"But Christ Has Indeed Been Raised"
I Corinthians 15:20–34
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 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. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him. Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 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. 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. Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our LORD. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.”
It has come full circle, here St. Paul discusses the curse of Adam as undone by Christ, a chiasm of epic proportions. It reminds me of Ps Lawrence Khong’s Divine Exchange series that when Jesus sweat His blood in agony at a garden it dropped to the ground and began to reverse the curse of this broken earth (Gen 3:17–19). The Living Life writer notes, “Adam was the first man to sin, and through him, all of humankind was cursed. As a result, we are enslaved to sin and its consequences. But Christ came to set us free from this curse.” The Way, the Truth, and the life (John 14:6), only through whom wevcome to God, has set us free and we are free indeed (John 8:36)! For the latter section of this set of verses, the Apostle Paul tells us what post-World War II chancellor of Germany, Konrad Adenauer told American evangelist Billy Graham, looking at the devastation around a defeated Germany, “outside of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I know of no other hope for humanity.” The resurrection, the promise of eternal life to those who love the Creator of our spacetime, the cosmos, this ultimate reality, God, is what gives life meaning and hope. St. Paul is saying that without the resurrection, we are condemned into futility just as the Existentialists and other thinkers have said (~v. 32). It is surprising to me when some say they can find or create their own meaning without God, but they do not seem to grasp that if there is no overarching ultimate meaning, everything we do, is ultimately for naught. Eminent New Testament scholar Dr. NT Wright wrote, “You see, the bodily resurrection of Jesus isn't a take-it-or-leave-it thing, as though some Christians are welcome to believe it and others are welcome not to believe it. Take it away, and the whole picture is totally different. Take it away, and Karl Marx was probably right to accuse Christianity of ignoring the problems of the material world. Take it away, and Sigmund Freud was probably right to say that Christianity is a wish-fulfillment religion. Take it away, and Friedrich Nietzsche was probably right to say that Christianity was a religion for wimps. Put it back, and you have a faith that can take on the postmodern world that looks to Marx, Freud and Nietzsche as its prophets, and you can beat them at their own game with the Easter news that the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (I Cor 1:25).” And we live the way we do, because we love God and are thankful for His grace (vv. 33–34), when we place our faith in the Gospel, its power not only transforms our eternal future but also radically changes how we live our lives today and because of the resurrection of Christ the first-born of God (v. 23), mortal life is kissed once more with eternity, infused with meaning, and God’s kingdom reinstated by the Prince of Peace, from the agony at Gethsemane and back to pristine Eden.
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 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. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him. Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 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. 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. Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our LORD. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.”
It has come full circle, here St. Paul discusses the curse of Adam as undone by Christ, a chiasm of epic proportions. It reminds me of Ps Lawrence Khong’s Divine Exchange series that when Jesus sweat His blood in agony at a garden it dropped to the ground and began to reverse the curse of this broken earth (Gen 3:17–19). The Living Life writer notes, “Adam was the first man to sin, and through him, all of humankind was cursed. As a result, we are enslaved to sin and its consequences. But Christ came to set us free from this curse.” The Way, the Truth, and the life (John 14:6), only through whom wevcome to God, has set us free and we are free indeed (John 8:36)! For the latter section of this set of verses, the Apostle Paul tells us what post-World War II chancellor of Germany, Konrad Adenauer told American evangelist Billy Graham, looking at the devastation around a defeated Germany, “outside of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I know of no other hope for humanity.” The resurrection, the promise of eternal life to those who love the Creator of our spacetime, the cosmos, this ultimate reality, God, is what gives life meaning and hope. St. Paul is saying that without the resurrection, we are condemned into futility just as the Existentialists and other thinkers have said (~v. 32). It is surprising to me when some say they can find or create their own meaning without God, but they do not seem to grasp that if there is no overarching ultimate meaning, everything we do, is ultimately for naught. Eminent New Testament scholar Dr. NT Wright wrote, “You see, the bodily resurrection of Jesus isn't a take-it-or-leave-it thing, as though some Christians are welcome to believe it and others are welcome not to believe it. Take it away, and the whole picture is totally different. Take it away, and Karl Marx was probably right to accuse Christianity of ignoring the problems of the material world. Take it away, and Sigmund Freud was probably right to say that Christianity is a wish-fulfillment religion. Take it away, and Friedrich Nietzsche was probably right to say that Christianity was a religion for wimps. Put it back, and you have a faith that can take on the postmodern world that looks to Marx, Freud and Nietzsche as its prophets, and you can beat them at their own game with the Easter news that the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (I Cor 1:25).” And we live the way we do, because we love God and are thankful for His grace (vv. 33–34), when we place our faith in the Gospel, its power not only transforms our eternal future but also radically changes how we live our lives today and because of the resurrection of Christ the first-born of God (v. 23), mortal life is kissed once more with eternity, infused with meaning, and God’s kingdom reinstated by the Prince of Peace, from the agony at Gethsemane and back to pristine Eden.
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