The Gospel of 1st Corinthians 15

Richard Coords of Examining Calvinism posted a thread on the CARM website regarding the Gospel as preached to the Corinthians by Paul. It goes right to the heart of the Calvinist error regarding what we are to preach and to whom. Consider the passage in discussion.

"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which [was bestowed] upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether [it were] I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed." (1Co 15:1-11 AV)

This is the Gospel that was preached not to the elect or to believers or even those sitting in a church on a Sunday morning (not that our 21^st century version was common in that day). No, this Gospel message was preached to unbelievers who hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ were convicted and moved to embrace Christ. Christ died for their sins being the message. It was not a message of Christ perhaps dying for some of them. It was a universal declaration, one not to be mistaken for the philosophy promoted by our Calvinist brethren as an inappropriate support for their peculiar doctrines. We should take comfort and be emboldened by Paul's witness and never be swayed from the truth of the Gospel and scripture, it being a counter to the musings of revisionist Christianity.

Richard also included a link to Jerry Vine's website offering affordable DVD copies of the recent John 3:16 Conference where this matter also came up in presentation. I believe these materials will provide an invaluable resource for Christian studies in our church groups and to soundly rebut the philosophical attempts at influencing sound Christian thought in our churches.