1 Corinthians 15:20 BSB

1 Corinthians 15:20

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep.

KJV

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

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Commentary

2 voices

Irenaeus

Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 3 (202)

For the Lord, having been born "the First-begotten of the dead," and receiving into His bosom the ancient fathers, has regenerated them into the life of God, He having been made Himself the beginning of those that live, as Adam became the beginning of those who die. Wherefore also Luke, commencing the genealogy with the Lord, carried it back to Adam, indicating that it was He who regenerated them into the Gospel of life, and not they Him. And thus also it was that the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

The whole lump was made holy by the consecration of the first-fruits ( Rom. xi. 16 ), and the whole body of Christ, all that are by faith united to him, are by his resurrection assured of their own.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

But now is Christ risen - On the contrary, Christ is raised from the dead, and is become the first fruits of them that slept. His resurrection has been demonstrated, and our resurrection necessarily follows; as sure as the first fruits are the proof that there is a harvest, so surely the resurrection of Christ is a proof of ours.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

The time of writing this Epistle was probably about the Passover (1Co 5:7); the day after the Passover sabbath was that for offering the first-fruits (Le 23:10, 11), and the same was the day of Christ's resurrection: whence appears the appropriateness of the image.

Voices on this verse

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Hebraic traditional view

The sheaf behind “firstfruits”

“Firstfruits” is not a loose metaphor; it is a feast. During Passover week the first sheaf (the omer) of the barley harvest was brought to the priest and waved before the LORD “on the day after the Sabbath” (Leviticus 23:10–11): one sheaf, offered ahead of the whole harvest as its pledge and its guarantee. Paul writes that Christ was raised as “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep”: the one, risen at that very season, standing for the many to follow. The feast's logic is the argument: where the first sheaf goes, the harvest follows.

Sources: Leviticus 23:10–11 (the waved sheaf) · Mishnah Menachot 10:3 (the omer's cutting, as practiced)

Original language & word study

9 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
Νυνὶ	Nuni	Now	G3570 →
δὲ	de	however	G1161 →
Χριστὸς	Christos	Christ	G5547 →
ἐγήγερται	egēgertai	has been raised	G1453 →
ἐκ	ek	out from	G1537 →
νεκρῶν,	nekrōn	[the] dead,	G3498 →
ἀπαρχὴ	aparchē	firstfruit	G536 →
τῶν	tōn	of those	G3588 →
κεκοιμημένων	kekoimēmenōn	having fallen asleep	G2837 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
1 Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
leads to
- 1 Peter 1:23
  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
- 1 John 5:4
  because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.
- Romans 15:13
  Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Titus 3:4–6
  But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
Through
Revelation 1:5
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by…
leads to
- Psalms 89:27
  I will indeed appoint him as My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
- Hebrews 9:14
  how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!
Through
Colossians 1:18
And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence.
leads to
- Ephesians 1:22–23
  And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church,
- Revelation 1:5
  and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by…