There are passages in Paul’s letters where language itself strains to capture the greatness and glory of the realities of the Gospel, writing that is rhetorically powerful and filled with passion that inspires awe, reverence, worship, and praise to God. Consider, for example, the grandeur of Romans 8. One glorious truth follows another, from the proclamation of no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1) to the freedom of life in the Spirit (Rom 8:2-14) to the hope of future glory (Rom 8:15-30). Paul’s resounding answer to the question of whether anything can separate us from the love of Christ is that “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us, that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:35-39).
Consider also the conclusion of Romans 9-11, one of the most weighty and difficult sections in Scripture. After wrestling at length with God’s eternal purpose in relation to Israel and the Gentiles, Paul bursts into doxology, “Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever, Amen” (Rom 11:33-36).
Yet another passage of deep emotion leading to doxology is Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians. Amazed at God’s grace given to him to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, Paul wants the Ephesians to comprehend the greatness of God’s eternal plan now realized in Christ. He prays, therefore, that God “may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:16-19). Paul then concludes, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph 3:20-21).
These are, indeed, compelling passages that stir the soul, but perhaps the most moving of all is 1 Corinthians 15:20-28, a truly breathtaking panorama of redemptive history.
1 Corinthians 15:20-28
In the span of only nine verses, Paul presents the story of the world. God the Father is the main character. This is His story. He is the creator of all things, the Lord of heaven and earth, and the one who gives to all life and breath and all things (Acts 17:24-28). He determines the beginning and the end. Then there is Adam, the first human being, the pinnacle of God’s creation, through whom sin and death entered the world (Rom 5:12). All who are “in Adam” are in the story, that is, every human being. You are in this story. Also in the story is God the Son, the last Adam (1 Cor 15:45), the second man from heaven (1 Cor 15:47), the one who died for our sins and was raised again, who ascended to the right hand of the Father and who lives to make intercession for us (Rom 8:34; 1 Pet 3:18-22). Finally, there are the hostile powers – every rule, authority, power, and the last enemy, which is death. This story is about the defeat of all enemies, especially death.
1 Corinthians 15:20-28 is situated in the most comprehensive discussion of the resurrection of the dead in Scripture. Against some who were claiming there is no resurrection of the dead (1 Cor 15:12), Paul points out that the bodily resurrection is central to the Gospel (1 Cor 15:1-11) and to deny the resurrection generally is to deny the resurrection of Christ specifically. If Christ has not been raised the consequences are disastrous (1 Cor 15:12-19, 29-34). Paul, therefore, makes a strong affirmation regarding Christ’s resurrection, sets forth the significance of the resurrection of Jesus, and establishes the necessity of the bodily resurrection of all believers.
Strong Affirmation (15:20a)
Over against the resurrection deniers Paul joyfully proclaims, “But now Christ has been raised from the dead!” It is true! When Jesus appeared to John on the island of Patmos, He said, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades” (Rev 1:17). Our hope as believers rests upon the fact of Jesus’s literal, bodily resurrection (1 Pet 1:3-4). As the angel at the tomb proclaimed, “He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him” (Mk 16:6).
The Significance of Christ’s Resurrection (15:20b-23)
Not only has Christ been raised from the dead, He is also the firstfruits of those who have already died and of all who belong to Him (1 Cor 15:20b, 23). In other words, there are more resurrections to come. Paul explains that just as by man came death (cf. Rom 5:12) so also by man has come the resurrection of the dead. All who are in Adam die, but all who are in Christ will be made alive (1 Cor 15:21-22)! Christ is the first to be raised from the dead with those who belong to Him to follow at His coming. The resurrection of Jesus set in motion an unalterable chain of events. There is a second Easter on the horizon (John 5:28-29, 11:25-26; 1 Thess 4:16; Col 3:4). Jesus walked out of the tomb, and all who have died in Christ will also depart the grave with a body that is imperishable, glorious, and powerful (1 Cor 15:42). Just as we have born the image of the man of dust (Adam), so also we will bear the image of the Man of heaven (1 Cor 15:49; Phil 3:21).
The Necessity of the Resurrection of the Dead (15:24-28)
The resurrection of the dead is not the final act in this story. Following the resurrection of all believers comes the end, when the Son delivers the Kingdom to the Father after He has destroyed every rule and authority and power. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Jesus must reign until every enemy has been vanquished, and His reign brings to end the reign of sin and death. Paul combines Psalm 110:1 and Psalm 8:6 to assert that already Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of God over the hostile powers and will remain seated there until all enemies are placed under His feet (see also Eph 1:20-22; Acts 2:32-36; Rom 8:34; 1 Pet 3:22). What was lost in Adam is regained in Christ and fulfills God’s intention for humanity. The Kingdom of God, in all its fullness, will be delivered to the Father when the last enemy is destroyed. We must undergo radical transformation to enter the future Kingdom, and this will occur at the last trumpet when our perishable and mortal bodies put on immorality and death is swallowed up in victory (1 Cor 15:50-54)! The redemptive story reaches its grand finale in 1 Corinthians 15:27-28. When all things are subjected to the Son, then the Son Himself will be subjected to the Father so that God might be all in all. On the cross, Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). In the end, He will again say, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end” (Rev 21:6). In the end, “every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father” (Phil 2:5-11).
