Passage

1 Corinthians 15.3-7

"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles." (1 Corinthians 15:3-7, NASB95)

This passage is the earliest extant Christian creed, embedded by Paul into 1 Corinthians (written c. AD 55-56) but received as pre-existing tradition almost certainly during his Jerusalem visit c. AD 35-38 (cf. Galatians 1.18). Scholars across the confessional spectrum, including skeptics like Gerd Lüdemann, Bart Ehrman, and the late Maurice Casey, date the creed itself to within roughly two to five years of the crucifixion. It is the single strongest textual datum for very-early Christian belief in Jesus's bodily resurrection and forms the load-bearing premise of Gary Habermas and Mike Licona's minimal-facts case for the resurrection.

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. Now I make known unto you brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, wherein also ye stand, 2. by which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except ye believed in vain."

"3. For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4. and that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures; 5. and that he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve; 6. then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until now, but some are fallen asleep; 7. then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles;"

"8. and last of all, as to the child untimely born, he appeared to me also. 9. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." (1 Corinthians 15:1-9, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, 2. by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain."

"3. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4. that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5. and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6. Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep. 7. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,"

"8. and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also. 9. For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God." (1 Corinthians 15:1-9, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2. By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain."

"3. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4. And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5. And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6. After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles."

"8. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. 9. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." (1 Corinthians 15:1-9, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. And I make known to you, brethren, the good news that I proclaimed to you, which also ye did receive, in which also ye have stood, 2. through which also ye are being saved, in what words I proclaimed good news to you, if ye hold fast, except ye did believe in vain,"

"3. for I delivered to you first, what also I did receive, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Writings, 4. and that he was buried, and that he hath risen on the third day, according to the Writings, 5. and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, 6. afterwards he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain till now, and certain also did fall asleep; 7. afterwards he appeared to James, then to all the apostles."

"8. And last of all, as to the untimely birth, he appeared also to me, 9. for I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I did persecute the assembly of God," (1 Corinthians 15:1-9, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle, citing a pre-Pauline creedal formula likely received during his Jerusalem visit with Peter and James (cf. Galatians 1.18)
Audience: the Corinthian believers, some of whom denied bodily resurrection (1 Cor 15:12)
Location: composed in Ephesus during Paul's third missionary journey; addressed to Corinth
Time period: the letter c. AD 55-56; the creed itself dated by mainstream scholarship to c. AD 30-35, within five years of the crucifixion

Theological reading

Paul flags the material as received tradition by the technical rabbinic verbs paredōka (delivered) and parelabon (received), the formula for transmission of authoritative oral teaching. He places it en prōtois ("of first importance"), signaling that what follows is not Paul's innovation but the apostolic deposit. Several features mark the unit as pre-Pauline composition:

Parallel four-clause structure ("Christ died... He was buried... He was raised... He appeared") with each clause introduced by hoti.
Non-Pauline vocabulary: hyper tōn hamartiōn hēmōn ("for our sins") in the plural; the Aramaic name Kēphas for Peter; hoi dōdeka ("the twelve") even though Judas was gone (a fossilized title that survived the gap).
Semitic syntax beneath the Greek surface, including the kata tas graphas refrain.
Creedal cadence identifiable from oral catechesis patterns.

The dating to within roughly 30-35 AD rests on: Paul's conversion c. AD 33-35 (Gal 1:15-16); his three-year wait then Jerusalem visit (Gal 1:18); his explicit statement that he received this creed prior to his Corinthian preaching; and the linguistic priors. Even Bart Ehrman dates the creed to within months to a couple of years of the crucifixion, making it the closest textual window into the earliest church's belief that we possess. The resurrection claim is therefore not a late legendary accretion. It is the founding kerygma.

The named appearance witnesses, Cephas, the twelve, the five hundred (most still alive when Paul writes, an implicit invitation to verify), James the brother of Jesus, all the apostles, and Paul himself, constitute the creed's evidential teeth. The five hundred clause is especially load-bearing: Paul names a verifiable group of witnesses still living, which would be reckless if no such appearance had occurred and the Corinthians could check. James's named appearance is also significant: he was a skeptic during Jesus's ministry (Mark 3:21; John 7:5) and became the leader of the Jerusalem church (Acts 15; Gal 2:9), a conversion-trajectory the resurrection-appearance explains.

The creed is the foundation of the minimal-facts case developed by Gary Habermas and Mike Licona: a small set of facts conceded by the great majority of critical scholars (Jesus died by crucifixion; the disciples believed He appeared to them; the church's enemy Paul was converted by what he took to be an appearance; the skeptic James was converted by what he took to be an appearance; the tomb was found empty by the women) is best explained by the historical occurrence of the resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 is the textual anchor of facts two through four.

Key words

G3860 - paradidomi, paradidōmi, "to deliver / hand on" (the technical verb of authoritative tradition-transmission)
G1453 - egeiro, egeirō, "to raise" (the perfect passive egēgertai, "He has been raised and remains raised")
Pending lexicon expansion for ophthē (appeared) and en prōtois (of first importance).

Theological themes

Early-creedal kerygma, the founding apostolic confession, not late legend
Bodily resurrection, the four-clause sequence (died, buried, raised, appeared) entails physical, not merely visionary, resurrection
Witness chain, named, datable, partially-verifiable appearance witnesses
Substitutionary atonement, hyper tōn hamartiōn hēmōn ("for our sins") embedded in the earliest confession
Scriptural fulfillment, kata tas graphas refrain ties the events to OT prophecy

Cross-references

1 Corinthians 15.3-8, the related passage including the appearance to Paul
Galatians 1.18, Paul's Jerusalem visit when the creed was likely received
Acts 2.22-36, Peter's Pentecost kerygma showing the same four-clause shape
Romans 4.25, delivered for our trespasses and raised for our justification
1 Corinthians 15.12-20, Paul's argument that without resurrection faith is vain

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.