1 Corinthians 15:23-28 ~ 20150503 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
05/03 1 Corinthians 15:23-28 God All In All; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20150503_1cor15_23-28.mp3
20 Νυνὶ δὲ Χριστὸς ἐγήγερται ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἀπαρχὴ τῶν κεκοιμημένων. 21 ἐπειδὴ γὰρ δι’ ἀνθρώπου θάνατος, καὶ δι’ ἀνθρώπου ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν· 22 ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ πάντες ἀποθνῄσκουσιν, οὕτως καὶ ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ πάντες ζῳοποιηθήσονται. 23 ἕκαστος δὲ ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ τάγματι· ἀπαρχὴ Χριστός, ἔπειτα οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ αὐτοῦ· 24 εἶτα τὸ τέλος, ὅταν παραδιδῷ τὴν βασιλείαν τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρί, ὅταν καταργήσῃ πᾶσαν ἀρχὴν καὶ πᾶσαν ἐξουσίαν καὶ δύναμιν, 25 δεῖ γὰρ αὐτὸν βασιλεύειν ἄχρι οὗ θῇ πάντας τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ. 26 ἔσχατος ἐχθρὸς καταργεῖται ὁ θάνατος, 27 πάντα γὰρ ὑπέταξεν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ. ὅταν δὲ εἴπῃ ὅτι πάντα ὑποτέτακται, δῆλον ὅτι ἐκτὸς τοῦ ὑποτάξαντος αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα. 28 ὅταν δὲ ὑποταγῇ αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, τότε αὐτὸς ὁ υἱὸς ὑποταγήσεται τῷ ὑποτάξαντι αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, ἵνα ᾖ ὁ θεὸς πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν. 23 ἕκαστος δὲ ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ τάγματι· ἀπαρχὴ Χριστός, ἔπειτα οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ αὐτοῦ· 24 εἶτα τὸ τέλος, ὅταν παραδιδῷ τὴν βασιλείαν τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρί, ὅταν καταργήσῃ πᾶσαν ἀρχὴν καὶ πᾶσαν ἐξουσίαν καὶ δύναμιν, 25 δεῖ γὰρ αὐτὸν βασιλεύειν ἄχρι οὗ θῇ πάντας τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ. 26 ἔσχατος ἐχθρὸς καταργεῖται ὁ θάνατος, 27 πάντα γὰρ ὑπέταξεν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ. ὅταν δὲ εἴπῃ ὅτι πάντα ὑποτέτακται, δῆλον ὅτι ἐκτὸς τοῦ ὑποτάξαντος αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα. 28 ὅταν δὲ ὑποταγῇ αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, τότε αὐτὸς ὁ υἱὸς ὑποταγήσεται τῷ ὑποτάξαντι αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, ἵνα ᾖ ὁ θεὸς πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν.
1 Corinthians 15 [ESV2011]
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word 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 in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
Today we look at the ultimate meaning and purpose of everything. We see the broad sweep of salvation history leading in the end to every knee bowing in submission to the absolute sovereignty of the one God who really is.
We are examining the issue of resurrection. If Christ was not raised from the dead, then the gospel message is empty and believing in it is worthless, those who proclaim it are false witnesses and frauds, there is no escape from the punishment your sins deserve, and those who have died trusting in Jesus are forever lost. If it turns out that there is no resurrection, we will have wasted our lives. If in the end we are found to have believed a lie, we are of all people to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised, and he is the firstfruits of resurrection; because he was really bodily physically raised, we have certainty that we too will one day be raised. His resurrection is the promise of more to come. And in the same way that he was raised, bodily, physically, so we too will be raised.
Because it was a man who brought death, a man must also undo death. Just as Adam was the head of the old creation, and brought death to all those who followed him, so Jesus is head of the new creation, making alive all those who follow after him.
By Rank
1 Corinthians 15:21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
Jews believed in resurrection. The saints would be resurrected on the last day. Martha affirmed this belief when Jesus told her that her brother would rise again.
John 11:24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
But what was unusual and unexpected about Jesus' resurrection was that one man was raised alone. Jesus was not part of this last day resurrection of the saints. Jesus was the firstfruits. There is a sequence to the all who are made alive in Christ. Each in his own order. This word order has a military background. It is the term for a band of soldiers, a class. This would be startling to the Corinthians, who were caught up in status and advancement, and many of whom thought of themselves as better than others. Paul says there are only two ranks. Two classes. Christ and those who belong to Christ. Christ alone is the firstfruits. Jesus is in a class by himself. No one shares his glory. Jesus alone is the firstfruits.
Then. There is a clear sequence in these verses. Christ is the firstfruits, then, after an unspecified amount of time, those who are Christ's in his coming. This refers to all the saints. There are those who belong to Jesus and those who don't. There are those, according to 1:18, who are being saved and those who are perishing. Jesus redeemed '...for himself a people for his own possession' (Titus 2:14; cf. 1Pet.2:9)
1 Corinthians 6:19 ...You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Those who belong to Christ, literally, those who are of Christ, will be made alive at his coming.
This word coming, or parousia, refers to the official visit as of an emperor to his colony, or of the appearance of a deity to his people. Jesus ascended into heaven in the sight of his followers.
Acts 1:10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Jesus is coming! He will make his royal appearance and all the dead in Christ shall rise (1Thes.4:16). We are to live
Titus 2:13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
At his coming those who belong to Christ will be made alive.
Then comes the end – this is the broad sweep of the big picture – the end toward which everything is moving, the completion, the goal, the purpose, the aim.
1 Corinthians 15:24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
The goal toward which all of history is moving is the consummation of the kingdom of God under God's sovereign rule. Here we have Jesus delivering the kingdom to his Father. Jesus is not the Father; Jesus is not the same person as the Father. Jesus is a distinct person who enjoys a relationship with his Father; he prays to his Father, he submits to his Father, he does the will of his Father. Yet we are told that Jesus is the “image of the invisible God” (Col.1:15). Jesus is the “radiance of the glory of God, and the exact imprint of his nature” (Heb.1:3). When one of his disciples asked Jesus to show them the Father,
John 14:9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Jesus said “I and the Father are one” (Jn.10:30). Jesus said the first and greatest command is “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Mk.12:29). The Bible teaches that Jesus is not the Father or the Spirit, but Jesus is God and the Father is God and the Spirit is God, and there is only one true God. Three distinct persons, one essence or nature. When we read this passage in this light, it is more clear. This passage is full of personal pronouns. Let me attempt to clarify these by reading either Jesus or the Father in place of he and his:
1 Corinthians 15:24 Then comes the end, when he [Jesus] delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he [Jesus] must reign until he [Father?] has put all his [Father?] enemies under his [Jesus] feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God [Father] has put all things in subjection under his [Jesus] feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he [Father] is excepted who put all things in subjection under him [Jesus]. 28 When all things are subjected to him [Jesus], then the Son himself will also be subjected to him [Father] who put all things in subjection under him [Jesus], that God [Triune] may be all in all.
The Son will hand over the kingdom to his Father after every enemy is put under his feet. These verses make reference to some Old Testament passages.
Psalms 110:1 The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
And
Psalm 8:4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,
From these passages it appears that God will subject all things to a son of man who is also called Lord. The background of these passages comes from the creation of man in Genesis 1.
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Man was designed to show forth the greatness of the invisible God, to exercise dominion over all creation, while remaining all the while in intimate relationship with and perfect submission to the Creator. Man failed. Adam rebelled. Man stepped out from under God's good authority and attempted to rule independent of God. Death entered into God's good creation. Everything went terribly wrong. This world is now broken. But where our first representative failed, our final representative fulfilled his role perfectly. Jesus, our new representative, must undo what Adam did. Jesus must bring all of creation back into perfect submission to the Creator. He must crush the rebellion and restore order. All competing rule and authority and power must be neutralized. All his enemies must be put under his feet.
Daniel pointed us to this ultimate restoration of all things under the ideal man using similar language.
Daniel 7:13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
...27 And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.’
The way Jesus referred to himself most often was by this phrase 'the Son of Man'. Jesus is the one who would be given dominion by the Ancient of Days. When Jesus was questioned by the high priest,
Mark 14:62 And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
Jesus was the one who would be given authority by his Father. As the representative man, he would obey where Adam disobeyed. Where Adam rebelled, he would put down the rebellion. Where Adam made himself an enemy of God, Jesus would bring all enemies in to submission. Where Adam brought death, Jesus would destroy death. Jesus conquered death by dying. Death could not hold him. He was raised from the dead, and he told his disciples 'all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me' (Mt.28:18). Jesus is now seated at the right hand of his Father.
Hebrews 10:12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
(cf. Mt. 26:64; Mk. 14:62; Lk. 22:69; Acts 2:33; 5:31; 7:55; Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3; 8:1; 12:2; 1 Pet. 3:22)
Until
Psalm 110 said 'sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.' Our text says
1 Corinthians 15:25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
This text spells out what the until means. Jesus, as the representative man, in the place of Adam, must reign until he had put all his enemies under his feet. He must exercise his God given dominion over all creation in the way that Adam was meant to, in perfect submission to his Father.
Death the Last Enemy
But there is one enemy still on the loose.
1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.”
This gives the logical necessity of resurrection. If death remains, it would appear to be more powerful than God. If resurrection was merely spiritual but left our physical bodies in the ground to decay, then death would seem to win. Death was brought into this world by Adam's sin. If death continues to hold its victims, then the primary consequence of sin has no remedy. Death is an enemy, and it must be destroyed. Until death is finally abolished and all who are in Christ are made alive, a critical part of our salvation is still future. It is absolutely certain, as Christ the firstfruits conquered death, but it is yet to come. Jesus, the perfect man, will undo the death that Adam instituted by making us alive at his coming.
The Exception to All
But this train of thought is open to a misunderstanding that must be clarified. When the Scripture teaches that the Father will put all things in subjection to Jesus, does it mean that even the Father will be subject to Jesus in his role as the representative man?
1 Corinthians 15:27 ... But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
Because the Father is the one who is placing all things under the feet of the Son, clearly the Father is not among the hostile authorities who are subjected to Jesus. With all the emphasis on Jesus as the one who rules and reigns, there may be a tendency among followers of Jesus to view him as if he were in competition with and even superior to the Father, as if he were a separate god. Many people mistakenly see in the Old Testament an angry, wrathful, vengeful god, and in the New Testament a kind and compassionate, caring and cuddly Jesus. They see Jesus as opposed to the Father, and ultimately victorious over the will of the Father by placing himself in between the angry Father and sinful people. Paul makes it clear that this is not how we should view Jesus' relationship to the Father. Jesus was sent by his Father, and Jesus willingly came. He lived in perfect obedience to the will of his Father. It is the Father who is putting all things in subjection under Jesus. And it is Jesus, having fulfilled his role as the second Adam, the representative man, when he has undone all the damage that the first Adam brought about, who gladly delivers the kingdom to his Father. The Father, Son and Spirit are in perfect harmony as their unique roles together bring about the restoration of all things. When the last enemy is destroyed, when Jesus as the ideal man enjoys the dominion we were created for, then he will demonstrate his perfect submission and deliver the kingdom to his Father.
This was characteristic of Jesus' whole life and ministry. He said
John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
John 8:29 ... I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”
And we see this perfect submission of Christ to the Father throughout. Paul said in chapter 3:
1 Corinthians 3:22 …all are yours, 23 and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
And dealing with the equal but different roles of man and woman in marriage in chapter 11, he says:
1 Corinthians 11:3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.
The Son is ultimately under the authority of the Father not so that the Father may be all in all, but that God, the triune God may be all in all. This is the goal of all things. Paul exhorted the Corinthians in chapter 6,
1 Corinthians 6:19 ...You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
And again in chapter 10
1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
The ultimate goal of all things is for all things to be restored to their proper submission to the benevolent authority of a good God. All those who persist in hostility and rebellion toward God will be crushed. All those who gladly join Christ in submission to his good rule will be given life, abundant life. We were created to enjoy God for who he is so that he might be glorified as he deserves.
Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org