1 Corinthians 15-16: Firstfruits of the Resurrection

As we come to the end of 1 Corinthians, Paul delves into the topic of the Resurrection to counter some false thinking and to expound on the meaning and significance of the risen Christ. This is surely one of the most important areas of doctrine; thus Paul wants to make certain that the people of Corinth understand its proper meaning.

Paul begins by reaffirming the basic facts of the Resurrection:

...that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day...

Paul reminds them of these basic truths before he tackles a controversy that existed between the Greek and Hebrew cultures of the age:

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

In the Greek culture of the time, the afterlife was believed by many to be a purely immaterial existence. This thinking was quite naturally adopted by many of the people of Corinth as well. In fact, many of us have at one point or another probably considered an eternal existence as an unembodied spirit floating around in a heavenly realm.

Paul opposes this notion, and argues that if there is no resurrection of the dead then Christ has not been raised either, rendering all of their Christian mission futile.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 

So many of these agricultural references in the Bible lose their meaning as they fall on modern ears; but let us imagine how this analogy of firstfruits would come across to us if we worked fields for a living instead of typing on keyboards (or other noble tasks). As a worker of the field/garden/vineyard,  you put many long hours into cultivating, planting, or sowing in hope of an eventual harvest. As those long hours are put in, you have no guarantee of what the yield will be - you just have to sow and plant and work as you long for the payoff at harvest time.

After sufficient time has passed, the time for harvesting is finally in sight. It is not yet, but it is to be soon. The payoff for the hard work and sweat and toil is almost here. One day, you get a sign of things to come - the firstfruits are born of the field. These firstfruits are of great significance - in them lies a sign of what is to be made of your entire crop. While every fruit/crop is different, they will all be similar and in like kind with those firstfruits. They tell you the nature of all of the harvest that is to come.

And so it is with us and Christ, says Paul. Christ was in fact raised from the dead, and he is the firstfruit of what is to come. We will be of a similar nature to the magnificent and glorious risen Christ.

Paul preemptively answers a question that he knows is to come from an audience that is likely to be skeptical - that is, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?"

You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel...

He continues on with a beautiful description of our regeneration:

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.

I don't know about you, but that gets my heart pumping - picturing the transformation of all the faithful from a broken, twisted and perishable natural self into a glorious, powerful and perfect new self. You think caterpillars undergo a big change when they turn into butterflies? You just wait - we ain't seen nothin' yet!

Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.