From time to time I will add to this page new verses until I get to the end of verse 28.
1 Corinthians 15 and the first section had a lot of ifs. In this next section I only see our future life in Christ with a resurrected body. This is a very important subject for all times and Paul does not hold back but shows us that in Christ we are going to have a real resurrected body. After we die, if we stay in spirit form, how will someone know us? On the other hand, if we have a real body then we can be recognised immediately. It is through our speech, the way we look, the gestures we show that people know who we are. This is the inheritance we have in Christ. In Christ we will be made perfect even as he is perfect.
20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, 24 then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death. 27 For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET. 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. 28 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. 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 NASB
20 Νυνὶ δὲ Χριστὸς ἐγήγερται ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἀπαρχὴ τῶν κεκοιμημένων.
20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.
This is very straight forward. There are no ‘ifs’ here but certainty. The phrase’ has been raised from the dead’ this is in the perfect tense. The perfect tense an action that has happened in the past but has continual effect for all time. Here Jesus is ‘the first fruits’. He is the first man to be raised from the dead. The first fruits are the first agricultural offering to God, but I think it can also be used of the first person in a family to be born (especially in Jewish thought). The equivalent to first fruit is Bikkurim meaning ‘promise to come’ (https://get.tithe.ly/blog/first-fruit)
With reference to the firstborn person, the Hebrew word is bekor. A Jewish use of the term I find helpful to give us a deeper understanding of it being used for Christ;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firstborn_(Judaism)
Where it says first fruits(plural) I don’t know if I agree with the NASB here. First fruit is in the feminine singular. I would translate the verse as and now Christ has been raised from the dead who is the first fruit from those who are asleep. Before being conclusive I think one needs to read and compare other translations and commentaries on this text. This is my interpretation for what it is trying to say. It may be that the translators wanted to somehow follow the Hebrew Bekkorim (plural)
There are other reasons why I would translate it as this. If one reads all the verses up to verse 28 one can see that Christ is the subject not the church or the dead believers.
When we look at the section of ‘those who have fallen asleep’ this is a verbal noun or participle in Greek, and it is in the perfect! I find this encouraging because the sleep is in Christ the first fruit from the dead. When we die, we will also sleep in Christ and we will rise with Christ. This is our hope. All the mystery religions found it Corinth could not give this promise;
In relation to the mystery religions I found Terri D. Moore’s paper from Dallas theological seminary College very interesting; http://tdarbymoore.com/
Her dissertation on the mystery religions I think may have a lot more bearing on how we understand parts of 1 Corinthians.
I will continue to publish on this page until I hit verse 28 so if you are a subscriber you might not see this new add ons so please every few day have a look. It takes time to write this blog especially as I need to check my facts and make correct judgements. As I see the Bible as sacred scripture I feel it important to comment in a reverential way and give God the glory.
Added 04.01.2021
Verse 21
21 ἐπειδὴ γὰρ δι’ ἀνθρώπου θάνατος, καὶ δι’ ἀνθρώπου ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν·
. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.
Here is a woody translation for you without verbs; ‘For since by a man death and by a man resurrection from the dead.’
The verb in the English translation was added to get the sense of the meaning! Translators do these types of things to make it easier for us to understand the actual text.
For ‘by a man’ or ‘though a man’. This man, human being is not mentioned yet but we know who he is talking about; Adam from the garden. It is through this man that death came into the world, but we also know that it was by a man, a human being namely Christ that there would be a resurrection from the dead. This is a very important verse because it compares Adam and Christ. They were both the same in that they were human beings, but they had different functions namely;
- Through Adam came death
- Through Christ came eternal life in a physical body
One man brought death to the human race and the other man eternal life. I know who I want to follow! We don’t have any serious verbs in the comparison here, but we certainly get the meaning
Feel free to visit my other blog https://hasan-godtalk.blogspot.com/
09.01.2021
22 ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ πάντες ἀποθνῄσκουσιν, οὕτως καὶ ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ πάντες ζῳοποιηθήσονται.
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
In this verse we now have the actual names of those who are responsible for life and death. Adam and Christ are mentioned. Hosper gar is best translated as ‘For as’; The word ‘for’ is important because it points to what preceded it. The important point we learned is that both Adam and Christ were fully human.
A theological digression
At the creation as Bavinck would say humanity did not lose their humanity until after the fall but sin changed their humanity somehow. When we think of death it can mean for some non-being but as Bavinck says spiritual death is never none-being but rather a state. He says on page 93, Reformed Ethics, Herman Bavinck. The state of natural humanity is generally called death. This death means a life that is lived in opposition to God. In this natural state we stand corrupted and we need Jesus Christ by his Holy Spirit to bring new life into us.
To put it bluntly;
Jesus Christ died on the cross so that we may have eternal life, in the future, a new physical eternal life! Looking at the verse again we have two verbs to die and to live. The first verb in regard to Adam is in the present and now, but the second verb that relates to Christ, and us, is in the future! Paul makes sure that we understand our future hope…
10.01.2021
The resurrection and the events around it will follow a particular order;
- Christ the First Fruit verse 23
- Those who belong to Christ at his second coming verse 23
- ‘The end’ When Christ hands over the Church (Kingdom) to the Father verse 24
- This includes ‘death’ verse 26
- When all things have been subjected to the Father
- Then the Son will also subject himself to the Father.
- Then there is ‘completion’ verse 28 all in all
From my reading of this text we are brought into to be sharers of this divine trinitarian life of God
So let us recap what we have learned.
Verse 20; Christ has been raised from the dead intro
Verse 21; through an ordinary person death came into the world so to through an ordinary person life would enter the world once again.
Verse 22; Namely through Adam’s disobedience death came into the world but through the work of Christ all could be brought to life
Verse 23; The order of the resurrection and allied activities start; Christ the first fruit; His Church at his second coming
Verses 24- 26; At the end Christ will reign until all enemies including death are subjected to Christ.
Verses 27 -28; At the end when Christ is in complete control of everything good and bad, he will subject himself to the Father. In Christ we are brought into the Divine Life of the Trinity in the ‘all in all’ perfection.
Let us now look at some background stuff. Psalm 8 is not any ordinary Psalm; For Christians it is a Messianic Psalm and it is about the Son of Man; one of the titles of Jesus Christ the anointed one. This Psalm is seen as a reference to the Kingship of Christ in relationship to YHWH (Tetragrammaton).
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