The resurrection, especially of the saints, is the subject of this chapter. Some were so blinded by Satan as to say that there is no resurrection of the dead. This undermined the truth of the gospel; therefore the apostle enters fully into it to recover them, and to establish them in the truth, that they might be “steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that their labor is not in vain in the Lord” (verse 58).
Verses 1, 2. “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory (or hold fast) what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.” It would indeed be in vain, if Christ be not raised. For the comfort of some trembling ones, we remark, that no believer can believe in vain, now that Christ is risen, living, and glorified at God’s right hand—the proof that God is satisfied, and that we are justified (Rom. 5:11Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (Romans 5:1)).
Verses 3, 4. “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” This is the first great proof. Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets (Luke 24:26, 27, 44-4726Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:26‑27)
44And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:44‑47)) all bear abundant witness to the atoning death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. To deny it, is to deny the whole Word of God. Every one must believe it, or they cannot be saved (Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)); and none can be lost who believe on Him (John 10:99I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. (John 10:9); Rom. 10:99That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)). His word to the believer now is, “Because I live, ye shall live also.” (John 14:1919Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. (John 14:19)). What full assurance this gives! We have boldness now for the day of judgment, “because as He is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:1717Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4:17)).
Verses 5-8. The apostle mentions other witnesses who had seen Christ risen: Cephas, the twelve, five hundred brethren at once, many of them living at the time Paul wrote; then James, then all the apostles, and lastly Paul saw Him in the glory of God. A sevenfold, or complete witness.
Verses 8-10. But the apostle cannot let this pass without reflecting on the grace that saved one so unworthy, and made him an apostle, who in his own mind was the least of the apostles, and was not worthy to be called an apostle, because, as he said, “I persecuted the assembly of God,” and added, “By the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
Verses 11-19. But it was the same blessed gospel that Paul and the other apostles preached, and which the Corinthians had believed, and if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how false the thought that there is no resurrection. If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then the preaching was in vain, and the believing was all in vain, and the apostles were false witnesses of God, for they testified of God that He raised up Christ: whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not, for if the dead rise not, then is Christ not raised: and if Christ be not raised, their faith is vain: they were yet in their sins, and consequently the martyrs, who had fallen asleep in Christ, had perished. If Christ was not risen there was no salvation. “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” The Christian’s prospect is suffering here, and glory to come.
Verses 20-28 are a parenthesis, giving fuller explanation. “But now is Christ risen from (among) the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.” He is viewed as man who has undergone death, and God has raised Him by His favor and power, to bring Him back from among the dead, as those also who are His own, possessing life in Him, will also be raised from among the dead. He was the One who had in grace gone down into death to accomplish and to display the deliverance of man in Christ from the power of Satan and death, verifying the work of atonement as complete and showing openly in man the victory over all the power of the enemy.
“Thus Christ arose from among all the other dead (for death could not hold Him), and established the glorious principle of this divine and complete deliverance, and became the first fruits of them that slept, who having His life, await the exercise of His power, which will awaken them by virtue of His Spirit that dwells in them. It needed to be by man.”
Verse 21. “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.” “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 it is which Christ has done. He was willing to be given up to death for us, in order (as man) to gain the victory over death, and over him who had the power of death. By man came death; by man, resurrection. Glorious victory! complete triumph! We come out of the state where sin and its consequences fully reached us. Evil cannot enter the place into which we are brought out. We have crossed the frontiers forever. Sin, the power of the enemy, remains outside this new creation, which is the fruit of the power of God after evil had come in, and which the responsibility of man shall not mar. It is God who maintains it is connection with Himself: it depends on Him.”
Verse 22. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Outside the garden of Eden, the fallen Adam became the father of sinful man. In resurrection-life Christ became the Head of the new creation, which believers have part in now. Christ, in whom is life, communicated it to them; it is life in the power of resurrection, without which they could not have it (John 12:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:24)). He would have remained alone. But He died for their sins, and now He imparts life to them—all their sins being forgiven them. It is true, the wicked dead will be raised by Christ, but that is not the subject here. His power will accomplish it.
Verse 23. “But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” Those who are in Christ are quickened according to the power of the life which is in Him; it is the resurrection of life, the resurrection of the blessed and holy, those to whom He had already given eternal life, and this power which He exercises in raising the saints, goes on till all things are subdued unto Himself (Phil. 3:2121Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Philippians 3:21)). Then cometh the end when He takes the kingdom and acts as King, His power subduing all things to Himself; during which all power and all authority shall be abolished, then He delivers up the kingdom to God, even the Father. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” Death and Hades are cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:1414And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. (Revelation 20:14)). This is the second death; this is what is said in this chapter about the unsaved. It is not annihilation, it is the lake of fire. The Son of Man is the judge of all. His power raises from the dead, and thus death is destroyed.
They are passed over here in silence, only that death’s dominion is gone, for even the unsaved are then raised from death—that is the resurrection of judgment (John 5:2929And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:29) tells of resurrection of saved and unsaved). When the Lord has put all His enemies under His feet, and put down all rule and authority and power till the last enemy is destroyed, and the kingdom rule is finished, then He gives it back to the Father. His mediation is needed no longer; all is reconciled to God, and sin’s terrible results are in the lake of fire. Then righteousness dwells in the new heavens and the new earth; all God’s glory made good, then the Son takes His place still as a Man, subject to the will of the Father.
Can we not see in this His wonderful, infinite love that we might forever enjoy His presence with us thus in blessed nearness and intimacy. He said before the worlds came into existence, “My delights were with the sons of men.” His heart will then be fully satisfied.
(To be continued)