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Welcome to the final of our reflection series “Born Again.” The born again life is focused on Christ’s power and nothing else. Through this reflection series, we’re looking at the things that try to take center stage in our lives. This week, we’re studying what 1 Corinthians 15 has to say about “Blind Faith.”

Read 1 Corinthians 15

One of the most cited chapters of the entire New Testament is 1 Corinthians 15. It is THE chapter that draws the proverbial “line in the sand.” On one side, upon reading the Gospels, Paul shows that the person who accepts Jesus’ claims receives a restructured life with Christ residing in the center as king. On the opposite side, the one who rejects the claims of Jesus as “The Messiah,” God in human form, as a lie, must believe that none of what he did or ever said matters one bit.  In that case, one can live in this world without a single care about what the Bible says about one’s life, since the Bible is all one big and vicious lie.

However, the most important thing to remember about Chapter 15 is that Paul doesn’t simply say, “Believe or don’t believe, the choice is yours.” To the surprise of many critics of Christianity, Paul appeals to the reader’s reasoning and logic as a means to arrive at one of the two conclusions.

For many who oppose Christianity, faith in Jesus is blind, zombie-like faith, where Christians plug along bumping into walls every which way, because simply walking forward is what a “good Christian” is supposed to do.

Paul never preached or knew that kind of Christianity, and if he heard someone argue from that position, he would be appalled.  This is not the Christianity he was transformed by.  This is not the Christianity that he preached to the world.

Are there areas where we do need faith beyond our senses in order to believe every word of the Bible? Yes. Are there things in the Bible that we cannot explain? Yes. However, Paul is clear that belief in Jesus is neither of those things. Paul contested that the Gospel he preached to the church in Corinth contained stories and accounts that could be attested to and verified by people still living.  He cites stories that go beyond individual hallucination and self-created mythology. There is a seriousness of Paul’s tone regarding the Gospel he preached and the conclusions people ultimately arrive at.

At the beginning of my walk with Christ I felt like the “Jesus Scale” was so heavily weighted in the favor of myth and legend that I felt like nothing short of a miracle would shift any weight to the opposing side. However, the more I read the Gospels, the more I realized that it was taking more faith to not believe what I was reading.

Being “born again” in truth does not mean believing everything, simply because it’s right, nor does it mean that the way we carry ourselves in the knowledge of this truth is by an irrational blind faith, like that of an insane person. I believe that I am a sane man, with a good head on my shoulders. I understand the ups and downs in this world and I carry myself like any other respectably sane individual. However, my belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is something I have more trust and confidence in than anything in the world. Understandably, this strikes some people as a contradiction.

Being born of the Spirit doesn’t mean losing a grip on your senses or reality. Being born again means that the truth  of the Gospel makes the most sense of all truths. The Spirit testifies to this truth when we are born again, and the way in which we testify thereafter is a testament to our rebirth in the Spirit.