1 Corinthians 15:20–23

The Apostle has shown the solemn consequences that must flow from this error. Now he sets out, in contrast, the blessed results that flow from the great truth that "Christ has been raised from the dead". Christ, risen from among the dead, is "the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep". His resurrection is indeed the pledge that all will be raised: the just into their final blessing, the unjust into judgment. But here His resurrection is the pledge of the resurrection of His own who have fallen asleep. Their resurrection will follow the pattern of His — a resurrection from among the dead.

The expression firstfruits shows us two things. As the risen One, He was the first in time to rise, never to die again. And — this is part of it — as the risen One He does not remain alone. This is the meaning of firstfruits: the first in time, but not remaining alone. The word is also used of people. Scripture calls Stephanas the firstfruits of Achaia (1 Cor. 16:15): the first person there to believe. He did not remain alone; others believed after him. There can only be a firstfruits if others follow.

This word "firstfruits" has a great deal of meaning in it. It carries us back to the book of Leviticus. There, when the harvest was ripe and before the rest was gathered in, they cut a sheaf and took it to the temple. The priest would wave it before the Lord. And notice when it was to be waved — on the morning after the Sabbath, the first day of the week. Surely that points forward to the resurrection... The sheaf was only part of the one great harvest. The sheaf of firstfruits and all the other sheaves were much alike.

The saints are the after-fruits of the same order as Himself... No one would hand you a potato as the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, or even a plum as the firstfruits of the apple crop. They would not match. But there is nothing mismatched here. Though Christ is God, yet He became Man, and as the risen Man He is the firstfruits of those who have died in faith. His resurrection must involve the resurrection of all that are His.

Let us look closely at the words used here. We may be sure they are exact, as always in Scripture. "Jesus died"; His saints only "fall asleep". With Him it was truly death, in all its reality and severity, as the judgment upon sin. It was the sign and type of a deeper judgment. With them it is only "sleep" — rest and refreshment. From it they rise to a day that knows no ending and suffers no decline.

These sleepers are not all the dead. For them death has been annulled. It has become a refreshment and a rest — only from the cares and conflicts of this life — while they wait for the endless morning. Christ is the firstfruits of their resurrection, for they alone rise in "the image of the heavenly"... It is impossible to make Christ in any sense the "firstfruits" of the lost.

The firstfruits are the pledge and guarantee of the harvest. In the same way, the resurrection of Christ secures the resurrection of His people. Blessed truth! And how full of consolation to all who mourn over the loss of dear ones who have died in the Lord! Is Christ risen? Then they will also rise at the appointed time. They will come out of their tombs, and the bodies of their humiliation will be changed into the likeness of His glorified body.

Sin came into the world by man, and death by sin. Death was not brought in among men by the devil, though he was the first sinner. It came in by man, and passed on to all his race, for all were sinners as he was. But by man also resurrection of those who are dead has been brought about.

It needed to be by man. No doubt the power of God can call men back from the tomb. He will do so, acting in the Person of His Son, to whom all judgment is given. But that will not be a victory gained in human nature over death which held men captive. This is what Christ has done. He was willing to be given up to death for us. His purpose, as man, was to gain the victory for us over death, and over him who had the power of death. By man came death; by man, resurrection.

The victory has been won by Man in the person of Jesus, just as the ruin came in by man in the person of Adam. God did not move the contest onto fresh ground and settle everything by one stroke of pure Deity. Instead, He met the enemy on the old battleground the enemy himself first chose in the garden of Eden. There He reversed everything. Man comes out of the contest in resurrection, covered with glory and not with the shame of defeat.

Man as seen in Christ is true Man, the truest Man that could possibly be. Christ did not take up some other manhood, whatever dignity He might give to it. He is not only Man, but the Son of man. Sin entered through the woman, and she gave way to the power of the serpent. Yet through Him she too has her share in the victory. The woman's seed was to bruise the serpent's head. It is truly the victory of man, though it has come about by the grace of God. We must not discredit the manhood of Christ by the thought of His deity.

The point pressed here is the proper manhood of the Lord... Adam's transgression consigns his race to death. Christ's obedience has reversed that sentence for His seed. He finished transgression and brought in everlasting righteousness. We are justified by His blood. These verses imply that righteousness will affect the human body, just as sin has affected it in its consequences. Sin killed it; righteousness will quicken it... Adam has children in his image; Christ, in His.

There are two families characterised by their respective heads. The Adam family consists of all mankind, and they all die. The Christ family consists of all who are Christ's, and they shall all be made alive — that is, in resurrection. For the question is exclusively of the body, and not of the soul... The word "all" can never be cut loose from the head who represents it. In Adam's case "all" takes in the entire race. In Christ's case "all" belongs to His family alone.

Adam brought death in, and all who are in him, that is, of his race, are under the death sentence. Christ has brought in resurrection. All who are in Him, of His race, are to be "made alive," or "quickened." This quickening is special to those who are Christ's. Though the unjust will be raised, their resurrection will not involve quickening.

There are two families characterised by their respective heads. The Adam family consists of all mankind, and they all die. The Christ family consists of all that are Christ's, and they shall all be made alive — that is, in resurrection. The question here is only about the body, not the soul, important as the soul may be in its place.

"In Adam" speaks of place — of representation. The apostle argues the same way about Levi and Abraham (Hebrews 7:9-10): Levi "paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor." We too were in the loins of Adam when he fell. The sentence of death was passed on him, and in him we die. Thank God, we have heard the voice of Another, who is also Head and Representative of His race. He says, "Because I live, you also will live" (John 14:19). In Adam we die: in Christ we live.

To be in Adam is to be before God in the same position as fallen Adam. It means to be under God's displeasure for having disobeyed God, to be under judgment because of sin, and to be rejected or driven out from God's presence. To be in Christ is to be before God in the same position as the risen Christ. It means to be in God's favour, free from judgment, and accepted.

"As then in Adam all die, so also shall all in Christ be made alive" — not all men, but "all in Christ." Death in Adam is indeed universal, because all Adam's children are naturally in Adam. But it is "all in Christ" who are to be made alive. This does not deny, of course, the resurrection of the wicked, but what they receive is not truly to be called life. The apostle will not give it that name.

"In Adam all die" refers to the whole of his descendants, saint and sinner alike. "In Christ shall all be made alive" likewise refers to saint and sinner alike. That is why the next words bring in the safeguard at once: "But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ."

When it says, "in Christ shall all be made alive," this does not teach that all mankind will be saved in the end. That is what universalists teach, who deny eternal punishment. All mankind is not "in Christ." We are born into this world as the offspring of a fallen race, so we are all "in Adam." To be "in Christ" means to be saved, to be a believer on the Lord as Saviour.

Adam brought death to his descendants — those who are related to him. This is the principle that marks the history of the first Adam. Christ, in whom is life, brings life to those who are His... But it is life in the power of resurrection, without which it could not have been given to them. The grain of wheat would have been perfect in itself, but would have remained alone. But He died for their sins, and now He gives life to them, all their sins being forgiven them. So being made alive goes on to include resurrection — the resurrection the Lord Himself calls the "resurrection of life" (John 5:29).

"Each" will be "in his own rank," as it would be better rendered. Each rank will come forth at its appointed time; only "they that are Christ's, at His coming." There is no confusion.

Christ has risen — the firstfruits. A blessed pledge of certainty! Then "afterward." Who would have thought that 1800 years were in that word "afterward"? At least 1800 years have come between the resurrection of Christ, the Head, and the resurrection of the body — those who are His. May there not, then, be 1000 years between the resurrection of the saved, the first resurrection, and the rest of the dead, who do not live again until the 1000 years are finished? That is certain.

This word "firstfruits" has a great deal of meaning in it. It carries us back to the book of Leviticus. There, when the harvest was ripe and before anyone gathered it in, the people had to cut a sheaf and take it to the temple. The priest would wave it before the Lord. And notice the day for waving it — the morning after the Sabbath, the first day of the week. Surely that points forward to the resurrection... The sheaf was only part of the one great harvest. The sheaf of firstfruits and all the other sheaves were much alike. And so it is here.

There are two families characterised by their respective heads. The Adam family is all mankind, and they all die. The Christ family is all that are Christ's, and they shall all be made alive — that is, raised... You cannot separate "all" in either case from its representative head. But "all" in Adam's case takes in the whole race, while "all" in the case of Christ must attach to His family alone... So the verse shows plainly that all who are made alive through the Christ are those who are His, and none else.

Countless thousands shall be there, all the elect from the beginning to that moment... Like the earlier resurrection of the firstfruits, it will be a resurrection from the dead, a victorious resurrection. But one thing separates it from the other. This victory over death is not won by this multitude; it is given to them. It is not owed to them, but granted to them in infinite grace... They rise from the dead, or in victory, simply because "they are Christ's," as we read here. He had risen in His day just because He was who He was and what He was. They now rise just as simply, and just as merely, because they are whose they are.

I see no reason to doubt that all the saints who have died will be raised when Christ comes and changes us — the living who remain to the moment of His presence... "They that are Christ's," in 1 Corinthians 15:23, seem to me a class stated in purposely wide terms. The phrase takes in the saints who lived before the church as well as those who make it up. Compare Hebrews 11.

Notice that the apostle brings in, not the rising of the wicked dead, but "the end" — when Christ delivers up the kingdom in which He is to come and appear... So the resurrection of the wicked is not stated here, only implied. It does not belong to the blessed life-giving resurrection which is for His own. It belongs to that display of His power which marks His kingdom.