Devotion: The Creed That Changed Everything

Sermon Date: 12/28/2025

Bible Verses:

• 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Speaker: Rev. Timothy "Tim" Shapley

Theme: https://uppbeat.io/t/northwestern/a-new

Devotion: The Creed That Changed Everything

1 Corinthians 15:1–11

A creed is a short, authoritative statement of belief. Not a long explanation. Not a debate. Just the truth—clear enough to memorize, strong enough to stand on.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul hands us one of the earliest Christian creeds. And he does it for a reason.

The Corinthian church was confused. Some were questioning the resurrection. Paul doesn’t speculate. He doesn’t philosophize. He reminds them of what they already received.

“I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received…” (v. 3)

This isn’t Paul’s opinion. It’s not a new idea. It’s a received truth, passed on carefully, faithfully, and deliberately.

The Gospel Is the Center, Not the Add-On

Paul distills the faith into a few unforgettable lines:

• Christ died for our sins
• He was buried
• He was raised on the third day
• All according to the Scriptures

That’s it. No fluff. No bonus material.

Christianity doesn’t start with self-improvement or moral advice. It starts with an announcement: something happened.

If you pull the resurrection out of the gospel, you don’t get a smaller Christianity—you get none at all. Paul will later say flat-out: if Christ isn’t raised, faith collapses like a lawn chair at a sumo convention.

This Faith Is Public, Not Private

Paul then lists witnesses—lots of them.

Peter. The Twelve. More than five hundred people at once.

This isn’t “I felt something spiritual one night.” This is “go ask them—they’re still alive.”

Christian faith isn’t built on a lone mystic’s vision. It’s built on shared testimony. Eyewitnesses. Community memory. Public truth.

The resurrection didn’t happen in a corner. It happened in history.

Grace Turns Enemies into Messengers

Then Paul gets personal.

He calls himself “one untimely born.” A polite way of saying: I didn’t belong.

He persecuted the church. He opposed Jesus. And yet—Jesus appeared to him.

Paul doesn’t soften his past, and he doesn’t inflate his role. He credits grace for everything.

“By the grace of God I am what I am.” (v. 10)

Grace didn’t make Paul passive. It made him productive.

He worked hard—but not to earn grace. He worked because grace had already found him.

That’s the gospel rhythm: Grace first. Transformation follows.

Why This Creed Still Matters

Paul ends by saying it doesn’t matter who preached it—him or the others. What matters is what was preached.

The same gospel. The same risen Christ. The same saving truth.

This creed still holds the church together. It still anchors faith. It still turns doubt into confidence and fear into hope.

Because Christianity doesn’t stand on how strongly we believe— it stands on what happened.

Christ died. Christ was buried. Christ was raised.

And that changes everything.