1 Corinthians 15:20

Amplified Bible

But now [as things really are] Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, [and He became] the first fruits [that is, the first to be resurrected with an incorruptible, immortal body, foreshadowing the resurrection] of those who have fallen asleep [in death].

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
But Christ really has been raised from death—the first one of all those who will be raised.

Revised Standard Version
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
But now is Christ rysen from deeth and is become the fyrst frutes of them that slept.

Hebrew Names Version
But now Messiah has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep.

International Standard Version
But at this moment Christ stands risen from the dead, the first one offered in the harvestthe first fruits">[fn] of those who have died.have fallen asleep">[fn]Acts 26:23; 1 Corinthians 15:23; Colossians 1:18; 1 Peter 1:3; Revelation 1:5;">[xr]

New American Standard Bible
But the fact is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

New Century Version
But Christ has truly been raised from the dead—the first one and proof that those who sleep in death will also be raised.

Update Bible Version
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those that are asleep.

Webster's Bible Translation
But now is Christ raised from the dead, [and] become the first-fruits of them that slept.

English Standard Version
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

World English Bible
But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
But now is Christ risen from the dead, the first-fruit of them that slept.

Weymouth's New Testament
But, in reality, Christ *has* risen from among the dead, being the first to do so of those who are asleep.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
But now Crist roos ayen fro deth, the firste fruit of deed men;

English Revised Version
But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep.

Berean Standard Bible
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Contemporary English Version
But Christ has been raised to life! And he makes us certain that others will also be raised to life.

American Standard Version
But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of them that are asleep.

Bible in Basic English
But now Christ has truly come back from the dead, the first-fruits of those who are sleeping.

Complete Jewish Bible
But the fact is that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have died.

Darby Translation
(But now Christ is raised from among [the] dead, first-fruits of those fallen asleep.

Etheridge Translation
BUT now hath the Meshiha risen from among the dead, and become the first-fruits of those who sleep.

Murdock Translation
But now the Messiah hath risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.

King James Version (1611)
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.

New Living Translation
But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

New Life Bible
But it is true! Christ has been raised from the dead! He was the first One to be raised from the dead and all those who are in graves will follow.

New Revised Standard
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But nowe is Christ risen from the dead, and was made the first fruites of them that slept.

George Lamsa Translation
But now we know Christ is risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of those who have died.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, now, hath Christ been raised from among the dead, - a firstfruit of them who have fallen asleep;

Douay-Rheims Bible
But now Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of them that sleep:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But nowe is Christe rysen from the dead, the first fruites of them that slept.

Good News Translation
But the truth is that Christ has been raised from death, as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised.

Christian Standard Bible®
But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

King James Version
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

Lexham English Bible
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Literal Translation
But now Christ has been raised from the dead; He became the firstfruit of those having fallen asleep.

Young's Literal Translation
And now, Christ hath risen out of the dead -- the first-fruits of those sleeping he became,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But now is Christ rysen from the deed, and is become ye first frutes of them that slepe.

Mace New Testament (1729)
But Christ is actually risen, as previous to those who were dead.

New English Translation
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

New King James Version
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Simplified Cowboy Version
But Christ did ride back from the grave. He was the first and the rest of his cowboys will follow.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

Legacy Standard Bible
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Contextual Overview

²⁰But now [as things really are] Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, [and He became] the first fruits [that is, the first to be resurrected with an incorruptible, immortal body, foreshadowing the resurrection] of those who have fallen asleep [in death]. ²¹For since [it was] by a man that death came [into the world], it is also by a Man that the resurrection of the dead has come. ²²For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. ²³But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ's [own will be resurrected with incorruptible, immortal bodies] at His coming. ²⁴After that comes the end (completion), when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after He has made inoperative and abolished every ruler and every authority and power. ²⁵For Christ must reign [as King] until He has put all His enemies under His feet. ²⁶The last enemy to be abolished and put to an end is death. ²⁷For HE (the Father) HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS (Christ's) FEET. But when He says, "All things have been put in subjection [under Christ]," it is clear that He (the Father) who put all things in subjection to Him (Christ) is excepted [since the Father is not in subjection to His own Son]. ²⁸However, when all things are subjected to Him (Christ), then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One (the Father) who put all things under Him, so that God may be all in all [manifesting His glory without any opposition, the supreme indwelling and controlling factor of life]. ²⁹Otherwise, what will those do who are being baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people even baptized for them?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

now: 1 Corinthians 15:4-8

the firstfruits: 1 Corinthians 15:23, Acts 26:23, Romans 8:11, Colossians 1:18, 1 Peter 1:3, Revelation 1:5

Reciprocal: Exodus 23:19 - first of the Exodus 34:26 - first Leviticus 2:12 - the oblation Leviticus 2:14 - a meat offering Leviticus 23:10 - sheaf Leviticus 23:17 - the firstfruits Numbers 15:20 - a cake Numbers 28:26 - in the day Deuteronomy 26:2 - That thou shalt 2 Chronicles 31:5 - came abroad Isaiah 26:19 - my dead Daniel 12:2 - many Matthew 8:11 - in Matthew 27:52 - many John 11:25 - I am John 14:19 - because Acts 7:60 - he fell 1 Corinthians 15:13 - General 1 Corinthians 15:15 - whom 1 Corinthians 15:51 - We shall not 2 Corinthians 4:14 - that 2 Corinthians 9:6 - I say Colossians 2:12 - wherein

Cross-References

Genesis 14:5
In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the [three] kings who were with him attacked and subdued the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

Isaiah 17:5
"And it will be like the reaper gathering the standing grain, As his arm harvests the ears of grain; Yes, it will be like one gleaning ears of grain In the [fertile] Valley of Rephaim.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But now is Christ risen from the dead,.... As was before proved by ocular testimonies, and before preached and asserted; and now reassumed and concluded, from the glaring contradictions, and dreadful absurdities that follow the denial of it:

and became the firstfruits of them that slept; who were already fallen asleep; respecting chiefly the saints that died before the resurrection of Christ; and if Christ was the firstfruit of them, there is no difficulty of conceiving how he is the firstfruits of those that die since. The allusion is to the firstfruits of the earth, which were offered to the Lord: and especially to the sheaf of the firstfruits, which was waved by the priest before him, Deuteronomy 26:2 and to which Christ, in his resurrection from the dead, is here compared. The firstfruits were what first sprung out of the earth, were soonest ripe, and were first reaped and gathered in, and then offered unto the Lord; so Christ first rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven, and presented himself to God; as the representative of his people; for though there were others that were raised before him, as the widow of Sarepta's son by Elijah, the Shunammite's son by Elisha, and the man that touched the prophet's bones when put into his grave, and Jairus's daughter, the widow of Naam's son, and Lazarus by Christ; yet as these did not rise by their own power, so only to a mortal life: but Christ, as he raised himself by his own power, so he rose again to an immortal life, and was the first that ever did so; he was the first to whom God showed, and who first trod this path of life. The firstfruits were the best, what was then ripest, and so most valuable; Christ is the first, and rose the first in dignity, as well as in time; he rose as the head of the body, as the firstborn, the beginning, that in all things he might have, and appear to have, as he ought to have, the pre-eminence. The firstfruits sanctified the rest of the harvest, represented the whole, gave right to the ingathering of it, and ensured it; Christ by lying in the grave, and rising out of it, sanctified it for his people, and in his resurrection represented them; they rose with him, and in him; and their resurrection is secured by his; because he lives, they shall live also. The firstfruits were only such, and all this to the fruits of the earth, that were of the same kind with them, not to tares and chaff, to briers and thorns; so Christ, in rising from the dead, is only the firstfruits of the saints; of such as are the fruits of his death and of his grace, who have the fruits of his Spirit in them, and are filled with the fruits of righteousness by him; just as he is the firstborn from the dead, with respect to the many brethren, whom he stands in the relation of a firstborn: once more, as the allusion is particularly to the sheaf of the firstfruits, it is to be observed, that that was waved before the Lord, the morrow after the sabbath, Leviticus 23:11 which, as the Jews f interpret, was the morrow after the first good day, or festival of the passover; the passover was on the fourteenth day of the month; the festival, or Chagiga, on the fifteenth, and which, in the year that Christ suffered, was a sabbath day also; and the morrow after that, the sheaf of the firstfruits was waved; now Christ suffered on the passover, rested in the grave on the seventh day sabbath, and on the morrow after that, rose from the dead, the very day that the first fruits were offered to the Lord: so that the allusion and phrase are very appropriately used by the apostle.

f Targum & Jarchi in Lev. xxiii. 11.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But now is Christ risen ... - This language is the bursting forth of a full heart and of overpowering conviction. It would seem as if Paul were impatient of the slow process of argument; weary of meeting objections, and of stating the consequences of a denial of the doctrine; and longing to give utterance to “what he knew,” that Christ was risen from the dead. That was a point on which he was certain. He had seen him after he was risen; and he could no more doubt this “fact” than he could any other which he had witnessed with his own eyes. He makes, therefore, this strong affirmation; and in doing it, he at the same time affirms that the dead will also rise, since he had shown 1 Corinthians 15:12-18 that all the objection to the doctrine of the resurrection was removed by the fact that Christ had risen, and had shown that his resurrection involved the certainty that his people also would rise. There is special force in the word “now” in this verse. The meaning may be thus expressed: “I have showed the consequences which would follow from the supposition that Christ was not raised up. I have shown how it would destroy all our hopes, plunge us into grief, annihilate our faith, make our preaching vain, and involve us in the belief that our pious friends have perished, and that we are yet in our sins. I have shown how it would produce the deepest disappointment and misery. But all this was mere supposition. There is no reason to apprehend any such consequences, or to be thus alarmed. “Christ” is “risen.” Of that there is no doubt. That is not to be called in question. It is established by irrefragable testimony; and consequently our hopes are not vain, our faith is not useless, our pious friends have not perished, and we shall not be disappointed.”

And become the first-fruits - The word rendered “first-fruits” (ἀπαρχὴ aparchē) occurs in the New Testament in the following places; Romans 8:23 (see the note on this place); Romans 11:16; Rom 16:5; 1 Corinthians 15:20, 1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Corinthians 16:15; James 1:18; Revelation 14:4. It occurs often in the Septuagint as the translations of חלב cheleb, “fat,” or “fatness” Numbers 18:12, Numbers 18:29-30, Numbers 18:32; as the translation of מצשׂרה ma‛asrah, “the tenth” or “the tithe” Deuteronomy 12:6; of צוון ‛awon, “iniquity” Numbers 18:1; of ראשׁית rē'shiyt, “the beginning, the commencement, the first” (Exodus 23:19; Leviticus 23:1; Numbers 15:18-19, etc.): of תּרמה t^eruwmah, “oblation, offering; lifting up; of that which is lifted up or waved as the first sheaf of the harvest,” etc. Exodus 25:2-3; Exodus 35:5; Numbers 5:9; Numbers 18:8, etc. The first-fruits, or the first sheaf of ripe grain was required to be offered to the Lord, and was waved before him by the priest, as expressing the sense of gratitude by the husbandman, and his recognition of the fact that God had a right to all that he had; Leviticus 23:10-14. The word, therefore, comes to have two:

1. That which is “first,” the beginning, or that which has the priority of time; and,
2. That which is apart and portion of the whole which is to follow, and which is the earnest or pledge of that; as the “first” sheaf of ripe grain was not only the first in order of time, but was the earnest or pledge of the entire harvest which was soon to succeed.

In allusion to this, Paul uses the word here. It was not merely or mainly that Christ was the first in order of time that rose from the dead, for Lazarus and the widow’s son had been raised before him; but it was that he was chief in regard to the dignity, value, and importance of his rising; he was connected with all that should rise, as the first sheaf of the harvest was with the crop; he was a “part” of the mighty harvest of the resurrection, and his rising was a “portion” of that great rising, as the sheaf was a portion of the harvest itself; and he was so connected with them all, and their rising so depended on his, that his resurrection was a demonstration that they would rise. It may also be implied here, as Grotius and Schoettgen have remarked, that he is the first of those who were raised so as not to die again; and that, therefore, those raised by Elisha and by the Saviour himself do not come into the account. They all died again; but the Saviour will not die, nor will those whom he will raise up in the resurrection die any more. He is, therefore, the first of those that thus rise, and a portion of that great host which shall be raised to die no more. May there not be another idea? The first sheaf of the harvest was consecrated to God, and then all the harvest was regarded as consecrated to him. May it not be implied that, by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, all those of whom he speaks are regarded as sacred to God, and as consecrated and accepted by the resurrection and acceptance of him who was the first-fruits?

Of them that slept - Of the pious dead; see the note on 1 Corinthians 15:6.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 20. But now is Christ risen — On the contrary, Christ is raised from the dead, and is become the first fruits of them that slept. His resurrection has been demonstrated, and our resurrection necessarily follows; as sure as the first fruits are the proof that there is a harvest, so surely the resurrection of Christ is a proof of ours. The Judaizing teacher at Corinth would feel the force of this observation much sooner than we can, who are not much acquainted with Jewish customs. "Although," says Dr. Lightfoot, "the resurrection of Christ, compared with some first fruits, has very good harmony with them; yet especially it agrees with the offering of the sheaf, commonly called omer, not only as the thing itself, but also as to the circumstances of the time. For first there was the passover, and the day following was a Sabbatic day, and on the day following that the first fruits were offered. So Christ, our passover, was crucified: the day following his crucifixion was the Sabbath, and the day following that, He, the first fruits of them that slept, rose again. All who died before Christ, and were raised again to life, died afterwards; but Christ is the first fruits of all who shall be raised from the dead to die no more."