1 Corinthians 15:23

ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ τάγματι. This explains why the last verb in 1 Corinthians 15:22 is in the future. Christ’s Resurrection must necessarily precede in order the resurrection of the rest of mankind, for as in the world at large, so in every individual, the natural necessarily (1 Corinthians 15:46) precedes the spiritual. Christ’s mediatorial work was, in truth, but begun when He ascended to His Father. It continues in the gradual destruction of the empire of sin, the ‘bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ’ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Meanwhile the natural order for the present still exists. We live under it, subject to the law of sin and death, until Christ, having first destroyed the former (1 Corinthians 15:24-25), shall finally, as a consequence, destroy the latter (1 Corinthians 15:26), and then, and not till then, shall we be made fully partakers of the completed work of Christ. The word τάγμα is used twice by Clement, in his Epistle to the Corinthians. In the first place he uses it of ranks in the army, in the second of the various offices or orders in the Church. τάγμα means a troop or company in a regiment. Here, however, it clearly relates to the order of time, as when the several divisions of an army successively march to their appointed destination.

ἀπαρχὴ Χριστός. Cf. Acts 26:23; Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:5; also John 14:19. ‘How should He be overcome by corruption, Who gave to many others the power of living again? Hence He is called “the first-born from the dead,” “the first-fruits of them that slept.” ’ Cyril of Alexandria.

παρουσίᾳ. The word here translated coming is most nearly expressed by our English word arrival. It implies both the coming and having come. See ch. 1 Corinthians 16:17; 2 Corinthians 7:6. It is the usual word used for the Second Coming of Christ, as in Matthew 24:3; Matthew 24:27; Matthew 24:37; Matthew 24:39, and 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:15. We are not restored to life until Christ comes again, because not till then will the present, or natural order of things, be brought to an end, and the spiritual order of things be finally and fully inaugurated, so that ‘God will be all in all.’ See succeeding notes, and note on last verse.