For as in the Adam all die, thus also in the Christ all shall be made alive.
Paul is defending the resurrection of the body. He traces the whole human story back to two men: one brings death to his family, the other life to His. That raises two questions: what does it mean to be "in" a man, and how far does each "all" reach?
The verse sorts everyone by which of the two men they belong to.
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.
Being "in Adam" is not something we did. It is a place we hold under a man who stands for us.
"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.
"In Christ" is a position too. Put the two side by side and they match point for point.
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.
Commentators differ here. Some tie the second "all" to the words "in Christ," following an older translation that reads "all in Christ":
"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.
Others give both "alls" the same reach. The subject is bodies coming out of the grave, and the next verse sorts those raised into groups:
"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."
Either way, the verse does not promise that every person ends up saved.
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.
Each head gives his family what he himself has. Adam had death to pass on. Christ has life.
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).
- Two men. Everything before God comes down to two heads: Adam, whose family all die, and Christ, whose family are all made alive.
- Two places. "In Adam" and "in Christ" describe where you stand, not what you have done. One place is under judgment; the other is in God's favour.
- One transfer. Nobody is born "in Christ." You enter that place by faith in Him as Saviour. So this verse cannot promise that everyone will be saved.
- One body. The subject here is bodies raised from the grave. Commentators differ over whether the second "all" covers every person or only Christ's own.
- One life. Adam passed down death. Christ passes on life, and He can give it only because He died and rose.
But each in his own rank [the] first-fruits, Christ; then those that are the Christ's at his coming.
The verse answers a question the rest of the chapter presses: if the dead in Christ rise, when? Paul's answer is not one great rising of everyone at once. It is a sequence with fixed places: Christ first, His own next.
Everything here turns on the word translated "order."
"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.
The gap between the first rank and the second is already huge. That raises a question about a later gap.
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.
C. Stanley (older translation: "afterward they that are Christ's at his coming")
"Firstfruits" is a harvest word.
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.
Verse 22 has just said that all die in Adam and all are made alive in Christ. Verse 23 tells you how far each "all" reaches.
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.
Christ rose by what He was in Himself. His people rise on another footing.
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.
Who is included in this phrase — and what of believers still alive when He comes?
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.
The verse names no third rank of persons. What follows in verse 24 is a point in time, not a class.
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.
- Rank — the verse sets ranks in a fixed sequence, and each comes forth at its appointed time. There is no confusion, and no single rising of everyone at once.
- First — Christ is the waved sheaf of the harvest law, cut on the first day of the week. The sheaf and the rest of the field are of one kind.
- Family — "all die" covers the whole race, since Adam heads it. "All made alive" covers those who are Christ's, since He heads them, and none else.
- Gift — He rose by what He was; they rise because they are His, a victory not won by them but given to them.
- Reach — the phrase is wide enough to take in believers from before the church, all of them, at His coming — and no rank of the wicked is named here at all.