Adam: (15:22-24): Death came into the world as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin. “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Adam’s sin brought sin to all people and ultimately the death. Adam represented the whole human race. Because of his sin, the entire human race is ready for the judgement and condemnation. “In Christ all will be made alive” is a general term. Christ has paid the entrance fee for all the man kind, but our Salvation depends upon our belief and acceptance of the Lord Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. When Jesus Christ returns in the air, He will take His church to heaven along with those who have trusted Him and have died in the faith (1 Thess. 4:13-18). This is called “the resurrection of life” (Jn. 5:29). When Jesus returns to the earth in judgment, then all the people (sinners) will be raised for judgement and condemnation. This is called “the resurrection of damnation” (Jn. 5:29, Rev. 20:11-15). No believer in the first resurrection will be lost and no sinner in the second resurrection will be saved.
The Saints: (15:25-29): But now Christ is raised from the dead, and has become the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. The resurrection of Jesus leads to the resolution of all things. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order. Christ the Firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.
Jesus has He has put all things under His feet. But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He put all things under Him except the Godhead. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
In (Eph.1:10) , Paul says that: “to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.” This is the gathering together of all believers in other words “Rapture.” That’s why he looks forward to such a time that Jesus Christ would present His saints to God the Father, giving glory to the God who authored this eternal plan much before the ages. After this resurrection, God will finally resolve all of history according to His will.
Paul speaks of some deeper spiritual truths when he refers to the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- The final destruction is of death.
- Soon after the reign of 1000 years of Jesus Christ (Rev. 20:1-6), the Lord Jesus will crush Satan and his enemies forever and throws them into the Hell.
- The last enemy “death” will be destroyed. We must remember that death would be present even during the 1000 year reign of Jesus (Rev. 20:9, Isa. 65:20).
- When Lazarus died, Jesus went up to the tomb and there the Lord has wept (Jn.11:33). Jesus knew that He was going to conquer death and one day Lazarus too would be resurrected, yet he wept because of the gravity of destruction the death causes to human beings.
- When Jesus died, many graves of the saints were opened. Many saints were raised to life and they appeared to many and witnessed in the temple. (Mt.27:52-53).
God the Father and God the Son are equal, but each had special work to do in the area of Sovereign control. Christ is not inferior to the Father. But the submission of Jesus to the Father doesn’t come from any inherent inferiority. Instead, it comes from the administrative order of the Godhead. A Son is always in submission to His Father, even if both are “equal” in substance. God the Father will always be God the Father, and God the Son will always be God the Son, and for all eternity they will continue to relate to each other as Father and Son. We can see the perfect work of Trinity glorifying each other. Each person of the Trinity desires to glorify another person of the Trinity. The Son glorifies the Father (Jn.17:4), the Father glorifies the Son (Jn.17:5), and the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son (Jn.16:14).
Further we see some strange activity in (15:29): “baptised for the dead.” Some take the proxy meaning as saying that members of the church at Corinth were having baptism on behalf of their friends or family members who had died before they became Christians. Or as Christians they had died before taking baptism. If there is no resurrection, there was no sense in baptism for the dead’. They would be wasting their time. Paul’s point that “If there is no resurrection, why are they doing this? What is the point if there is no life after death?” Paul simply mentions the superstitious custom without approving it and uses it to fortify his argument that there is a resurrection from the dead.
Paul certainly does not approve of the practice. The churches for generations had never approved of this custom. He merely says that if there is no resurrection, why would the custom take place? At present, the Mormons practice of baptism for the dead which is neither Scriptural nor sensible. Paul points out that even the pagans believe in the resurrection but some of the Corinthian Christians do not have it.
A reasonable view seems to be that “those who are baptized” refers to living believers who give outward testimony to their faith in baptism by water because they were first drawn to Christ by the exemplary lives of missionaries, faithful witnesses of believers who had subsequently died. Paul’s point is that if there is no resurrection and no life after death, then why are people coming to Christ to follow the hope of those who have died?