1 Corinthians 15: 3-4

3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,

Paul and the early believers considered the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus to be of first importance in their practice and understanding of the teachings of Jesus. A faithful life was regarded as: suffering and self-sacrifice, death and burial but resulted in resurrection.  It was so important that it had to be told exactly how it happened and not changed according to the audience. The story of Jesus was received and handed on faithfully without altering it. Paul received the story and what it meant directly from Jesus Himself, so, whatever Paul teaches or recounts it will match up with for example, the teachings of Jesus we find in the gospels. Jesus has priority in interpretation. Everyone else gives way.  All interpretations of Paul must be done through the lens of the teachings of Jesus. Paul is handing on the faith he received he is not inventing it as he goes. Paul’s teaching about Jesus is not only handed on as he received it but it is verifiable through consulting the scriptures. Jesus fulfilled the scriptures and what was prophesied about the Messiah. In this passage the death, burial and resurrection are directly referred to as having been told forth by the scriptures. If we model our practice on the example set by these first Christians; the people who had direct access to Jesus then of first importance to us will be the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus; we too will recognise that suffering and death is followed by resurrection. Our reliance will be on scripture. Our interpretation of scripture must be Christocentric that is based on what Jesus said the scriptures meant through His words and deeds as recorded for us in the bible. Let us be thankful; Jesus is alive! This changes everything…  Because He lives we will live also!