Christ the Firstfruits; the End, When He Delivers Up the Kingdom (1 Corinthians 15:23–28)

1 Cor. 15:23. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then those who are Christ’s, at His coming.

The words “but each in his own order” can be understood in two ways. If we connect them with what precedes, they will mean that in Christ all shall be made alive, but each will receive his portion after the resurrection according to his own worth; all shall be made alive in Christ, but not all shall taste blessed life in Him—they shall first rise for judgment, and after the judgment, to receive the lot each has deserved. St. Chrysostom says: “Lest you think that sinners too shall be saved, he adds, but each in his own order. Hearing of the resurrection, do not think that all shall receive equal recompense; for if the punishment shall not be equal for all, but greatly different, then all the more shall there be a great difference between sinners and the righteous.” And Theodoret writes: “Since he had said, all shall be made alive, but after the resurrection there shall be a distinction between those who lived chastely and those who gave themselves over to incontinence in life, between those sick with unbelief and those shining with faith—in a word, between those who strove after praiseworthy deeds and those after blameworthy ones—of necessity he added, but each in his own order. So too the Lord in the holy Gospel teaches that He shall set the lambs on the right hand and the goats on the left (Matt. 25:33).” So too all our other commentators. This interpretation is justified by the word ταγμα, which means a military detachment, a regiment. This suggests at the same time that the resurrection itself will already point each man to his own detachment and regiment, to which he will of himself be borne.

Others connect these words with what follows, as a general indication of the order in which the resurrection will proceed. All shall be made alive in Christ, but this making-alive will go on in its own order: first Christ rose, then at His second coming those who are Christ’s shall rise, then the end—that is, as some think, there will follow also the final resurrection of all, the resurrection even of those who, after the resurrection of those who are Christ’s, still remained unraised. As for the meaning of the words “but each in his own order”, they may be placed in this connection, only not in the sense that some suppose—that detachments of those rising are meant: that is, Christ rises, then the believers, then the unbelievers and sinners—but in the sense that everything has its own time. All shall be made alive in Christ, but not together with Christ’s resurrection, rather each in his own time, when the turn comes; and it will come at Christ’s second coming. St. Chrysostom says: “Now, after Christ’s resurrection, human affairs remain in their usual order; but then, at the second coming, all shall rise, and there shall be an end of all things.”

The risen Christ is the firstfruits, in whom the foundation is laid and the way pointed out for the universal resurrection; and through this resurrection there will be accomplished the final restoration of fallen humanity and its manifestation in the glory appointed for it, in the light and perfection proper to it. The resurrection of Christ is therefore the pledge of the certainty of all Christian hopes, and this is why it is glorified by Christians above all things. Having risen and ascended into the heavens, the Lord commanded us to await His second coming. And we do await it—every hour and every minute. No one knows when the trumpet will sound that rouses the dead. But when it sounds, all will rise from their graves, or from the place where anyone’s bones are laid. Then that will be fulfilled which the Apostle says: “then those who are Christ’s”, οι του Χριστου — Christ’s, “that is, the believing and the godly” (St. Chrysostom). “Not only those who came to believe in Christ after His incarnation, but also those who shone with godliness and virtue under the Law and before the Law” (Theodoret). But this is only one part of saved humanity—where is the other part, the unbelievers and perishing sinners? Some say the resurrection of this part is meant in the words “then the end”, which signify: afterward there will follow the final resurrection of all; and thus they introduce two moments of the Resurrection, and some even two periods separated by no small span of time. This is entirely arbitrary. There is not even a hint of two resurrections in Scripture; and the words “then the end” signify that after the resurrection there will follow the end of all things—the judgment, the assigning of the justified and the condemned to their places, the cessation of the present order of the existence of things, and the beginning of a new one, when a new heaven and a new earth shall be revealed. To attach any other thought to these words ought not even to enter the mind. St. Chrysostom says: “Then there shall be an end of all things.” Theodoret writes: “Then all shall receive its end, both the present order of things and the predictions of the prophets.” Where then is the resurrection of sinners and unbelievers? — It is to be understood together with the words “then those who are Christ’s”—understood, that is, as not excluding even those who are not Christ’s. The whole thought will be this: now Christ has risen, and at His second coming those who are Christ’s shall also rise, but not they alone, of course, but together with all other men. It only remains to settle why the Apostle did not mention them separately. To this we answer: so it pleased him; he mentioned those who are Christ’s because he was speaking to those who are Christ’s, and was reviving their hopes, while he passed over those who are not Christ’s in silence, so as not to darken the bright picture of the resurrection, leaving the readers themselves to understand about them—from what he had said before, that in Christ all shall be made alive, without distinction. But on the ground that he did not mention them, to divide the resurrection into two moments, taking cover under a distorted reading of the words “then the end”, is entirely unjust. St. Chrysostom makes not even a hint at such moments; and it seems neither does Theodoret. Oecumenius and Theophylact, though they hold that the righteous will precede the sinners and unbelievers in rising by a little, in order to meet the Lord in the air—yet since they say at the same time that the sinners will remain below, by this they suggest that the time of the resurrection of the dead, even by their understanding, will be one: at the coming of the Lord; only some will come forth from the graves in front and others behind, as those coming out of some house are all in the state and act of departure, but some go out in front and others behind. To the new commentators, one knows not why, it is pleasing to foist upon St. Paul the notion of two moments, or times, of the resurrection of the dead.

1 Cor. 15:24. Then comes the end, when He shall deliver up the kingdom to God and the Father, when He shall abolish all rule and all authority and power.

“Then comes the end.” That is, the end of the present order of things, the end also of the kingdom of grace! After the resurrection—the judgment; after the judgment—the sentence: to some, “Come”; to others, “Depart. And these shall go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.” With this everything will end.

“When He shall deliver up the kingdom to God and the Father.” When is this “when”?

When all is ended, then He shall deliver up the kingdom to God and the Father; and when He delivers it up to Him, then all is ended. These are inseparable simultaneities, or events, each calling forth the other, mutually presupposing each other. What kingdom shall He deliver up? — The one He received as founder, builder, and perfecter of the kingdom of grace. After His resurrection He said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth”—as to the conqueror of hell and death. After His ascension and sitting at the right hand of God the Father, He took into His hands the reins of the governance of His kingdom, to fulfill all that was foreordained in the eternal counsel concerning the ordering of the salvation of humanity. By this authority the Church was established on earth; by it the nations are converted; by it all the works of grace are accomplished, the ordinary (through the sacraments) and the extraordinary—directly and at the prayer of the Church; by it all humanity is led to its final end; by it the power of Satan shall be finally destroyed by the annihilation of Antichrist; by it death too shall be abolished by the resurrection, and by the last judgment the lot of all shall be brought to completion. And so, when all this that was foreordained shall be accomplished in the kingdom of grace, then the Lord Jesus Christ shall deliver up the kingdom to God and the Father—that is, then He shall give back what He received after His resurrection. By this is expressed that the kingdom of grace will end, and the kingdom of glory will begin. This kingdom is the kingdom of the Most Holy Trinity, in which the Son too has the same portion as the Father and the Holy Spirit. But the Apostle does not say all this, only what concerns Christ the Saviour. If by the kingdom we understand all who have entered into this kingdom, in the sense that then the Lord shall declare, “Behold, I and the children”, then the main thought is not thereby changed at all. For Christ’s kingdom, of course, has its subject persons, and these are all the believers, of whom His kingdom will be composed. To this one may only add: when all those foreordained to this kingdom shall have entered it, then comes the end of Christ’s reigning as Redeemer and Saviour. The application of His redemptive and saving powers will cease: there will remain only the unbroken and endless working of them in those already saved and glorified.

This delivering up of the kingdom to God and the Father will be the last act of Christ the Lord, King of the kingdom of grace. It must be preceded by the subduing and abolishing of all the enemies of this kingdom: the devil, death, sin. The whole continuation of Christ’s kingdom is a constant vanquishing of them. In His own person He conquered them by His death, resurrection, and ascension. And He unceasingly conquers them, and will conquer them until the end of the age, in the person of His believers. At the end of the ages Antichrist will arise, who is to unite in himself all the satanic and demonic power. Him the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth, and thereby smite Satan and all his hosts at the head. Thereupon will follow the resurrection of the dead, which is the abolition of death, or the final victory over it. There remains still sin. And it too, in the person of sinners, will be abolished by the final sentence: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” The kingdom of God will be cleansed of all that is opposed and God-fighting, and the light of God’s glory will shine forth in all the realms of being. After all this the Lord will deliver up the kingdom to God and the Father.

Of this abolishing of the enemies by the Lord Saviour St. Paul speaks further. “When He shall abolish all rule and all authority and power.” By this is indicated the final destruction of Satan and his confederates. They will be shut up in hell even before the judgment, for at the judgment there will be no mention of them, but only of the place in which they already are. St. Chrysostom says: “Of the abolishing of what rule does the Apostle here speak? Of the angels? — No! Of the believers? — No! Of what then? — Of the rule of the demons, of which he also says, For our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, and against the powers, and against the world-rulers of the darkness of this age (Eph. 6:12). Now it is not yet completely abolished, for they still act often; but then they will cease to act.”

1 Cor. 15:25. For He must reign, till He has put all enemies under His feet.

So, he says, it is laid down in the eternal counsel, that the Lord should reign until He puts all enemies under His feet; and consequently, before this it is neither fitting nor possible for Him to deliver up the kingdom to God and the Father. One must here bear in mind that both “He shall deliver up the kingdom” and “He must reign, till…” are to be understood according to the economy of salvation. For as the Son of God and God, the Lord has over all things an unchanging kingdom, as does God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. We may not clearly picture to ourselves what the receiving of the kingdom and the delivering up of it according to the economy of our salvation is; but we cannot fail to understand that this cannot touch any change in the boundless authority and almighty power belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ as God; nor can we fail to hold that much is both said of Christ the Saviour, and represented as having place in Him, which we can neither comprehend nor explain, but must accept as it is delivered to us in the word of God. Thus that the Lord Jesus Christ received the kingdom as Saviour, and will deliver it up as Perfecter of the salvation of humanity, we shall accept by faith, without being able to represent to ourselves with clarity in what this consists and how. One thing we shall hold: that it is precisely so, and that this in no way violates His divine reigning over all. On this thought our commentators especially dwell. St. Chrysostom says, on the words “He shall deliver up the kingdom”: “If we take this simply, and not in a manner befitting God, it follows that Christ will after that no longer have a kingdom, for whoever gives something to another himself ceases to possess it. And not only does this absurdity follow, but also that the one who receives did not have it before he received it; that is, by their opinion, neither was the Father King before, but only still awaits the kingdom over us, nor will the Son after that remain King. But how then did He Himself say, My Father works until now, and I work (Jn. 5:17)? Likewise from the words He must reign, till He has put… and so forth, another absurdity will arise if we take it not in a manner befitting God. For till signifies the end of time and a limit, and this is not in God. He said till not in the sense of signifying the end of the reigning, but to make what was said beyond doubt and to inspire hope. When, he says, you hear that Christ will overthrow all rule, do not fear that He will lack the power for it: He must reign until He accomplishes this. He rules, He governs, and His kingdom does not cease.” Theodoret writes: “The God of all is eternal, and coeternal with Him is His Only-begotten Son. And He has a kingdom likewise eternal; and of this the prophet Daniel taught us, when he said, His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom (Dan. 7:27), it shall not be destroyed to eternal time!”

1 Cor. 15:26. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

Death will be abolished by the resurrection, after the demonic rule, authority, and power have already been abolished through the destruction of the Antichrist. Theodoret writes: “Having sent the devil and his helpers into outer darkness, Christ will put an end to death by raising all the dead.” Saint Chrysostom says: “How ‘the last’? After all, after the devil, after everything else, for even at the beginning death entered after everything else: first the devil’s counsel, then disobedience, and then death. Its power is already abolished even now, but its action will cease then.” Death will be abolished not only in relation to men but in relation to all creatures, for our body cannot become free from death and corruption without corruption and death being utterly expelled from all regions of being. There will come a period of being of heaven and earth and all things in them that is incorruptible.

1 Cor. 15:27. For he has put all things under his feet. But when it says that all things are put under him, it is clear that he is excepted who put all things under him.

The Apostle quotes Scripture to confirm that all things must be subjected to the Lord Saviour. The passage is taken from Psalm 8:7, where it is said that God subjected to man all earthly creatures. The Apostle applies this passage to the Lord Saviour because He is the archetype of restored humanity and in Him the original destiny of man is achieved in the most perfect way. But since He is not man alone but also God, human attributes could not remain in Him within the limits befitting them in man, but took on extraordinary dimensions. Therefore, man’s power over earthly creatures in Christ the Saviour, as the God-man, became authority over all creation. The Apostle clarifies this thought especially in the words that follow. So that from the cited passage no one might think that He, as it were a mere man, has authority only over earthly creation, He says: “But when it says that all things are put under him, it is clear that he is excepted who put all things under him,” that is, when Scripture says all things are subjected to Him, by this must be understood all creation, all except the Creator Himself who subjected all to Him.

Above the Apostle said that the Lord Saviour Himself will subdue under His feet all His enemies, will Himself abolish every rule, authority, and power; but here he says that God the Father subjected all things under His feet. There is no contradiction here, but the same thing is affirmed in different aspects. All things the Father subjected, ordained to subject, or ordained that all be subject to Him. The Son participated in this ordinance as much as the Father according to the unified action of the Holy Trinity. But the execution of this decree is carried out by the Son of God Himself after the incarnation, death, resurrection, and sitting at the right hand of the Father. From this moment He assumed authority over all that is subject and began the subjugation of the disobedient, namely sin, the devil, death. This subjugation proceeds toward its end but is not yet complete: “we do not yet see all things subjected to him” (Heb. 2:8), says this same Apostle. If we look only at what is visible, we might think there is no subjugation at all—all Christ’s enemies and ours are raging, and their power with enmity is not diminishing but increasing. But we should not look at that, but at what the Lord accomplishes in the believers; in them He tramples sin, defeats the devil, and strips death of its power. The number of true believers sometimes diminishes, sometimes increases, but they always exist, and the subjugation of these enemies and the deliverance of their victims from their hands goes on continuously. The trophies of victory over them are the multitudes of saints who grow in the Church on earth and shine with the glory of victory in heaven. Our enemies may think they are gaining strength, but the Lord allows them to continue to act for the purpose of preparing conquerors of them through them. But when everything is fulfilled according to what has been written, then all these enemies in their own persons will be placed by the Lord under His feet. As long as the Lord thus subdues all His enemies and ours, so long He must reign. And the word “subjected” means He gave the power to subdue, made Him Lord and King.

In the preceding verse it is said: “The last enemy that will be abolished is death”; in the present verse, “For he has put all things under his feet.” The basis is given to believe that death will indeed be abolished. Do not be troubled that death still reigns. It is included among those things given into the power of the Lord. A time will come and it will come to an end. In his epistle to the Philippians the Apostle expresses the same thought more directly. For having said: “who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body”—this is the same as abolishing death and establishing incorruption—he adds: “by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Phil. 3:21)—this is the same as: because into His hands has been given authority to subject all things. By this authority and power He will drive out death and adorn the corruptible with incorruption (Theodoret).

1 Cor. 15:28. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be everything to everyone.

All that the Apostle said in verses 25–27 was directed to clarify the words: “he delivers the kingdom to God the Father.” The essence of the matter is this: all things have been given into His power so that He might abolish all God’s and humanity’s enemies. When this is accomplished, the purpose of entrusting this power will be achieved, and there will be no need for the power itself to continue, so it will be laid aside. And it will be: “The Son himself will be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him,” or, what is the same, “he delivers the kingdom to God the Father.” What exactly this will consist in we cannot clearly conceive, but we cannot doubt that it will be so; we also cannot doubt that although this will be according to the economy of salvation, the Son Himself will be subjected—but in such a way that thereby will be shown and still more will be accomplished no diminishment whatsoever of the glory, power, and dominion of the Godhead of the Only-begotten. Saint Chrysostom says: “He will be subjected in a manner befitting the Son of God, and not in a human way, but freely and with full authority. Otherwise how does He sit on the throne together with the Father? How does He ‘give life to whom he wills, just as the Father does’ (Jn. 5:21)? How does everything that belongs to the Father belong also to Him, and everything that belongs to Him belongs also to the Father (Jn. 17:10)? This shows us His perfect authority equal to the Father’s.”

That which is said here “when he shall have subjected,” that is, the Father, whereas before it was said “until he has put under,” the Son Himself, “expresses both the perfect accord of the Son with the Father, and that the One who gave birth to such a mighty Son who accomplishes such deeds is the beginning and first cause of all good” (Saint Chrysostom).

And “God may be everything to everyone.” Even now He is in all: “for in him we live and move and have our being.” But then it will be accomplished and manifest in a special way, so perfect that the present fulfillment of all things by God is, in comparison with that, almost as if it were not fulfilled. And this is incomprehensible, but it must be and will be so. For such universal changes as the abolition of all enemies of good, the destruction of all traces of evil from all regions of being, with the confinement of its perpetrators in one place of exit as Saint Chrysostom says, somewhere on the final boundaries of existence; and finally the subjection of the Son to the Father and the delivery of His Kingdom to Him (although we cannot well conceive of this act)—such changes cannot fail to be accompanied by the most intimate communion of God with all those capable of receiving His communion. God is always most hidden; even then He will remain so. But there are degrees of His revelation. He is in us differently than in the angels, and among the angels differently in the Cherubim, Seraphim, and Thrones. If we then ascend somewhat higher on the ladder of perfection, what is strange if He then reveals Himself in us so fully that the present seems insignificant in comparison with that?

We have fallen away from God; to bring about our reunion the boundless goodness of God has introduced the God-manhood of the Son of God. In the present period of time through this unspeakable mediation the reunion is accomplished, remains in action, is in progress. In His person humanity is reunited with Godhead hypostatically, as it cannot be united in anyone else. All, however, are reunited according to His pattern, and thereby it is shown how fitting it is that this reunion should be most intimate. On earth it is accomplished mysteriously through the mysteries, by the grace of the Holy Spirit. In heaven, in the glorified, it appears more substantially—but it must not yet be in its full completeness, for they are not yet in their whole nature. When all are clothed in incorruptible bodies, then they will be more fully united with the humanity of the Saviour, and through Him and with Godhead more intimately united. The Lord Saviour, as the Head, will penetrate the whole body of the saved and unite it with Himself, and through union with His humanity it will touch Godhead more closely, more vividly, and more substantially. This is what is meant: “God may be everything to everyone.” All such reasonings are but childish prattling. But that something will be marvellously great and glorious in the very relationships of Godhead to us and us to Him—this is a certain object of hope, as wonderful as it is sure.

The blessed Theodoret writes on these words: “Now by essence God is everywhere, because His nature is infinite, and ‘in him’—according to the Apostle’s word—‘we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28); but not in all by his good pleasure, because he ‘is pleased with those who fear him, and those who hope in his mercy’ (Ps. 146:11). But in them He is not all things, because ‘no one is clean from uncleanness’ (Job 14:4); and ‘no one living is righteous before you’ (Ps. 142:2) and ‘if you keep a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?’ (Ps. 130:3)? So although he is pleased with that in which they progress, yet he is not pleased with that in which they transgress. But in the future life, when corruption ceases and immortality is given, there will be no place for passions, and after the final expulsion of passions no sort of sin will have an effect. Thus at last will come ‘God all things in all,’ when all are freed from transgressions and turn to Him, and will no longer receive inclinations toward the worse. But what the divine Apostle said here of God, he said elsewhere of Christ, saying: ‘where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all’ (Col. 3:11). He would not have attributed to the Son what belongs to the Father if the grace of God had not taught him of His equal honor.”

Continuing to prove the truth of universal resurrection, the Apostle brings two convictions for the acceptance of this truth: one from baptism (1 Cor. 15:29); and another from his own mortal perils in the preaching of this resurrection (1 Cor. 15:30–32). “Otherwise,” επει, is here used in the sense: otherwise.