1 Corinthians 15:30 Commentary and Bible Study

It is the same line of argument. He draws attention to how much danger he is prepared to suffer for their sakes, danger which is the measure of how much value he sets on them. They are so precious in his sight and he has gone to such lengths to bring the gospel to them that he is ready to face death on a daily basis to complete his commission from the Lord.The apostle Paul was hated by the Jews for the message of the gospel. They loathed the message that they needed to be converted and to trust in Christ and in his sacrifice on Calvary. They resented the idea that they were not already God’s favoured people by birth, and that their good works were not pleasing to God. They hated this so much that they were ready to kill him. Paul knew this, but it did not deter him from doing the Lord’s work. He knew that Christ had called him to face all manner of hardship in carrying out his ministry. Had the Lord not said to Ananias from the start, ‘I will shew him [Saul of Tarsus] how great things he must suffer for my name's sake’ (Acts 9:16)?His argument is clear: he would not have been able to face this level of persecution unless he believed in the resurrection. His consolation was to know that if his life was to end that day, then he would have lost nothing, and that was what he was called to experience as an apostle: ‘For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men’ (1 Corinthians 4:9). Paul might have said, ‘When I came to Corinth, I knew that I was taking my life in my hands. I was ready to face these dangers because I longed to bring the gospel to you, so that you too could gain eternal life in Christ. I could not hold back from coming even though I knew the danger, but I was able to do it because I knew that ultimately, whatever happened, Christ would raise me up at the last day.’ It was the cause of great joy in the apostle to suffer for the sake of the gospel, but if he had not believed in the resurrection, it would have been only a source of fear. ‘I die daily’, he says. I face death on a daily basis. I have been in many situations where death threatened me, and it was unclear, humanly speaking, what the outcome would be. Yes, at times the Lord told him in advance that he would achieve a certain goal – he must, for instance, be brought before Caesar (Acts 27:24) – but that did not make his danger any less real, and he must face these very real dangers by faith.