I don't know if Morison's theology as a whole is sound, but his argument from 1 Cor. 15:1–4 is spot on, I think. Also, some people need to know that this argument is not new. It is at least as old as the 19th century.
Sect. 2. -- The next passage to which I would direct your attention, is 1 Cor. xv. 1-4. "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you THE GOSPEL, which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which, also, ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain; for I delivered unto you FIRST OF ALL that which I also received, how that CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS, according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures." You will observe that the apostle sets out in this passage by declaring unto the Corinthians THE GOSPEL. Here, then, we may expect to find out the real object of saving faith. All will admit that it is THE GOSPEL which is THE OBJECT of saving faith; and in this place the apostle professedly explains to the Corinthians what THE GOSPEL is. What then is it? Were we to consult human authors to find out what it is, we would be perplexed and confounded by an almost endless variety and diversity of opinions. It is amazing to find such a conflict of views concerning such a simple subject as the gospel. It is more than amazing, it is melancholy and heart-rending, to find the apostle's definition of it passed by as apparently unworthy of notice, and others proposed in its room. O what is it that ails people at the Holy Ghost's explanation of "the gospel of the grace of God"!
What, then, is the explanation of the gospel here given by Paul, the Holy Ghost's amanuensis? It is this: "Christ died for OUR sins, according to the Scriptures," &c. This, then, is THE GOSPEL, "the truth as it is in Jesus." Seeing this is the case, it must be of paramount importance to ascertain who were the precise persons referred to by the apostle in the word "OUR." Were they the believing or the unbelieving Corinthians? This is the question. Is it said by any that it was the believing Corinthians alone who were meant? This cannot be the case; for though it was true indeed that Christ did die for them, none, surely, will say that this truth is THE GOSPEL,--the good news which are to be preached "to every creature." Am I preaching THE GOSPEL when I rise up in an assembly and say, "Christ died for your sins, O ye believers"? Nay, this cannot be regarded as glad tidings "to every creature." But I go farther, and say, that it is quite impossible to bring a consistent meaning out of the passage, if we confine the word OUR to the believing Corinthians. This will be evident to you if you consider that that this gospel--"Christ died for OUR sins"--was what Paul preached unto them before "they received it, and were saved by it." "I declare unto you," says he, "the gospel which I preached unto you, WHICH ALSO YE HAVE RECEIVED, BY WHICH ALSO YE ARE SAVED." Paul preached this gospel--"Christ died for OUR sins;" and the heathen Corinthians "received it," that is, "believed it;" and because they believed it, "they were saved by it." They were saved by believing Paul when he stood up in the midst of them and proclaimed--"Christ died for OUR sins, according to the Scriptures." As if to obviate every possible difficulty in the way of understanding this passage, the apostle repeats, and still more explicitly, the same declaration in the third verse,--"For I delivered unto you FIRST OF ALL that which I also received, how that Christ died for OUR sins, according to the Scriptures." Amongst the very "first" things that the apostle delivered to the heathen Corinthians, after he entered their city, was this--"Christ died for OUR sins, according to the Scriptures." He did not first preach to them some other gospel than this, and by and by, after they were all believers, come out with the daring declaration--"Christ died for OUR sins, according to the Scriptures." On the contrary, this was the truth which "first of all" he delivered unto them; and this was to them the saving truth, for it was the truth "which they received, BY WHICH ALSO THEY WERE SAVED." Here, then, you have an inspired definition of the object of saving faith--the gospel. It is not merely this,--"Christ is able, infinitely able, to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him;" but it is this,--"Christ died for OUR sins, according to the Scriptures." Some persons have even ventured to assert that no man is warranted, till after a long life of holiness, to say, "Christ died for me;" and ministers have been told by other ministers that they have no right to say to any man, "Christ died for you." It appears, however, that the apostle Paul was of another mind, for he had no scruples in rising up amidst the heathen Corinthians, whilst yet heathens and unbelievers, and boldly proclaiming, not merely "Christ died for MY sins," but "Christ died for OUR sins, (that is, for your sins, O heathen Corinthians, and for mine,) according to the Scriptures." And this proclamation, moreover, was regarded by him to be the gospel, v. 1.; and be it remembered, in addition, that he elsewhere says, "but though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." Gal. i. 8. O who, after this, will dare preach any other gospel to an audience of sinners than this--"Christ died for YOUR sins, according to the Scriptures?" How long shall this, the only gospel, be unheard of in then hundreds of our churches? How long shall our land mourn in sackcloth because of the silencing of that "joyful sound" which alone has in it holy might and majesty and mastery, and which should everywhere be heard echoing and re-echoing wherever sinners are to be found? O dear sinner, how true is it that "Christ loved you, and gave himself for you"! Will you not then believe this, "the gospel," and live for him, since he died for you? Oh why will you not?
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