1 Corinthians 15:22

1 Corinthians 15:22. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Note. It has been the Divine plan from the first, and will be to the last, that mankind shall be dealt with under two heads Adam and Christ hence called “the first man” and “the second man;” as if there never had been, nor ever will be more than those two men. In the one all die, in the other all are made alive. But this universality is very differently understood by different schools of theology: (1) According to some, the death meant being that of the whole human race, the life intended must be co-extensive with it, and so the ultimate salvation of the whole human race must be that which is here meant. But this being contrary to both the spirit and letter of all Scripture elsewhere, many others believe (2) that though the life meant here is indeed co-extensive with the death spoken of, it does not mean the life actually conferred upon any one, but the life procured and made available for all on condition of their believing. But this fatally destroys the analogy between the death, which certainly was real to all, and the life, which is thus only made available to all, and in the case of many will never become a real, but to them a missed life. One other way of explaining these words remains, which at once preserves the strict analogy between the death and the life and so is alone (as we think) exegetically tenable and is at the same time in harmony with all other Scripture: (3) that the death by Adam and the life by Christ, here intended, mean death and life in their whole extent, as actually experienced. It is Humanity as actually lost in Adam and as actually recovered in Christ, that the apostle is here treating of the whole ruin expressed by the all-comprehensive word “death,” and the whole recovery expressed by the equally comprehensive word “life.” Accordingly the word “all,” applied to both parties in 1 Corinthians 15:22, is carefully explained in 1 Corinthians 15:23 as not meaning all numerically. For instead of saying, ‘Christ the first-fruits, then all men at His coming,' he warily changes his terms, thus: