1 Corinthians 15:20Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"But Christ has risen from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor 15:20). Having shown how much evil can arise from unbelief in the resurrection, he again repeats, "But Christ has risen from the dead."

He constantly adds "from the dead" in order to stop the mouths of heretics. "The firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." If He is the firstfruits, then they too must rise.

But if, under the name of resurrection, the Apostle were speaking about liberation from sins, and no one is without sin, since even Paul himself says, "Though I know nothing against myself, yet I am not thereby justified" (1 Cor 4:4), then who, in your view, will rise?

Having shown how many absurdities arise from unbelief in the resurrection, he resumes the point and speaks as if saying: this is what follows if there is no general resurrection, and if Christ has not risen. But Christ has risen. Therefore there will also be a general resurrection, and these absurdities will not occur. He continually adds “from the dead” in order to stop the mouths of the Manichaeans. If He is the firstborn from the dead, then without doubt the dead also must rise. For the firstborn has those who follow after him, as when one among many begins something first, and the rest continue it.

Although the Word is impassible, because by nature He is understood to be God, nevertheless, according to the appropriation of the divine economy, the sufferings of His flesh are understood as His own.

Therefore, how did He who was born before every creature (Col 1:15), through whom principalities, powers, thrones, and dominions came into being (Col 1:16), and in whom all things consist (Col 1:17), become the firstborn from the dead (Rev 1:5) and the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep?

This could only be because, being God the Word, He made His own body by nature capable of suffering.

By the grace of God, the Lord tasted death for everyone (Heb 2:9), giving His own body for him, though by nature He is life and Himself is the resurrection (Jn 11:25).

In saying this, Paul touches upon the false prophets who denied the fact of Christ’s birth, and thereby His resurrection in the flesh. For those who are not born do not die. Thus he proves Christ’s Resurrection from the dead, since He was man, so that no doubt may remain concerning God’s raising human beings from the dead. Since death appeared through the transgression of man, the righteousness of Christ will bring about the resurrection from the dead.

He was the first to crush the dominion of death, and after the firstfruits the whole mass will surely follow. The Apostle confirms this word by an ancient example.

For all the others, though they rose, afterward again shared in our mortal life. But when Christ rose from the dead, death no longer has dominion over Him.

Therefore the one Lord became the "firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep," that is, of the faithful who depart from this life in the hope of resurrection and eternal life.

Thus He became the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep and the firstborn from the dead. He secured and promised life to us, but not such life as we now have, mortal and corruptible.

In this present life the psychic spirit, that is, the animal impulse, holds sway. Rather, He promised the life kept for us in hope, divine, immortal, and eternal.

For it is His gift, a gift truly worthy of God. The others are those raised in the Old Testament, the Gospel, and the Acts of the Holy Apostles.

“Christ has risen from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,” that is, the first man who, after His Resurrection, no longer died. Some dead had been raised before Him. Elijah and Enoch are not the firstfruits of the resurrection from the dead, for they did not experience death at all.

Christ's resurrection was the first manifestation of this kind. Being man, He did not see corruption, but rose to new life. Thus others also can rise like Him, especially since both the Father and the Son give life to whom They will.

The risen Jesus Christ appeared before God the Father in the likeness of the firstfruits brought to the temple of God, as sweet bread offered to God.

But if one field had ripened and part of it could be brought as a sacrificial offering, then its fruits likewise could be brought to God as a living sacrifice.

Christ was the firstborn from the dead (Col 1:18) and rose. It is clear that after Him all who follow Him must also rise, in the order appointed to each, according to his worth.

Christ has risen from the dead. Take this truth, which you received and in which you stand. Did Christ rise for Himself? Not for Himself. He is wholly not for Himself.

The Only-begotten Son of God did not come down to earth for Himself. He was not incarnate for Himself. He did not suffer and die for Himself. He did not rise for Himself.

For whom, then? For the one for whose sake He came: for the human race. Do not look at this resurrection as though it were accomplished in Him and limited to Him alone.