Not I but the grace of God equals no longer I...but...Christ in Gal. 2:20. The grace that motivated the apostle and operated in him was not some matter or some thing but a living person, the resurrected Christ, the embodiment of God the Father who became the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, who dwelt in the apostle as his everything.

Grace, mentioned three times in this verse, is the resurrected Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit (v. 45) to bring the processed Triune God in resurrection into us to be our life and life supply that we may live in resurrection. Thus, grace is the Triune God becoming life and everything to us. (See note John 1:17^1a and note Gal. 2:21^1a.) It is by this grace that Saul of Tarsus, the foremost of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15-16), became the foremost apostle, laboring more abundantly than all the apostles. His ministry and living by this grace are an undeniable testimony to Christ's resurrection.

The Old Testament, that is, the Law and the Prophets.

Christ's death for our sins, His burial for our termination, and His resurrection for our germination with life, which were according to the prophecies of the Old Testament (Isa. 53:5-8, 10-12; Psa. 22:14-18; Dan. 9:26; Isa. 53:9; Psa. 16:9-10; Hosea 6:2), are the basic items among the first things of the gospel. The last of these items is the most vital in the gospel, for it is the positive aspect of the gospel in that it imparts life to us that we may obtain life and live Christ.

Or, in the way of salvation (Conybeare). Having been justified in Christ and regenerated by the Spirit, we are in the process of being saved in the life of Christ (Rom. 5:10), and will be until we are mature and conformed to Him in full (Rom. 8:29).

We should stand in the full gospel, that is, in the entire New Testament, not just in certain teachings or doctrines.

The full gospel, including the teachings concerning Christ and the church, as fully disclosed in the book of Romans (Rom. 1:1; 16:25).

In this chapter the apostle dealt with the Corinthians' heretical saying that there is no resurrection of the dead. The Corinthians were like the Sadducees (Matt. 22:23; Acts 23:8). This was the tenth problem among them. It is the most damaging and destructive to God's New Testament economy, worse than the heresy of Hymenaeus and Philetus concerning resurrection (2 Tim. 2:17-18). Resurrection is the life pulse and lifeline of the divine economy. If there were no resurrection, God would be the God of the dead, not of the living (Matt. 22:32). If there were no resurrection, Christ would not have been raised from the dead. He would be a dead Savior, not a living One who lives forever (Rev. 1:18) and is able to save to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25). If there were no resurrection, there would be no living proof of our being justified by His death (Rom. 4:25 and note), no imparting of life (John 12:24), no regeneration (John 3:5), no renewing (Titus 3:5), no transformation (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18), and no conformity to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). If there were no resurrection, there would be no members of Christ (Rom. 12:5), no Body of Christ as His fullness (Eph. 1:20-23), and no church as Christ's bride (John 3:29), and therefore no new man (Eph. 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10-11). If there were no resurrection, God's New Testament economy would altogether collapse and God's eternal purpose would be nullified.

I.e., empty, void. Without the living Christ in resurrection, both the proclamation of the gospel and our faith in the gospel would be empty and void, having no reality.

Or, was seen by. The earlier apostles and disciples were eyewitnesses of Christ's resurrection (Acts 1:22), and their preaching stressed their testimony to this (Acts 2:32; 4:33). They witnessed to the resurrected Christ not only by their teaching but also by their living. They lived with Him by His living in resurrection (John 14:19).

In Adam we were born in death and were born to die; we are dead in him (Eph. 2:1, 5).

In Christ we have been reborn in life and resurrected to live; we have been enlivened, made alive, in Him (Eph. 2:5-6).

See note 1 Cor. 14:20². Christ as the firstfruits is first in order in the resurrection from the dead.

I.e., fruitless, worthless. If Christ had not been resurrected to live in us as our life and everything, our faith in Him would be fruitless, worthless, and without any issue, such as the impartation of life, freedom from sin, victory over Satan, and growth in life.

Christ's death saves us from being condemned because of our sins, not from the power of sin. It is His resurrection life that delivers us from the power of sin (Rom. 8:2). If Christ had not been resurrected, we would still remain in sins and under the power of sin.

I.e., died (1 Thes. 4:13-16).

I.e., not to be resurrected but to remain in death forever.

If there were no resurrection, we would have no future and no hope for the future, such as Christ as our hope of glory (Col. 1:27), the lot of our eternal blessing (Dan. 12:13), the reign with Christ in the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6), and the reward of the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:14). All these hopes are connected to our resurrection.

Verses 20-28 are a parenthetical word verifying the truth of resurrection by setting forth Christ as the firstfruits of resurrection.

Christ was the first One raised from among the dead, becoming the firstfruits of resurrection. This was typified by the firstfruits (a sheaf of the firstfruits, including Christ with some of the dead Old Testament saints, was raised at the Lord's resurrection — Matt. 27:52-53) in Lev. 23:10-11, which were offered to God on the day after the Sabbath, the day of resurrection (Matt. 28:1). Christ as the firstfruits of resurrection is the Firstborn from among the dead that He might be the Head of the Body (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:20-23). Since He, the Head of the Body, has been resurrected, we, the Body, also will be resurrected.

I.e., Adam, the first man (v. 45).

I.e., Christ, the second man (v. 47). Adam brought in death through sin (Rom. 5:12); Christ brought in the life of resurrection through righteousness (Rom. 5:17-18). The death brought in by Adam works in us from our birth by our parents until the death of our body. The life of resurrection brought in by Christ operates in us, as signified by baptism (Rom. 6:4), from our regeneration by the Spirit of God (John 3:5) until the transfiguration of our body (Phil. 3:21).

In the millennium, the last age of the old creation.

Immediately after the fall of man, God began His work to abolish sin and death. This work has been progressing through the Old and New Testament ages and is still in progress today. When sin is done away with at the end of the old creation, and when its source, Satan, is cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:7-10), death will be abolished. It will be cast into the lake of fire with Hades, its power, after the final judgment at the white throne (Rev. 20:11-15).

The believers in Christ, the righteous, who will be resurrected unto life at the Lord's coming back before the millennium (John 5:29; Luke 14:14; 1 Thes. 4:16; 1 Cor. 15:52; Rev. 20:4-6). They will be second in order in the resurrection from the dead.

In the preceding verse the order of resurrection is mentioned: the first, Christ; then those who are Christ's. Accordingly, in this verse, after then, one would expect a group of people to be named. However, here it does not tell us who, but it says "the end," because those who will be resurrected at the end in their own order are not in Christ.

The end here is the end of all the ages and dispensations of the old creation. It is also the end of the millennium before the new heaven and new earth (Rev. 21:1). In all the ages and dispensations God, on one hand, has been dealing with His enemy Satan and all the negative things in the universe; on the other hand, He has been accomplishing all things for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose. The last of the ages and dispensations will be the millennium, the kingdom age, after which all God's dealings and accomplishments will be fully completed. That completion will be the end, the conclusion, of all God's work. At this end all the dead unbelievers, the unrighteous, will be resurrected unto judgment for eternal perdition (John 5:29; Rev. 20:5, 11-15). They will be third in order in the resurrection.

When Christ annuls the satanic authority, subdues all His enemies (v. 25), abolishes death (v. 26), and delivers up the kingdom to God the Father, that is, when all the negative things are done away with and the entire purpose of God is fulfilled, the old creation will be concluded.

After accomplishing redemption, Christ went to receive the kingdom from the Father (Luke 19:12, 15). Before the millennium He as the Son of Man will have received the kingdom from God, the Ancient of days, to rule all the nations for one thousand years (Dan. 7:13-14; Rev. 20:4, 6). At the end of the millennium, after He has defeated Satan, the devil, and his evil angels (as all rule, authority, and power), and even death and Hades, putting all His enemies under His feet (vv. 25-26) and casting all of them, including death and Hades, into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:7-10, 14), He will deliver the kingdom back to God the Father.

This appears to be a quotation of a saying of that day, a fragment of a Greek poem. By this word the apostle warned the Corinthian believers not to have any companionship with those heretics who said that there is no resurrection. Such evil companionship would corrupt their faith and their Christian virtues.

Or, company.

Or, Cease, righteously, to be drunken. Righteously means being right with God and with man. To say that there is no resurrection offends God and man. This is to commit sin and thereby be unrighteous. Hence, the apostle advised the misled Corinthians to awake soberly from this sin and restore a right relationship with God and man. They were drunken unrighteously in the stupor of the no-resurrection heresy. They needed to cease being in that stupor.

The Corinthian believers were the fruit of the apostle's labor, a labor in which he risked his life. In them the apostle could boast of this. By this boasting he protested that daily he died, that is, daily he risked death, faced death, and died to self (2 Cor. 11:23; 4:11; 1:8-9; Rom. 8:36).

At this point, in his word concerning resurrection the apostle used his experience in the Lord's work to confirm the matter of resurrection, especially the effect of Christ's resurrection on him. The apostle's boasting in the Corinthians, who were the fruit of his risking of his life, was in the resurrected Christ, not in himself, because his risking of death in his labor for them was not by himself but by the resurrected Christ.

The Corinthian believers were the fruit of the apostle's labor, a labor in which he risked his life. In them the apostle could boast of this. By this boasting he protested that daily he died, that is, daily he risked death, faced death, and died to self (2 Cor. 11:23; 4:11; 1:8-9; Rom. 8:36).

In those days men fought against evil persons or matters in order to receive a temporal reward. But the apostle did not fight after that manner when he fought with evil persons and matters for the gospel's sake. Rather, he fought according to a higher hope in order to be rewarded at the resurrection in the future (Luke 14:14; 2 Tim. 4:8).

A figure of speech denoting evil persons or matters (2 Tim. 4:17).

Referring to God, who has subjected all things under Christ's feet. This is a reference to Psa. 8:6-8 concerning Christ as the man whom God caused to have dominion over all things. This will be fulfilled when all the things mentioned in vv. 24-26 have taken place. For at the beginning of the verse indicates this.

This appears to be a quotation of a saying of that day, a maxim of the Epicureans. If there is no resurrection, we believers have no hope for the future and have become the most miserable of all men (v. 19). If so, we had better enjoy our life today, forgetting the future, as the Epicureans did.

Referring to Christ as the man prophesied in Psa. 8:4-8. To Him — the resurrected, glorified, and exalted man — God has subjected all things (Heb. 2:7-9; Eph. 1:20-22).

Christ, according to v. 27, to whom God has subjected all things.

Christ, the Son of God, as the head of mankind in His humanity, is under the headship of God the Father (1 Cor. 11:3). This is for the government of God's kingdom. After God the Father has subjected all things under the feet of Christ as a resurrected man in glory (Eph. 1:22; Heb. 2:7-8), and after Christ as such a resurrected man has put all enemies under His feet to execute God the Father's subjection of all things to Him, He as the Son of God, along with His delivering of the kingdom back to God the Father (v. 24), will also subject Himself in His divinity to God, who has subjected all things to Him, the Son in His humanity. This indicates the Son's absolute subjection and subordination to the Father, which exalts the Father that God the Father may be all in all.

God, according to v. 27, who has subjected all things to Christ.

Christ, according to v. 27, to whom God has subjected all things.

The same Greek word as for all things at the beginning of this verse.

Considering vv. 20-28 a parenthesis, this verse should be connected with v. 18, and vv. 30-32 with v. 19.

This should not have been an official matter generally practiced by the early churches but a personal activity of some individual believers on behalf of dead persons for whom they were concerned, who might have believed in the Lord but not been baptized before they died. They did this in hope of the dead ones' being resurrected from the dead at the Lord's coming back (1 Thes. 4:16), since in baptism resurrection is strongly signified (Col. 2:12). The apostle used what they did to confirm the truth of resurrection. This does not mean, however, that he sanctioned some believers' being baptized for the dead.

The reality of resurrection is contained and concealed in nature, especially in the plant life. A seed sown into the earth dies and is made alive. This is resurrection. This answered the foolish Corinthians' first question, "How are the dead raised?" (v. 35).

Not the body sown to die (v. 37) but the resurrected body given by God, in a different shape and on a higher level. This answered the Corinthians' foolish question, "With what kind of body do they come?" (v. 35).

In vv. 39-41 the apostle proved to the foolish Corinthians that God is able to give a body to all resurrected lives, just as He gave a body to all created things: to men and animals on the earth, to birds in the air, and to fish in the water — the earthly bodies with their different glories; and to the sun, the moon, and the stars — heavenly bodies with heavenly glory in varying degrees.

To be heretical in saying that there is no resurrection is to be ignorant of God, not knowing God's power and economy (Matt. 22:29-32). This is a shame to the believers.

A soulish body is a natural body animated by the soul, a body in which the soul predominates. A spiritual body is a resurrected body saturated by the spirit, a body in which the spirit predominates. When we die, our natural body, being soulish, will be sown, i.e., buried, in corruption, in dishonor, and in weakness. When it is resurrected, it will become spiritual in incorruption, in glory, and in power (vv. 42-43).

A soulish body is a natural body animated by the soul, a body in which the soul predominates. A spiritual body is a resurrected body saturated by the spirit, a body in which the spirit predominates. When we die, our natural body, being soulish, will be sown, i.e., buried, in corruption, in dishonor, and in weakness. When it is resurrected, it will become spiritual in incorruption, in glory, and in power (vv. 42-43).

Through creation Adam became a living soul with a soulish body. Through resurrection Christ became a life-giving Spirit with a spiritual body. Adam as a living soul is natural; Christ as a life-giving Spirit is resurrected. First, in incarnation He became flesh for redemption (John 1:14, 29); then, in resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit for the imparting of life (John 10:10b). Through incarnation He had a soulish body, as Adam had; through resurrection He has a spiritual body. His soulish body has become a spiritual one through resurrection. Now He is a life-giving Spirit in resurrection, with a spiritual body, ready to be received by His believers. When we believe into Him, He enters our spirit, and we are joined to Him as the life-giving Spirit. Hence, we become one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). Our spirit is made alive and is resurrected with Him. Eventually, our present soulish body will become a spiritual body in resurrection, just like His (vv. 52-54; Phil. 3:21).

Adam, the first man (v. 47).

Out of the earth denotes the origin of the first man, Adam, and earthy, his nature.

Christ is not only the last Adam (v. 45) but also the second man. The first Adam (v. 45) is the beginning of mankind; the last Adam is the ending. As the first man, Adam is the head of the old creation, representing it in creation. As the second man, Christ is the Head of the new creation, representing it in resurrection. In the entire universe there are only two men: the first man, Adam, including all his descendants, and the second man, Christ, comprising all His believers. We believers were included in the first man by birth and became a part of the second man by regeneration. Our believing has transferred us out of the first man into the second. In regard to our being part of the first man, our origin is the earth and our nature is earthy. In regard to our being part of the second man, our origin is God and our nature is heavenly.

Out of heaven denotes both the divine origin and the heavenly nature of the second man, Christ.

The first man, Adam, who is earthy.

All of Adam's descendants, who are earthy, like Adam.

The second man, Christ, who is heavenly.

All the believers in Christ, who are heavenly, like Christ.

As a part of Adam, we have borne the earthy man's image through birth; as a part of Christ, we will bear the heavenly man's image in resurrection. This indicates that just as in Adam we have been born as those who are earthy, so in Christ we will be resurrected as those who are heavenly. Such a resurrection is our destiny. It is as sure as our birth and should never be questioned.

As a part of Adam, we have borne the earthy man's image through birth; as a part of Christ, we will bear the heavenly man's image in resurrection. This indicates that just as in Adam we have been born as those who are earthy, so in Christ we will be resurrected as those who are heavenly. Such a resurrection is our destiny. It is as sure as our birth and should never be questioned.

Flesh and blood are the components of the soulish body, which is corruptible and is not qualified to inherit the kingdom of God, which is incorruptible. Corruption cannot inherit incorruption. Our corruptible body must be resurrected into an incorruptible one that we may be able to inherit the incorruptible kingdom of God in resurrection.

The transfiguration, including the resurrection, of our corruptible body into an incorruptible one (Phil. 3:21). This is mysterious to human understanding.

I.e., die (11:30; John 11:11-13; 1 Thes. 4:13-16).

I.e., transfigured from corruption, dishonor, and weakness to incorruption, glory, and power (vv. 42-43). This is to have the body of our humiliation conformed to the body of Christ's glory (Phil. 3:21).

Christ, the second man (v. 47).

The dead in Christ, the dead believers (1 Thes. 4:16).

We believers who are living at the time of the Lord's return. The dead saints will be resurrected first; then the living ones will be changed, transfigured, in rapture (1 Thes. 4:15-17).

Referring to our corruptible and mortal body, which must put on incorruption and immortality either through our being resurrected from the dead or through our being transfigured while still alive. This is mysterious and incomprehensible to the natural sight.

I.e., when our corrupted and mortal body is resurrected or transfigured from corruption and death into glory and life. Then death will be swallowed up unto victory. This is the consummation of the resurrection we share in God's economy through the redemption and salvation in Christ. This resurrection begins with the enlivening of our dead spirit and is completed with the transfiguration of our corruptible body. Between these two ends is the process in which our fallen soul is metabolically transformed by the life-giving Spirit, who is the reality of resurrection (2 Cor. 3:18).

Death is a defeat to man. Through Christ's salvation in the resurrection life, death will be swallowed up unto victory to us, the beneficiaries of Christ's resurrection life.

The seventh trumpet (Rev. 11:15), the trumpet of God (1 Thes. 4:16).

This chapter is on resurrection. Christ's resurrection was His victory over Satan, God's enemy, over the world, over sin, and over death. After His triumphal ascension to the height (Eph. 4:8) in His resurrection, God subdued all the enemies for Him (v. 25). Then, as One who is in resurrection, He will come to the earth with the kingdom of God (Dan. 7:13-14) to exercise God's power and subdue everything on earth. This will continue for a thousand years (Rev. 20:4, 6). The last enemy to be abolished is death. The swallowing up of death will result in the ultimate victory of the Lord's resurrection, that is, in the ultimate and complete victory that He has accomplished in resurrection for us who believe in Him and participate in His resurrection. This is the ultimate issue of His resurrection for His and God's eternal kingdom and for the eternal enjoyment of His resurrection life in eternity by those who believe in Him.

This is the apostle's triumphant exclamation concerning the victory of resurrection life over death.

Death is of the devil (Heb. 2:14), and through sin it stings us to death (Rom. 5:12). In God's redemption Christ was made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21) in order that God might condemn sin through Christ's death (Rom. 8:3), thus abolishing the sting of death. Then, through Christ's resurrection death is swallowed up by the resurrection life.

Sin brings to us a curse and condemnation, both in our conscience and before God, through the law (Rom. 4:15; 5:13, 20; 7:7-8). Hence, the law becomes the power of sin to kill us (Rom. 7:10-11). Since Christ's death has fulfilled the law's requirements on us (1 Pet. 3:18; 2:24), the power of sin has been annulled. Through the death of Christ sin has been condemned and the law has been annulled, and through His resurrection death has been swallowed up. Therefore, we must give thanks to God, who gives us such a victory over sin and death through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ (v. 57).

Not by our natural life and natural ability but by the Lord's resurrection life and power. Our labor for the Lord in His resurrection life with His resurrection power will never be in vain, but will result in the fulfilling of God's eternal purpose through the preaching of Christ to sinners, the ministering of life to the saints, and the building up of the church with the experiences of the processed Triune God as gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Cor. 3:12). This labor will be rewarded by the returning Lord in the day of the resurrection of the righteous (1 Cor. 3:14; Matt. 25:21, 23; Luke 14:14).

This victory over sin and death through Christ's death and resurrection should not be merely an accomplished fact for our acceptance; it must become our daily experience in life through the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit (v. 45), who is one with our spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). Hence, we should live by and walk according to this mingled spirit. Thus thanks will be given continuously to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

To question the truth of resurrection is to be shaken. To be assured and remain in the reality of resurrection is to be steadfast, immovable.

Not believing in the truth of resurrection causes us to be disappointed concerning our future, thus making us discouraged in the work of the Lord. Faith gives us a strong aspiration to abound in the work of the Lord with the expectation of pleasing the Lord in resurrection at His coming back.