15:1 Now I want to make clear for you, 1 brothers and sisters, 2 the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, 15:2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you – unless you believed in vain. 15:3 For I passed on to you as of first importance 3 what I also received – that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, 15:4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised 4 on the third day according to the scriptures, 15:5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 15:6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters 5 at one time, most of whom are still alive, 6 though some have fallen asleep. 7 15:7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
1 tn Grk “Now I make known to you.”
2 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:10.
3 tn Grk “among (the) first things.”
4 tn Grk “he has been raised/is raised,” using a Greek tense that points to the present effect of the act of raising him. But in English idiom the temporal phrase “on the third day” requires a different translation of the verb.
5 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:10.
6 tn Grk “most of whom remain until now.”
7 tn The verb κοιμάω (koimaw) literally means “sleep,” but it is often used in the Bible as a euphemism for death when speaking of believers. This metaphorical usage by its very nature emphasizes the hope of resurrection: Believers will one day “wake up” out of death. Here the term refers to death, but “sleep” was used in the translation to emphasize the metaphorical, rhetorical usage of the term.