1 Corinthians 15:3

(3) For I delivered . . .—Here follows the explanation and illustration of what he meant, in 1 Corinthians 15:2, by “with what word I preached the gospel.” We see here what the subject of apostolic teaching was—not indeed all the gospel that the Apostle taught, but what he considered of the first importance, and therefore put in the forefront of his teaching—viz., the historical fact of Christ’s death for our sins, His burial, His resurrection. This was the first Creed of Christendom.

For our sins.—Not only because of, but in behalf of our sins, in order to take them away (Galatians 1:4; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 3:5). The fact of the Atonement was not something evolved by the Apostle’s own consciousness, but a fact revealed to him by Christ. (See 1 Corinthians 11:23, and Note there.)