One of the things I found very interesting when I translated the Greek text of 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 into English was that there is an interrogative pronoun (tini with the acute accent on the first vowel) in verse 2 that most English translations don't translate, at least not as a question. But the apostle Paul is asking the Corinthians a question about the gospel.[1] He's basically asking them: What have I preached to you? What is the good news I preached to you? Then Paul proceeds to remind the Corinthians (and us today) of what the gospel really is.
What follows is my personal translation of 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 from the Koine Greek New Testament. The Greek text I used is from The Reader's Greek New Testament, 2nd Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007).
A Free Grace Translation of 1 Corinthians 15:1-5:
1 Now I declare to you, brothers, the gospel, which I announced as good news to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 through which also you are saved. For what statement have I preached to you if you retain it? Except if not, you believed to no purpose. 3 For I delivered to you in first order of importance that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
ENDNOTES:
[1] The Expositor's Greek New Testament affirms that in 1 Corinthians 15:2 the apostle Paul is asking
the Corinthians a question. It translates the Greek text of verse 2 this
way: "In what word (I ask) did I preach (it) to you? – (you will
remember) if you are holding (it) fast! – unless you believed idly!" (See
W. R. Nicoll, The Expositor's Greek New Testament, 5 Vols., Vol. 2, p. 919.) Related to this, there is some debate regarding the exact meaning of the phrase in 1 Corinthians 15:2, "by which also you are saved" (NKJV). Many popular English translations have "are saved" (e.g. the NIV, NASB, NKJV, KJV, etc.) but some translations read: "are being saved" (e.g. the ESV and the NET Bible). The comment by Dr. S. Lewis Johnson on 1 Corinthians 15:2 in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary is helpful. He writes: "Ye are saved (Gr., present tense) may refer to continual salvation from the power of sin in the lives of believers, or it may refer to the day-by-day salvation of the inhabitants of Corinth as they received the message and formed part of the church of Jesus Christ." (S. Lewis Johnson, Charles F. Pfeiffer and Everett F. Harrison, Editors, The Wycliffe Bible Commentary [Chicago: Moody Press, 1990], p. 1255.) Commenting on this same passage of Scripture, Dr. Charlie Bing of GraceLife ministries similarly writes: "We have to get the gospel right to be saved (from hell), but we must also get the gospel right to keep on getting saved (from sin). The deliverance God wants for us is not only from the penalty of sin (our justification), but also from the power of sin (our sanctification) and the presence of sin (our glorification)....The gospel that initially saves us is the same gospel that keeps saving us and the gospel that ultimately saves us – and it's all by God's grace!" (Charlie Bing, "You are Saved, if you Hold Fast – 1 Corinthians 15:1-2," GraceNotes, No. 62.)
