Christ The Firstfruits.

CHRIST THE FIRSTFRUITS.

1 Corinthians 15:19-26.

Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is no gospel at all (1 Corinthians 15:12-13), and we are of all men most vain and miserable (1 Corinthians 15:14-19).

Thankfully, we are reminded with a sigh of relief, Christ is risen from the dead. He is risen indeed. As such He is the firstfruits from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20).

The Feast of the firstfruits was celebrated the day after the Sabbath after the Passover, and no further atoning sacrifice was necessary because the Passover lamb had just been sacrificed. In Greek the idea of firstfruits carried the idea of His having paid our entrance fee. Jesus is the firstfruits, the first sheaf offered in anticipation of the full harvest, the first resurrected as the forerunner of our own resurrection.

The first man Adam, the representative head of the human race, ushered in death through sin. In a passage which echoes Romans 5:12-21, Christ is seen as the new representative head of the human race, ushering in a new economy as the firstfruits from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:21-23). Truly He is “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).

Yet the resurrection of believers must await His coming (1 Corinthians 15:23). Jesus must reign until He has crushed all His enemies under His feet, and the very last enemy that will be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:25-26). Then comes the end (1 Corinthians 15:24; 1 Corinthians 15:28).

Paul owned this as his gospel (2 Timothy 2:8), and was willing to suffer for it, as were all the other witnesses. Those who deny the truth of the resurrection are teaching a different gospel to that which we find in the New Testament. “Awake to righteousness and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame,” warns Paul (1 Corinthians 15:34).