"In Adam" And "In Christ"

The meaning of 1 Corinthians 15:22 was discussed in our issue of April 1985 (No.8504 p.63) where the view was advanced that the second all in that verse is to be taken as having the same universal scope as the first one. To quote from our contributor: "The purposes of God have ordained that all who have died will be raised again. They will be raised in Christ, by Him. He is the Resurrection. Resurrection cannot take place apart from Him".

Two correspondents have put to us the alternative view that only believers are included in the second all, this view being supported by many commentators. One letter puts the case as follows:

"In the whole of this passage, the apostle is dealing with the relations between believers and Christ, and references to other things are made in this context. In verses 12 to 19, the general argument is advanced that if resurrection is impossible, then Christ cannot have been raised. Paul then states the fact of the resurrection, and deals with its consequences. Christ is the "firstfruits" in relation to those whom He will afterwards bring to the Father ("they that are Christ's"), not in relation to those raised for eternal judgement. There is no justification for the assertion "there is a widening out in vv. 21,22"; the context does not suggest it and it would involve the introduction of a subject irrelevant to the purpose of the passage.

Verses 21 and 22 present the argument expounded more fully in Rom.5; the antithesis between the work of Adam and the work of Christ. Adam, the head of the race, sinned, and his sin brought sin and death to all who are "in Adam". Adam, of course, is the only person whom Scripture specifically calls a type of Christ (tupos - Rom. 5:14), and the typology lies in the fact that each was the head of his race, and each one's actions involved his posterity. Christ brought to those "in Christ" justification, life (Rom. 5:16, 17) and resurrection. In the chapter under consideration, Paul returns to the antithesis (vv. 45-49), referring to "The first man ... the last Adam", the natural and the spiritual, and "The first man ... of the earth: the second man... of heaven". The two ails of verse 22 do not differ in meaning: each refers to all in the races headed by Adam and Christ. The first is only universal because all men are in Adam. There is no presentation in this passage of Christ as the agent of universal resurrection".

Further extracts from the correspondence are available on application to the

Editors for any reader who wishes to study the arguments in more detail.

(Address on back page of this issue).

unknown | Dec 1985
General