1 Corinthians 15:3

For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

First of all ... This means "First in importance, not in time, the doctrine of the resurrection being primary, cardinal, central and indispensable."[5]

That which I also received ... Wesley was no doubt correct in the conviction that this meant "I received from Christ himself; it was not a fiction of my own."[6] To be sure, Paul had contact with other apostles whose testimony corroborated his own; but there can be no meaning here to the effect that Paul was merely repeating what he had heard from others.

Christ died for our sins ... Volumes of truth are embedded in this. Christ's death was not a mere murder, designed and carried out by his enemies; but it was a conscious laying down of his life for the sins of mankind. The great atonement is in view here.

According to the Scriptures ... "The double appeal to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3,4) in so brief a statement is deliberate and important."[7] The magnificent prophecies of the Old Testament which so accurately foretold the death of the Son of God are so important that they deserved and received mention even ahead of the apostolic testimony about to be cited. As to what Scriptures were meant, Psalms 16:10; Isaiah 53:10; Hosea 6:2; Jonah 2:10 (see Matthew 12:40), Zechariah 12:10,13:7 are among them, besides all of the typical things such as the sin offering and the Passover sacrifices.

[5] David Lipscomb, Commentary on First Corinthians (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1935), p. 221.

[6] John Wesley, One Volume New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1972), in loco.

[7] David Lipscomb, op. cit., p. 222.