A taster session is meant to give you an idea of what something is like; it provides (to continue the food analogy) a flavour of what is to come. Universities run ‘taster sessions’ for would-be students, giving them the opportunity to attend lectures and visit departments so they can decide if a particular course is to their taste. Leisure centres may offer taster sessions so that you can discover if you would like to do particular sports. Slimming World classes sometimes hold taster sessions when people can try out the recipes they recommend to decide what they would like to eat in future.

This is a ‘taster session’, so to speak, for next week’s Bible study, when we will be looking at 1 Cor 15:12-34. In this passage, Paul is looking at the certainty and hope of the resurrection of the dead because of Christ’s resurrection. A key verse is ‘But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead.‘ (1 Cor 15:20)

‘But God…’ is a phrase found in many Bible verses, some of which I looked at at the start of 2013 (see here.) It’s a phrase which completely turns the situation around. ‘But’ is a ‘conjunction which is used to introduce a phrase or clause contrasting with what has already been mentioned.‘ Paul has been looking at the dire situation we would be in if Christ had not been raised from the dead (a situation which includes still being in our sins and being pitied above all) and affirms categorically that we are not in this position because Christ has indeed been raised from the dead! A similar phrase can be found in Acts 3:15 and Acts 10:39-40, where we see the contrast between the hopelessness of death and the hope of the resurrection.

Last time in the Bible study, we looked at the foundations of our faith and how to explain the gospel to those who do not yet believe, determining what is really essential to be saved rather than simply interesting to know about. The picture below goes even further: ‘defining the gospel in two words – but God.’ God’s intervention in history in the person of Jesus Christ is what the gospel is all about.

but-god