1 Corinthians 15:20

20. [ἐγένετο] after κεκοιμημένων rec. with Peshito and Origen. Text אABDEFG Vetus Lat. Vulg.

20. The next eight verses point us to Adam and Christ, as types respectively of fallen and perfect humanity. As Adam’s fall was man’s fall, so Christ’s Resurrection was man’s resurrection. Christ’s triumph over sin, and therefore over death, is to be repeated in His members until sin, and ultimately death, the wages of sin (Romans 6:23), shall cease to be, and every faithful disciple of Christ shall enjoy an immediate vital union with God.

νυνὶ δέ. νυνί is not to be understood of time here, but as marking a fresh point of departure in the argument. The adversative sense must of course be given to δέ.

Χριστὸς ἐγήγερται ἐκ νεκρῶν. St Paul considers it needless to argue the point further. He appeals not so much to the reason—on points like this (see ch. 1 Corinthians 2:14) it is likely to deceive us—as to the moral instincts of every human being. Of course a man has power to stifle them, but they tell him plainly enough that love of purity and truth, desire of immortality, belief in the love and justice of God, are no vain dreams, as they would be if the ‘wise man died as the fool’ (Ecclesiastes 2:16). Accordingly, the Apostle now proceeds to unfold the laws of God’s spiritual kingdom as facts which cannot be gainsaid. He may appeal (as in 1 Corinthians 15:29-32) to his own practice and that of others as a confirmation of what he says. But from henceforth he speaks with authority. He wastes no more time in discussion.

ἀπαρχή. The firstfruits (Leviticus 23:10) were the first ripe corn, under the Law, solemnly offered to God, a fit type of Him Who first presented our ripened humanity before the Throne of God, an earnest of the mighty harvest hereafter to be gathered.

τῶν κεκοιμημένων. The aor. in 1 Corinthians 15:18 has reference more especially to death itself, ‘when they died they were destroyed.’ The perf. here indicates the past and present condition of the departed.