When discussing the meaning of Paul’s Gospel, there are four words which we often don’t say much about in the discussion, but which people also often wonder about the meaning of, with those words being, “…according to the Scriptures.”
The question, of course, is which passages of Scripture is Paul referring to there? Well, we know that there weren’t any passages of Scripture (be it passages found in the Hebrew or the Greek Scriptures) prior to Paul writing this that specifically contained the exact words “Christ died for our sins” or “He was buried, and He rose again the third day” (or even the exact words that “Christ will die for our sins” or “He will be buried, and He will rise again the third day”), so we know that this English translation of Paul’s statement isn’t meant to be taken too literally.
Instead, we should recognize that the words “according to the Scriptures” can also be interpreted more generally as meaning “in accord with the Scriptures,” telling us that what Paul was saying is supported by the Scriptures in some manner, even if those exact words weren’t ever used anywhere in the Scriptures prior to his writing them.
Of course, this then brings us back to the original question of which passages of Scripture Paul is referring to. Well, some people believe it might be a hint that one or more of the Synoptic Gospels were actually written earlier than this epistle by Paul was, and that Paul was simply referring to passages about Christ’s death and resurrection from one of these books. And while it is indeed a possibility that some or all of the Synoptics were already written at that time, and even possible that passages in one or more of those books are what Paul was referring to, I personally believe it’s far more likely that Paul was referring to passages from the Hebrew Scriptures than the Greek Scriptures when he wrote that, since, based on his pattern of using the Hebrew Scriptures to support his theological points in other parts of his various epistles, he’d almost certainly be using prophetic sorts of passages (be they literal prophecies or just prophecies in type) from the Hebrew Scriptures to demonstrate that his Gospel is indeed in accord with the prophecies that were shared in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Before getting into the passages he was referring to, though, I should also quickly point out that Paul’s Gospel was a secret until it was revealed to him by the glorified Christ (and if you aren’t aware of this fact, you really need to read this article), so the fact that all humanity will be saved (which is what his Gospel tells us) wasn’t prophesied in the Hebrew Scriptures (or even revealed in the Greek Scriptures — no, not even by Jesus in His earthly teachings — prior to Paul revealing it in his own writings), which means he wasn’t saying that his Gospel was actually revealed by Scripture prior to the Scripture that he himself wrote, so much as simply saying that the details of his Gospel are in accord with what the Hebrew Scriptures teach, since they foretold Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection in various ways. But, again, what were these passages?
Well, Isaiah 53:10-12 is the most obvious when it comes to what passage Paul was referring to in verse 3 of 1 Corinthians 15, and I don’t think any Bible believer would disagree that it prophetically looked forward to Christ’s death (even if it was technically only referring to His death for the sins of Israel rather than to His death for the sins of all humanity, at least as its primary meaning, although it could be argued that one might be able to midrashically say it has a secondary meaning of Christ’s death for all humanity as well).
But what about verse 4? In this case, I believe he would have been referring to more than just one passage, and that the primary passages would almost certainly have been Jonah 1:17-2:2 (since Jesus Himself referred back to it as a prophecy about His impending three-day burial) and Psalm 16:10 (where we’re told that God wouldn’t leave Christ’s soul in the grave — which is referred to metonymously as “hell” in the KJV). And while Jonah’s time in the belly of the fish was a prophecy, it also tells us that Jonah was a type of Christ, which in turn tells us that Paul was likely referring to typology in general there as well.
And with that in mind, the passage in Jonah wasn’t the only passage in the Hebrew Scriptures using typology in a manner that could be said to point towards it taking three days for something to come to life (or even come back to life). Hosea 6:2 (which is also a prophecy connected to Christ’s return in the future) could be said to be another passage using typology of resurrection on the third day, and Genesis 1:11–13 could be said to be a type of life coming out of the ground on the third day. On top of that, we also have the type of Christ’s resurrection demonstrated in Isaac being rescued from death on the third day in Genesis 22:1-12 (and he was confirmed to be a type of Christ in Hebrews 11:17-19). And those aren’t the only passages I could point to either. There are various others, but I think the ones we’ve looked at so far are enough to get my point across.
But this does bring up another question, which is whether one has to be aware of and understand the various passages in the Hebrew Scriptures that Paul was referring to in order to truly believe his Gospel the way one has to truly understand and believe what it means “that Christ died for our sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day” in order to be saved (referring to the special salvation known as membership in the body of Christ, of course, and not the general salvation that everyone will eventually experience because of Christ’s death for our sins, burial, and resurrection on the third day). Well, in answer to that question, I’d remind you that Paul wasn’t even trying to teach anyone his Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15, but rather that he was reminding his Corinthian readers of what his Gospel is (a Gospel they’d already heard and believed when he first visited them in person) in order to prove that the resurrection of the dead is a real future event, so I’d argue that his “according to the Scriptures” statement was simply him trying to make sure his readers understood that physical resurrection is not only something they believed happened at the time they believed his Gospel, but also that Scripture itself supports the concept of physical resurrection too. So no, I personally don’t believe that one has to be familiar with all the passages that Paul was referring to there, as long as they understand that Jesus was indeed resurrected from His tomb on the third day in a living, physical body. To put it simply, “according to the Scriptures” isn’t a part of Paul’s Gospel itself, but is rather something Paul interjected into his reminder of what his Gospel is, in order to confirm that his Gospel and the resurrection of the dead are both in accord with what the Hebrew Scriptures say.