A Resurrection Sunday Meditation - The Biggest & Best News!

1 Corinthians 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. (NASB)

Yesterday we outlined the entirety of 1 Corinthians 15 to prepare our hearts for today.  We noted the theme of 1 Corinthians 15 to be: "The Living Gospel - The Biggest and Best News!"  Paul had just finished demonstrating how central the truth of Christ's resurrection is to Biblical Christianity in 1 Corinthians 15:12-19.  Paul puts down the shield of defense and takes up the sword of scripture and proclaims - "But now Christ has been raised from the dead...".  What follows is a demonstration of why Christ's resurrection from the dead makes the Gospel the Biggest and Best News. 

To see the beauty and scope of 1 Corinthians 15:20-28, we will offer a fresh translation of the text from the Greek to behold the glory of the Resurrected Christ.  Endnotes will be included in the translation for the reader who desires to dig deeper into the implications of Paul's words.  After the the translation, we will then consider in outline form why Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead is the biggest and best news.

A fresh translation of 1 Corinthians 15:20-28
1 Corinthians 15:20 But now behold! Christ has risen from the dead, as the first fruits (i.e first one to do so) from those who have otherwise remained dead! 21 It is a known fact that through a man came death, and through a man comes the resurrection from the dead. 22 To be more specific - all who are in association with Adam1 die2, consequently then, all who are in association with Christ3 will live. 23 You see, each occurs in a specific order: Christ the first fruits, then secondly, those who will be with Christ at His Personal Return4 24 then thirdly, The End5, that is, whenever He hands over the kingdom to God the Father following the time after every ruler and every authority and every power is abolished. 25 To clarify, it is necessary for Him to reign until He has placed all enemies under His feet. 26 The one called ‘Death’ is of course the last enemy to be abolished. 27 For He placed all things under His feet of authority.  When He states: ‘all things have already be placed under His authority’, He is excluded from the category ‘all things’, since He is the One under whom all things have been placed. 28 But whenever the condition of all things is fulfilled in relationship to the Son’s reign, then the Son Himself will voluntarily submit all things to Him so that God may be all supreme in all things.”

With a fresh translation of 1 Corinthians 15:20-28, we can now consider why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is first of all the Biggest News, followed by why His resurrection is also the Best News.

Christ's resurrection is the Biggest News because it covers every major doctrine and section in the Bible

1 Corinthians 15:20-28 is such an important section of 1 Corinthians 15 because of the scope of material that it covers. In the above translation I underlined five words that are significant in this text, since all of them put together provide a basic outline of the entire Bible!  The reader is encouraged to look at the endnotes I mentioned earlier to see the further implications of the five terms.  We can take those five words above and summarize them accordingly:

a. "Adam" = refers to creation
b. "die"      = refers to the curse
c. "Christ" = the focal point of scripture, and the One who raised from the dead
d. "Personal Return" = translated in other translations as "coming".  This speaks of Christ's Personal, Visible, Physical return at the end of this age
e. "The End" = This refers to the conclusion of all things when Christ hands over everything He has submitted under His reign to God the Father. 

So with those five terms: creation, curse, Christ, coming and conclusion, we can see why Christ's resurrection is such big news in 1 Corinthians 15:20-28.  Christ's resurrection demonstrates that creation will be redeemed, the curse has been reversed for believers in Christ and that Christ is central to understanding history and eternity.  Furthermore, Christ's resurrection also demonstrates what Christ will accomplish in His second coming as well as how He will bring all things to their appropriate conclusion.

Why Christ's Resurrection is also the Best News
The more you read and study 1 Corinthians 15:20-28, the more amazed you become at the range of ground touched by the resurrection.  But let's not forget that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is as much personal as it is profound.  1 Corinthians 15:20-28 serves to demonstrate the personal importance of Christ's resurrection to the Gospel asserted in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4: "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand. (2) by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. (3) For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (4) and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." (NASB)  


Did you catch how many times the personal pronouns (you, our) were mentioned in the text?  Paul emphasizes the personal pronouns ten times in a span of four verses to communicate how the Gospel is the Best News around.  Personally it gains you access to God, to Jesus, to His forgiveness, to all His rich graces and to the hope of an eternal home.  Not only that, but since the pronouns in the original Greek are plural, that means you and I who believe on the resurrected Jesus get to enjoy all of His saving benefits together!   

Truly the Resurrection of Jesus Christ makes the Gospel both the Biggest News and the Best News.  "Big" because of all the doctrines and events that it has either affected or will ever affect.  "Best" because you who by grace through faith believe on Him are personally and eternally saved from wrath, saved unto Him and saved to live forever with Him.  That's the Biggest and Best News you will ever hear!

Endnotes______________________

1. Creation: We see the historical Adam mentioned in 15:21-22. God created man originally perfect. Adam was not a myth, but a real person.  As we read later on in 1 Corinthians 15:45a "So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.”

2. Curse: This second word summarizes what Paul says when he mentions in 15:22 how all born into Adam "die". We know from Genesis 3 that after Adam and his wife had eaten the forbidden fruit, God consigned both they and their descendants to a curse. Whenever we consider these first two ideas: creation & curse, we begin to see God's aim in redeeming and restoring that which was lost as a result of sin and death. Romans 8:20-21 notes - "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope (21) that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." 

3. Christ: So the question is: "will creation ever be redeemed and will the curse ever be reversed?" As you read on down through 1 Corinthians 15:23ff, you get the answer to that question in one Person - Christ. Christ's resurrection from the dead demonstrated two vital truths: He has reversed the curse upon all who by grace through faith believe on Him and that the created order will be redeemed. 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 presents creation and the curse - the problem, and 15:23 present the solution - Christ. For the remainder of 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, we will see how Christ will accomplish the Father's purposes. Remember, everything that Paul is writing hinges on the reality of Christ's resurrection - its that big! So we have seen creation, curse and Christ. 

4. Coming: 1 Corinthians 15:23b states in the NASB "after that those who are Christ's at His coming". In the above translation I rendered this word "Personal Return" to underscore the nature of Christ's second coming. The Personal Return of Jesus Christ is captured by the Greek word "parousia" that speaks of a King returning to his home city or country after having won a battle or a war. The inhabitants come out to meet the King and to reconnect with their Ruler, and he with them. 

5. Conclusion: 1 Corinthians 15:24 starts out with the simple but profound phrase: "then comes the end..." Christ's resurrection from the dead not only demonstrated the accomplishment of His first coming - redemption, but it also guarantees what He will accomplish when He come again - Rulership. As you go down through the remainder of 1 Corinthians 15:25-28, Paul details what he means by verse 24, as well as showing the relationship between "the coming" and "the end".  We would advocate that there is an implied space of time between "His coming" in verse 23 and "the end" in verse 24.  Furthermore, I personally see the implied "space" being explicitly 1,000 years as detailed in another scripture - Revelation 20.  In 1 Corinthians 15:25 I included the term "to clarify", since verses 25-28 are a clarification of verse 24.  Paul is proposing an actual ordering of major events outlined in Biblical prophecy or eschatology:

Christ's                  Christ's 2nd coming      He must reign   End
Resurrection-------Resurrection of saints--Millennium of--- of
(first fruits)            (those with Christ)         Rev 20 seems    all
                                                                        to fit here         things
                                                                        Resurrection
                                                                        of the wicked
                                                                        will occur at
                                                                        the end of the
                                                                        Millennium or
                                                                        1,000 year reign
                                                                        of Christ.

With that basic order, harmonized with other prophetic texts, we gain a sweeping understanding of history and prophecy.  Following the end, Christ will have handed all things up to the Father, which will then take us into eternity. 

                                                                                

What Living Living faith isn't and is

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

The above passage clearly connects the event of Christ's resurrection to the experience of salvation that occurs at saving faith.  Living Living Christianity involves four essential truths:
1. Living Christ, who raised from the dead
2. Living Scriptures
3. Living proclamation from the living scriptures about the Living Christ
4. Living testimonies resulting from Living Proclamation

We call this "living living" Christianity since it's "living hope" is rooted in the "Living Christ".  Today we want to explore the "living living faith" that is necessary to receive "living living Christianity". 

What Living Living Faith is not
As you go back into texts such as Luke 24, you will witness those moments following Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead.  What were his disciple's initial response?  The women who came to visit His tomb, once being told by the angel that "He is not here, He is risen" (Luke 24:6), responded with living living faith.  However other disciples, when encountered by the Living Christ, responded in unbelief.  Even after Jesus demonstrated His physical bodily resurrection by eating food, the Bible says in Luke 24:41 that in joy and amazement they could not believe.

From these verses we learn two things that living living faith (or true saving faith) is not:
1. It is not just emotionalism
2. It is not just an intellectual agreement with facts

Though living living faith includes these, yet these things by themselves do not equate to a person having true saving faith.  James 2:19 reminds us that the "Demons believe there is One God, and they shudder".  The fallen angels mentally agree with the fact there is One God, yet they clearly do not surrender themselves in trust to Him.  Furthermore, the people who were crying out  "Hosanna" at Jesus' triumphal entry would five days after that event be crying out for His crucifixion.  Emotionally the people were swept up in a moment of hysteria - yet their fervor waned at the first sign of trouble.  They had what Paul would term in Romans 10:2 "a zeal that was not based on knowledge".  Protecting themselves against the Romans was more valuable than their verbal, emotional allegiance to Jesus.

Unless the Spirit of God is accompanying the communication of the scriptures - no salvation can occur. (John 16:7-16; Ephesians 2:8-9; James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23)  Emotions will grab hold of the benefits of Jesus - and yet not grab hold of Jesus Himself.  The intellect can assert the historicity of Christ's death, burial and resurrection - and yet remain unillumined to the significance of those events in present day life. 

What Living Living Faith is
When Jesus began to unfold the scriptures, these disciples understood - that is - they embraced and held onto Christ with living living faith.  They demonstrated by their trust in His words and person that living living faith had come to roost in their hearts - firmly persuading their minds and emotions to embrace Jesus Christ. Notice the elements of living living faith that we see in Luke 24:45-49:

1. Living Living faith comes by the scriptures from God. Luke 24:44-45
As Romans 10:17 reminds us too - "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God".  When I preach or teach, I try to quote or refer to as many scriptures as possible.  Why? Because they are the sole agency through which the Spirit of God works to bring about the conversion of lost sinners. (Psalm 19:7; 1 Peter 1:23)  As much as evidence or emotional appeal works in the presentation of the Gospel, it is the Spirit of God through the scriptures that communicates the power of the Gospel. (Romans 1:16)

2. This living living faith firmly persuades the mind to lead a firmly persuaded heart
Lk 24:45, 52-53
These disciples were firmly persuaded in their minds and emotions by faith to believe, to trust, to rely upon everything Jesus is and said.  True faith takes what God says at face value and cheirshes it.  The phrase "firmly persuaded" cpatures the essence of living living faith.  Biblical faith proceeds not only on the basis of proof of unseen things, but persuasion about those unseen things. (please compare Hebrews 11:1) 

3. This living living faith, with a firmly persuaded mind and emotions embraces and continually holds onto Jesus Christ
The resurrection power of Jesus Christ was clearly operative in Luke 24.  These disciples were in the temple "continually praising God".   1 Peter 1:3 connects true saving faith to the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.  Praise God for Living Living Faith.