1 Corinthians 15:20-28 as a Universalist Prooftext

    Throughout history, many universalists (both past and present) have used 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 as a prooftext for the eventual salvation of all. Even as early as Ignatius of Antioch in the early second century, we see the “destruction of death”, per 1 Cor. 15:26, as a precursor to the Origenian universal apokatastasis (Ep. ad Eph. 19). For this reason, I would like to take the time to exegete this passage in its context and demonstrate exactly why it is such a powerful prooftext for universal salvation, and how it refutes both infernalism and conditionalism.

    The Context

This passage is set in the context of 1 Cor. 15, a chapter regarding Paul’s gospel, the resurrection, and to a lesser extent eschatology, as well as the larger context of the epistle to the Corinthians as a whole. 1 Corinthians (actually Paul’s second letter to Corinth) was written near the middle of Paul’s ministry, in circa 53 - 54. This epistle was written to correct many doctrinal and moral problems in the Corinthian church.

    The beginning of the epistle, in the first three chapters, deals with disputes in the church over whether different leaders should be followed, whether Paul, Apollos, Peter, or Christ Himself. Paul explains that no church leader should be followed apart from Christ, because it is Christ and His crucifixion that is the foundation of their faith, although foolishness to the world. Although Paul and Apollos helped to found and build up the church at Corinth, no one can build on a foundation apart from Jesus Christ, and all works that are done apart from Him will be burned up. He concludes this section by saying, “let no one glory in men, for all things are yours... and you [are] Christ’s, and Christ [is] God’s” (1 Cor. 3:20, 23).

    After a short excursus on the purpose of ministers (primarily stewards and teachers, not leaders), chapters five through ten deal with issues of morality in the Corinthian church. Sexual immorality, including adultery and temple prostitution (which in Paul’s eyes is equivalent to idolatry; 1 Cor. 6:15-20), have grown rampant, and Paul writes to them to correct this. Eating food sacrificed to idols is acceptable, but could cause to stumble the brethren who still think it is sinful (1 Cor. 8:9-13). Although we have been freed and justified from sin, and so theoretically all things are acceptable to us, we must be careful to seek the profit of others and “become offenseless” (1 Cor. 10:31-33).

    After another excursus in chapter eleven regarding church traditions on gender roles and communion, Paul continues on to talk about spiritual gifts. He says that though there may be diversity of gifts in the church, there is still one Body of Christ, and the many members of that Body must work in union. This leads into a segue about love, for Paul believes that αγαπη love will allow the church to remain unified through diversity. Finally, in chapter fourteen, the gifts of tongues and prophesy are compared, and Paul concludes that although prophesy is more advantageous than speaking in tongues, both spiritual gifts are good and not to be forbidden if “done decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40).

    Finally, we have reached chapter 15, the immediate context of the passage at hand. After discussing the many political, moral, and spiritual divisions within the Corinthian church, Paul turns to the two things that unite the entire Church: the gospel under which they have been saved, and the hope of the resurrection. “Now I am making known to you, brothers, the good news that I proclaimed to you... and by which you are being saved... that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:1-4).

    After describing his gospel, Paul attacks a dangerous heresy that has arisen in the church: a denial, not only of the general resurrection, but of the resurrection of Christ Himself. However, as he says, if Christ is not risen, then our faith is absolutely futile, for we are still in our sins (1 Cor. 15:17). Moreover, if Christ is not risen, then there will be no resurrection of His Church either; those who have died have truly perished! It’s at this point that Paul enters a brief aside on the ultimate conclusion of history connected to the resurrection, and the final state at the eschaton (1 Cor. 15:20-28; the passage in question).

    After this, Paul returns to the topic at hand, the denial of the resurrection. If there is no resurrection, he says, then there is no point in risking death every day as he does, for there is no profit after death. He then addresses the question of what body those who are raised will have. To answer this, he explains that we will be raised in a ‘heavenly’ and ‘spiritual’ body, just as Christ was. When we are raised at the last trumpet, we will be made imperishable and immortal, no longer held captive to death, sin, or the law (1 Cor. 15:50-56). He finally ends the chapter with an exhortation to the Corinthians to remain steadfast in their work for the Lord.

    The structure of 1 Corinthians 15 appears to be chiastic in nature, like so:

A: Hold fast in the good news which Paul evangelized to the church (vv. 1 - 11)

B: The truth of the resurrection of Christ (vv. 12 - 17)

C: If there is no resurrection, then there is no hope (vv. 18 - 19)

D: Resurrection and the eschaton (vv. 20 - 28)

C’: If there is no resurrection, then there is no point in living righteously (vv. 29 - 34)

B’: The truth of the resurrection of the Body of Christ (vv. 35 - 57)

A’: Remain steadfast and immovable in the work of the Lord (v. 58)

    This chiastic structure places the emphasis of 1 Corinthians 15 on the central passage, which is verses 20 through 28, the main subject of this article. Thus, whatever point Paul was trying to get across about the resurrection in this chapter, verses 20 through 28 are an absolutely integral part of that message. Interestingly, there seems to be a much smaller-scale chiasmus in 1 Cor. 15:24-28 as well:

“Then the end:”

A: “when He shall hand over the kingdom to the God and Father”

B: “when He shall have abolished all dominion and all authority and power”

C: “For it befits Him to reign until He shall have put all the enemies under His feet”

D: “The last enemy being abolished is death”

C: “For He has subjected all things under His feet”

B: “Now when it may be said that all things have been subjected, it is evident that the One having subjected all things to Him is excepted”

A: “Now when all things shall have been subjected under Him, then also the Son Himself shall be subjected to the One having subjected all things to Him, so that God may be the all things in all”

    Thus, it seems likely that the main point of the passage is the ultimate abolition of death, which connects to the overarching theme of resurrection throughout this chapter. We will now move on to exegesis of the passage itself.

    Exegesis of 1 Cor. 15:20-28

Νυνὶ δὲ Χριστὸς ἐγήγερται ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀπαρχὴ τῶν κεκοιμημένων

verse 20: “Yet now Christ has been raised out of the dead, a firstfruit of the ones having fallen asleep.”

This verse is fairly straightforward, a proclamation of the truth of Christ’s resurrection, which continues Paul’s train of thought in verses 12 through 17 regarding the reality of this Resurrection. The fact that Christ is merely a “firstfruit” or the ‘beginning’ of ones having fallen asleep demonstrates that others will also be resurrected to immortality in the future, which is the main focus of the rest of chapter 15.

ἐπειδὴ γὰρ δι’ ἀνθρώπου θάνατος, καὶ δι’ ἀνθρώπου ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν

verse 21: “For whereas death [was] through a man, also through a man [was] resurrection of the dead.”

This parallel between the sin of Adam, which brought death, and the righteous act of Jesus Christ, which brought life and resurrection from the dead, reiterates Paul’s parallelism between Adam and Christ in Romans 5:12-19 (written around the same time as this). Although the full significance of this parallelism is not explored until later in this passage, in Paul’s estimation, Adam’s sin (which brought death to all men) cannot have been greater in effect than Christ’s righteous sacrifice, and so through Christ not only all men but the whole creation will be restored (Rom. 8:21, Col. 1:20).

ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ πάντες ἀποθνῄσκουσιν, οὕτως καὶ ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ πάντες                   ζῳοποιηθήσονται.

verse 22: “For just as in Adam all are dying, so also in Christ, all will be made alive.”

There are four separate interpretations of this particular verse.

    The first interpretation is a typical infernalist reading, which argues that this verse refers to the general resurrection by which all will be made immortal, and then the unbelievers will be cast into the Lake of Fire to be tormented (Rev. 20:11-15). This interpretation deals with the problem that the vivification spoken of in this passage is specifically related to the reconciling work of Christ, as in the previous verse. According to infernalism, if Christ had not died on the cross, all people would have risen in the general resurrection regardless and been cast into the Lake of Fire as punishment for their sins. Therefore, this interpretation fails based on the immediate context of the verse.

    The second interpretation is an annihilationist reading which is a slight variation on the first. According to this interpretation, the verse also refers to the general resurrection; however, unbelievers will not be made immortal, and will be cast into the Lake of Fire to be annihilated. This has the same problem, that the immediate context of the verse relates this vivification to Christ’s righteous act on the cross, and yet annihilationists argue that the general resurrection of unbelievers would have occurred regardless of Christ’s crucifixion. 

    The third interpretation is common among all non-universalists, including conditionalists. This interpretation argues that Adam and Christ are to be regarded as ‘federal heads’ of the groups which they affect: that is, those who are “in Adam”, which includes all mankind, are dying, but only those “in Christ”, which includes all believers, will be made alive through His reconciling work. This is a much stronger interpretation than the first two, but suffers from the issue that it would require shifting around the original word order of this verse. Paul was clear when he said that “in Christ, all will be made alive” rather than saying that “all in Christ will be made alive”, as he did in 1 Thess. 4:17 to describe the resurrection of believers specifically at Christ’s second coming. It is also untenable in light of verse 26, as described below.

    The fourth and only remaining interpretation is the universalist interpretation, which argues that Paul uses the parallelism between Adam and Christ to describe the scope of the resurrection in question (all of humanity), and relates it to Christ’s righteous act on the cross to describe the quality of the resurrection in question (for reconciliation rather than punishment). This is the only interpretation which stands up to scrutiny when compared to both the original wording and context of 1 Corinthians 15:22.

ἕκαστος δὲ ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ τάγματι: ἀπαρχὴ Χριστός, ἔπειτα οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν τῇ παρουσία αὐτοῦ

verse 23: “Yet each in their own order: Christ a firstfruit, then those of Christ in His presence,”

This verse begins to expound upon the order of the resurrection of all mankind (see above). The first group to be resurrected is Christ Himself, as described in verse 20, where he is said to be “a firstfruit of the ones having fallen asleep [died]”. The second group includes all those of Christ, or all believers, who will be resurrected “in His presence” as described by Paul in 1 Thess. 4:13-18 (which was written earlier in his ministry).

εἶτα τὸ τέλος ὅταν παραδιδῷ τὴν βασιλείαν τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρί ὅταν καταργήσῃ πᾶσαν ἀρχὴν καὶ πᾶσαν ἐξουσίαν καὶ δύναμιν

verse 24: “then the end: when He shall hand over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He shall have abolished all dominion and all authority and power.”

The “end”, or τελος, which Paul refers to at the beginning of this verse could refer to two separate things. For one, it may refer to the “end” of the resurrections, as τελος often refers to a closure or a fulfillment. This is the most straightforward reading, as there is necessarily a third group (unbelievers) to be resurrected alongside Christ and believers, per verse 22, and would complete the list of those resurrected: “Christ a firstfruit, then those of Christ in His presence, then the end”. In this interpretation, the chiasmus of verses 24 through 28 describes the timing of this final resurrection, just as “in His presence” describes the timing of the resurrection of believers.

    On the other hand, it is also possible that the τελος refers to the literal end, either the consummation of Christ’s kingdom or the consummation of the ages, at which time Christ’s redemptive work will be fully manifested (Heb. 9:26). However, the problem with this interpretation is that this would leave at least one group (unbelievers) unresurrected according to the list in verses 23 - 24, whereas verses 22 and 26 require that all of humanity is resurrected. Instead, it’s likely that Paul was using a play on words in this verse: the third group resurrected is not only the τελος of the resurrection, but is resurrected at the τελος of the ages as well.

    Christ’s handing over of His kingdom to the Father is paralleled in verse 28 (via chiasmus) with Christ’s own subjection to God. This has sometimes been construed as contradictory to Luke 1:33, which states that “of His kingdom there will be no end”. However, just because Christ’s actual reign over the kingdom of God will eventually end does not mean that the kingdom itself will ever end. As an analogy, imagine a viceroy who, after ruling his satrapy for decades, steps down and allows his king to take his place; just because the viceroy is no longer ruling does not mean that the satrapy itself has ended, it merely exists in a different form and under a different rulership. In the same way, Christ and His kingdom will eventually be subjected to the Father, but this does not mean that the kingdom will cease to exist.

δεῖ γὰρ αὐτὸν βασιλεύειν ἄχρι οὗ θῇ πάντας τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ

verse 25: “For it befits Him to reign until He shall have put all the enemies under His feet.”

This statement that all enemies will be subjected under Christ’s feet is again repeated in verse 27. The significance of this, however, and its relation to the resurrection is only explained in the next verse:

ἔσχατος ἐχθρὸς καταργεῖται ὁ θάνατος

verse 26: “The last enemy being abolished is death.”

Based on the chiastic structure of verses 24 through 28, and the larger chiasmus enveloping the entire chapter, this is the most significant verse of 1 Corinthians 15 and lies at the heart of Paul’s point throughout his treatise on resurrection. For if death itself will eventually be abolished, this means that not only will all of humanity be resurrected, but will be resurrected to immortality (as when death, θανατος, is abolished, everything that is left will be αθανατος, immortal). This absolutely refutes annihilationism and conditionalism, the views that believers alone will eventually have immortality, and shows that the idea that only the resurrection of believers is in view in verse 22 is false (the third interpretation above).

    Furthermore, if death itself is to be abolished, then the Lake of Fire, which is called “the second death” (Rev. 20:14; 21:8), will also be emptied. This does not refute the infernalist interpretation of the Lake of Fire, which sees it as a place of torment rather than literal death, but does show that the annihilationist view of the Lake of Fire, if true, cannot be eternal.

    There may also be a more allegorical interpretation of the abolition of death. As Paul goes on to say, “Where, O death, is your sting? where, O Hades, your victory? and the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin, the law” (1 Cor. 15:55-56). This suggests that sin and law will be abolished along with death at the final resurrection. In this case, the infernalist idea that the majority of humanity will eternally remain in separation from and in open rebellion against God is entirely impossible (if it was ever feasible in the first place). Moreover, if it is true that “sin is not imputed when there is not law” (Rom. 5:13), then once sin and the law are done away with at the final resurrection, there can be no more condemnation nor a need for wrath (Rom. 4:15).

πάντα γὰρ ὑπέταξεν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ ὅταν δὲ εἴπῃ ὅτι πάντα ὑποτέτακται δῆλον ὅτι ἐκτὸς τοῦ ὑποτάξαντος αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα

verse 27: “For He has subjected all things under His feet. Now when it may be said that all things have been subjected, it is evident that the One having subjected all things to Him is excepted.”

Christ’s subjection of all things, as described in verses 25 and 27, is also paralleled elsewhere in Pauline literature, especially Philippians 2:9-11 and 3:21. In these contexts, it is not presented as a subjection of wrath or judgment, but a subjection of reconciliation. Php. 2:9-11 visualizes the subjection under Christ as a time when all people will bow and acknowledge Him as Lord, whereas Php. 3:21 explicitly connects this time to the resurrection, when “our body of humiliation” will be transformed into “the body of His glory”.

    Similarly, the passage of Ephesians 1:21-23 connects the putting of all things under Christ’s feet with the same subjection by which He is the head of the Church, i.e., via reconciliation. It is certain that Paul had the same subjection in mind here as he does in 1 Cor. 15:24-28. Not only does he explicitly remark “all things He put under His feet”, which is an almost identical statement to verse 25, but also describes Christ’s subjection of “all principality, and authority, and might, and lordship” in parallel with verse 24, and goes on to say how God is “filling all things in all”, in parallel with verse 28.

    Furthermore, the subjection of all things to Christ is paralleled in v. 28 with the subjection of Christ to God. Unless we are to believe that Christ will be subjected to God “at the end of a sword”, the subjection of all things to Christ must also be a willing subjection, one of reconciliation rather than judgment.

    This idea of ‘subjection as salvation’, in relation to 1 Cor. 15:27-28, was first introduced by Origen of Alexandria in the third century. He argued this by comparison with Psalms 62:1 (LXX), where David writes, “Will not my soul be subjected to God? For from Him is my salvation.” Although it is certainly a stretch to interpret Paul’s words through a psalm, Paul definitely connects subjection to Christ with reconciliation throughout his epistles, and so it is reasonable to believe that Paul is referring to the reconciliation of all people when he speaks of the ‘subjection of all things’.

ὅταν δὲ ὑποταγῇ αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, τότε καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ υἱὸς ὑποταγήσεται τῷ ὑποτάξαντι αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, ἵνα ᾖ ὁ θεὸς τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν.

verse 28: “Now when all things shall have been subjected under Him, then also the Son Himself shall be subjected to the One having subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all things in all”

Based on the chiastic structure of 1 Cor. 15:24-28, this verse is paralleled with Christ’s return of the kingdom to the God and Father. Because of Christ’s eventual subjection under God, this verse is sometimes given a subordinationistic interpretation. Origen sidestepped this issue by interpreting subjection as salvation (see above), by which he suggested that Christ was not becoming ‘lesser’ than God, but merely subsumed within God Himself. This is a possible interpretation, but ultimately not inherent to the text, in my opinion. However, since doctrines of the Trinity are not the main focus of this article, I will put off the issue for now.

    Another important point within this verse is that God will be “all things in all” (this motif is repeated in Eph. 1:23, as noted above). The significance of this is that God will not only be all things after the final resurrection, but He will be in all things. This absolutely refutes infernalism, since if God will truly be in all things, it is impossible that any person or any part of creation could remain eternally separated from Him, outside of His salvific influence. As Origen said in the third century:

So, again, nothing that is wicked must be supposed to attain to that end, lest, while God is said to be “in all things”, He may also be said to be in a vessel of wickedness. For if we now assert that God is everywhere and in all things, on the ground that nothing can be empty of God, we nevertheless do not say that He is now all things in those in whom He is. And hence we must look more carefully as to what that is which denotes the perfection of blessedness and the end of things, which is not only said to be God in all things, but also “all in all”. Let us then inquire what all those things are which God is to become in all. I am of opinion that the expression, by which God is said to be “all in all”, means that He is all in each individual person. Now He will be all in each individual in this way: when all which any rational understanding, cleansed from the dregs of every sort of vice, and with every cloud of wickedness completely swept away, can either feel, or understand, or think, will be wholly God; and when it will no longer behold or retain anything else than God, but when God will be the measure and standard of all its movements; and thus God will be all, for there will no longer be any distinction of good and evil, seeing evil nowhere exists; for God is all things, and to Him no evil is near… so that when all feeling of wickedness has been removed, and the individual has been purified and cleansed, He who alone is the one good God becomes to him all, and that not in the case of a few individuals, or of a considerable number, but He Himself is “all in all”. (De Principiis 3.6.2-3)

The reasoning here is clear. Since God will be in all things, not just a minority of people (believers), but all people, and it is impossible for God to dwell within anything that is wicked or evil, there will be no wickedness, evil, or rebellion after the final resurrection. All people will be in God, and God in them, in full communion. Although this does not disprove annihilationism, because if the unbelievers are annihilated it is possible for God to be in all things without being in them, it definitely shows that no part of creation will end up separated from God after the final resurrection. Thus, verse 28 demonstrates beyond a doubt that infernalism is false.

Conclusion

1 Corinthians 15:20-28 remains one of the strongest prooftexts in the Bible for universalism. This proof is fourfold:

1. All people will be resurrected in Christ, through his redemptive work on the cross, per verses 21 and 22. This is strong evidence that all people will be saved, and so universalism is true.

2. Death will be absolutely abolished, per verse 26. This demonstrates that annihilationism and conditionalism are false, because for death to be abolished, all people must eventually be resurrected to immortality.

3. At the final resurrection, all things will finally be subjected to Christ, per verses 25 and 27. By comparison with other places in the Pauline corpus where subjection to Christ is mentioned, this is strong proof that ‘subjection to Christ’ is reconciliation, which means that all people will finally be reconciled to God.

4. After the final resurrection, God will be “all things in all”, per verse 28. This means that it is impossible for any person or any part of creation to remain separated from God, and therefore infernalism is false.

Therefore, this passage leaves absolutely no doubt as to the eventual fate of unbelievers; they will be resurrected to immortality and salvation at the consummation, and come to be in full communion with God.

    Furthermore, it is not true that, as some non-universalists have objected, this passage is merely tangential to Paul’s treatise on resurrection, and so should not be given too much weight. Rather, the chiastic structure of 1 Corinthians 15 demonstrates that verses 20 through 28 are actually the main focus of this chapter. The final abolition of death in verse 26 is the focus of another smaller-scale chiasmus in 1 Cor. 15:24-28, which shows that this is one of the ultimate goals of the resurrection. Thus, 1 Cor. 15:20-28 is an important part of Paul’s treatise on the resurrection; to Paul, the eventual vivification and reconciliation of all people is integral to understanding the truth of the resurrection.