BIG IDEA:
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST GUARANTEES ULTIMATE TRIUMPH
INTRODUCTION:
It is always satisfying to be on the winning team. But life is much more than a game. Our eternal destiny hinges on the validity of the resurrection of Christ. And more than that, the ultimate triumph of God’s entire kingdom program derives from the reality of the resurrection of the God-Man.
In contrast to the hypothetical dreaded consequences of no resurrection of Christ as contemplated in the previous paragraph (v.12-19), Paul now moves forward with decisive certainty and assurance to the blessed consequences of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Review: Since Christ has been raised from the dead:
- – OUR PREACHING MINISTRY IS NOT IN VAIN!
- – OUR FAITH IS NOT IN VAIN!
- – WE ARE NOT FALSE WITNESSES
- – WE HAVE BEEN DELIVERED FROM OUR SINS
- – THOSE WHO HAVE DIED IN CHRIST HAVE NOT PERISHED!
- – BELIEVERS ARE DESTINED FOR GLORY AND REWARD!
Anthony Thiselton: The firstfruits is an agricultural term for the first installment of the harvest that pledges more of the same kind to come. Paul regularly stresses the “sameness,” solidarity, or paradigmatic equivalence of the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of Christians who are “in” Christ, but with the one crucial difference of timing. In this sense, Christ is the “firstborn” (Greek prōtotokon) among many brothers and sisters (Rom. 8:29; cf. Col. 1:18). Christ’s resurrection, therefore, is a pledge and assurance of the future resurrection of the dead in Christ. The term also denotes a representative example of the rest of the crop.
Daniel Akin: Thankfully, here Paul quickly pivots from the gloom and doom of a purely hypothetical situation to the joyful actuality that Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. His resurrection is actually a guarantee of our resurrection. As we will see, the past resurrection of Jesus also guarantees several facets of the future resurrection to come.
Mark Taylor: The passage opens with a reaffirmation of Christ’s resurrection and the claim that he is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (15:20), followed by an explanation of death and resurrection by way of a typological contrast between Adam and Christ (15:21–22). Paul then repeats that Christ is the firstfruits in order to clarify the order of resurrection. Christ and those who belong to him are each raised “in his own turn” (15:23). Christ has already been raised from the dead, and the resurrection of believers will occur at the Lord’s coming. The second unit takes its cue from the word “the end.” Paul describes the end as the time when Christ delivers the kingdom to the Father and abolishes all rule, authority, and power, including death (15:24b–26). The destruction of all enemies is necessary “so that God may be all in all” (15:27–28). Paul finds scriptural warrant for God’s sovereignty over his creation in Pss 8 and 110:1.
Gordon Fee: Thus, in a passage of “epic grandeur,” Paul responds to the Corinthians’ denial of the resurrection of the dead. Their form of “spirituality,” which allows such a denial, stems not only from a false view of the nature of humanity but also from a less than adequate view of God as the sovereign Lord of history.
Paul Gardner: Paul now affirms the veracity of the resurrection of Jesus and leads from that into affirming the resurrection for all believers. In these verses, he assesses the results and merits of the Lord’s resurrection for those who believe in him. Where the previous section had demonstrated the absurdity of the denial of a bodily resurrection for Christian faith, this section explains the theological and practical benefits for believers who trust in Christ’s resurrection. Building on ideas of the respective representative headships of Adam and Christ, Paul shows how death gives way, in Christ, to life. This life is seen in its fullness now in “Christ the firstfruits” and will be seen at his coming among all “who belong to Christ” (v. 23). The resurrection guarantees the destruction of “the last enemy . . . death” (v. 26) and culminates in all things being in subjection under God (vv. 27–28). In terms of the rhetoric of the argument, this should probably be seen as the confirmatio, that is, the main body of Paul’s argument in which logical proofs for the wisdom of his position are offered.
Main Idea: Christ has indeed been raised and, by God’s clear design, leads the way through death to resurrection for all who are in him. Christ destroys death and rules his kingdom until he finally delivers all to the Father.
Christ Has Been Raised, So in Him Shall All Be Made Alive (15:20–28)
- As in Adam All Die, in Christ All Are Made Alive (15:20–22)
- The Risen Christ Comes for Those Who Belong to Him (15:23–24a)
- Christ Delivers the Kingdom to the Father (vv. 24b–25)
- Sin Is Destroyed (v. 26)
- Christ Subjects Himself to the Father (vv. 27–28)
I. (:20-23) VICTORY FOR BELIEVERS — THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST GUARANTEES THE ULTIMATE TRIUMPH OF INDIVIDUAL BELIEVERS OVER SIN AND DEATH AS THEY FOLLOW CHRIST IN RESURRECTION
Anthony Thiselton: Three theological themes converge in vv. 21-22.
(1) First, the resurrection of Christ is an event of cosmic significance, not simply an event in the history and life of Israel and the church. Since resurrection was expected only as an event of the “last days,” the resurrection of Christ brings forward the end time to the present as the firstfruits of the new creation. In vv. 38-44 Paul will expound resurrection as an act of the sovereign Creator God, comparable in formative power and purpose with the act of creation itself, but the active creation of a new, transformed “world.” In technical terms it is an “apocalyptic” event. Beker perceives this aspect in 15:20-28 as the very heart of this chapter (Paul the Apostle, pp. 168-70).
(2) Second, since the resurrection of Christ is not an isolated event but carries with it the pledge of the future resurrection of believers, the terms in Adam and in Christ (v. 22) reflect the theological reality of corporate solidarity. “Solidarity” was more difficult to explain to a culture of modern Western individualism before the media made sports such an all-pervasive phenomenon in life, and before trade unions took over the term to denote “one for all” and “all for one.” If a team member scores a goal, or contrariwise incurs a penalty, the whole team is credited with the gain or made liable for the loss incurred by an individual on the team. In Rom. 5:12-21 Paul explains that we cannot have one (the advantage) without the other (the liability). Yet “the result of one trespass” differs in effect and scope from “the result of one act of righteousness” (5:17) in that “how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many” (5:14, NIV).
(3) The third theological theme is the Lordship of Christ, or Christology. The resurrection of the dead comes about through a human being.… All will be brought to life in Christ (vv. 21-22) in a cosmic and corporate event that rests on “the enthronement of Christ as ‘Lord’” (Beker, as cited above; cf. Rom. 1:3-4). Through this cosmic event, Paul goes on to explain, Christ shall have annihilated every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet (vv. 24b and 25).
A. (:20A) The Bodily Resurrection of Christ is a Certain Historical Reality
“But now Christ has been raised from the dead,”
Richard Hays: With the ringing affirmation of verse 20, Paul moves from illusion to reality:
- Strong Contrast – “But”
Small conjunction but One of the most beautiful and powerful words in the Greek NT
Paul does not leave us hanging with regards to his argument – he dismisses the negative consequences associated with the premise of no resurrection.
- Providential timing – “now” — in the fullness of time –
Paul ministered at a very special time in human history – in the immediate afterglow of the blazing glory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ
No longer straining to look forward to see the fulfillment of the types and shadows and prophecies of the OT regarding the death and resurrection of the coming Messiah; looking back in blessed fulfillment.
- Bodily Resurrection – “has been raised” –
Perf. Tense — past action with abiding results
- Separation from one state to another that is completely different
“from the dead”
B. (:20B) The Bodily Resurrection of Christ is the Pledged Pattern for all Believers who have Died and the Guarantee of Their Participation
“the first fruits of those who are asleep.”
Richard Hays: There is also a new element in the story here, an aspect of Christ’s resurrection not made explicit in the traditional kerygmatic formula of verses 3b-5: the risen Christ is “the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” His resurrection is not merely a wondrous event that confirms his special status before God; rather, it is the beginning of a much greater harvest. This is the crucial point that some of the Corinthians had failed to understand: they did not see that there was a direct connection between Christ’s resurrection and their own future fate. . .
The early Christians, Paul among them, took the resurrection of Jesus as a sign that the end of the age was breaking in. If Christ had been raised, then the resurrection of others must follow in due course. The metaphor of “first fruits” serves to express the idea that the great harvest of the general resurrection is at hand.
Paul Gardner: The first sheaf of the harvest, probably a sheaf of barley, was to be brought to the priest as an offering. This was a community offering rather than one brought by an individual. As the sheaves are “waved” or elevated before the Lord by the priest, so the offering becomes one of praise to Yahweh, who has supplied food for his people. In this sense the image does justice to Paul’s constant emphasis through this chapter that God is the one who raised Jesus and that as “firstfruit” Jesus brings glory to God. Of note from Leviticus is the fact that the people may not eat of the harvest themselves until the firstfruit has been offered to God, but once the offering has been made, the people may participate in the enjoyment of the harvest as well. Paul may have this strict order in mind as he develops his argument here that Christ must rise first and then those who are “in Christ” (v. 23). The offering also looks forward with expectation to the Lord supplying a full harvest. Indeed, the dedicated firstfruit comes to be regarded as the guarantee of the full harvest. In this sense, it takes on the same idea as the “deposit” or “guarantee” (ἀρραβών) that is reflected in Paul’s discussion of the work of the Spirit, who secures “what is to come” (2 Cor 5:5).
- OT background of feast of first fruits
Ray Stedman: Paul is referring here to the ritual that was given to Israel in the 23rd chapter of the book of Leviticus, where on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which followed the Passover, on the morrow after the Sabbath, there would be the offering of the first fruits of the barley harvest. The Jews were commanded to bring a sheaf of grain, the first of the harvest, to the priest, who would wave it before the Lord.
Now if you have been carefully following the chronology of Scripture, you know that was the exact morning of our Lord’s resurrection. There, in the feasts of Israel, you have a prediction that the resurrection of Jesus would be the first fruits of the harvest. Paul’s argument is that not only did Jesus rise from the dead on the exact day predicted by the ritual, but, furthermore, his resurrection is a sample and a guarantee of the entire “harvest” of resurrection, which would include ours as well.
David Guzik: The offering at the Feast of First fruits was a bloodless grain offering (Leviticus 2). No atoning sacrifice was necessary, because the Passover lamb had just been sacrificed. This corresponds perfectly with the resurrection of Jesus, because His death ended the need for sacrifice, having provided a perfect and complete atonement.
- Significance of first fruits
- Concern of believers regarding their fellow Christians who have fallen asleep
Only believers are in view in this context; not speaking of the resurrection of all men to judgment.
C. (:21-22) The Resurrection of Christ Mirrors the Causal Relationship Established Back at the Fall of Man (Rom. 5:12ff)
Principle: The Action of One Man Determines the Fate of All Men He Represents
Where did sin and death come from?
- Remember the Effects of Our Union with the First Adam in Universal Sin and Death
“For since by a man came death”
“For as in Adam all die”
- Rejoice in Our Union with the Second Adam in Certain Resurrection to Eternal Life
“by a man also came the resurrection of the dead”
“so also in Christ all will be made alive”
John MacArthur: Now watch, it depends upon the link with the man. That’s the point. Who died? All who are in Adam. Who live? All who are in Christ. You see the all has to be connected to the individual and his work. Listen by natural descent from Adam, we all die and all who are naturally descendent from Adam will die. And all who are supernaturally descendent from Christ will live. That’s the point. It is the all of who…who you’re in. All in Adam die. All in Christ live. If you’re not in Christ, you’re still in Adam, you die. You see?
The first all includes all who are in Adam by the common factor of sin. The second all includes all who are in Christ by the common factor of faith. All who are in Adam die. All who are in Christ live. So Paul’s first point is the impact of the resurrection. It deals with the resurrection of the redeemer and it is the first fruits, the guaranty, the source, as Adam was the first fruits and source of death, so Christ is the source of life.
If you don’t believe in the literal events recorded in Gen. 1-3 you have major problems in your theology.
Paul Gardner: What is so staggering in Paul’s argument here is that he emphasizes that Christ is truly “a man” (like Adam) and yet “in Christ” something so remarkable happens that the representative headship of Adam is broken. This is climactically seen in the resurrection. Even Christ was to be identified with Adam as a human being, for certainly these verses will not allow anyone to argue that Jesus was not a human being (δι᾽ ἀνθρώπου). However, that Adamic humanity should have led to death. It did, but it didn’t end there. By the action of God in Christ, at last, linkage to Adam’s representational headship has been broken. How it is that God was able, in Christ, to break this linkage is well summed up in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Thus, as head of his covenant people, the linkage to Adam is broken for his people as well. To ensure their resurrection, Christ identifies with their humanity and even their death, not just the physical death of age but the death of judgment by God. A few verses earlier, in 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul uses a dynamic metaphor to describe the astonishing fact of this radical transformation of identity. He writes: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (ESV).
D. (:23) The Resurrection of Christ Provides Confident Anticipation of the Future Resurrection of Believers – there is a prescribed order of future events
“But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits,
after that those who are Christ’s at His coming”
- The Order of Future Events – not exhaustive; many gaps
Much could be said here – there are a number of different resurrections – even what is called “the first resurrection” has different stages:
- resurrection of NT church saints at the time of the Rapture
- resurrection of Tribulation saints and OT saints – just preceding the Millennial Kingdom
- resurrection of the unbelievers right before the Great White Throne judgment not really in view here
- Reference is to the destiny of believers, not unbelievers
The Good Shepherd never loses any of His sheep or forgets about them – words of great assurance; we belong to Jesus Christ – that union will be fully manifested when He returns; He knows His sheep and calls them by name.
Richard Hays: Paul believes firmly in election – another characteristic doctrine of Jewish apocalyptic – and he is concerned in the present passage only about the way in which Christ’s resurrection prefigures the fate of hoi tou Christou, “those who are Christ’s people.” He says nothing one way or the other in this passage about the resurrection and judgment of unbelievers.
- Anticipation of the Return of Christ
This is the event we look forward to now with great anticipation – just as He ascended up into heaven as He commissioned His disciples to be about the fulfillment of the Great Commission in His absence … so He will come again .. we live in the last days.
Mark Taylor: The time of the resurrection of believers is the “coming” of Christ, a word that means presence and that was used in some contexts in the ancient world in a technical sense to denote the coming of a political figure of high office, such as the visit of an emperor to a province. In the New Testament the term takes on the technical meaning of the second coming of Christ in certain contexts (1 Thess 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23; 2 Thess 2:1).
II. (:24-28) VICTORY FOR THE TRIUNE GOD — THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST GUARANTEES THE ULTIMATE TRIUMPH OF GOD’S KINGDOM PROGRAM AS THE MEDIATORIAL KINGDOM PUTS DOWN ALL ENEMIES AND PASSES RULERSHIP BACK TO GOD THE FATHER
A. (:24) The Resurrection of Christ Sets the Stage for the End Game Kingdom Transfer
- What is this “end” that is in view?
“then comes the end,”
Mark Taylor: Paul’s language is compact and precise and does not specify the time interval between the resurrection of those who belong to Christ and the end. Since a rather long interval exists between the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of his followers, it is possible that another lengthy interval exists between the resurrection of believers and the final consummation, including the millennial reign of Christ mentioned in Rev 20:5–6. Paul does not reveal his full understanding of end-time events in the span of only two verses! As noted in the comments on 15:20–23, Paul does not mention the resurrection of unbelievers. Neither does he mention the resurrection of some believers immediately following the resurrection of Jesus (Matt 28:52). Paul is fully aware of other events attendant to the last days (see esp. 2 Thess 2:1–11). While some argue for an “interval” (millennium), others think Paul speaks of a more immediate consummation. First Corinthians 15:20–28 is not decisive on this matter. Paul’s immediate concern in this passage is not to establish precise time intervals but to show how Christ’s resurrection set in motion a sequence of events that will culminate with the complete overthrow of all hostile powers opposed to God, including death, which entails the subjection of all things to God the Father.
- What is the Difference between the Mediatorial Kingdom and the Eternal Kingdom?
“when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father,”
- What is involved in this ultimate triumph?
“when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power”
B. (:25-27) The Resurrection of Christ Sets the Stage for His Subjection Over All
- (:25) Victory Over All Enemies —
The Necessity, Duration and Objective of the Mediatorial Reign of Christ
“For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.”
John Piper: First, it means that Christ is reigning NOW! He rose from the dead, ascended to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1). His kingdom does not begin at the second coming. When Christ comes again there will be a thunder clap of great victory in his reign over evil. You can see it in verse 23 — at his coming those who belong to Christ will be raised from the dead. But that thunder clap of victory will not be the beginning of his reign. His reign is underway now.
The other thing that the word “until” means is that Christ’s kingly warfare against his enemies is going on right now. In other words his reign is not passive. If a football player gets injured and the coach wants to take him out of the game, but he says, “No, I am playing until we win,” you know two things: you know that he is playing now and that he is playing to win.
So when Paul says Jesus must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet, you know two things: he is reigning now and he is reigning to win. . .
There is no disease, no addiction, no demon, no bad habit, no fault, no vice, no weakness, no temper, no moodiness, no pride, no self-pity, no strife, no jealousy, no perversion, no greed, no laziness that Christ does not aim to overcome as the enemy of his honor. And the encouragement in that is that when you set yourself to do battle with the enemies of your faith and your holiness, you will not fight alone.
- (:26) Victory Over the Last Enemy = Death
“The last enemy that will be abolished is death.”
David Guzik: Death will be present during the millennial reign of Jesus (Revelation 20:9; Isaiah 65:20). But afterward, death will be abolished. It is truly the last enemy that will be destroyed.
Richard Hays: This interpretation of Death as one of the defeated eschatological enemies is in turn justified by appeal to Psalm 8:7, which shows that God has put all things (including death) under Christ’s feet. Thus, according to Paul’s reading, these Psalm texts prove that Christ will finally overcome death.
- (:27) Total Subjection to Christ – With One Exception
a. Total Subjection to Christ
“For He has put all things in subjection under His feet.”
b. One Exception
“But when He says, ‘All things are put in subjection,’
it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him.”
C. (:28) The Resurrection of Christ Sets the Stage for the Ultimate Glorification of God the Father
“When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected
to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.”
We will finally have the perspective of God = it is all about God – not all about us
Ray Stedman: But there is coming a day when we will thoroughly understand, emotionally, the makeup of God, and we will understand the great truth God has been seeking to teach us all through this earthly experience that he is all we need, that God is everything to everyone.
David Guzik: In Ephesians 1:10, Paul reveals God’s eternal purpose in history: that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in Him. Paul wrote of the “gathering together” of all things in Jesus, or of the “summing up” of all things in Him. Here, in 1 Corinthians, he looks forward to the time when all things are resolved in Jesus Christ and He presents it all to God the Father, giving glory to the God who authored this eternal plan of the ages.
Craig Blomberg: Although God the Son is essentially equal to the Father, he remains functionally subordinate, just as his glorified humanity keeps him distinct from what he was prior to the incarnation.
Gordon Fee: Paul’s point is that in raising Christ from the dead God has set in motion a chain of events that must culminate in the final destruction of death and thus in God’s being once again, as in eternity past, “all in all.”
Paul Gardner: The goal of all Christ’s work, the conquest of all God’s enemies and the resurrection of the dead, is that all may truly be subordinated to God for God’s great glory. At the end of this age all things, that is, “everything” (neuter, τὰ πάντα) in the universe including all God’s people, like the Son himself, will be subordinated to the Father. All evil will be defeated, and God’s people will live in the presence of and for the God who has so loved them. Nothing ever again will challenge the rule of God. This section started by saying, “In fact Jesus Christ has been raised.” The end result of God’s overcoming death in Christ, and of Christ’s vanquishing all God’s enemies, is that God reigns supreme. If there is no resurrection of the dead, it is the very reign of God himself that has been denied.
David Garland: The affirmation “God will be all things in all” refers to “the unchallenged reign of God alone,” not some metaphysical absorption (Barrett 1968: 361; so also Fee 1987: 759–60). It applies to the pacification and redemption of the created order and is similar to saying that God is over all (Rom. 9:5; see also Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 8:6; Sir. 43:27–28). It affirms God’s undivided and total power over the enemies (S. Lewis 1998: 68). According to Boer (1988: 126), all things “constitute the totality of the world experienced by human beings.” It means that humans will no longer be subject to the destructive forces of the powers. Therefore, whoever denies the resurrection of the dead basically denies God’s power over death and that God will reign over all things unchallenged (Lindemann 2000: 349).
CONCLUSION: LIVE TRIUMPHANTLY AS THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE VICTORY THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
1 Cor. 15:50-58
Apostle Paul makes the application for us – vs. 58