William Lane Craig on the Gospel

William Lane Craig is a strong defender of the Christian faith and one of the foremost Christian apologist's of our time. He is well-respected in the Christian community and among his peers in academic circles.¹

Notice what Dr. Craig says in his lecture titled "The Work of Christ - His Resurrection" — he points us to 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 and highlights "the four essentials of the Gospel":

"For our Scriptural data on this subject, I want to turn to just two central passages in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 is the first Scripture that we want to turn to....What does Paul say? He says in verse 3, 'For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,' and now comes this four line formula: 'that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas,' or Peter, that is the Aramaic word for 'Peter,' the name for him, 'then to the Twelve.' So notice here [in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5] that Paul lists as part of the four essentials of the Gospel the death of Christ for our sins, his burial, his resurrection on the third day, and then his postmortem appearances to various individuals and groups."²

Dr. Craig's analysis is in agreement with my basic premise that the Gospel emphasizes Christ's death and resurrection without excluding His burial and appearances. All four of these facts are part of the Gospel.

ENDNOTES:

¹ Reasonable Faith Reviews and Endorsements, http://www.reasonablefaith.org/rf-tools/reviews (accessed March 24, 2014).

² William Lane Craig, "Doctrine of Christ (Part 14), The Work of Christ - His Resurrection," Reasonable Faith with William Lane Craig website, https://www.reasonablefaith.org/podcasts/defenders-podcast-series-2/s2-doctrine-of-christ/doctrine-of-christ-part-14/