Context No. 3473 of 4322 · 1 Corinthians
Context · Reflection
1 Corinthians 15:20-28: in context
20But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruit of those who are asleep. 21For since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man. 22For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s at his coming. 24Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God the Father, when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy that will be abolished is death. 27For, “He 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 subjected all things to him. 28When all things have been subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.
Paul unfolds the sweep of Christ's victory. Christ has been raised as the firstfruits, the first of a great harvest; because he rose, those who belong to him will rise too. As in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. His resurrection is not an isolated wonder but the beginning of a whole new humanity.
And Paul traces it to the end: Christ reigns until he has put all his enemies under his feet, and the last enemy to be destroyed is death itself. Death, which seems to hold the final word over every human life, will itself be abolished, swallowed up in Christ's victory. And the goal of it all is that God may be all in all, his rule complete, his presence filling everything. This is the great hope: not merely that we somehow continue after death, but that death, the last enemy, will be destroyed, and God will be everything to everyone. Christ's resurrection is the guarantee that death does not have the last word over those who are his.
Do I live in the hope that death, the last enemy, will be destroyed through Christ's victory, so that I need not fear it as the final word over my life?
Sources
- 1 Corinthians 15:22: "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive."
- 1 Corinthians 15:26: "The last enemy that will be abolished is death."
- 1 Corinthians 15:28: "When all things have been subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to him... that God may be all in all."