The word “first-fruits” is used 34 times in the Holy Scriptures.  Anciently, the word applied to the first of Israel’s annual harvest to appear.  Relative to fruit, the “first-fruit” was an early, very-small production which was extremely sweet.  The main, much larger crop would appear later.  First-fruits were greatly cherished and, being few in number, extremely expensive.  Relative to God’s true church which came into being on the Day of Pentecost 31 A.D. and will endure until Christ’s next appearance, those who come to Him during that time are what He calls His “first-fruits.”  In Romans 8:23 the Apostle Paul calls those who will have embraced Christ and obeyed Him until His return “the first-fruits of the (Holy) Spirit.”   The Spirit fell upon Christ’s disciples in the upper room some 1991 years ago.  It is by the Spirit’s power that true God seekers are able obey His Law and qualify for eternal life.  First-fruits are those whom the Apostle Peter was referring to in 1 Peter 4:17,18 where he wrote that judgment was on-going in God’s church, and that “only the righteous (in the church) will be saved.”  The righteous are those who “obey the gospel of God,” also referred to as “Word” of God and the “Truth” of God as Jesus noted in John 17:17.  His Word (Genesis to Revelation) is also called the Law (1 Jn. 3:4), which He condensed into the Ten Commandments and wrote on stone tablets.  Simply put, upon Christ’s return, God’s first-fruits will be those who will have believed and obeyed His Word between creation week and Christ’s Second Advent.  On that soon-coming day those who have “died in the Lord,” along with those who will be “walking (living) in with the Lord” will be taken up into the clouds where He will be awaiting their arrival, thereby completing the first resurrection–the “resurrection of the saints.”  From there they will descend to the Mount of Olives.  They will then enter Jerusalem where Christ will establish the Kingdom of God.  Let us now turn to the 15th chapter of Paul’s letter to the Corinthian Church in which he addresses a problem that has arisen among her members regarding the resurrection of the dead (first-fruits) at the end of this age.  I have broken the chapter into four segments.  In some cases we will delve deeply into specific subject matter, while in other areas we will take a more general approach.  Let us begin.

Let us first be reminded that Paul received his gospel directly from Christ Himself (Galatians 1:12).  This Truth reveals the importance of what Paul writes.  In Romans 1:16 Paul calls that message “the Gospel of Christ,” meaning Christ’s message which we must believe and obey until the end of life in order to be saved (Mat. 10:22).  The subject of Christ’s message was the Kingdom of God that He (Christ) would establish on earth following the resurrection of the first-fruits.

In the first segment of this series we will study verses 1-23 where, in the first two verses, we find Paul making two very important statements.  In verse one he states that God’s true saints “stand” on His Gospel message as it is written, not on church doctrine which is man’s interpretation of God’s Gospel.  See the Introduction to this website for some examples of false “truths” upon which the false church stands.  Paul had founded and established the Corinthian Church on the Gospel Christ had given him.  This was the Gospel upon which each individual in the church must stand.  In verse two he makes a statement that is summarily rejected by the whole of professing Christendom.  He states that the true saints in the church “are saved.”  It is at this point (“headline”) that false saints stop reading.  But notice the rest of the statement in which he writes that people in the church were saved: “IF YOU BELIEVE AND OBEY WHAT I HAVE TAUGHT YOU.”  Otherwise they will have “BELIEVED IN VAIN.”  Have we not been told time and again that we are (now) saved by faith? and that nothing else is expected of us?   The Apostle James addresses this church “truth” by asking: “Can faith save you?” (2:14).  He goes on to say that “faith without works (of holiness) is dead” (2:17,20,26).  We live by our faith.  Therefore dead faith produces a dead believer.  Dead (workless) faith can save no one.  James declares that faith must be accompanied by “works” of faith if salvation is our goal.  These “works” are defined in verses 9-12 as obedience to God’s Law.  Following conversion, one must obey God’s Law in order to be one of His first-fruits who will be resurrected upon Christ’s return to earth.  This Truth is summed up in verse 34: “Live in righteousness by not sinning” (not breaking God’s Law–1 Jn. 3:4).  Some in the church did not accept this possibility.  Their modern day descendants have the same attitude, after all, did not Adam make righteousness (sinlessness) impossible?  See James 2:10.

Concerning believing God in vain.  Is it possible to actually worship Jesus Christ, but to do so in vain?  Jesus Himself spoke to this Truth in Matthew 15:8,9: “These people speak well of Me, but their hearts are far from Me.  IN VAIN do they WORSHIP ME BY TEACHING THEIR OWN COMMANDMENTS RATHER THAN MY DOCTRINES.”  Note that they WORSHIPED HIM but did not obey His Words.  Their worship was all in vain.  Their worship included praying, singing, tithing, Sabbath-keeping, Holy Day observances, etc.  God told the Israelites that He HATED their worship of Him because they refused to obey Him (Amos 5:21).  Note that He hated the very things He commanded them to do.  The message is this: God hates our attempts to honor of Him if we have sin in our lives.  Sin separates us from Him (Isa. 59:2) because He cannot look upon sin (Hab. 1:13).  If we have sin in our lives He does not see us and therefore does not hear us.  Read 2 Chronicles 7:14.  Note that it is only AFTER the repentant turns away from sin and walks with the Lord that He will hear his prayer.  Now back o 1 Corinthians 15.

In verses 12-19 Paul addresses those in the Corinthian Church who did not believe that man would be resurrected from the dead.  As we will see, modern day professing Christendom agrees with them.  Paul points out that if man is not resurrected, then Christ was not resurrected, and if that be so, then all the prophets and apostles’ preaching will have been in vain.  All faith will have been in vain and church people will remain in their sins.  This means that all who have believed in Christ have believed in vain.  L.J.