Jesus Died and Rose Again to Life

Scripture quotations are from the EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2018, 2024 – UK Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.easyenglish.bible

1 Corinthians 15

(This reading comes from a letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth in the country of Greece.)

1 My Christian friends, I want you to remember the good news that I taught to you. You received it from me and you continue to trust it as a true message.

2 Because of that good news, God will save you. But you must continue to trust the message that I told you. If you do not, you have believed it for nothing.

3 I received the good news from Christ, and I told that message to you. I told you the most important things: Christ died as a sacrifice for our sins *. The Bible already said how that would happen.

4 People buried his dead body. On the third day after that, God raised him up to live again. The Bible speaks about that too.

5 After that, Christ appeared to Peter. Later, he appeared to his 12 disciples *.

6 And after that, he appeared to more than 500 believers * at the same time. Most of those 500 people are still alive, but some of them have died.

7 Then Christ appeared to James. Later he appeared to all the apostles.

8 After all these people had seen him, Christ also appeared to me. I was like someone who was born at the wrong time.

9 Among all the apostles, I am the least important. I caused a lot of trouble for God's church. So I do not deserve for people to call me an apostle.

10 But God was very kind to me. He helped me to become a different person. And because God has been so kind to me, the result has been great. I have worked harder than all the other apostles. But I could not do that work myself. No, I could only do it because God is kind and he helped me.

11 So, all of us apostles teach the same good news about Christ. That is the message that you have believed. It does not matter which of us told it to you, whether it was me or someone else.

Christians will live again after death

12 We all teach this message: God raised Christ up after his death. But some of you say that dead people do not live again.

13 Anyone who says that is wrong. If dead people do not live again, Christ also did not rise up after his death. He would still be dead.

14 And if God did not raise Christ up, it would be useless for us to teach you. There would be nothing for you to believe.

15 We would have been telling lies about God, because we told you that God raised Christ up after his death. But if dead people do not live again, it means that God did not raise Christ.

16 So, if dead people never rise to a new life, even Christ himself did not rise after his death.

17 And if Christ did not rise, then you have believed a false message. God would still say that you are guilty, because of your sins.

18 Also, think about those people who believed in Christ but they have already died. If dead people do not rise to a new life, those people would have no life with God.

19 As believers, we trust Christ to give us a new life after death. But if we only trust him to help us in this life, we should be very sad. Everybody should be very sorry for us, more than for anyone else.

20 But God did raise Christ up after his death. We know that is true! Christ rose up to go to God in heaven. He was the first, so we know that believers who die will also rise up.

_____________________________________________________________

Important Vocabulary to Learn 

(Some of these words are in the reading, and some are in the questions below.)

1. Words from the first 1000 high frequency General Service Word List 

appear(ed), become, believe(d), body, born, cause(d), happen, heaven, importent, kind, (the) least, lies, raise(d), receive(d), result, sure, true, trust, (does not) matter (if/whether), useless, wrong

(And all the words in the reading that are not listed in numbers 2 and 3 below.)

2. Words from the second 1000 high frequency General Service Word List

alive, buried, connected, deserve, false, guilty, information, (a) lot (of), message, punishment, sacrifice, sad, sorry

3. Off List Words  

apostle(s), believer(s), disciple(s), gospel, sin(s)

 

Learning Questions and Activities 

1. Remembering -  What did Paul want the believers at Corinth to remember? (Check your answer in verses 1 and 2.)

2. Understanding - In this letter, Paul tells us many very important things. These things are the 'good news' he spoke about. We call this good news the gospel *.  Here is the gospel in a short form...

- All people have sinned. (This means we are all guilty in God's eyes and deserve death.)

- Jesus Christ died as a sacrifice for our sins. (When He died, he took our place and our punishment.)

- People buried his dead body

- God raised him up to live again

- Jesus appeared again to many believers after that

- All these things were told in the Bible. (Paul means the Old Testament part of the Bible.)

- If we believe that Jesus died in our place, we can have new life forever with God in Heaven.God no longer sees us as guilty.

In this letter, Paul is telling the believers in Corinth that the Bible wrote about these things many years before they happened. Why is it important to know this? The Christians at Corinth already believed in Jesus. Why was it important for Paul to tell this message (about the death and rising of Jesus) to the Christians at Corinth again? (Check your answer in verse 12.)

Why was it important for Paul to say how many people saw Jesus after He came back to life?

How important would Paul's message be if it is not true? How do you know? (Check your answers in verses 14 and 17.)

3. Applying - If Paul was not telling the truth, the people of his time could quickly say he was telling lies, because many of those people who met and saw Jesus were still alive when he wrote this letter. Do you believe he was telling the truth? Why?

Is it enough to just know about the gospel? Why is believing that Jesus was a sacrifice in our place important? Do you believe the 'good news' about Jesus? Why/Why not? How important is the gospel to you?  

How sure are you that you will live with God in heaven after you die? If you are not sure, how can you become sure? 

4. Analysing - What is the meaning of the word 'guilty' in verse 17? What makes a person 'guilty' in God's eyes? What is the meaning of the word 'sacrifice' in verse 3? In what way are the words 'sacrifice' and 'guilty' connected? What is the difference between just believing the gospel is true information and believing from your heart that Jesus was a sacrifice for your sins (and the sins of all those who trust Him)?  

5. Evaluating - Why does God expect us to believe in Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins? Would it not be more fair if he saved us because we try hard to be good people? Why isn't being a good person, doing good things, and keeping God's laws enough to please God and give us life with Him after we die? Why is the life, death and rising again of Jesus so important?

6. Creating - Share God's 'good news'. (You can do this activity using your own language if you want to talk to friends who don't know English.) 

You need a large square piece of paper, a pen and an envelope.

a) Take a large square of paper and fold each corner to the centre so it looks like the picture below.

b) Put a number on each folded corner near the centre (look at the picture again.)

c) Open the number 1 corner. Inside and on the corner piece (not the centre), write 'Jesus Christ died as a sacrifice for our sins'. 

d) Open the number 2 corner piece. Inside and on the corner piece write 'People buried his dead body'.

e) Inside the number 3 corner piece write 'God raised him up to live again'

f) Inside the number 4 corner piece, write 'Jesus appeared to many people after he rose again.'

g) Inside, in the centre of the paper write 'The Bible told us all this aboutJesus many years before it happened. God wants us to turn away from our sin, believe this message, and follow Jesus. This is the way He has given us so we can have eternal life with Him.'

g) Turn the square of paper over, and on the back write this, "The Bible says "All people have done wrong things (sinned). Nobody is as good as God in His glory wants them to be" - Romans 3:23". Underneath that, write 'Everyone is guilty of sin in God's eyes. Sin = death.'

h) Now put the square of paper into the envelope. On the front of the envelope near the top, write 'Good News' in large letters. Underneath that, write 'How to have life forever with God.'

i) Give the envelope to a friend and ask them to read the outside front. Ask your friend if they want to hear God's good news, and how to have life forever with Him.

j) If they say 'No', thank them anyway. (You can find another friend to talk to, or you can leave the envelope with them and ask them to look at it later. If you give your friend the envelope, tell them you will be happy to talk about what inside it, if and when they would like to do that.)

k) If your friend says 'Yes', open the envelope, and take out the square of paper. Now, show them the Bible verse from Romans 3:23 that you wrote on the back of the square. Explain this verse and say that it is true for every person, because we have all sinned and all of us are guilty in God's eyes. Because we are guilty, we cannot live forever with Him after we die. We need Him to forgive us and give us new life.

l) Tell your friend that we can't please God on our own by doing good things, even if we try really hard, no-one is perfect. Only God is perfect. We need His help. God has given us another way to please Him. Say, 'This is HIS way'. Then, turn the square over so that you can see the numbers.

m) Explain the 'good news' by opening up the numbered corners of the square of paper one by one. (Start with number 1, then number 2, then 3, and then number 4). Each time you lift a corner, explain more to your friend about what each sentence that is inside means.

n) Finally, explain the message in the centre of the square.

o) Tell your friend if they believe this 'good news' about Jesus from the heart, they too can have a new life with God. Ask them if they believe it.

- If they say 'No, I don't believe it', say, 'Thank you' to them for speaking with you. Then give your friend the envelope with the square of paper inside it, and ask them to take it away, look inside it later, and think about what they read there. Tell them you will pray for them, and that you will be happy to talk to them again, if they want to know more. Continue to be a kind and loving friend, and keep sharing the good news with them as you can.

- If your friend says they now believe the 'good news' and want to follow Jesus, offer to pray with them. Tell them they need to tell God they are very sorry for their sins. Then tell them to ask God to forgive them. Tell them to ask Him to give them the new life He promises in Jesus. If your friend becomes a Christian, you will need to keep being a good friend. Teach them more and more about the Christian life, and help them to grow.

- If your friend says 'Yes, I already believe the good news', you can be thankful together as Christian brothers and sisters who love Jesus. Keep sharing your love for Jesus with each other, and help each other to grow more like Him.