But every one in his own order: the firstfruits, Christ: then they that are of Christ, who have believed in his coming.
εκαστος δε εν τω ιδιω ταγματι απαρχη χριστος επειτα οι του χριστου εν τη παρουσια αυτου
11 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Further, after many confirmations in the preceding words, he again proves the same resurrection of the dead in another way. He calls Christ the firstfruits and affirms that He will abolish every principality, authority, and power, and after all these, death.
“Each in his own order.” Lest, on hearing that all will be made alive, you think that sinners also will be saved, he added this: with respect to the resurrection, all will be made alive. But each will be in his own order and in what he deserves. “Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.” Christ became the firstfruits and the way of resurrection. After Him, those who belong to Him, that is, the faithful and those pleasing to Him, will rise before the rest when He descends from heaven. This is what “at His coming” means. For it is just that the righteous should have some advantage even in the resurrection itself. Since they will be caught up in the air to meet the Lord (1 Thess 4:17), they will rise first.
Notice the words “each in his own order,” that is, Adam and Christ: the first unto condemnation, the second unto justification. It is clear that Paul is speaking of the resurrection of the righteous when the matter concerns eternal life, not of the resurrection of sinners, for whom eternal death awaits. Therefore he says “will be made alive,” because the others will be condemned.
And although they live through being made alive, that is, through the resurrection, each lives according to what he is found to be. First is Christ, that is, Christ rose first. Then, at His coming, those who are Christ’s rise.
The fruit of divine mercy is common to all, but the order of merits differs.
“Each in his own order.” So also the Lord teaches in the Holy Gospel that He will set the sheep “at His right hand” and the goats “at the left” (Mt 25:33). “Christ the firstfruits,” that is, He was the first to rise. “Afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming,” at the time of the consummation. By those who are Christ’s, the Apostle means not only those who believed in Christ after His becoming man. He also means those who shone forth in piety and virtue under the Law and before the Law.
How should we understand the Apostle’s words: “Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end”? Christ became the firstfruits through the Resurrection. Afterward come those who are Christ’s, those who believed in Him. Then comes the end, the salvation of all nations through faith, cf. 1 Tim 4:10. But if you wish to know the meaning of these words for each person individually, then Christ the firstfruits is faith in Him. Afterward come those who are Christ’s, that is, the works of faith. Then comes the end, which means to detach oneself from all that is sensible and intelligible, and through knowledge, gnosis, to cleave to God. <...>
On verses 22-23: "All will be made alive." From the course of the Apostle's thought, one might suppose that only those in union with Christ, those who believe in Him, must rise.
Indeed, the Apostle presents it this way: first Christ the firstfruits rose, and afterward those who are Christ's. But from the clear teaching of Christ (Jn 5:28-29) and of the Apostles themselves, it is evident that all who are in the tombs must rise.
Both believers and unbelievers will rise, but the latter for condemnation. Therefore, lest anyone think that sinners too will be saved, he adds, "each in his own order," that is, according to Chrysostom, according to his worth.
"Christ the firstfruits." The cases of resurrection from the dead that occurred in the Old Testament stood on the same level as other miracles. They were accompanied by the mediation of prophets or holy men.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ was not like this. It was accomplished without any mediation by God Himself. Those cases of resurrection were only cases of temporary restoration to life for the dead, so that those raised died again.
But Christ, once risen, died no more. "Death no longer has dominion over Him" (Rom 6:9). In this sense He is not only the first, but the only One who rose from the dead.
Why, then, does the Apostle keep silent about the resurrection of those who are not Christ’s? Certainly not because this resurrection will not take place, but only because of the course and deliberate purpose of his speech in this place of the epistle. Since he mentioned above Adam’s sin, which begot death, he had to speak immediately, in correspondence and contrast, about the new Adam. By His holiness and merits He restored life and resurrection to His spiritual descendants. Because his speech is thus limited to these descendants alone, and to the glorious and blessed resurrection awaiting them, the Apostle speaks as he does in the passage under explanation.
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.
For to some of the risen it will be said, "Come," and to others, "Depart."
The truth of the universal resurrection is also revealed from the fact that death entered through a man. As through Adam all fell into mortality, so through the Founder of new life all received the capacity to rise from death to life.
As the death of Adam began the death of all, so the resurrection of Christ opened the way to the resurrection of all.
The words, "each in his own order," may be understood in two ways. If they are connected with what precedes, they mean that in Christ all will be made alive, but after the resurrection each will receive his lot according to his worth. All will be made alive in Christ, but not all will taste blessed life in Him. They will first be made alive for judgment, and after judgment for receiving the lot each has deserved.
Saint Chrysostom says, "Lest you think that sinners also will be saved, he adds, 'each in his own order.' Hearing of resurrection, do not think that all will receive equal recompense. If not all will bear equal punishment, but very different punishment, then all the more will there be a great difference between sinners and the righteous." Theodoret also writes, "Since he said, 'all will be made alive,' and after the resurrection there will be a separation of those who lived chastely and those who gave themselves to intemperance. Those who suffered from unbelief and those who shone with faith, and, in a word, those who strove toward praiseworthy deeds and those who strove toward blameworthy deeds, he necessarily added. 'each in his own order.' So the Lord also teaches in the holy Gospel that He will set the lambs at His right hand and the goats at His left (Mt 25:33)." So also do all our other interpreters.
This interpretation is justified by the word tagma, which means a military detachment or regiment. It also suggests that the resurrection itself will already indicate to each one his own detachment and regiment, to which he will be carried of himself.
Others connect these words with what follows, as a general indication of the order in which the resurrection will proceed. All will be made alive in Christ, but this vivification will proceed in its own order. First Christ rose. Then, at His second coming, those who belong to Christ will rise. Then comes the end. That is, as some think, the final resurrection of all will follow, including the resurrection of those who remained still unrisen after the resurrection of Christ's own.
As for the meaning of the words "each in his own order," they may be connected in this way, but not in the sense some suppose. They do not signify detachments of those rising, as though Christ rises, then believers, then unbelievers and sinners. Rather, they mean that everything has its own time. All will be made alive in Christ, but not together with the Resurrection of Christ. They will rise in their own time, when their turn comes, and it will come at the second coming of Christ.
Saint Chrysostom says, "Now, after Christ's Resurrection, human affairs remain in their usual order. But then, at the second coming, all will rise, and everything will come to an end." The risen Christ is the firstfruits, in whom the foundation of the universal resurrection is laid and its path is shown. Through this resurrection the final restoration of fallen humanity will be accomplished, and humanity will appear in the glory appointed for it, and in its proper light and perfection.
For this reason the Resurrection of Christ is the pledge of the certainty of all Christian hopes, and therefore Christians glorify it above all. Having risen and ascended into heaven, the Lord commanded us to await His second coming. We await it, every hour and every minute. No one knows when the trumpet that awakens the dead will sound. But when it sounds, all will rise from the graves, or from whatever place their bones have been laid.
Then what the Apostle says will be fulfilled: "then those who believed in Christ," hoi tou Christou, those who are Christ's, "that is, the believing and pious" (Saint Chrysostom). "Not only those who believed in Christ after His Incarnation, but also those who shone with piety and virtue under the law and before the law" (Theodoret).
But this is only one part of saved humanity. Where is the other part, the unbelievers and sinners who perish? Some say that the resurrection of this part is understood in the words, "then the end," which they take to mean: then the final resurrection of all will follow. Thus they introduce two moments of resurrection, and some even two periods separated by a considerable interval of time. This is entirely arbitrary.
There is not even a hint of two resurrections in Scripture. The words "then the end" mean that after the resurrection the end of everything will follow: the judgment, the assignment of the justified and the condemned to their places, the cessation of the present order of being, and the beginning of the new, when a new heaven and a new earth will be revealed. No other thought should even come to mind in connection with these words.
Saint Chrysostom says, "Then everything will come to an end." Theodoret writes, "Then everything will receive its end: both the present order of things and the predictions of the prophets." Where, then, is the resurrection of sinners and unbelievers? It must be understood under the words, "then those who believed in Christ." It must be understood there not exclusively, but including those who are not Christ's.
The whole thought will be this: now Christ has risen, and at His second coming Christ's own will also rise, but certainly not they alone, rather with all other men. It remains only to decide why the Apostle did not mention them separately. We answer: such was his will. He mentioned Christ's own because he was speaking to those who are Christ's and was enlivening their hopes. He passed over those who are not Christ's so as not to darken the bright picture of resurrection, leaving readers to understand them for themselves from what he had said earlier, that in Christ all will be made alive without distinction.
But because he did not mention them, it is wholly unjust to divide the resurrection into two moments, hiding behind a distorted interpretation of "then the end." Saint Chrysostom does not even hint at such moments, and the same seems true of Theodoret. Oecumenius and Theophylact do suppose that the righteous will precede the resurrection of sinners and unbelievers by a little, in order to meet the Lord in the air. Yet since they immediately say that sinners will remain below, they thereby suggest that, in their understanding, the time of the resurrection of the dead will be one: at the coming of the Lord. Only some will come out of the graves first, and others afterward. So all who leave a house are in the same state and act of going out, though some go out first and others after them.
For some unknown reason, modern interpreters like to impose on Saint Paul the idea of two moments, or two times, of the resurrection of the dead.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 16 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS