117 1 Corinthians 15 - The Certainty of Our Resurrection and Final Victory over Death - a podcast by Dr David Petts - Pentecostal preacher, former AoG Bible College Principal

Talk 19. The certainty of our resurrection and final victory over death – 1 Corinthians 15

 

Last time: The certainty of Christ’s resurrection

 

vv      1-4      Resurrection is an essential part of the Gospel

vv      5-8      The evidence of Christ’s resurrection - he appeared

vv      9-11    Digression - Paul’s unworthiness to be an apostle

vv    12-19    The logical outcome of denying the resurrection

vv    29-34    Further illogicalities in denying the resurrection

 

Today: The certainty of our resurrection and of final victory over death.

 

vv    20-28    Christ’s resurrection and final victory guarantees ours

vv    35-50    How are the dead raised?                                            

vv    51-58    The certainty of final victory over death

 

1. a) Christ’s resurrection and final victory guarantees ours (20-28)

 

V 20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

 

But the fact is that Christ did rise from the dead!

This obviously disproves the theory that there’s no such thing as resurrection. In fact it guarantees resurrection for all who are in Christ. 

The firstfruits referred to is an allusion to Leviticus 23. 

The full harvest was foreshadowed by the first sheaf brought as an offering on the day following the Sabbath after the Passover - the day Christ rose from the dead!  Christ is the firstfruits.  We are yet to be gathered.

 

Vv 21-22 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

 

This is reminiscent of Romans 5.  Paul sees Christ’s victory as the divine remedy for Adam’s defeat. 

(The two alls in v22 are not coextensive - all  men die because of Adam’s sin, but only all in Christ will be made alive in Christ).

 

V 23  But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.

 

This clearly indicates that the resurrection for which Paul is arguing is to take place at Christ’s coming.

24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.

25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

27 For he ‘has put everything under his feet’. Now when it says that ‘everything’ has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ.

28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

 

Whatever the time-scale, the overall teaching seems to be as follows:

 

All things have been put under Christ’s feet (v27) (cf. Ephesians 1:19-22)

and yet we see not yet all things put under him (cf. Hebrews 2:8). 

But it will be and all enemies will be conquered. 

Christ must continue to reign (basileuein) until finally, when he has accomplished his victorious purpose, he will deliver up the Kingdom to the Father, to whom the Son will be subject, that God might be all in all (vv 24 and 28).

 

1. b) How are the dead raised? (35-50)

 

But, of course, one of the great problems with believing in physical resurrection is imagining how the dead can possibly be raised.  Paul now deals with this problem.

 

35 But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?’

36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.

38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.

39 Not all flesh is the same: people have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another.

40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendour of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendour of the earthly bodies is another.

41 The sun has one kind of splendour, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendour.

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;

43 it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;

44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

45 So it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.

49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

 

The argument may be summarised as follows: 

 

1. Resurrection is not inconceivable if we do not leave God out of the picture - the reference to foolish in verse 36 follows the OT understanding of a fool as one who does not take God into account.

 

2. Resurrection is not inconceivable because God has given us an abiding example of his power to raise the dead in the world of nature around us (vv 36-38).

 

3. Resurrection is not inconceivable because the resurrection body will be

God has also shown us a great variety of examples of the different types of ‘body’ he has made, both earthly and heavenly (vv 39-41)

Vv 42-44 show the great contrast between the natural body and the spiritual body we receive at resurrection. 

Further, the natural body we inherit from Adam is as different from the spiritual body which will be our inheritance in Christ as Christ is different from Adam himself. 

Adam is of the earth, earthly.  Christ is the Lord from heaven (vv 45-50).

 

This may be seen from the chart below.

 

 

Body sown                                       Body raised

perishable                                          imperishable

in dishonour                                       in glory

in weakness                                        in power

natural                                               spiritual

of Adam                                              of Christ

earthly                                                heavenly

 

 

 

1. c) The certainty of final victory over death (51-58)

 

The closing verses of the chapter form one of the most powerful passages to be found in the Bible.  When the trumpet sounds at Christ’s coming, Christians still alive will be changed in a split second.  Their corruptible, mortal bodies will become incorruptible and immortal.  The dead, too, will be raised with incorruptible bodies.  So will be manifested the final victory over death.

 

50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed 52 – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.

54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’

 

v 50   flesh and blood...

 

Paul’s point is that the living cannot inherit the Kingdom of God as they are.

It is not death that is essential but transformation.

 

“The perishable body, either dead or alive, cannot inherit the imperishable life of the future” (Fee).

 

v 51   we will all be changed

 

Paul clearly expected to be among the living at the Parousia

The important point is that all must be transformed to bear the likeness of the Man of Heaven.

 

v 52   the trumpet will sound

 

The order of events here is the same as in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.

 

 

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever.

 

 

v 53   the perishable must clothe itself.....

 

Cf. he must reign (v25). Our immortality is as certain as his reign!

 

“The long chain of decay and death inaugurated by the first Adam will finally be irrevocably broken by the last Adam” (Fee p 803).

 

v 54   Death has been swallowed up in victory

 

Cf. Isaiah 25:8 God will swallow up death forever

 

vv55-58

 

55 ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.

 

The connection between sin, death and the law forms a major aspect of Paul’s teaching in his letter to the Romans. 

 

Summarised briefly here, the law is seen as strengthening sin, and sin is the cause of death. 

 

It follows, therefore, that victory over death implies victory over all its causes - including sickness. 

 

Final victory is ours, over law and sin and death - through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

 

Our labour is not in vain.  Christ is risen.  Because he lives we shall live also.  The knowledge of these certainties should inspire us to practical Christian discipleship.

 

Further episodes of Great Bible Truths with Dr David Petts

Further podcasts by Dr David Petts - Pentecostal preacher, former AoG Bible College Principal

Website of Dr David Petts - Pentecostal preacher, former AoG Bible College Principal