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Every now and then someone pops up on media and declares the essence of Christianity to be …. (fill in the blanks with your favourite cliché).

We don’t need to guess at the essence of Christianity. The Bible tells us.

Writing to Corinth, Paul reminds readers of the gospel which they had believed and by which they were being saved if they stuck with it:

³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, … (1 Cor 15:3-4, ESV).

Paul then goes on to defend the objective historicity of the resurrection which was under challenge then and remains so now.

There is the heart of the matter – that God’s Christ died for our sins and was raised in accordance with Scripture. A similar point is made in Romans 1:1-17. The essence of Christianity lies in the person and work of Christ and how we ‘receive’ him by saving faith.

Notice the phrase ‘in accordance with the Scriptures’.

This is of great importance.

Christ was not an accidental hero who stumbled to the cross. Nor was he a last minute Plan B as if our fall into sin caught God by surprise. Rather, the coming, death and resurrection of Jesus were in the Father’s mind before creation and were long embedded in Scripture. Paul makes the same point in the Romans 1 passage where he refers to the gospel as ‘promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures …’.

This is most encouraging.

God knows what he is doing. He is the saving king and Lord who knew the end in the beginning because he had decided the end and the beginning. He dropped clues about this right through the time before Jesus. This gives the believer confidence in the goodness and purposefulness of God. He is never caught by surprise.

We live in chaotic times as the fruits of the fall become a toxic bloom. The mad and the bad seem to rule the nations. That leaves many feeling sad. The fact that Christ died for our sins and rose according to the plan long revealed in Scripture gives an anchor to the restless soul.

The way to a happy Easter is not through a cliché but rather lies in being embraced by the gospel revealed in Scripture. Here is the essence of Christianity: Christ died for our sins and was raised for our life.

– David Burke