How can this include DEATH?

Is death not the antithesis of LIFE —decay into deep darkness the defeat of created man?

How can the resurrection of the dead — even those martyred in Christ — take place?

The Apostle Paul continues to address the concerns of the Corinthian church putting all things in order and now addressing THE END.

The Order of Resurrection

The apostle to the gentiles (Hellenists, that is, Greeks including Corinthians) began his logical argument with
The Fact of Christ’s Resurrection and logically continued to connect those facts.

LAST TIME, we ended with Paul’s astounding opening statement about death and resurrection about an ORDER of the Resurrection:

Then comes the end…

1 Corinthians 15:24a CSB

I stumbled over it. Do you?

THE END…

Isn’t DEATH, after all, the end?

And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love
You make…

“1,2,3,4,5,6,7,
All good children go to heaven…
Everybody’s laughing
Everybody’s happy
Here come the Sun King…

Of course, we all have much anti-Christ philosophy replaying in the mortal minds of our imaginings (it isn’t hard to do..).

The cultural challenges of the resurrection were no less for Paul and the Corinthians than the Promethean philosophical objections of the 20th century and this Common Era.

AGAIN, as we first addressed in the Facts: 

Cultural ‘science‘ of Promethean Logic

Prometheus, in Greek religion, one of the Titans, the supreme trickster, and a god of fire. His intellectual side was emphasized by the apparent meaning of his name, Forethinker. In common belief he developed into a master craftsman, and in this connection he was associated with fire and the creation of mortals.

Source: Britannica

Perhaps they also hope against hope that these things aren’t really so..

in a self-deceived way..

the problem here is not merely cognitive..

but.. Promethean…

from WARRANTED CHRISTIAN BELIEF PP290-294

NO – Death is NOT ‘The End.’

The Apostle Paul will address this — DEATH and its threats did not phase him and should not prevent those possibly facing martyrdom for claiming Jesus Christ and the resurrection to the crowds of Corinth.

What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus?

If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

1 Corinthians 15:32 ESV

Paul has emphasized order in worship and now, the Apostle even presents an order in the resurrection of the dead, rather than random godless chaos without form.

1 Corinthians 15:

King James Version 

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:

1 Cor 15:3-4 KJV

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

v. 20

AND what were the instructions of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Twelve sent to some with the Gospel?

The Fruit of Faith (an illustration from a parable of Jesus)

And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

from Gospel of Luke 12:19-20 KJV

And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear:

Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Gospel of Luke 12:4-5 KJV – Jesus on death and judgment

Some foreboding in our Lord's call to stand up to death — is there not?

Saul of Tarsus & the fearless witness of Paul

When Paul had met the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus, Christ’s new apostle to the gentiles came to understand the reality of WHY those Saul had previously persecuted and killed had not changed their testimony — even as these saints of Ephesus or Corinth faced mortal death.

(And remember Stephen as he was stoned to death in Jerusalem?)

Just three or four years after he writes to the Corinthians, Paul also will witness the resurrection to King Herod Agrippa II, hearing his case brought by the Jews until Paul appeals to Caesar.

Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come— that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”

Acts of the Apostles 26:22-23 NKJV

Christ the firstfruits of Resurrection

For as in Adam all die, even so 

in Christ shall all be made alive.

But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

1 Corinthians 15:22-23 KJV

WHAT AN ILLUSTRATON! — āḏām [man – אָדָם] — made in the image of God — now mortal and re-destined to dust — in Christ (and Christ alone) redeemed and revived from DEATH — death, common to every creature made alive for a time by God.

Let me explain the REIGN of Christ, Paul reasons:

Once again, in the more AUTHORITIVE-sounding King James Version, let's examine Paul's text in words provoking push-back from Christians unaccustomed to such absolute authority of a most-powerful King. 

Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father;

when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

1 Corinthians 15:24-25 KJV

IS this the JESUS we know?

Afterward —The Whole Harvest

At the same time the wicked shall rise also. But they are not taken here into the account.

v. 23

Then — After the resurrection and the general judgment. Cometh the end — Of the world..

When he shall have delivered up the kingdom to the Father, and he (the Father) shall have abolished all adverse rule, authority and power — Not that the Father will then begin to reign without the Son, nor will the Son then cease to reign…

But this is spoken of the Son’s mediatorial kingdom.. which will then commence.

John Wesley; Parallel Commentary on the NEW TESTAMENT, p.580

John Wesley provides explanation and delineation of the roles of the Father and of the Son — in the time between the resurrection of ALL the dead and prior to the Judgment — and until the end.

The King James Bible Commentary provides additional insight into Paul's explanation to the Corinthians of the end time.

” The logic is inescapable.

KJB Commentary on 1 COR 15:14 , p.1496

If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain.

The proclamation of the Gospel (vs.1-11) is hollow. Not only that, but your faith is .. ‘groundless.’

Faith in a dead saviour is both preposterous and pathetic.

ibid.

Much in the way Wesley's explanation of 'Who does what?' helps us, the KJB commentary also guides our understanding of the order of THE END [vs.23-26]. 

The end refers to he end of the kingdom of God. At that time he will have put down all rule.

27-28 .. However two facts must be accounted for here:

• First, when Paul say s that the Son is subject to the Father he is not speaking of the Son in terms of his essence, but in terms of his function, or ministry, as the incarnate Son.
• Second.. At this present time the administration of the messianic kingdom is given to the Son.
  • However, at the conclusion of the messianic kingdom this function will be returned to the triune God that God may be all in all.

ibid.

WE don’t trust God, because of many who have claimed God — or Christ Jesus — in ways worthy of our suspicion.

Roger@TalkofJesus.com

The Apostle Paul is trying to show the Corinthians (and us) something about the order of God we do not understand, as well as the Authority all flesh tends to resist.

ὑποτάσσω – ‘Put under’ (in order)

Believe only Scripture and an order of the resurrection makes sense in the redemptive providential plan of God.

Misapply portions of the Gospel or add an oversimplified imagined LIFE after death without consequence for opposing God and your gospel claims will prove false — Promethean in the sense that you know that it can NOT be true (but you continue to hope that it is).

Take a look at the Biblical use of the word — hypotassō — primarily a military term that Paul uses NINE TIMES here IN TWO VERSES:

1 Corinthians 15:25-28 — For He must reign…

v.26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

For he hath put ^G5293 all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under ^G5293 him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put ^G5293 all things under ^G5293 him.

And when all things shall be subdued ^G5293 unto him, then shall ^G5293 the Son also himself be subject ^G5293 unto him that put ^G5293 all things under ^G5293 him, that God may be all in all.

1 Corinthians 15:27-28 KJV — Lexicon :: Strong’s G5293 – hypotassō

How does New Testament Scripture use this term [ὑποτάσσω]?

• to arrange under, to subordinate
• to subject, put in subjection
• to subject one’s self, obey
• to submit to one’s control
• to yield to one’s admonition or advice
• to obey, be subject

Personally, most of us (including Christians) do not like any part of this kind of order. 

Let every soul be subject G5293 unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

Romans 13:1 KJV

How are YOU, dear saint of Christ, doing with that?

YES, the Apostle Paul — put under Christ — obediently presents the resurrection of the body in order.

NEXT, he will talk about the resurrection body. And shortly Paul will urge the saints of Corinth to submit to those who have labored with the Apostle bringing forth the firstfruits of Achaia [16:15-16].

What do you think?

(logically and Biblically, of course) about the order of DEATH and the Resurrection?

Are you prepared to die daily (along with Paul) for the Lord Christ Jesus?

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