"Each just specifies that the statement applies to every
element individually within a
set."
"1538 hékastos (from hekas, "separate") – each (individual)
unit viewed distinctly, i.e. as opposed to "severally" (as a
group)."
I contend that my breakdown of "each" matches the sense of "each" from the translation of hékastos.
""Definition: each, every
Usage: each (of more than two), every one."
My understanding is that this description of usage is describing two different cases of usage ("more than two" vs. "every one"). In most cases a given set will have more than two people, but the usage of "each" isn't restricted to only sets of more than two people. It might be the case that Biblehub is suggesting that
hékastos references more than two people in each instance of use (and maybe that's the case), but the word by itself doesn't necessarily imply more than two people. And I would argue that it might not necessarily be the case that each instance of
hékastos references any particular number of people (but it could be). It would be a derived context rather than a necessary context.
future to the statement itself.
We can also make present statements with "each".
"Each person in the room is the owner of a car"
The "each" that appears in the KJV of 1 Cor 15:23 seems ambiguous in terms of tense. "All be made alive" refers to a future state of "all" as a
group. So there is a future tense for that completion. But "every man in his own order" is an 'each' statement that describes
units within
groups of which there are two mentioned: "
Christ the firstfruits" and "
they that are Christ's".
I contend that "
Christ the firstfruits" is a group that contains only one unit (
Christ Himself).
I contend that "
they that are Christ's" is a group that contains multiple units of
Christians.
... I hope you are aware of the fact that I am pointing out Paul's use of two distinct words in this context...
I'm not an expert in Greek grammar. I have to do the same thing of largely just relying on what sites like Biblehub say on the topic, but my first thought is to look at this as the difference between:
"We went to church and after we went for a drive"
"We went to church and afterward we went for a drive"
There doesn't appear to be a functional difference between the two phrases because the utilised context of "after" and "afterward" is the same in these cases. The difference between the two could just be summed down to a choice in poetic style for literary cadence. With that in mind, we can look more deeply at "epeita" vs "eita" to determine if there are functional differences or if it is just a style choice.
If we look at Biblehub again (
https://biblehub.com/interlinear/1_corinthians/15-23.htm) we see that it even notes that epeita comes from eita (then) and epi (upon). NAS concordance defines "epeita" as "thereafter", which makes sense given its origin from eita and epi. Some internet dictionaries define "thereafter" as "after that" or "according to that"
"We went to church and after we went for a drive"
"We went to church and thereafter we went for a drive."
"After" refers to an instance that happens at some subsequent time. "Thereafter" is indicative of something subsequent denoted by the first event. Is there a contextual difference in 1 Cor 15:23, or is it literary emphasis? We can explore both interpretations. "Thereafter" can have a meaning of "from then and on". The context would still be after Christ's resurrection. We could explore "from then and on" as being indicative of men joining the "they that are Christ's" group over the course of time, but it wouldn't necessarily be divided like that (it's just a potential context when analyzing the passage in isolation).
"But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." - 1 Cor 15:23 KJV
"But
every man in his own order:
Christ the firstfruits; [thereafter] they that are
Christ's at his coming." - 1 Cor 15:23 KJV
(that is, like we would put in modern parlance, "firstfruit Christ, and ONLY once THAT takes place [...]
If we interpret
Christ the firstfruits as a group containing only
Christ, the context is that this has already taken place.
[...]THEN those OF Christ in the coming of Him,"
If we are following from "Christ is come" as a current event, this part of the verse just refers to anyone that has become Christian any time after His resurrection. The emphasis in that case would be just that resurrections unto life only happen after Christ's resurrection.
EPeita" is never used to speak of a lengthy interval between
I don't see anything that would substantiate that aside from the idea that epeita basically means "after that" while eita basically means just "after". I haven't found anything that would suggest an implied immediacy following from epeita, only that there is notable significance between Christ's resurrection and the resurrection of those in Christ (which goes without saying). I don't see why "Christ the firstfruits" would be a future item.
I'm pointing out that Paul uses these two distinct words purposely, here in this text.
I agree that the word choice seems intentional, but to me it feels more a word choice based in literary cadence rather than context.
Besides the fact that v.22b's "FUTURE [resurrection]" connects with BOTH items in v.23 (both coming under that "FUTURE" banner v.22b had just referred to, in the lead-up to verse 23's CONJUNCTION and its Subjects).
[Added colour-coding]
"20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so
in Christ shall all be made alive. [Future. Object: all]
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." - 1 Cor 15:20-23 KJV
If Christ is resurrected in 1st century AD and all Christians are resurrected on the last day, the statement "in Christ shall all be made alive" would still be true. If all Christians were resurrected piece by piece up until the last day, the statement would still be true because the future status of "
all shall be made alive" is different than "
each shall be made alive".
I contend that this passage alone doesn't give us enough information to tackle the question of post-trib/pre-trib/no-rapture.
Paul is not backtracking to speak of Jesus' Own Resurrection in v.23 ("firstfruit Christ"), which is what he was speaking about back in v.20.
My impression of the passage is that Paul would in fact be referring to Jesus' own resurrection in v23, with an allusion to the imagery of the oblation of firstfruits which initiates the covenant and thereafter (within the covenant) those that are Christ's (following in the footsteps of Christ through death and the resurrection).
Paul notes that "Jesus is become the firstfruits" meaning He became the firstfruits and continues presently to be the firstfruits. He then references Christ with the title of "the firstfruits" to emphasize that function.
I hope this covered all the points you had addressed.
Thank you for your thoughtful post. = )
And thank you for your thoughtful post in return.
We seem to still have differerent perspectives on:
1) What "Christ the firstfruits" means in v23
2) Whether eita vs epeita implies timing in this case
3) What tense v23 is in (whether Christ the firstfruits is future or present/past)
You might have mentioned some justification before, but there is a lot of thread to check back at if that's the case. If you have time, I'd value an expanded perspective on those three points.