1 Corinthians 15:23

But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. BUT EVERY MAN IN HIS OWN ORDER, [ tagmati (G5001)] - rank. The Greek is not abstract, but concrete: image from troops, 'each in his own regiment.' Though all shall rise, not all shall be saved; nay, each shall have his proper place-Christ first (Colossians 1:18); after Him the godly who die in Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:16), in a separate band from the ungodly; then "the end" - i:e. the resurrection of the rest of the dead. Christian churches, ministers, and individuals, seem about to be judged first "at His coming" ...

23._Every one in his own order. _Here we have an anticipation of a question that might be proposed: _“If _Christ’s life,” some one might say, “draws ours along with it, why does not this appear? Instead of this, while Christ has risen from the grave, we lie rotting there.” Paul’s answer is, that God has appointed another order of things. Let us therefore reckon it enough, that we now have in Christ the _first-fruits, _(51) and that his coming (52) will be the time of our resurrection. For _our life _must still be _hid with him, _because he has not yet _appeared. _(Colossians 3:3.) It would therefore be preposterous to wish to anticipate that day of the revelation of Christ....

20-34 All that are by faith united to Christ, are by his resurrection assured of their own. As through the sin of the first Adam, all men became mortal, because all had from him the same sinful nature, so, through the resurrection of Christ, shall all who are made to partake of the Spirit, and the spiritual nature, revive, and live for ever. There will be an order in the resurrection. Christ himself has been the first-fruits; at his coming, his redeemed people will be raised before others; at the last the wicked will rise also. Then will be the end of this present state of things. Would we triumph in that solemn and important season, we must now submit to his rule, accept his salvation, and live to his glory. Then shall we rejoice in the completion of his undertaking, that God may receive the whole glory of our salvation, that we may for ever serve him, and enjoy his favour. What shall...

Verse 23. _BUT EVERY MAN IN HIS OWN ORDER_] The apostle mentions _three_ orders here: 1. Christ, who rose from the dead by his own power. 2. Them that are Christ's; all his apostles, martyrs, confessors, and faithful followers. 3. Then cometh the _end_, when the whole mass shall be raised. Whether this _order_ be exactly what the apostle intends, I shall not assert. Of the _first_, Christ's own resurrection, there can be no question. The _second_, the resurrection of his followers, _before_ that of the common dead, is thought by some very reasonable. "They had here a resurrection from a _death of sin_ to a _life of righteousness_, which the others had not, because they _would_ not be saved in Christ's way. That they should have the privilege of being raised _first_, to behold the astonishing _changes_ and _revolutions_ which shall then take place, has nothing in it cont

BUT EVERY MAN - Everyone, including Christ as well as others. IN HIS OWN ORDER - In his proper order, rank, place, time. The word τάγμα tagma usually relates to military order or array; to the arrangement of a cohort, or band of troops; to their being properly marshalled with the officers at the head, and every man in His proper place in the ranks. Here it means that there was a proper “order” to be observed in the resurrection of the dead. And the design of the apostle is, probably, to counteract the idea that the resurrection was passed already, or that there was no future resurrection to be expected. The “order” which is here referred to is, doubtless, mainly that of “time;” meaning that Christ would be first, and then that the others would follow. But it also m

EXPOSITION 1 CORINTHIANS 15:1 _The doctrine of the resurrection. _This chapter, and the thirteenth, on Christian love, stand out, even among the writings of St. Paul, as pre-eminently beautiful and important. No human words ever written have brought such comfort to millions of mourners as the words of this chapter, which form a part of the Burial Service of almost every Christian community. It is the more deeply imprinted on the memory of men because it comes to us in the most solemn hours of bereavement, when we have most need of a living faith. The chapter falls into six sections. 1. The evidence of Christ's resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1). 2. The resurrection of Christ is the foundati

BUT EVERY MAN IN HIS OWN ORDER,.... Not of time, as if the saints that lived in the first age of the world should rise first, and then those of the next, and so on to the end of the world; nor of dignity, as that martyrs should rise first in the order of martyrs, and preachers of the word in the order of preachers, and private Christians in the order and rank of private Christians; or of age, as the elder first, and then the younger; or of state and condition, as married persons in the order of married persons, and virgins in the order of virgins; these are all foreign from the sense of the words; the order regarded is that of head and members, the firstfruits and the harvest. There seems to be an allusion to the ranging and marshalling of the Israelites, everyone by his "own standard"; which both the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan render על טקסיה, "by or according to his own order": an...

1 Corinthians 15:1. _Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand. By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain._ By which the apostle means, unless they had a false faith, a merely notional faith; or he may also mean «Unless what I have preached unto you should have been a fable, and therefore you will have exercised your faith upon nothing real, and so it would have been in vain.» 1 Corinthians 15:3. _For I delivered unto you first of all that which, I also received,-_ The preacher of Christ must not make new doctrines. He is not to be his own teacher, he is to receive the truth first, and then to d

III. RESURRECTION AND THE HOPE OF THE CHURCH AND CONCLUSION: Chapter S 15-16 1. Resurrection and the Hope of the Church. CHAPTER 15 _ 1. The Gospel and the Resurrection of Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:1 .)_ 2. If Christ were not raised--then what? (1 Corinthians 15:12 .) 3. Christ the Firstfruits and what follows. (1 Corinthians 15:20 .) 4. Further practical arguments about Resurrection. (1 Corinthians 15:29 .) 5. Concerning the Resurrection of the Body. ...

But why discuss this further? Christ _has_ been raised, the firstfruits of the rest of the dead, thus, as one with them, pledging their resurrection. If man brought death, resurrection must equally come through man. The whole race died in Adam, the whole race will be raised from the dead in Christ. This universal resurrection will not be accomplished all at once but in stages according to the different classes concerned. In the first stage there is Christ Himself as firstfruits; in the second, at His return, Christians; in the third stage, the rest of mankind, when He delivers up His kingdom to the Father after He has abolished all hostile powers, for His reign must continue till this has been achieved. The last of them is death. This is foretold in Scripture (Psalms 8:6), which says that God has put all in subjection to Him. (The Psalmist says to man, which Paul interprets as equivalent...