A "News Flash" from Ancient History: Lee Strobel on 1 Corinthians 15

There's a classic sermon by Lee Strobel on YouTube that I've always liked. It's a sermon titled "The Case for Christ from Early Recorded Accounts". An earlier video of it on YouTube (from 2007) had over 11,000 views. That link is no longer active, but thankfully the sermon has been reposted by another channel so the video can still be found on YouTube if you search for it. And although the sermon was preached a number of years ago, it's still as true today as ever! 

The entire sermon is well worth watching, but the excerpt that I've transcribed is from the part where Strobel is highlighting from the Apostle Paul's writings those texts which clearly affirm the deity of Jesus. One of those texts is 1 Corinthians 15! Here's what Strobel says in regard to 1 Corinthians 15:3ff and what he describes as "the essence of Christianity": 

"Another one is 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 3 and following, that contains the essence of Christianity: that Jesus died. Why? 'for our sins,' 'that He was buried,' 'that He was resurrected on the third day,' and then it mentions specific eye-witnesses whose lives were transformed by encountering the resurrected Jesus. This creed has been dated back by scholars from a wide range of theological belief, to as early as 24 to 36 months after the life of Jesus, and the beliefs that make up that creed go right back to the cross itself. Friends, we don't have some huge expanse of time during which a mortal Jesus was mythologized into being the Son of God. Right back at the beginning, we have historical records that confirm, in the most exalted terms, that Jesus Christ is divine. Remember what I said about A. N. Sherwin-White, 'The passage of two generations of time is not even enough for legend to grow up and wipe out a solid core of historical truth.' We don't have the passage of two generations of time. We have a news flash from ancient history!"¹

Reference:

¹ Lee Strobel, "The Case for Christ from Early Recorded Accounts" (YouTube, timestamp: 5:31-6:35 minutes).