Death, the Last Enemy

The arrival of Jesus at the end of the age will mean our resurrection and the end of the Last Enemy, Death - 1 Corinthians 15:24-28.

Certain members of the Corinthian congregation were denying the future resurrection. Paul responded by stressing how necessary resurrection is, and he pointed to Christ’s past Death and Resurrection as the model and precedent for our future resurrection.  We will be raised bodily when Jesus “arrives,” and his appearance will mean the overthrow of death itself.

Paul revealed something new in his defense of the resurrection, a “mystery.” Believers still alive on the Last Day will be transformed and receive immortal bodies without undergoing death.

[Grave - Photo by Richard Bell on Unsplash]

The Apostle also described key events that will precede or accompany the ‘Parousia’ or “arrival” of Jesus. Paul begins his discourse with a rhetorical question to remind us of what Jesus did for us, and to establish the foundation on which the Church’s belief in the future resurrection is built:

• “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).

The heart of the matter is the absolute necessity for bodily resurrection. All of Paul's arguments support this proposition, and its basis is the past resurrection of Jesus:

• “For I delivered to you first of all that which also I received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he has been raised on the third day, according to the scriptures” – (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

If we are not raised from the dead, then “not even Christ has been resurrected,” and if that is the case, then the Gospel message is worthless. Our coming resurrection is based on the past resurrection of the Son of God, and this belief is pivotal to the teachings and hope of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Paul argues that “all will be made alive, but each in his own order.” Jesus was the “first fruits” - He rose first – and the rest will follow “at his arrival.” That event 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 when he returns, this process will be brought to completion. The description of Christ as the “firstborn of the dead” is common in the New Testament:

• “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ will all be made alive. But each in his own order. Christ the first fruits; then they that are Christ's at his arrival [‘Parousia’]” - (1 Corinthians 15:22-23).

• “Christ is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might be preeminent” – (Colossians 1:18).

• “Jesus Christ, the Faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the Dead, and the Ruler of the Kings of the Earth. <…> I am the Living one, and I was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades” – (Revelation 1:5, 1:18).

HIS ARRIVAL

Paul uses the Greek noun ‘Parousia’ (παρουσια) for the “arrival” of Jesus. For example, in his first letter to the Thessalonians, he links the resurrection of dead believers to the “arrival” of Jesus from Heaven - (1 Thessalonians 4:12-15, 5:23, 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2:8).

The ‘Parousia’ will mean “the end” of the present age, the subjugation of all Christ’s enemies, and the end of death as a reality and an inevitable process. Death is the “Last Enemy” that must be destroyed. Only then will Jesus deliver his completed "Kingdom” to his God and Father, and then, “God will be all in all” - (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).

Paul’s purpose in 1 Corinthians is not to describe in detail every event that will precede the return of Jesus. Specific subjects are introduced because they support his argument for the bodily resurrection of the righteous dead.

Jesus was raised as the “first fruits” of those who “sleep,” the forerunner and the guarantor of our resurrection. Dead believers will participate in the same kind of resurrection that he did, but at the appointed time. The end of death will coincide with his “arrival,” and it will mark the final overthrow of God’s enemies. After that, there will be no more enemies to conquer. The curse of Adam’s sin will be invalidated forever, and therefore, Christ’s resurrected saints will shout in triumph:

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• “Death is swallowed up by victory! Oh Death, where is your victory? Oh Death, where is your sting?” – (1 Corinthians 15:54-55).

The bodily resurrection does not mean the resuscitation of corpses. Our mortal bodies will be transformed into another kind of body, one that is equipped for life in the Spirit. It will not be subject to disease, decay, or death. The evidence for this is the glorified body of Jesus, our “first fruits.” We, likewise, will inherit glorified bodies:

• “It is not yet made manifest what we will be. We know that, if he will be manifested, we will be like him; for we will see him even as he is” - (1 John 3:2).

The “mystery” revealed in Paul’s discussion is that believers who remain alive when Jesus returns will be physically transformed and receive immortal bodies without experiencing death. Both living and (recently) dead saints will receive immortality.

• “Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed” - (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

Thus, the salvation hope of the Church is based on belief in our future resurrection and life in the New Creation, which, in turn, is founded on the past death and the bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

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SEE ALSO:

• Jesus Conquered Death! - (Paul reminded Timothy of the resurrection of Jesus and his victory over death since false teachers were denying the future resurrection of believers)

• Final Events - (In explaining the resurrection, Paul lists key events that will precede or coincide with Christ’s arrival at the end of the age)

• Salvation and Resurrection - (Central to the future hope of the Apostolic Faith is the bodily resurrection of the dead when Jesus arrives to gather his saints)

• La Mort, le Dernier Ennemi - (L'arrivée de Jésus à la fin de l'âge signifiera la résurrection et la fin du Dernier Ennemi, à savoir la Mort - 1 Corinthiens 15: 24-28)