The Resurrection
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 1 Corinthians 15:20 · Berean Standard Bible
But here's the truth: Christ has absolutely been raised from the dead, and His resurrection is the firstfruits—the beginning and guarantee—of all believers who have died.
After verses of logical demolition showing what collapse without the resurrection, Paul affirms it as fact. It's not wishful thinking or an argument—it's something that happened. And it means something: Christ's resurrection isn't an isolated miracle but the first harvest of the greater harvest to come.
Paul
This is the pivot point of the entire chapter and the entire Christian faith. The resurrection is real. Death isn't stronger than God. The future is secure. All of Scripture—all the promises, all the hopes—comes to fruition in this one fact.
Paul pivots to the affirmation: Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, and his resurrection stands as the firstfruit guaranteeing the future resurrection of all believers.
The word 'But' (de) marks a decisive turn from hypothetical consequences to apostolic proclamation of reality. 'Indeed been raised' (Greek: egegertai, perfect passive) uses the perfect tense to indicate a past action whose effects continue into the present—Christ remains in the state of resurrection. The term 'firstfruits' (aparche) invokes Levitical terminology: in the harvest festival, the firstfruits dedicated to God guaranteed and sanctified the entire harvest to follow (Exodus 23:16, Leviticus 23:10). Christ's resurrection is not an isolated exception but the guarantee and paradigm of the universal resurrection to come. This verse is the hinge of the entire chapter—everything before it is reductio ad absurdum; everything after it flows from this affirmation.
Paul
This represents the climactic assertion of Christian eschatology: the resurrection of Christ is the inauguration of the age to come within history, the breaking in of the future kingdom into the present. It fulfills Old Testament promises and establishes the pattern—both logically and ontologically—for the future resurrection of all believers.
18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
19If our hope in Christ is for this life alone, we are to be pitied more than all men.
20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
Read all of 1 Corinthians 15 — If Christ has not been raised, Paul says, everything falls apart. But He has — and that changes everything.
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