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The Firstborn of the Dead

 

"But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead,
 the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." 1Corinthians 15:20

 

The greeting the Apostle John wrote to the Churches in Asia can be found in the revelation God gave to Jesus:[1]“Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.”[2]

The Apostle Paul was in accord with John who, in his letter to the Colossian Church, wrote “He (Jesus) is the head of the body, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent.”[3] The proclamation from heaven thus followed, “Jesus, the firstborn of the dead.” [4]

Within the concept of the firstborn, there are two important elements that the apostles John and Paul laid out as part of the doctrine of the Christ they believed and taught.

The first concept is “the order of the first of its kind.” When the Apostle Paul testified before King Agrippa, explaining his gospel to the curious King, Paul explained that Jesus was the first to rise from the dead. “To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: That the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, He would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles." [5]

Paul’s argument before Agrippa might be expected to cause many people to bristle. What about the others who had been previously raised from the dead? Didn’t Jesus himself raise His friend Lazarus from the dead just weeks before his own resurrection? What about all the others Jesus brought back from the dead, and those whom the prophets Elijah and Elisha raised before him?[6] At first glance, the apostles' statement could be taken as a contradiction of scripture. Paul understood and knew about those who had been raised from the dead previously, such as Lazarus and those raised by the prophets of old.

Paul did not intentionally, or unintentionally, create a contradiction. If so, then how are we to interpret Paul’s account to Agrippa?

In Paul’s theology, Jesus, as the firstborn of the dead, is to be understood not as a man raised from the dead, but as a man who was raised from the dead, and who “became a life giving spirit.”[7] As noted, there were others who had been raised from the dead prior to Jesus’ resurrection, but all died (again), and all returned to the dust of the earth. Not so with Jesus.

In consideration of the theology of the apostles Paul and John, both of whom were major contributors to the New Testament scriptures, they revealed that Jesus of Nazareth was the firstborn of the dead, that he was the first in the order of a new kind of man. All others who had been raised from the dead eventually returned to the corruption of the grave. But Jesus “was made a life-giving spirit”[8] and did not experience the corruption of the grave.[9]

There have been many attempts to discredit throughout the history of the Church the resurrection of Jesus by those who refuse to believe a man could come back from the dead. Even within the early Church, the doubters were abundant, as evidenced by Paul’s reaction to the Church at Corinth, when he presented to them the critical question, “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?”[10]

The problem with the resurrection at the Corinth Church was not the rejection that Jesus was God. The doubters, whom Paul seems to have been addressing if we read between the lines, were not troubled whether Jesus was God or not God, but questioned that Jesus as a man was raised from the dead. Nowhere in Paul’s argument for the resurrection to the Corinthians does Paul make the case that Jesus was God and therefore was the proof and the reason he was raised from the dead.

As this was already a problem in the church, one can understand why Paul went after it with the fervor he did, and the reason he gave the Church the clearest systematic theological explanation of the bodily resurrection found in the New Testament scriptures.[11]

Paul was not alone in his theology of the resurrection. By the time the letter to the Hebrews was written (scholars believe it was in the late 60’s AD, just prior to the destruction of the temple in 70AD) the Apostle Paul would already have been dispatched by the Emperor Nero. Regardless, there exists no clear evidence as to who wrote this important document, but one thing is certain: The letter to the Hebrews is considered by Church scholars one of two[12] of the clearest expositions of Christian theology found within the New Testament writings.

According to the author of the Hebrew letter, the resurrection was treated as doctrine among the faithful, and one of the elemental principals of the faith concerning Christ. In other words, the resurrection is a foundational principal of the faith that need not be laid down again. In saying so, the author said, “let us go on to perfection”[13]

It was in this perfection, the author begins the letter, with the reminder how “God had spoken in the past at many times and in many ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us in a Son.”[14] The entire first chapter is a credit of profound proportions regarding what God has given, made and accomplished “in a son.”[15] Simply put, this single chapter in the letter to the Hebrews is by far the clearest theological exposition of who Jesus was, is, and has become.

Like Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, the author of the Hebrew letter does not use the argument that Jesus was actually God. Instead, we learn that Jesus is the one “who is (being) the brightness of God’s Glory and the express image of His person.”[16] Jesus is the one who “…has become so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”[17]

Within this context, and after presenting multiple scriptural references[18] to prove the status of the Son (presenting to the true believer in God what is to be believed concerning the Son), the Hebrew author was moved in the second chapter of the letter to explain that Jesus is the one we see,[19] since Jesus is the man who has been elevated above the angels[20] and now sits at the right hand of the throne of God.[21]

The believer who trusts in God sees Jesus of Nazareth as the man who was glorified.[22] Jesus is the firstborn of the dead, the first man to partake of the divine nature,[23] the first to be made a life-giving spirit,[24] the first man to be made immortal.[25] Jesus was dead, but now ever lives[26] because he was made immortal upon his resurrection from the dead.[27] In this one man, the one whom the author of the Hebrew letter beseeches his readers to see,[28] is our hope personified,[29] because He is the promise of what we, his people, shall be![30]

 

Returning to the Apostle Paul, as he dealt with the doctrinal issue of the resurrection for the Corinthian Church,[31] Paul specified exactly what happened during the resurrection. In his rhetorical style Paul answered his own question, “someone will ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?' You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.” [32] “So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”[33]

It was in his spiritual body that Jesus was raised. It was a body with flesh and bones,[34] a body with a mouth that could drink and eat food.[35] It was a body that could be seen, and yet not be recognized,[36] a body that could walk through walls and vanish as into thin air.[37] Jesus possessed the body of the New Man,[38] a body which, in this day and age, you and I would have trouble relating to.

Both Jesus and Paul taught that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.[39] When confronting Nicodemus, Jesus explained that a man must be born of water and spirit, if he was to enter into God’s kingdom. Jesus has entered that kingdom, possessing the new body.

Jesus, having been made of woman,[40] descended from David according to the flesh,[41] was raised with a spiritual body, and has since entered into the kingdom of His Father.[42] The apostles saw Jesus as the forerunner,[43] the firstfruits of those who had fallen asleep who would be raised in the newness of life through the resurrection power of God.

Jesus is the first of the order of the New Man[44] which God desired to create in His image and likeness. If the first Adam was “a type of him who was to come,”[45] then Jesus is the antitype—that is, the fulfillment. This was clarified when Paul contrasted Adam with Jesus in his theology of the first and last man.[46]

Throughout redemptive history, all who have come into this world and breathed its air will be found at the end of the age aligned[47] with one of these two men. The first man is of the earth; earthy, made of dust, the father of all those who are of the dust. The last Adam, Jesus, was raised up in the order of the new man.[48] He is the heavenly man, [49] the head of the body[50] and the father[51] of all those who will follow him through the resurrection power of God.

What makes Jesus the order of the New Man? Jesus is the first man to partake of the divine nature,[52] the first man over whom death has no more dominion.[53] This was a truth Paul highlighted in his letter to the Roman Church, saying, “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.”[54] Again, Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, wrote, “He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”[55] One can safely assume that one aspect of being found in the image of God would be immortality,[56] life eternal.[57]

For the children of God, all those who believe and trust in the promises of God—those saints found throughout all the ages, “for whom God foreknew”—is the hope of the great and precious promise to be a partaker of the divine nature. For God has “predestined His people; all His children,[58] to be conformed to the image of His Son, who is the image of God.”[59]

 

The second element to consider within the concept of Jesus as the firstborn is that he has become the preeminent one.[60] The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, wrote, “He (Jesus) is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”[61] Paul uses the subjunctive verb, might be, to describe Jesus’ preeminence. The use of the subjunctive would indicate that there was a time prior when Jesus was not preeminent. It would take the resurrection from out of the dead[62] to herald God’s preeminent one.

With the announcement of the preeminence of Jesus comes the declaration, "Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth.”[63] The cry from heaven has been heard, Jesus is "Lord of Lords and King of Kings."[64]

In the revelation God gave to Jesus,[65] (post-resurrection) we hear Jesus describing himself as “the beginning of the creation of God.”[66] This would make Jesus the new man,[67] the heavenly man,[68] so he may be the father of all those who are to inherit life eternal[69] and are to enter into the kingdom of God.[70]

As the prophet Isaiah wrote centuries earlier, the son that Yahweh promised to give to His people was to become and would be called, “the everlasting father.”[71] In the past, there were the fathers such as Abraham and the patriarchs, with each of their roles limited in the space/time of redemptive history. Not so with Jesus, as he is the everlasting father of the new order, “the beginning of the new creation of God.” For Yahweh declared, "Behold, I am making all things new."[72]

 

The apostles understood that Jesus, as the firstborn, the preeminent one of all creation, was the new man.[73] They saw Jesus as the head of the Church and the Church as his body.[74] In the wisdom and counsel of God, the mystery of the Church was disclosed, having been hidden in times past.[75] This mystery of the Church[76] embodies all of the called-out assembly,[77] the body which comprises Gods’ anointed[78] throughout redemptive history.[79]

The unveiling of the mystery reveals God’s purpose, "to put all things under his (Jesus’) feet and gave him as head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fullness of Him (God) who fills all in all.”[80]

 

In conclusion, Jesus, the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the seed of David, the Son of His love[81] through God's design and purpose, has been made preeminent over God's creation. The apostles saw Jesus as the heavenly man God has set above all creation, “that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”[82] From the scriptures, they understood that Jesus of Nazareth, coming through the seed of David, the son of a lowly carpenter, was made preeminent when God raised him from the dead and glorified him. Paul wrote to the Ephesians with this understanding, "'when all things (were) made subject to (Jesus) him,’ for it is God who ‘has put all things under His feet.’”[83]

The apostles also understood that when redemptive history comes to a close, “Then the Son himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under him that God (Yahweh) may be all in all.”[84]

 

However discouraging the Church may appear to us, while so divided and at odds within itself[85] both in doctrine and practice, this truth is certain: God is gathering a people for His name’s sake, and not one of His will be lost.[86] In His purpose of gathering a people for His name's sake, God is building His Church,[87] and continues to do so until the consummation of this age.[88] As Jesus taught His disciples, not even the gates of hell can prevail against her.[89]

The true child of God sees Jesus[90] as the glorified man,[91] the one who has been made preeminent and now sits at the Right hand of God. Jesus is the forerunner, the firstfruits of all those who in faith believe in the promise, with the hope that in the age to come[92] they will be like Him,[93] the one who has been declared, “the express image of God.”[94]

It is important to understand that inherent in the declaration of God's Word in the beginning was the goal that was revealed by Yahweh’s desire to create man in His image and likeness.[95] The goal was realized in Jesus of Nazareth, with the promise that all the children of God are to be conformed to his image.[96]

In this day of salvation[97] the path for those of faith was laid out by the Apostle Paul. It is the race[98] for the goal, “till we may all come to the unity of the faith and of the recognition of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to a measure of stature of the fullness of the Christ.”[99] The purpose of God has been established by the creation of the perfect man, to be consummated in the age to come,[100] “that God may (will) be all in all.”

At the end of this age, God’s desire and decree to make man in His image and likeness will be complete. The body of the new man will be complete. At present, the head has risen, and now sits as the glory of God upon the throne of God.[101]

The believer in God can rest in that hope, secure in this promise from God, “I will be their God and they shall be my people,”[102] for “He that sits on the throne shall dwell among them.”[103]

 

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