End of Death
The arrival of Jesus at the end of the age will terminate the Last Enemy, Death, and believers will receive immortal bodies.
Certain men
of the church in Corinth were denying the future bodily resurrection. Paul responded
by stressing the necessity for resurrection. In doing so, he appealed to
the past DEATH and resurrection of Jesus as the basis
for the resurrection of believers. His disciples will be raised from the dead
when he “arrives,” and that will signal the end of death itself.
As so often
in his letters, the Apostle looks to the past death and resurrection of Jesus as
the precedent for and foundation of what believers now possess, as well as the
fullness of salvation they will receive at his parousia or “arrival.”
The death of Christ on the cross is pivotal to the biblical faith.
And because
Jesus overcame death when God raised him from the dead, it follows that the
rule and state of death will be overthrown forever when all Christ’s enemies
have been subjugated to him.
But Paul also
reveals something new. Believers who are[]alive on the day when Jesus returns will
be transformed and receive immortal
bodies. The bodily resurrection will mean nothing less than the end
of death AND the arrival of the New Creation.
HIS PRECEDENT
In advancing
his argument, Paul presents the sequence of events that will precede the parousia’
or “arrival” of Jesus. He begins with a rhetorical question:
- “If Christ is proclaimed that he has been raised from among the dead, how say some of you there is no resurrection of the dead?” – (1 Corinthians 15:12).
From the
Apostle’s perspective, the issue is the absolute necessity for bodily
resurrection and all his arguments support that proposition. And the basis
of his conclusion is the past
resurrection of Jesus.
If there is no future resurrection, then “not even Christ has been raised,” and if that is true, then the gospel message is null and void. Thus, the future resurrection of believers is based on the past resurrection of Jesus and is pivotal to the faith and hope of the church.
Next, Paul argues
that “all will be made alive, but each in his own rank” or “order.”
Jesus was the “first fruit” - He rose first, and the rest will follow “at
his arrival,” which will constitute “the end when he delivers up the
kingdom to God and brings to nothing all rule, authority, and power.”
Thus, the
raising of the dead began with Jesus, the “firstborn of the dead,” and at
his “arrival,” the process will be completed - (1 Corinthians 15:23).
HIS ARRIVAL
Elsewhere in
his letters, Paul uses the Greek noun parousia for the “coming”
or “arrival” of Jesus. For example, in his first letter to the
Thessalonians, he links the resurrection of dead believers to that very day:
- (1 Thessalonians 4:12-15) – “If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him” - (1 Thessalonians 2:19, 3:13, 4:12-15, 5:23, 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2:8).
Thus, his “arrival”
will mean “the end” of the present age, the subjugation of all his
enemies, and the cessation of death. And the latter is the “last enemy”
that must be destroyed. Only then will Jesus deliver the "kingdom to
God” to his Father, and after that, God will be “all in all” forevermore
- (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).
The purpose of
his words to the Corinthians is not to present all the details and chronological
markers related to the return of Jesus. Specific subjects are introduced to support
his argument for the bodily resurrection of believers.
Christ was
raised as the “first fruit” of them who “sleep.” Logically, therefore,
dead believers who “sleep” will participate in the same kind of
resurrection that he did, though only at the proper time. And in the conclusion
of his argument, Paul returns to the resurrection and the cessation of death:
- (1 Corinthians 15:51-58) - “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed… During the last trumpet, for it shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
Thus, the termination
of death coincides with his “arrival” and the resurrection of the dead. That
day will mark the final and complete overthrow of all God’s enemies and the
consummation of His rule. After that, there will be no more enemies to conquer;
and therefore, death will be no more.
But the bodily
resurrection does not mean the resuscitation of corpses. Instead, our mortal
bodies will be transformed into
another kind of body.
The resurrection
will produce bodies geared for life in the Spirit, and ones that no longer are
subject to disease, decay, or death. The irrefutable evidence for this is the
glorified body of Jesus. And this means that life in the future age will
be an embodied existence,
not life in a disembodied state - (1 Corinthians 15:35-50).
The “mystery”
revealed by Paul is that disciples of Jesus who are alive when he returns will
be physically transformed. The church’s hope rests on the belief in the future resurrection
and life in the New Creation, where death will cease forevermore.
