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This section is now summed up by saying that all the apostles, including himself, had
had practical experience of the Lord's resurrection. All had truthfully testified to this and
the Corinthians had accepted this and believed, except a minority that Paul is now going
to deal with.
"Now if Christ is preached that He hath been raised from the dead, how say some
among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?" (15: 12 R.V.).
If the resurrection was not an historical fact, then the inescapable conclusion was that
Christ was still dead, and in that case the gospel proclamation was empty, their faith
useless, and the apostles were deceivers in proclaiming such a message. "No one can
give himself to a dead man; no one can expect anything or receive anything from a dead
man" (Schlatter). In other words, the Christian faith was completely destroyed. This
would not only affect living believers, but those who had died.
"Then they also which are fallen asleep in Chris have perished" (15: 18 R.V.).
This is an unfortunate verse for the traditionalist who bases his hope for the future on
the pagan conception of the immortality of the soul. Nothing could make the resurrection
of the believer more basic or fundamental. Instead of considering dead believers as being
consciously in the presence of the Lord and being safe for ever, this verse states the exact
opposite. When will the Christian world really believe this and not give the resurrection
of the saved just a nominal adherence? How often do we hear addresses emphasizing
that without resurrection, a saved person is PERISHED, the same fact that is accorded to
the unbeliever according to John 3: 16?
Cannot we see that the great doctrine of resurrection is absolutely fundamental to the
whole redeeming purpose of God and without it, the plan collapses? Paul now continues
the argument by saying that if Christian hope pertains to this only, then we are the most
pitiable of all men (19).
The Apostle now leaves unreality for fact, with one of his magnificent "buts"
(compare Eph. 2: 4 & 13 and note what has gone before).
"But now in fact Christ has been raised from the dead as the firstfruits of those who
are asleep. Since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead; for
as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be brought to life" (15: 20,21, 100: K. Barrett).
Christ and Adam are here regarded as heads of the race. Here we have resurrection
and its racial aspect. Paul now goes beyond those who have been touched by the gospel,
and deals with the connection which the Lord's resurrection has with the whole race in
Adam, in relation to the matter of headship. "The head of every man is Christ", even as
the head of every woman is man which obviously goes further than those who are saved.
We must be very careful with the terms "in Adam" and "in Christ". The latter phrase,
as we have seen, stands for those in relation with Christ. Does every human being that
has ever been born came with the scope of "in Adam"? But for the Scriptural doctrine of
the two seeds, the answer would be "yes". However one may dislike the thought of some