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Lowell Brueckner

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1 Corinthians 15:21-58

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 Chapter 15:21-58

Victory and the Eternal Kingdom

21. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.
22. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
23.  But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.
24.  Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
25.  For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
26.  The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
27.  For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him, “it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted.
28.  Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.

Christ, in His resurrection, was the fulfillment of the Old Testament Firstfruits. There were three feasts that occurred simultaneously in the Jewish month Abib. In the afternoon of the 14th day of the month, the Passover feast took place. The next day the Feast of Unleavened Bread began and lasted seven days. The first day of that feast was a sabbath, a day of rest, and the next day, the very first sheaf of the harvest was offered to the Lord. This was called the Feast of Firstfruits. From that day, fifty days were counted to the Feast of Pentecost. The Scripture calls these (Lev.23:2) ‘the feasts of the Lord’.

Christ was the Passover Lamb, offered on Passover evening, then rested in the tomb on the sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, rising from the dead on the morning of the Feast of Firstfruits (see Lev.23:5-14). This is why Paul called him the Firstfruits of them that sleep. That year it happened to fall on the first day of the week. The sheaf of firstfruits was a representation of the entire harvest, in thanksgiving and consecration, recognizing that all comes from God and belongs to God.

Paul presents this spiritual principle in Romans 11:16, speaking of Israel: “If the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy” or, if the first sample offered to God is holy, then the entire harvest is holy. (The Israelites also offered a “firstfuit dough” to the Lord, from a larger mass of dough. That is to which Paul is referring.) Paul applies the principle to Israel: If the patriarchs were chosen and consecrated by God, then the entire nation is God’s. Applying this to Christ’s resurrection it means, if He, as the firstfruits, was resurrected, then it assured the resurrection of all believers.

1 Corinthians 15:1-20

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Chapter 15

1.      Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
2.      by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you – unless you believed in vain.
3.      For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4.      and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
5.      and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
6.      After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
7.      After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
8.      Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
9.      For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10.  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
11.  Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Paul begins this chapter with a wonderful synopsis of the gospel, which he preached. Blessed is the person, who is led to a place where it is declared, the Holy Spirit opening his ears, so that he understands and believes. There is enough in two verses so that anyone, anywhere, who receives these words and stands in faith upon them, can expect to be saved. I heard an old preacher quote verses 3 and 4 and then declare, “I intend to swing out into eternity upon these truths.”

In verse 2, Paul gives a qualification, so that the reader can distinguish personally, whether he has truly believed or else believed in vain. He gives the condition, “If you hold fast…”  In the parable of the sower, only the fourth kind of soil was productive, showing that the other three received the seed in vain. They were either too hard, too shallow, or too cluttered with cares and pleasure and came short of true faith. Jesus said that, “He who endures to the end shall be saved” (Mt.24:13), not because endurance saves, but because saving faith endures.  

It is a great privilege to know the gospel that the apostle preached in the early church, but it is even more wonderful to know, from Whom he received it. It was from the same One, Who taught him concerning the Lord’s Supper in chapter 11:23: “I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you." This is God’s plan of salvation and you will notice that it was totally based on Old Testament Scriptures. It was not a novel teaching that suddenly came out of nowhere. Jesus clarified that already in John 7:16, assuring, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.” The Holy Spirit, who taught Paul, never departed from the word of Christ: “He will take of Mine and declare it to you” (Jn.16:14).

1 Corinthians 14

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Chapter 14

The gifts of prophecy and tongues

1.      Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.
2.      For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.
3.      But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.
4.      He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.

We have already begun to look at the conclusion in verse 1 that Paul gives to his teaching in chapters 12 and 13. We will note again, that there is no hint of the spiritual gifts ceasing or of love replacing the gifts. He clearly states his doctrine and he does so imperatively. Chapter 13 leaves no option, concerning the necessity of God’s love being manifested in the church. The command that he gives is to pursue it. As to spiritual gifts, the same imperative is applied and done so forcefully, seen by use of the Greek word desire. Strong’s definition is: have warmth of feeling for or against – affect, covet earnestly, have desire, move with envy, be jealous over, be zealous. The translation commonly into English is desire earnestly. To be so adamant concerning that which, according to the cessationists, will no longer be necessary within a few years, because they would have the complete canon of the New Testament, seems to me to be totally unreasonable.

We have also briefly commented on Paul’s special emphasis concerning prophesy, which will be the main subject in the following chapter. Prophecy certainly is to be given preference, because of its importance towards the edification of the church. There is a comparison throughout the chapter between prophecy and tongues.