コリントの信徒への手紙一15:20-24 1 Corinthians 15:20-24,

死が一人の人によって来たのだから、死者の復活も一人の人によって来るのです。つまり、アダムによってすべての人が死ぬことになったように、キリストによってすべての人が生かされることになるのです。（一コリント15:21-22）

人類の先祖であるアダムが神様に背いたことによって、人類は命の源である神様との正常な交わりを失ってしまいました。しかし、神様との正常な交わりを失ってしまった人類に対して、神様は交わりを回復する道を準備されました。すなわち、神様は人類の歴史の中に神様との交わりを求めて生きる人々を起こして、神様との正常な交わりに立ち帰るように人類を導こうとされました。神様との交わりを求めて生きる人々とは、旧約聖書のイスラエルの人々のことです。そして、イスラエルの人々の歴史のクライマックスとして、神様は救い主である神の子イエス・キリストを人類に遣わしてくださったのです。

イスラエルの人々は、奴隷であったエジプトから脱出した後、モーセを通して十戒を与えられ、神様に従う生き方がどのようなものであるかを教えられました。ところが、イスラエルの人々はこの十戒に反する道を歩んだために、神様の裁きを受けて滅んでしまったのです。そこで、神様は、神の教えに逆らう人類を救うために、独り子イエス・キリストを人としてこの世に与え、十字架で贖罪の死を成し遂げさせ、さらに三日目に永遠の命の体に復活させてくださったのでありました。このキリストの十字架と復活を信じることにより、人は罪を赦されて神様との正常な交わりをすることができるようになりました。そして、命の源である神様との正常な交わりを回復したことによって、永遠の命を受けることができるようになったのであります。アダムによって失われた神様との正常な交わりが、イエス・キリストによって回復されたのであります。このことをパウロは22節で「アダムによってすべての人が死ぬことになったように、キリストによってすべての人が生かされることになるのです」と記しているのです。

（4月7日の説教より）

When we become ill and our lives are in danger, we think deeply about what our lives are all about. And although we thought we were living on our own when we were well, we realise that we are wrong and that we are actually kept alive by a power greater than ourselves. In other words, we are kept alive by being connected to a source of life much greater than ourselves.

Suppose we had two plant seedlings in small pots. One has been replanted from its small pot into a sunny plot of land, where it has received plenty of sunlight, water and nutrients from the earth. The other was left in a small pot in a room with no sunlight and was not watered. It goes without saying which seedling is more likely to survive. The one that can receive sunlight and water and nutrients from the earth survives. And this seedling was planted and grew in spring, blossomed in summer and bore fruit in autumn. However, it died in winter. The onlookers thought that the plant had already died and was finished. However, in spring, new shoots sprouted from the seemingly dead plant and began to grow once more. The plant was a so-called “perennial plant,” meaning that the above-ground stems and leaves had died, but the underground roots were still alive.

Our human life is similar to this “perennial plant.” Just as the roots of a “perennial plant” remain alive in winter if it is rooted in the earth, so we human beings, if we are connected to God, the source of our life, even if our earthly bodies die, our souls, which are connected to God, will remain alive. And when the Last Day, the eternal spring, comes, we can be resurrected with a body of eternal life.

There were believers in the church in Corinth who denied the resurrection of the dead. Perhaps they thought that as they were already spiritually fulfilled, there was no need for a bodily resurrection in the Last Day. Not only that, by denying the resurrection of the dead, these believers were also denying that Christ had even actually risen. This is no longer a Christian belief. Paul asks in 15:12 of this letter, “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” Then, in verse 13, he continues, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised,” indicating that without the resurrection of the dead, the Christian faith would be meaningless. Furthermore, in verses 13-19, Paul explains that if there were no resurrection of the dead, as some members of the Corinthian church claim, then this would be a disastrous result. That is, one would be “misrepresenting God,” by testifying about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise,” as in verse 15. Another is that if Christ had not been raised, then Christians would have no freedom from sin and no hope of eternal life, and would be “of all people most to be pitied,” as in verse 19.

Thus, Paul dares to use the harsh words “misrepresenting God” and “of all people most to be pitied,” not, of course, to say that Christians actually are. Rather, it was to state that, in fact, Christ has been raised and Christians are righteous witnesses of that resurrection. In verse 20 of today’s passage, Paul says, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” The Greek word Nuni (Νυνὶ) translated as “in fact” is used when, after stating an assumption that is not true, one then states a fact. This means that it is a historical fact, not a falsehood, that “Christ has been raised from the dead.” Moreover, Paul explains the meaning of Christ’s resurrection as “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” By “those who have fallen asleep,” he means those who have died. And “the firstfruits” are for example, the first ear of wheat that is harvested at harvest time. The fact that there are “the firstfruits” means that there will be many harvests to follow. So when Paul says that “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,” he also means that not only Christ but also those who died believing in him will also be raised from the dead.

In the verses that follow, verses 21 and 22, Paul states, “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” In verse 21, Paul explains that “by a man came death,” in verse 22 “in Adam all die.” This refers to the fact that Adam, the ancestor of mankind, had broken God’s commandments, and therefore broke fellowship with God and was expelled from the Garden of Eden, which was a paradise. For, God had placed Adam, the ancestor of mankind, in the Garden of Eden and had said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17). By “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” the standards for what is good and what is evil are meant. And to take fruit from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and eat it means that one comes to set one’s own standards of good and evil. Originally, only God can decide what is good and what is evil. Human beings must follow the standards of good and evil set by God. If human beings set their own standards of good and evil and do not follow the standards of good and evil set by God, then naturally their fellowship with God will be broken. God is the source of life, so if fellowship with God is broken, human beings will die. In this case, death means the death of the soul as well as the death of the earthly body. In fact, Adam avoided God by eating the fruit of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” He was judged harshly by God and told, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (3:19), and both body and soul became mortal. And all of Adam’s descendants, human beings, will die, both body and soul, unless they turn back to God. The story of Adam may sound like an unrealistic fairy tale to people today. But it is more than a fairy tale. Using the symbolic expression “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” the story accurately describes the reality that human beings lost normal fellowship with God, the source of life, at the beginning of their history.

Having lost normal fellowship with God, God has prepared the way for the restoration of that fellowship. In other words, God has tried to wake up people in human history who live in search of fellowship with God and lead human beings to return to normal fellowship with God. The people who live in search of fellowship with God are the people of Israel in the Old Testament. And as the climax of the history of the Israelites, God sent the Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to human beings. After being delivered from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites were given the Ten Commandments through Moses, and were taught what it was like to live in obedience to God. However, because the Israelites took a path contrary to the Ten Commandments, they were judged by God and perished. Therefore, in order to save human beings from going against God’s teachings and perishing, God gave his only Son Jesus Christ as a human being to the world, had him die by an atoning death on the cross, and resurrected him on the third day into a body of eternal life. Those who believe in this cross and resurrection of Christ, are forgiven of sins and are able to have normal fellowship with God. And having restored normal fellowship with God, the source of life, they are now able to receive eternal life. Normal fellowship with God, which was lost through Adam, has been restored through Jesus Christ. This is why Paul writes in verse 22: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”

The words “in Christ shall all be made alive” must be interpreted with caution. It means that “all shall be made alive” who believe in Christ, not that “all shall be made alive” whether they believe in Christ or not. This can be seen from the phrase “those who have fallen asleep in Christ” is used in verse 18, and from the phrase “those who belong to Christ” is used in the following verse 23. So let us look at the following verses 23 and 24. “But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. What “order” is meant by “each in his own order”? The phrase “Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ” refers to the “order” of the resurrection. First, there is the resurrection of Christ who died on the cross, and then the resurrection of “those who belong to Christ” to a body of eternal life like Christ when Christ who ascended to heaven, comes again to judge the world on the Last Day. This is as the Apostles’ Creed says: “From there he will come to judge the living and the dead,” and as it confesses that “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” As I have told you about verse 20, Christ is the “firstfruits” resurrected from the dead and the firstfruits means that there will be many harvests to follow. “Those who belong to Christ” will be resurrected with a body of eternal life like Christ at the Last Judgement on the Last Day, just like the harvest that will follow the firstfruits. “Those who belong to Christ” are those who are united to Christ by faith.

If you read this passage with care, the wording in verse 24, “Then comes the end,” gives a somewhat strange impression. In the Confession of Faith of NIPPON KIRISUTO KYOKAI, our denomination, the church also confesses that it “makes ready for the Last Day, awaiting the coming of the Lord,” and we believe that the Last Day is the time when Christ will come again to make the Last Judgment. Then, it must also be the Last Day events that Christ comes again to make the Last Judgment and “those who belong to Christ” are resurrected in the body of eternal life. So why does Paul say, “Then comes the end”? It could be that, in the Last Day, the resurrection of “those who belong to Christ” in the body of eternal life will be followed by the two events described, the “destroying every rule and every authority and power” by Christ, and the “delivering the kingdom to God the Father.” These will be “the end.” In other words, these events will take place at “the end” of the Last Day. Incidentally, this passage in the Greek original text reads only “then the end” (εἶτα τὸ τέλος), without the word of “comes.”

According to verse 24, there are two things that will happen at “the end” of the Last Day. The first is that Christ will “destroy every rule and every authority and power.” What does Paul mean by “rule,” “authority” and “power”? The first thing that comes to mind from these words is the various powers that rule the earth, i.e., national powers and political forces. In chapter 2:6 of this letter, there are also the words “the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away,” so Paul was probably thinking of the powers ruling over the earth, such as the Roman Empire. But he must also have been thinking of the spiritual powers that rule over the hearts of human beings. In Ephesians 6:12, Paul commands us to fight “against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” In other words, “rule,” “authority” and “power” also refer to demonic forces. And it could be put another way: the forces of “death,” “the last enemy,” as in verse 26. “Every rule and every authority and power” torment those who try to live according to God by doing things against him. But in the end they will be destroyed by the great power of Christ.

Another thing that happens in “the end” of “the Last Day” is that Christ “delivers the kingdom to God the Father.” This means that after the Last Judgment, Christ will have completely finished his ministry and will return the authority over everything to God the Father. We will consider the meaning of this further in next week’s passage.

The apostle Peter quotes from the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament: “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever” (I Peter 1:24-25). Indeed, we are as transient as grass. But we can have eternal life by believing in the gospel of Christ, “the word of the Lord,” which is eternal and unchanging. This is because believing in Christ enables us to be connected to God, the source of life. The soul that is connected to God, the source of life, can continue to live, like the roots of an “perennial plant” waiting for spring, even after the death of the earthly body. And when the Last Day, the eternal spring, comes, it can be resurrected with a body of eternal life that is not defeated by the powers of this world, nor by the powers of the devil, nor by the powers of death.