It is a great mistake to treat Paul's writings, and especially this
Epistle, as mere theology. They are the transcript of his life's
experience. As has been well said, the gospel of Paul is an
interpretation of the significance of the life and work of Jesus based
upon the revelation to him of Jesus as the risen Christ. He believed
that he had seen Jesus on the road to Damascus, and it was that
appearance which revolutionised his life, turned him from a persecutor
into a disciple, and united him with the Apostles as ordained to be a
witness with them of the Resurrection. To them all the Resurrection of
Jesus was first of all a historical fact appreciated chiefly in its
bearing on Him. By degrees they discerned that so transcendent a fact
bore in itself a revelation of what would become the experience of all
His followers beyond the grave, and a symbol of the present life
possible for them. All three of these aspects are plainly declared in
Paul's writings. In our text it is chiefly the first which is made
prominent. All that distinguishes Christianity; and makes it worth
believing, or mighty, is inseparably connected with the Resurrection.