DEATH SHALL BE ABOLISHED - 1 Cor. 15:20-28
Argument:
“This only means that believers will never die again.”
RESPONSES
Bob Evely
I would simply suggest that these folks are ignoring the context of the 1 Corinthians 15 passage (ALL in Adam … ALL in Christ, etc) and the many other ALL passages in Scripture. It is a case where their minds are made up that only believers will ever be saved; so they find it necessary to place limitations on what the Scriptures actually say, lest their doctrines fall apart.
Tony Nungesser
Death is abolished for the believer AT HIS PRESENCE. In 1 Cor.15:25 death is abolished AFTER Christ hands over the kingdom to God and all sovereignty, authority and power are done away. Then the rest of mankind will have death abolished for them and only then.
Kenneth Larsen
For me, 1 Cor. 15:20-28 is where the abolition of death is best detailed. And the subject is clearly all mankind. Plus, it says plainly that it is the LAST enemy, clearly detailing the subjection of all which must occur BEFORE. And there are clearly still kings during the New Jerusalem eon, so human authorities have yet to be nullified; Christ’s mission isn’t complete. Rev. 21:24. Death will be abolished for all mankind in three stages -1 Cor. 15:22-24. Then there are verses like Romans 5:18, 19.
“For this was the Son of God manifested, that He should be annulling the acts of the Adversary.” 1 John 3:8b (CLV) That includes the act of leading Adam and Eve into the knowledge of good and evil. Christ was manifested to annul not only sin, but also death. For the second death to be endless would mean that the acts of the Adversary would never be annulled.
If only believers never die again, then death would be abolished when Christ returns, wouldn’t it? That would be the consummation or “end.” Why then is there the 1,000 years? Isn’t Satan an enemy? Yet the Bible says that death is the last enemy. Satan is still rebellious after the 1,000 years.
I would ask them, “When do you think death will be abolished?”
If they say, “When Christ returns”, I would ask, “And the events of
Rev. 20:7-15, do they occur after or before Christ’s second coming?”
If they say, “After”, I would ask them if they had read 1 Cor. 15:20-28 lately. I would encourage them to do so and to notice that death will be the last enemy, and God will abolish it. If they agree with that, I would ask them, how can death be abolished when Christ returns if Satan will later attack the saints; wouldn’t that mean that there are still enemies besides death in existence? Wouldn’t the fact that the nations will be deceived and join Satan in opposing God prove that God will still have many enemies at that time? I would point out that 1 Cor. 15:24-27 shows that Christ will give up His kingdom to God
the Father once all enemies are subjected and death is abolished. And I would mention one of the parallel passages in Mk. 12:36, which shows that Christ will be at God’s right hand UNTIL a certain point in time, which is detailed in 1 Cor. 15. Then I would point out how Rev. 22:1-3 shows clearly that the consummation of 1 Cor. 15:24, when Christ will surrender the throne to His Father, will not yet have arrived during the New Jerusalem eon.
My POV is that God would not name the lake of fire the second death, make that death permanent, and yet claim that death had been abolished. It simply doesn’t make sense to me. To argue that death being abolished only means that believers will never die again is
similar to saying that slums being abolished only means no new slums will be created, leaving the existing slums unchanged.
James Coram
The context has in view all mankind (not simply believers):
Death was long ago instituted (“to die, you shall be dying”); and yet
this institution which, at present, is very much still in effect, one
day, will be abolished.
concordant.org/expohtml/Huma … cor15.html
See article above on this point also, for the likeness/parallel I
draw between, on the one hand, slavery, and on the other, death.
Martin Zender
A snippet from The Really Bad Thing About Free Will (2006), pages
66-67, by Martin Zender:
“God is now conciliated to all mankind (II Corinthians 5:19). This
blessing has come to us through the blood of Christ’s cross
(Colossians 1:20). God no longer holds men’s offenses against them (II
Corinthians 5:19). This same blood will reconcile all to Himself, both
that in the heavens and that on earth (Colossians 1:20).
The cross saves everyone, but not all at once (I Corinthians
15:22-23). Jesus Christ is a ransom for all, but the testimony of it
will not be seen until the eras designated to show it (I Timothy 2:6).
God will one day be all and in all (I Corinthians 15:28). How can He
be that if billions of the all remain dead or tortured?
Paul speaks of a time called the consummation, when death is to be
abolished (I Corinthians 15:26; II Timothy 1:10). If there will one
day be no more death, then the time is coming when even the second
death will cease to be. At this time, those formerly captured by it
will be delivered into the life won for them by Christ on the cross.
With no more death, nothing remains but life. Some come to Christ
sooner, some come later. But eventually, all come.”
When is the Consummation?
Does Christ abolish death at His second coming? Definitely not, and
here’s the evidence:
“For He must be reigning until He should be placing all His enemies
under His feet. The last enemy is being abolished: death.” 1 Cor.
15:25, 26. Yet we know that death is cast into the lake of fire 1,000
years after Christ’s second coming. Rev. 20:14. And the lake of fire
is the second death. So to claim that death is abolished at the second
coming is untenable. First, Christ must be reigning until all His
enemies are subjected; then death will be abolished. Yet we know that
Satan will still be in rebellion against God at the end of the 1,000
years. Rev. 20:7-10. We’re also told that Christ will be reigning
until “He may be giving up the kingdom to His God and Father, whenever
He should be nullifying all sovereignty and all authority and power.
For He must be reigning until He should be placing all His enemies
under His feet.” 1 Cor. 15:24, 25. Yet we know that there will be
kings on the new earth, after the 1,000 years have ended- Rev. 21:24;
22:5. So it is obvious that all sovereignty and all authority will not
yet have been nullified, nor will death have been abolished. Rev.
21:8. 1 Cor 15:22-25: “For even as, in Adam, all are dying, thus also,
in Christ, shall all be vivified. Yet each in his own class: the
Firstfruit, Christ; thereupon those who are Christ’s in His presence;
thereafter the consummation, whenever He may be giving up the kingdom
to His God and Father, whenever He should be nullifying all
sovereignty and all authority and power.” All are dying in Adam, or
through Adam, in his act of disobedience at the tree of knowledge. All
are vivified (made immortal) in Christ, or through Christ, in His act
of obedience- the death of the tree or cross. But mankind isn’t all
vivified at once; we’re divided into classes. The first class is
Christ, when He rose from the dead. The second class is “those who are
Christ’s in His presence”. “Thereafter the consummation” of
vivification, for the third class remains; those who are not Christ’s
at His presence. They also died in Adam, and they are included in
vivification, as Paul clearly states in Ro. 5:18, 19. So we know there
will be kings on the new earth; all authority will not yet have been
nullified. We also know that the second death will still exist at that
time; death will not yet have been abolished. “And the Adversary who
is deceiving them was cast into the lake of fire and sulphur, where
the wild beast and where the false prophet are also. And they shall be
tormented day and night for the eons of the eons.” Rev. 20:10. So the
Adversary will obviously still live up to his title long after Christ
returns; he will still be in torment in the final eon, that of the new
earth. And death is not abolished until all is subject to Christ- 1
Cor. 15:25-27. From Rev. 2:26, 27 and 12:5 we know that Christ will be
shepherding all the nations with an iron club. This will occur after
His second coming- Rev. 19:15. When Christ returns, loud voices in
heaven will say, “The kingdom of this world became our Lord’s and His
Christ’s, and He shall be reigning for the eons of the eons!” Rev.
11:15. Therefore it is impossible that the second coming be “the
consummation, whenever He may be giving up the kingdom to His God and
Father” 1 Cor. 15:24; Rev. 22:1-3. The consummation can only occur
after “the complement of the eras” described in Eph. 1:8-11; after the
eons of the eons; that is, after the 1,000 years and the final eon on
the new earth. Only then will death be abolished. Col. 1:20.
el•lip•sis
noun, grammar:
The omission from a sentence or other construction of one or more
words that would complete or clarify the construction.
Let’s examine two instances in the Bible where an ellipsis is used
with the Greek “eita” (thereafter).
In 1 Tim. 2:13 “for Adam was first molded, thereafter (eita) Eve…”
(ellipsis- “was molded”)
In 1 Cor. 15:22-24 “For even as, in Adam, all are dying, thus also, in
Christ, shall all be vivified. Yet each in his own class: the
Firstfruit, Christ; thereupon those who are Christ’s in His presence;
thereafter (eita) the consummation…” (ellipsis- “of the vivification
of all mankind”)
The “classes” or “orders” of vivification:
First, who is the subject; who will be vivified? 1 Cor. 15:22 “For
even as, in Adam, all are dying, thus also, in Christ, shall all be
vivified.” The Greek and the English are clear; just as all are mortal
in, or through, Adam, so also, all will be immortal in, or through,
Christ. The subject of 1 Cor. 15:22 is all mankind.
Second, what is vivification? Galatians 3:21 confirms the link between
vivification and righteousness. Resurrection need not include
vivification. Jn. 5:21. To be raised to mortality is not vivification.
Third, the classes of vivification. The Greek for “class” is Strong’s
5001, tagma; from tasso 5021; something orderly in arrangement (a
troop), i.e. (figuratively) a series or succession: -order.
sacrednamebible.com/kjvstrongs/STRGRK50.htm
Class one of vivification: “the Firstfruit, Christ”. This occurred
when Christ rose from among the dead.
Class two of vivification: “thereupon (epeita) those who are Christ’s
in His presence”. This occurs at Christ’s second coming, and may
include multiple resurrections occurring around the end of the present
eon and the commencement of the impending eon (the “millennium”).
There are also those who will be vivified without being resurrected,
having never tasted death- 1 Thes. 4:17. This is further evidence that
resurrection is not the equivalent of vivification; virtually all
Christians agree that all believers will be vivified.
The Greek New Testament does not have punctuation. Many versions place
a period at the end of verse 23. In contrast, the Concordant version
places a semicolon, for the train of thought continues into verse 24:
“thereafter the consummation…”. The consummation or “end” of what?- of
the vivification of all mankind. Just as in Romans 5:18, 19, Paul’s
subject here is all mankind. And the final class remains; those who
are not Christ’s in His presence. They will be subject to judgments
and many will have their part in the lake of fire, which for them will
be the second death. Nevertheless, all God’s enemies will be subjected
to Christ, and then Christ will be subjected to God, that the Father
may be “All in all”. 1 Cor. 15:20-28. The final enemy to be abolished
is death, and God describes the lake of fire as “the second death”.
Therefore, we end our study with:
Class three of vivification: “our Savior, Christ Jesus, indeed,
abolishes death”. 2 Tim. 1:10. This occurs at the end of the eons.
“Now God is He, not of the dead, but of the living, for all, to Him,
are living.” Luke 20:38. (See also Ro. 4:17; 1 Tim. 6:13; Phil.
2:9-11; Col. 1:15-20; 1 Tim. 4:9-11 and 2:1-6.) In Luke 20:38, God
displays a sort of “ellipsis”; He barely mentions the sin and judgment
of the eons to focus prophetically on His goal, to be All in all.