life at Corinth. Its significance was apparently so well established that it became the basis of quarrels that Paul felt forced to address at the very outset of this epistle (cf. 1 Cor 1;11-17). Second, the language of 1 Corinthians 6:11 uses terminology employed in other Pauline texts where baptism is in view. Believers are said to be “washed . . . in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” language which envokes the baptism controversy Paul addressed in 1 Corinthians 1, which specifically swirls around the “name” into which believers have been “baptized” (1 Cor 1:13-14). In addition, the washing described in 1 Corinthians 6:11 is also associated with the “Spirit,” who is identified with baptism later in the same epistle: “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Cor 12:13). As other interpreters recognize, 1 Corinthians 6 even goes on to use the language of “members” (1 Cor 6:15), anticipating the discussion of Christians as “members” of Christ’s body later in the letter (cf. 1 Cor 12:14-27). Given these connections to baptismal passages, to insist that the language of washing involves a mere metaphor seems like special pleading. Finally, physical baptism is linked to spiritual washing in other texts (cf. Acts 22:16; Eph 5:26; Titus 3:5; Heb 10:22). First Corinthians 6 is thus best read as an early Pauline expression of this theology.

Paul also talks about baptism in other places where justification is in view . . .we noted Paul’s teaching that “whoever has died is justified [dedikaiōtai] from sin” (Rom 6:7 NRSV, slightly adapted . . . this “justifying death” appears related to baptism:

What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like this, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is justified from sin. (Rom 6:1-7 NRSV, slightly adapted)

This is an extremely significant passage, for it shows that baptism not only causes one to be “in Christ” but that Paul also views the sacrament in terms of co-crucifixion and justification. For Paul, baptism justifies because it is a real participation in the crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. (Brant Pitre, Michael P. Barber, and John A. Kincaid, Paul A New Covenant Jew: Rethinking Pauline Theology [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2019], 202-3, emphasis in bold added)

For a discussion of 1 Cor 1:17, a commonly used proof-text against baptismal regeneration, as well as Acts 2:38 and 1 Pet 3:19-21, two of the strongest texts in favour of baptismal regeneration, see:


Furthermore, First Corinthians contains many verses which are antithetical to core Protestant beliefs. See, for e.g., 1 Corinthians 3:15: A very un-Protestant Biblical Verse.

Paulson and other Protestants tend to misread Paul’s comment as being exhaustive of what one must believe to be saved and be a true Christian as they believe it must be explicitly taught in the Bible for it to be true, informed by the false doctrine of Sola Scriptura. On this, see:


It should be noted that Joseph Smith himself said something similar. In the Elders Journal, July 1838, p. 44, we read:

Question 20th. What are the fundamental principles of your religion.

Answer. The fundamental principles of our religion is the testimony of the apostles and prophets concerning Jesus Christ, “that he died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended up into heaven;” and all other things are only appendages to these, which pertain to our religion.

Such should be compared to 3 Nephi 27:13-21, wherein Christ gives a narrow definition of “gospel” as one that means the teachings relating to the life, mission, atoning death, and resurrection of Jesus. Latter-day Saints have no issue with the term ”gospel” being narrowly defined, but would take exception with Paulson et al., absolutizing the text to the exclusion of salvific ordinances and even core doctrines such as Jesus’ personal pre-existence.

As we can see, 1 Cor 15:1-4 should not be absolutised as Paulson and others wish to do as if such is an exhaustive presentation of the Gospel; indeed, as noted above, if it is to be read in that way, many Christological and other core issues doctrines are peripheral at best, not central as Paulson himself would argue!


For more responses to Paulson's book, see:

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