1 Corinthians 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is authored by Paul the Apostle and Sosthenes in Ephesus. The first eleven verses contain the earliest account of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus in the New Testament. The rest of the chapter stresses the primacy of the resurrection for Christianity.
Text
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 58 verses.
Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: Codex Vaticanus (325–350) Codex Sinaiticus (330–360) Papyrus 123 (4th century; extant verses 3–6) Codex Alexandrinus (400–440) Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (; extant verses 41–58). Codex Freerianus (; extant verses 3, 15, 27–28, 38–39, 49–50) Codex Claromontanus ()
of the death and resurrection of Jesus (15:1–11)
Verses 1–2
Verses 3–7
The resurrection kerygma
Origins of the kerygma
The kerygma of death, burial, resurrection and appearance, and the specific appearances to Peter and the Twelve in verses 3–5, are assumed to be an early pre-Pauline kerygma or creedal statement. Biblical scholars note the antiquity of the creed, possibly transmitted from the Jerusalem apostolic community. though the core formula may have originated in Damascus, with the specific appearances reflecting the Jerusalem community. It may be one of the earliest kerygma's about Jesus' death and resurrection, though it is also possible that Paul himself joined together the various statements, as proposed by Urich Wilckens. It is also possible that "he appeared" was not specified in the core formula, and that the specific appearances are additions. According to Hannack, line 3b-4 form the original core, while line 5 and line 7 contain competing statements from two different factions. Prive also argues that line 5 and line 7 reflect the tensions between Petrus and James.
The kerygma has often been dated to no more than five years after Jesus' death by Biblical scholars, though Bart Ehrman states "Among scholars I personally know, except for evangelicals, I don't now[sic] anyone who thinks this at all." Gerd Lüdemann maintains that "the elements in the tradition are to be dated to the first two years after the crucifixion of Jesus[...] not later than three years".
For orthodox Christians, the resurrection, believed by them to be a physical resurrection, is the central event of the Christian faith. While the authenticity of line 6a and 7 is disputed, MacGregor argues that linguistic analysis suggests that the version received by Paul seems to have included verses 3b–6a and 7. According to Christian apolgist Gary R. Habermas, in "Corinthians 15:3–8, Paul records an ancient oral tradition(s) that summarizes the content of the Christian gospel." N.T Wright describes it as "the very early tradition that was common to all Christians."
In dissent from the majority view, Robert M. Price, Hermann Detering, John V. M. Sturdy, and David Oliver Smith have each argued that 1 Corinthians 15:3–7 is a later interpolation. According to Price, the text is not an early Christian creed written within five years of Jesus' death, nor did Paul write these verses. In his assessment, this was an Interpolation possibly dating to the beginning of the 2nd century. Price states that "The pair of words in verse 3a, "received / delivered" (paralambanein / paradidonai) is, as has often been pointed out, technical language for the handing on of rabbinical tradition", so it would contradict Paul's account of his conversion given in Galatians 1:13–24, which explicitly says that Paul had been taught the gospel of Christ by Jesus himself, not by any other man.