1 Corinthians 15:20-22 preaches the truth that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead to life. He is like the first fruits of a harvest, signaling that more fruits will follow, that all who believe in Him will likewise raise to life after death. One man, Adam, caused mankind to fall into sin and death. But one man, Jesus, has paved the way to eternal life.
In 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 Paul declares that Christ has, as a matter of fact, been raised from the dead as the first fruits of those who are asleep (v 20), and sets Adam and Christ as the two men through whom death and resurrection come to the human race--death through Adam and life through Christ. Now, in light of the arguments Paul has made to this point, and against the deniers' claim there is no bodily resurrection, he asserts the fact: But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep (v 20).
With the phrase But now Paul pivots from contesting against those who contend there is no resurrectionfrom the dead to expositing the wonderful repercussions that attend the reality of the truth that resurrection is real. The truth is that Christ has been raised from the dead (v 20). And in His resurrection is the redemption of all creation.
The Greek verb rendered has been raised is in the third person. God raised Jesus from the dead. In that raising, life was brought to the world. That same verb is also in the perfect tense, meaning that Jesus was raised in the past and continues to be raised. The statement "He was the risen Lord" would be inaccurate. Rather, He is the risen Lord. The verb translated has been raised is also indicative mood, meaning this is a statement of fact. This is not a hope or hypothesis. It is a reality. He was raised, and He remains alive forevermore (Revelation 1:18).
Paul immediately names what that fact means for everyone else: Christ is the first fruits of those who are asleep (v 20). The Greek word "aparche" rendered thefirst fruits pictures the first portion of a harvest, offered to God as the pledge of the whole. The image comes from Israel's calendar. Leviticus 23:9-14 commanded that when the harvest came in, a sheaf of the first fruits be brought to the priest and waved before the LORD "on the day after the sabbath" following Passover. The details of the feast of first fruits likely foreshadow theresurrection at each point:
The sheaf was cut from a harvest already standing in the field; it was the first portion of a larger whole, a sample that guaranteed the rest. Christ rose as the first of many.
The wave offering fell on the day after the sabbath that followed Passover, a Sunday. Jesus died at Passover as "Christ our Passover" (1 Corinthians 5:7) and rose on the first day of the week, likely the very morning the sheaf was waved.
The priest waved the sheaf "for you to be accepted" (Leviticus 23:11); the acceptance of the single sheaf counted for the whole harvest. The Father's acceptance of the risen Son secures the acceptance of all who believe (John 3:14-15).
Israel could eat no bread or grain of the new crop until the sheaf had been presented (Leviticus 23:14).
The first fruits had to come first; the full harvest followed in its season, the sequence Paul will spell out in 1 Corinthians 15:23.
Others had returned from death before, from the widow's son raised by Elijah (1 Kings 17:22) to Lazarus (John 11:43-44), but without a new body. Accordingly, each of them died again. Christ rose to indestructible life as the first fruits, the beginning of the harvest of resurrection itself, "the firstborn from the dead" (Colossians 1:18), "the first to proclaim light" as one "raised from the dead" (Acts 26:23). Jesus's resurrection was of a new body and of a type that defeated death.
Jesus's resurrection reversed the curse, as Paul now asserts: For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive (vv 21-22).
Humanity's story runs through two representative men. By a man came death (v 21): Adam's disobedience opened the grave for his whole race, for "through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men" (Romans 5:12). This speaks of Adam's sin of eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, seeking a way that was apart from God's will and design (Genesis 3:6).
Death is separation, as in James 2:26 which speaks of physical death being when the spirit separates from the body. The day Adam sinned, the world shattered; it separated from God’s good design. Adam and Eve's separation from Eden pictures the reality that at the Fall of Man, humanity was separated from their design to reign over the earth in harmony with God and one another.
As Hebrews 2:8 states, "But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him." "Him" is singular, referring to Adam, and in him all of humanity. The next verse in Hebrews gives Jesus as the answer to the dilemma:
"But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone." (Hebrews 2:9)
The phrase "crowned with glory and honor" in Hebrews 2, in context, refers to the Hebrews 2:5-7 which quote Psalm 8. Psalm 8 marvels at the fact that God appointed ("crowned") humans to reign (have "glory and honor") over His creation even though they are a lower order than the angels. After the Fall, Satan gained that reign, supplanting humans (John 12:31). After Jesus lived a perfect life, and offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin, once for all, He has been given the reward of being a "Son," as a human, and elevated to rule over all (Matthew 28:18,Philippians 2:5-10,Hebrews 1:5, 2:9, Revelation 3:21).
In Jesus is the restoration of all things. Through Adam, a man, came death (v 21). The entire world separated from God's design. So, God became man, so that by a man could also come the resurrection of the dead (v 21). Just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive (v 22).
The immediate application of being made alive is resurrectionfrom the dead. But it is much greater. Jesus's resurrection is a first fruit that all things will be restored (Romans 8:19-22). Death is an intruder in God's creation, and is the wage or consequence of sin (Romans 6:23), sentenced upon dust-formed man in Genesis 3:19.
In Adam all die (v 22); every human being descends from him and inherits his mortality and a place in a fractured creation without exception. In Christ all will be made alive (v 22); every human being joined to Christ by faith will share His resurrection. In that resurrection is restoration. In the new earth, all things will be restored to its intended design (2 Peter 3:13).
The second all (all will be made alive (v 22)) is defined by its category—all who are in Christ are those who will be made alive. Part of the "eternal life" given to all who believe in Jesus is to be resurrected (John 3:14-15). This is a promise to all who believe, apart from works (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Romans 5:15-19 works out the same two-Adam logic and adds the surplus: the gift through the second Man abounds far beyond the failure of the first. The next verse asserts that resurrection applies to "those who are Christ's at His coming" (1 Corinthians 15:23).
1 Corinthians 15:20-22
The Order of Resurrection
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.
Set to dark mode
1 Corinthians 15:20-22 meaning
In 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 Paul declares that Christ has, as a matter of fact, been raised from the dead as the first fruits of those who are asleep (v 20), and sets Adam and Christ as the two men through whom death and resurrection come to the human race--death through Adam and life through Christ. Now, in light of the arguments Paul has made to this point, and against the deniers' claim there is no bodily resurrection, he asserts the fact: But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep (v 20).
With the phrase But now Paul pivots from contesting against those who contend there is no resurrection from the dead to expositing the wonderful repercussions that attend the reality of the truth that resurrection is real. The truth is that Christ has been raised from the dead (v 20). And in His resurrection is the redemption of all creation.
The Greek verb rendered has been raised is in the third person. God raised Jesus from the dead. In that raising, life was brought to the world. That same verb is also in the perfect tense, meaning that Jesus was raised in the past and continues to be raised. The statement "He was the risen Lord" would be inaccurate. Rather, He is the risen Lord. The verb translated has been raised is also indicative mood, meaning this is a statement of fact. This is not a hope or hypothesis. It is a reality. He was raised, and He remains alive forevermore (Revelation 1:18).
Paul immediately names what that fact means for everyone else: Christ is the first fruits of those who are asleep (v 20). The Greek word "aparche" rendered the first fruits pictures the first portion of a harvest, offered to God as the pledge of the whole. The image comes from Israel's calendar. Leviticus 23:9-14 commanded that when the harvest came in, a sheaf of the first fruits be brought to the priest and waved before the LORD "on the day after the sabbath" following Passover. The details of the feast of first fruits likely foreshadow the resurrection at each point:
The first fruits had to come first; the full harvest followed in its season, the sequence Paul will spell out in 1 Corinthians 15:23.
Others had returned from death before, from the widow's son raised by Elijah (1 Kings 17:22) to Lazarus (John 11:43-44), but without a new body. Accordingly, each of them died again. Christ rose to indestructible life as the first fruits, the beginning of the harvest of resurrection itself, "the firstborn from the dead" (Colossians 1:18), "the first to proclaim light" as one "raised from the dead" (Acts 26:23). Jesus's resurrection was of a new body and of a type that defeated death.
Jesus's resurrection reversed the curse, as Paul now asserts: For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive (vv 21-22).
Humanity's story runs through two representative men. By a man came death (v 21): Adam's disobedience opened the grave for his whole race, for "through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men" (Romans 5:12). This speaks of Adam's sin of eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, seeking a way that was apart from God's will and design (Genesis 3:6).
Death is separation, as in James 2:26 which speaks of physical death being when the spirit separates from the body. The day Adam sinned, the world shattered; it separated from God’s good design. Adam and Eve's separation from Eden pictures the reality that at the Fall of Man, humanity was separated from their design to reign over the earth in harmony with God and one another.
As Hebrews 2:8 states, "But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him." "Him" is singular, referring to Adam, and in him all of humanity. The next verse in Hebrews gives Jesus as the answer to the dilemma:
"But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone."
(Hebrews 2:9)
The phrase "crowned with glory and honor" in Hebrews 2, in context, refers to the Hebrews 2:5-7 which quote Psalm 8. Psalm 8 marvels at the fact that God appointed ("crowned") humans to reign (have "glory and honor") over His creation even though they are a lower order than the angels. After the Fall, Satan gained that reign, supplanting humans (John 12:31). After Jesus lived a perfect life, and offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin, once for all, He has been given the reward of being a "Son," as a human, and elevated to rule over all (Matthew 28:18, Philippians 2:5-10, Hebrews 1:5, 2:9, Revelation 3:21).
In Jesus is the restoration of all things. Through Adam, a man, came death (v 21). The entire world separated from God's design. So, God became man, so that by a man could also come the resurrection of the dead (v 21). Just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive (v 22).
The immediate application of being made alive is resurrection from the dead. But it is much greater. Jesus's resurrection is a first fruit that all things will be restored (Romans 8:19-22). Death is an intruder in God's creation, and is the wage or consequence of sin (Romans 6:23), sentenced upon dust-formed man in Genesis 3:19.
In Adam all die (v 22); every human being descends from him and inherits his mortality and a place in a fractured creation without exception. In Christ all will be made alive (v 22); every human being joined to Christ by faith will share His resurrection. In that resurrection is restoration. In the new earth, all things will be restored to its intended design (2 Peter 3:13).
The second all (all will be made alive (v 22)) is defined by its category—all who are in Christ are those who will be made alive. Part of the "eternal life" given to all who believe in Jesus is to be resurrected (John 3:14-15). This is a promise to all who believe, apart from works (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Romans 5:15-19 works out the same two-Adam logic and adds the surplus: the gift through the second Man abounds far beyond the failure of the first. The next verse asserts that resurrection applies to "those who are Christ's at His coming" (1 Corinthians 15:23).