I remind you, brethren, of the gospel which I have preached to you.

He passes on to the doctrine of resurrections, which is the foundation of our faith. For if there is no resurrection, then Christ is not risen; but if He was not resurrected, then He was not incarnate; and thus all our faith will disappear. Since the Corinthians had such hesitations (for external wise men are ready to accept everything but the resurrection), Paul is striving for the resurrection. Very wisely, he reminds them of what they have already taken on faith. Nothing strange, he says, I tell you, but I let you know (γνωρίζω), that is, I remind you of what has already been communicated to you, but has been forgotten. By calling them brethren, he humbled them in part, and in part reminded them of that which made us brethren, namely, the appearance of Christ in the flesh, in which we could cease to believe, and of baptism, which is a type of the burial and resurrection of the Lord. In the name of the gospel, he also reminded us of the innumerable blessings that we received through the incarnation and resurrection of the Lord.

Which you accepted.

He did not say, "Which ye have heard; but: which you have accepted; for they received him not only by word, but also by works and miracles. He said so also in order to persuade them to keep it as accepted long ago.

In which you have been established, by which you are saved.

Though they hesitated, yet he says that they have stood firm in him: he deliberately pretends to be ignorant, and warns them not to deny it, even if they very much desire it. What is the use of standing in it? The one that you are saved.

If you keep what has been taught as I have preached to you.

He says, as it were, "Of what the resurrection is, I tell you nothing; for of this truth you have not doubted. But perhaps you need to know how the resurrection that I have preached to you will be. It is of this, that is, of how the resurrection will be, that I speak to you now.

Unless they believe in vain.

In order that you may be confirmed by words not to make them careless, He says: If you withhold, unless you believe in vain, that is, if you are not called Christians in vain. For the essence of Christianity lies in the doctrine of the resurrection.

For I taught you from the beginning what I myself received.

Since the doctrine of the resurrection is very important, I taught it from the beginning. For it is, as it were, the foundation of all faith. And I also received it, that is, from Christ. Therefore, as I keep it, so must you keep it. And as you accepted in the beginning, now you are wrong when you doubt even for a while.

That is, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures.

These words obviously belong to Christ Himself, who spoke through Paul. Since the Manichaeans would later say that Paul called the sins death, and the resurrection the deliverance from them, it pleased Him to rebuke them beforehand with these words. Thus, Christ died. What kind of death? without a doubt, bodily, not sinful; for He did not commit sin. If they are not ashamed to say that He also died a sinful death, then how is it said that He died for our sins? For if He was a sinner, how did He die for our sins? He also strikes them very clearly with this remark: according to the Scriptures. For the Scriptures everywhere ascribe this bodily death to Christ. Thus it is said: "They have pierced my hands and my feet" (Psalm 21:17); again: they will look upon Him Whom they have pierced (Zech. 12:10); again: He was wounded for our sins; for the transgressions of my people he goes to death (Isaiah 53:5,8).