1 Corinthians 15:20-23 - Homiletics

The resurrection of Christ.

"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 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." These verses lead us to contemplate the resurrection of Christ as an established fact, as a significant fact, and as an influential fact.

I. AN ESTABLISHED FACT . Paul asserts this fact with a spirit of triumphant certitude. This her is established:

1. On the testimony of the most competent witnesses. A competent witness is one who has a thorough knowledge of the facts whereof he affirms, and such an invincible love for truth as would render it utterly impossible for him to misrepresent them. The apostles were witnesses of this type.

2. On the very existence of Christendom. What gave birth to that domain amongst the peoples of the race called Christendom? The gospel; and the truth of the gospel rests on the resurrection of Christ.

3. On the consciousness of genuine disciples. Such consciousness attests that they are "not in their sins," that they have got more or less free from their thraldom and dominion, and they feel that this deliverance came from the gospel.

II. A SIGNIFICANT FACT . "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." The reference here is to the "firstfruits" of the harvest which were offered by the priests unto the Lord (see Leviticus 23:12-19 ). Those firstfruits were both an earnest and a sample of the full harvest at hand. Hence Christ's resurrection was regarded:

1. As a pledge of the resurrection of those who were dead. As he rose so will all rise.

2. As a pattern of the resurrection of those who were dead. The sheaf waved before the Lord was a specimen or sample of what remained in the field to be gathered in. "Our vile bodies shall be fashioned and made like unto his glorious body."

III. AN INFLUENTIAL FACT . "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Between the influence of Adam and that of Christ on the race, there is a resemblance and a contrast.

1. A resemblance. The resemblance is in its extensibility. Though Adam's influence upon the race may be more extensive at present than that of Christ, it is not more extensible. It has in it the power of extending over the whole race down through all times, and it will so do.

2. A contrast. The influence of the one is destructive; the influence of the other, quickening. "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." If by death here bodily death is meant, then the idea is that Christ will quicken to life all that have died. But what does it mean to be in Adam and in Christ? There is, at any rate, one sense which we can understand in which we are in them; that is, in the sense of character. Without figure all men live in the characters of others—children live in the character of their parents, pupils in their masters, the present generation in the preceding. The characters of the men of past ages constitute the moral atmosphere of existing men. In Adam's character, the character of selfishness, carnality, unbelief, all unregenerate men live today; his principles pulsate in all hearts. In the character of Christ, in his self sacrificing love, spotless purity, and holy reverence, all the godly live today. Now, those who live in the character of Adam must die, not merely in the sense of the dissolution of the soul from the body, but in the more awful sense of the dissolution of the soul from God; whereas those who live in the character of Christ live by a vital connection with the eternal Fountain of all life. The influence of Adam's character on the race is destructive; that of Christ's is quickening and restorative. "All shall be made alive." Shall there be a universal restoration?