1 Corinthians 15:12 – Roused FROM AMONG the dead

Now if Christ is being heralded that He has been roused from among the dead, how are some among you saying there is no resurrection of the dead?

The good news that Paul and all the apostles have passed on as heralds is short and powerful: Christ was roused from among the dead! The phrase “roused from among the dead” can easily be seen as synonymous with “raised from death.” Yet these are two very different formulations.

“Death” is the name for the condition one enters once life is over. Someone is dead. But “the dead” is a plural: one dead, two dead. Christ is “roused from among the dead,” meaning he was buried in the midst of other dead, but only he was roused from among the dead. So the idea behind the formulation is not so much that Christ is no longer dead (although that is true in itself) but that he was resurrected, leaving behind the other dead.

Christ was raised from among the dead. All other dead are still in the grave, but he is the firstfruits who brought life to light. He was raised to never die again. Who follows? Answer: ultimately all people (15:22)!

Delen: