1 Corinthians 15:1-8

NLT: ¹Now let me remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and still do now, for your faith is built on this wonderful message. ²And it is this Good News that saves you if you firmly believe it—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. ³I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me—that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. ⁴He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said. ⁵He was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles. ⁶After that, he was seen by more than five hundred of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died by now. ⁷Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. ⁸Last of all, I saw him, too, long after the others, as though I had been born at the wrong time.

NIV: ¹Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. ²By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. ³For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. ⁶After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

NASB: ¹Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, ²by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. ³For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; ⁷then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; ⁸and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

KJV: ¹Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; ²By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. ³For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; ⁴And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: ⁵And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: ⁶After 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. ⁷After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. ⁸And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

Comment: Paul passes on the testimony of the early Christian community asserting the death and resurrection of Jesus and listing several groups of eyewitnesses. The eyewitnesses are listed in order of the appearances and the numbers of people involved; Peter, the 12 apostles, more than 500 followers, James, and all the apostles. Finally, much later, Paul has an encounter with the resurrected Jesus. These statements derive their credibility from the fact that great care has been taken to precisely, in so far as is reasonable, delineate the witnesses involved, the numbers involved, and the order of appearance. Delineating specifics establishes the veracity of Jesus' death and resurrection. In fact, the gospels do this very thing when listing the numbers of people involved in various events [e.g. the feeding of the five thousand in Matthew 14:13-21, Lazarus being dead 4 days before being raised in John 11:17, 153 large fish caught in John 21:11] indicating, through detailed descriptions, the reality of the events being described. Note that more than 500 followers apparently had seen the resurrected Jesus. To use the number 500 implies someone had attempted to count them at some point. Otherwise a more general term along the lines of "a lot of followers had seen Jesus" would have been used. In addition, Paul states that most of these "more than 500 eyewitnesses" were still alive and available for interview even as he wrote this letter to the Corinthians. The fact that most eyewitnesses were still alive when this letter was written indicates a very early date for the belief in Jesus' resurrection. This means the resurrection was not a mythological development. Still, even more credibility is added by Paul when he states that he, too, had seen the resurrected Jesus even though his encounter came much later and particularly since he persecuted those who believed in Jesus' resurrection. In verse 2, Paul challenges the Corinthian's belief in the resurrection indicating they're only saved in Jesus, if, in fact, he is alive. If he were still dead, there would be no savior to save them. But they should believe he is alive because there were hundreds of eyewitnesses to that fact. For emphasis, Paul repeats this reasoning starting in verse 15.