Nature Shows There Will Be a Resurrection

Chapter 24

1 Let us understand, dear friends, how the Master continually shows us the coming resurrection; of which He made the Lord Jesus Christ the firstfruit, when He raised Him from the dead.⁠ 2 Let us look, dear friends, at the resurrection that happens at its proper season. 3 Day and night show us the resurrection. The night falls asleep, and day arises; the day departs, and night comes on. 4 Let us note the crops, how and in what way the sowing takes place. 5 The sower goes out and casts each of the seeds into the earth;⁠ and these, falling into the earth dry and bare, decay; then out of their decay the might of the Master’s providence raises them up, and from one they multiply many times over and bear fruit.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Corinthians 15:20 and Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 24:1

New Testament · Early Christian

Summary

In 1 Clement, the author calls the raising of Jesus the firstfruit of a resurrection still to come, the term Paul uses in 1 Corinthians, and follows it so closely that Clement likely had the letter in front of him as he wrote.

Passages

1 Corinthians 15:20

New Testament

20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man. 22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has brought to an end all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

55–57 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Corinthians

Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 24:1

Early Christian · First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians

1 Let us understand, dear friends, how the Master continually shows us the coming resurrection; of which He made the Lord Jesus Christ the firstfruit, when He raised Him from the dead. 2 Let us look, dear friends, at the resurrection that happens at its proper season. 3 Day and night show us the resurrection. The night falls asleep, and day arises; the day departs, and night comes on. 4 Let us note the crops, how and in what way the sowing takes place. 5 The sower goes out and casts each of the seeds into the earth; and these, falling into the earth dry and bare, decay; then out of their decay the might of the Master’s providence raises them up, and from one they multiply many times over and bear fruit.

90–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Clement of Rome, 1 Clement

References

“... Clement’s use of ἀπαρχή to refer to the resurrection of Jesus as the first fruits of the general resurrection suggests that Clement draws on Pauline teaching about the resurrection contained in 1 Corinthians 15. Clement’s emphasis on the future resurrection of the dead ([...] cf. 1 Cor. 15. 12, 51–5) and his use of the image of the seeds of corn (1 Clem. 24. 4; cf. 1 Cor. 15. 36–7) give further support to the strong likelihood that Clement here depends on 1 Corinthians. Lindemann suggests that the parallels are so clear that one is compelled to conclude that Clement had the text of 1 Corinthians directly before him as he wrote. ...”

Andrew Gregory and Christopher Tuckett, eds., The Reception of the New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 148.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Nature Shows There Will Be a Resurrection

1 Clement65 chapters

Compare 1 Corinthians 15:20 and Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 24:1

Summary

Passages

1 Corinthians 15:20

Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 24:1

References

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