The Apostle Paul stressed the necessity of the resurrection hope
in response to church members at Corinth who denied the future bodily
resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-58). He appealed to the past
resurrection of Jesus as the precedent for the future resurrection of
believers, a key event that is to coincide with his return or parousia.
In advancing his arguments, Paul lays out a sequence of events
that precede and culminate in the arrival of Jesus at the end of the age,
including the final subjugation of all his enemies and the consummation of
God’s kingdom.
The main argument begins in verse 12 with the rhetorical question,
“if Christ is proclaimed that he has been raised from among the dead, how
say some of you there is no resurrection of the dead?” The subject is the
reality of the bodily resurrection and all of Paul’s arguments are designed and
employed to support this proposition.
He begins by building a case on Christ’s past resurrection. If
there is no future resurrection then, “not even Christ has been raised!”
And if that is the case, the gospel message is null and void. Thus, the future resurrection
of believers is based on the past resurrection of Jesus.
Paul next argues that “all will be made alive, but each in his
own rank” or “order.” Jesus was the “first-fruit” of the final bodily
resurrection; he rose first, the rest will follow “at his coming”
or Parousia. That event will mark “the end,
when he delivers up the kingdom to God and brings to nothing all rule,
authority, and power.” In this way, the Apostle lays out a general order of
events leading up to the resurrection of believers. The raising of the dead
began with Jesus and comes to its completion at his “coming” (1 Corinthians 15:23).
Paul elsewhere uses the Greek noun parousia for
the “coming” or “arrival” of Jesus at the end of the age (1 Thessalonians
1:9-10; 2:19; 3:13; 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:1; 2:8). In his first letter to
the Thessalonians, he also linked the resurrection to the parousia of
Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:12-15 [“if we believe that Jesus died
and rose again, so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him”]).
Of great importance is the chronological key Paul provides for
when the resurrection of believers will occur - at the “coming” or parousia of
Jesus. The arrival of Christ also means nothing less than “the end” of the
present age and the cessation of death. Death is, in fact, the “last enemy”
to be destroyed. At that time, Jesus will deliver up the kingdom to God as he “brings
to nothing all rule and all authority and power.” After that, “God will
be in all” (1 Corinthians 15:24-26).
The complete subjugation of God’s enemies before the parousia of
Jesus implies that he reigns already over the kingdom. This state is, in fact, confirmed
by messianic promises cited in the New Testament and applied to Jesus (e.g., Psalm
2:8-9; 110:1; Acts 2:34; Philippians 2:6-11; Ephesians 1:20-22; Colossians
1:16; 2:15; Hebrews 1:3-4; 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22; Revelation 12:5).
Paul’s purpose is not to present all the details, events, and
chronologies that surround Christ’s coming. The introduces specific subjects to
support his argument for the bodily resurrection.
Christ was raised a “first-fruit” of them who “sleep.”
Logically, they who “sleep” now will participate at that time in the same kind
of resurrection as Christ did, only at the proper time (when he “comes”).
Paul returns to the cessation of death in 1 Corinthians
15:51-58 (“we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed…during
the last trumpet; for it shall sound and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed”). What is clear is that the end of
death coincides with Christ’s coming and the resurrection of the dead, according
to Pauls’ understanding.
The “end” marks the final overthrow of God’s enemies and the
consummation of His kingdom. This includes the “last enemy, death.” This
means there will be no more enemies left to fight or subjugate; death will be
no more.
In 1 Corinthians 15:35-50, Paul argues that bodily
resurrection is not the resuscitation of corpses but their transformation from
one kind of body to another. Bodily resurrection results in bodies geared for
life in the Spirit; bodies no longer subject to decay and death. The proof of
this transformation is Christ’s own glorified body. All this assumes that life
in the coming age will be an embodied existence, not a disembodied one. This
means that resurrection is nothing less than an act of new creation.
Paul concludes by demonstrating the necessity for the
transformation of the body (verse 53); both living and dead saints must be
transformed when Christ returns (verses 51-52). The living will be changed, the
dead will be resurrected. All of this means that death must also cease (verses
54-55).
The “mystery” Paul revealed is that Christians who remain alive at
Christ’s “coming” will be physically transformed. An implication from this is
that Christians will still be alive on the earth at that time.
Christian hope is the bodily resurrection and life in a
transformed Creation, not escape from the physical world. Everlasting life
means transformation not removal; new creation rather than escape.
The final subjugation of all hostile powers at the parousia and
the cessation of death means that the new creation and everlasting life will be
the state of affairs after Christ’s arrival.
If resurrection occurs at Christ's return and death no longer
occurs, then his parousia means nothing less than the new
creation. This leaves no room for any interim period between his coming and the
New Creation.
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