Passage

1 Corinthians 15.21-22

"For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:21-22, NASB95)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"19. If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable. 20. But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep."

"21. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive."

"23. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; then they that are Christ's, at his coming. 24. Then cometh the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power." (1 Corinthians 15:19-24, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"19. If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable. 20. But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep."

"21. For since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man. 22. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive."

"23. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s, at his coming. 24. Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power." (1 Corinthians 15:19-24, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 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."

"23. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 24. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power." (1 Corinthians 15:19-24, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"19. if in this life we have hope in Christ only, of all men we are most to be pitied. 20. And now, Christ hath risen out of the dead, the first-fruits of those sleeping he became,"

"21. for since through man [is] the death, also through man [is] a rising again of the dead, 22. for even as in Adam all die, so also in the Christ all shall be made alive,"

"23. and each in his proper order, a first-fruit Christ, afterwards those who are the Christ's, in his presence, 24. then, the end, when he may deliver up the reign to God, even the Father, when he may have made useless all rule, and all authority and power --" (1 Corinthians 15:19-24, YLT)

Paul's argument for bodily resurrection turns on a symmetry: the same kind of cause that brought death into the world brings resurrection out of it. The cause is anthropos, a man, functioning as covenantal head. Adam, the first head, brought death into a realm of those represented; Christ, the last head, brings resurrection into a realm of those represented. The two clauses of verse 22 read like a parallel diagram, "in Adam all die / in Christ all will be made alive," with the prepositional phrase doing the federal work. This is the apostolic anchor of federal headship Christology and the corresponding doctrine of bodily resurrection by representation.

Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle
Audience: the church in Corinth, including parties denying bodily resurrection
Location: composed in Ephesus
Time period: c. AD 53-55

Theological reading

Paul's logic depends on a parallel structure he develops more fully in Romans 5.12-21 and finishes in 1 Corinthians 15.45-49. Two men stand at the head of two humanities. Adam acts; his action ripples through those "in" him by natural descent and federal representation, and the ripple is death. Christ acts; his resurrection ripples through those "in" him by faith-union and federal representation, and the ripple is resurrection life. The grammar is en Adam and en Christo, "in Adam" and "in Christ", locative phrases that name the representative sphere.

The "all" in each clause has been pressed in different directions through Christian history. Universalists read both "alls" as coterminous: every human dies in Adam, and every human will be made alive in Christ, full stop. Most exegetes resist this, noting that verse 23 immediately qualifies the second "all" as "those who are Christ's, at his coming." On the standard reading, the "all" in each clause is exhaustive over the relevant group: all in Adam's sphere die, all in Christ's sphere will be raised to life. The verse is therefore not a universalist proof-text but a statement of representative completeness within two distinct headship-spheres.

The verse also serves Paul's logic against the Corinthian deniers of bodily resurrection (15:12). If Christ is not raised, the gospel collapses (15:14). And if there is no resurrection of believers, then Christ is not raised either, since his resurrection is the firstfruits of theirs (15:20, 23). Christ does not rise as a one-off; he rises as the federal head of a future general resurrection. Deny the general resurrection and you have denied the head's resurrection. Affirm the head's resurrection and you must affirm the general resurrection.

The apologetic force is double. First, the doctrine of original sin and the doctrine of resurrection rise or fall together: the same federal logic that explains how Adam's act reached us explains how Christ's resurrection reaches us. Second, bodily resurrection is not an ornamental afterthought of the gospel but its load-bearing climax: the Adam-Christ structure makes resurrection internal to the gospel's coherence. See Original Sin, Federal Headship, Resurrection of Jesus, Resurrection of the Body.

Key words

G2288 - thanatos, thanatos (death). The thing Adam-as-head transmits.
H0120 - adam, adam (man, Adam). The Hebrew name and noun underlying Paul's typology.
G0386 - anastasis, anastasis (resurrection). The countersignal that Christ-as-head transmits.
G1453 - egeiro, egeiro (to raise). The verb behind "Christ has been raised" in the surrounding verses.

Theological themes

Federal headship. Adam represents a humanity that dies in him; Christ represents a humanity that lives in him.
Last Adam Christology. Christ is not a religious teacher among others but a counter-head of the human race; see 1 Corinthians 15.45-49.
Resurrection as gospel-internal. The general resurrection is bound up with Christ's resurrection by the head-and-body logic; deny one and you deny the other.
Firstfruits structure. Christ's resurrection is the firstfruits of a coming harvest, not a private exception.
The "all" question. Coterminous "alls" within distinct headship-spheres, not a universalist single sphere.

Cross-references

Romans 5.12-21, the long-form Adam-Christ exposition.
1 Corinthians 15.45-49, "the last Adam became a life-giving spirit."
Genesis 2.17, the original death-sentence under Adam.
Romans 6.23, "the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus."
1 Corinthians 15.26, death as the last enemy to be abolished.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.