ACC ~ 1 Corinthians 15 v20 - 24

OVERVIEW:

Adam, the type of Christ (TERTULLIAN), died because he sinned. Christ, who was without sin, overcame the death that comes from sin (AMBROSIASTER). This does not mean universally that all who die will be members of the body of Christ, since many will be punished in eternity by a second death (AUGUSTINE). The resurrection from the dead proves that Christ was a man and therefore able by his righteousness to merit the resurrection of the dead (AMBROSIASTER). The human nature that was cast down must itself gain the victory (BASIL, CHRYSOSTOM). Through Christ the church will rise (PELAGIUS). He tasted death for the sake of all (ATHANASIUS, CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). There is no eternal life except in Christ (AUGUSTINE). Just because everyone will be raised from the dead, not all will enjoy the same rewards or punishments (AMBROSE, CHRYSOSTOM). Then comes the end, the destruction of every shred of demonic power (CHRYSOSTOM). In the end, the faithful will pass into eternal peace and joy (CASSIODORUS), and God shall be all in all (ORIGEN, BASIL).

15:20 | Christ the First Fruits

CHRIST HAS BEEN RAISED. AMBROSIASTER: Paul says this in order to get at the false prophets who claimed that Christ was never born and thus cannot have died. The resurrection from the dead proves that Christ was a man and therefore able to merit by his righteousness the resurrection of the dead. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THE HEAD, THEN THE BODY. PELAGIUS: If the head has risen, then the rest of the body will follow in due course. COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 15.

THE POWER OF DEATH DESTROYED. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: For the sake of all he tasted death. Although by nature he was life and was himself the resurrection, he surrendered his own body to death. By his ineffable power he trampled upon death in his own flesh that he might become the firstborn from the dead and the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. … Even if the resurrection of the dead may be said to be through a man, the man we know it is through is the Word begotten of God. The power of death has been destroyed through him. LETTER 17.11.

GOD ASSUMED FLESH THAT SUFFERED. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The Word does not suffer insofar as he is viewed as God by nature. Yet the sufferings of his flesh were according to the economy of the dispensation. For in what way would he be “the firstborn of every creature, through whom have come to be principalities and powers, thrones and dominations, in whom all things hold together,” and in what way would he become the “firstborn of the dead” and the “first fruits of those who have fallen asleep,” unless the Word, being God, made his own the body born to suffer? LETTER 50.14.

15:21 | Death Came by a Man

BY A MAN. ATHANASIUS: For by the sacrifice of his own body he both put an end to the law which was against us and made a new beginning of life for us, by the hope of resurrection which he has given us. For since from man it was that death prevailed over men, for this cause conversely, by the Word of God being made man has come about the destruction of death and the resurrection of life. ON THE INCARNATION 10.

SUPPOSE THE WORD DID NOT BECOME FLESH. BASIL: If the sojourn of the Lord in the flesh did not take place, the Redeemer did not pay to death the price for us. He did not by his own power destroy the dominion of death. If that which is subject to death were one thing and that which was assumed by the Lord another, then death would not have ceased performing its own works, nor would the sufferings of the God-bearing flesh have been our gain. He would not have destroyed sin in the flesh. We who had died in Adam would not have been made alive in Christ. LETTER 261, TO THE CITIZENS OF SOZOPOLIS.

BY A MAN CAME THE RESURRECTION. AMBROSE: Man arose because man died. Man was raised up again, but it was God who raised him. Then he was man according to the flesh. Now God is all in all. Now we no longer know Christ according to the flesh, but we have the grace of his flesh. We know him as the first fruits of those who rest, the firstborn of the dead. Unquestionably the first fruits are of the same species and nature as the rest of the fruits. … Therefore, as the first fruits of death were in Adam, so also the first fruits of the resurrection are in Christ. ON HIS BROTHER SATYRUS 2.91.

HE SUFFERED IN HIS HUMAN FLESH. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: He tasted death on behalf of every man in his flesh, which was able to suffer without him ceasing to be life. Accordingly, even though it is stated that he suffered in his flesh, he did not receive the suffering in the nature of his divinity but in his flesh which was receptive to suffering. LETTER 55.34.

BY A MAN CAME DEATH. CHRYSOSTOM: The very human nature which was cast down must itself also gain the victory. For it was by this means that the reproach was wiped away. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 39.5.

15:22a | Dead in Adam

IN ADAM ALL DIE. TERTULLIAN: If Adam is a type of Christ then Adam’s sleep is a symbol of the death of Christ, and by the wound in the side of Christ was typified the church, the true mother of all the living. ON THE SOUL 43.10.

WHO IS INCLUDED? AUGUSTINE: This does not mean that all who die in Adam will be members of Christ, since the majority will be punished in eternity by a second death. The apostle uses the word all in both clauses because as no one dies in a natural body except in Adam, so no one is made to live again in a spiritual body, except in Christ. CITY OF GOD 13.23.

MAN AND THE SON OF MAN. AUGUSTINE: Man indeed brought death to himself and to the Son of Man. But the Son of Man, by dying and rising again, brought life to man. LETTER 140, TO HONORATUS 9.

WHAT OF ENOCH AND ELIJAH? SEVERIAN OF GABALA: Strictly speaking, not everyone has died. Enoch and Elijah, for example, never did. Some will be found alive at the second coming of the Savior. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

15:22b | Made Alive in Christ

RAISED IN CHRIST. AMBROSIASTER: Adam died because he sinned, and so Christ, who was without sin, overcame death, in that death comes from sin. Everyone, the righteous and the unrighteous alike, dies in Adam, and everyone, believers and unbelievers alike, will also be raised in Christ. But the unbelievers will be handed over for punishment, even though they appear to have been raised from the dead, because they will receive their bodies back again in order to suffer eternal punishment for their unbelief. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

NO ETERNAL LIFE EXCEPT IN CHRIST. AUGUSTINE: No human enters into death except through Adam and no one into eternal life except through Christ. This is the meaning of that repeated phrase all, because as all men belong to Adam through their first or carnal birth, so all men who belong to Christ come to the second or spiritual birth. Therefore he says “all” in both places because as all who die die only in Adam, so all who will be made alive will not be made alive except in Christ. LETTER 167, TO JEROME 21.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE WICKED NOT INCLUDED. AUGUSTINE: Notice how he emphasizes “one” and “one,” that is Adam and Christ, the former for condemnation, the latter for justification. … Obviously he is speaking of the resurrection of the just where there is life eternal, not of the resurrection of the wicked where there will be eternal death. Those who “shall be made alive” are contrasted with the others who will be damned. LETTER 157, TO HILARIUS.

NONE EXCEPT THROUGH THAT DOOR. AUGUSTINE: We commonly say that all enter a certain house through one door, not because all humanity enters that house but because no one enters except through that door. It is in this sense that as all die in Adam so do all those who live live in Christ. … Aside from the one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, there is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved. AGAINST JULIAN 24.

15:23 | Each in Order

VARIABLE SEQUENCES OF MATURATION IN FAITH. ORIGEN: Although all are contained within the one faith and washed in the one baptism, the process of maturing in faith is not the same for all, but rather “each one in his own order.” HOMILIES ON GENESIS 2.

EACH IN ORDER. AMBROSE: The fruit of divine mercy is common to all, but the order of merit differs. ON HIS BROTHER SATYRUS 2.92.

PUNISHMENT AND BENEFIT OCCUR IN DIFFERING DEGREES. CHRYSOSTOM: Just because everyone will be raised from the dead, do not imagine that all will enjoy the same benefits. Even just thinking of punishment, there is a great difference in the degrees of suffering which will be inflicted. How much more then will there be a difference between the fate of sinners, on the one hand, and the righteous on the other. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 39.5.

15:24 | Destroying All Rule

THE KINGDOM DELIVERED. ORIGEN: When Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, then those living beings, because they have before this been made part of Christ’s kingdom, shall also be delivered up along with the whole of that kingdom to the rule of the Father, so that, when “God shall be all in all,” they also, since they are a part of all, may have God even in themselves, as he is in all things. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 1.8.

THE END. BASIL: For us the end for which we do all things and toward which we hasten is the blessed life in the world to come. HOMILY 19 ON PSALM 48.

THEN COMES THE END. CHRYSOSTOM: What rule and power will Christ destroy? That of the angels? Of course not! That of the faithful? No. What rule is it then? That of the devils, about which he says that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities, the powers and the forces of darkness in this present age. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 39.6.

WHEN HE DELIVERS THE KINGDOM TO GOD THE FATHER. CASSIODORUS: The faithful deserve to be at his right hand. They will judge in company with the Lord. They will pass into eternal peace and joy, so that they are rightly said to be exalted, for through the Lord’s wondrous devotion they attain contemplation of the Lord himself. EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 14.