Five-minute study · Day 70 · 1 Corinthians 15
1 Corinthians 15:20
A word worth stopping on: firstfruits ἀπαρχή aparche
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Firstfruits. Paul reaches into the Levitical calendar and pulls out a farming ceremony. At the Feast of Firstfruits (Leviticus 23:10-11), the priest waved a single sheaf of grain before the LORD on the day after the Sabbath during Passover week. That lone sheaf was a guarantee. If the first of the harvest is in, the rest is coming. Paul says the resurrection works the same way. Christ is the single sheaf. The full harvest of resurrection is guaranteed by the one who came out of the ground first.
Word study: firstfruits
- Greek
- ἀπαρχή
- Pronounced
- aparche
- Strong's
- G0536
- Definition
- The first portion of a harvest or offering, presented as a pledge and guarantee of the full harvest to follow.
BDAG defines aparche as 'the first fruits of a harvest' and notes its use in the Septuagint for the Hebrew reshit and terumah, the first and best of the crop given to God. The word operates on two levels: the first portion is an offering (it belongs to God) and a guarantee (the rest will follow).
Leviticus 23:10-11 prescribes the ceremony. When Israel enters the land and reaps its harvest, they bring a sheaf (omer) of the firstfruits to the priest. The priest waves it before the LORD 'on the day after the Sabbath.' The timing during Passover week matters for Paul's argument. Christ was crucified at Passover. He rose on the day after the Sabbath. The Feast of Firstfruits, in the year of the crucifixion, fell on the day of the resurrection.
Fee, in his commentary on 1 Corinthians, emphasizes that aparche is a technical agricultural term and an argument. Paul is making a logical claim: if Christ has been raised (the firstfruits have been presented), then the full harvest (the resurrection of all who belong to him) is certain. You do not wave the first sheaf and then worry about whether the rest of the field will produce. The firstfruits guarantee the harvest.
The TDNT entry on aparche traces the concept through Paul's letters. Romans 8:23 calls the Holy Spirit the aparche of the coming glory. Romans 11:16 says if the firstfruits (the patriarchs) are holy, the whole batch is holy. Paul uses the farming logic repeatedly: the first portion sets the character of everything that follows. Christ's resurrection is the leading edge of a harvest that includes every believer who has died.
Historical context · First century AD
The Sheaf That Changed Everything
The Feast of Firstfruits was one of the three annual pilgrimage festivals when Israelite men were required to appear before the LORD (Deuteronomy 16:16). During Passover week, on the day after the Sabbath, the priest took a single sheaf of newly harvested barley, the earliest grain to ripen in the Judean spring, and waved it before the LORD in the temple. No one could eat from the new harvest until this ceremony was performed (Leviticus 23:14).
The timing in the year of the crucifixion aligns precisely. Jesus was crucified on Passover (Friday). He rested in the tomb on the Sabbath. He rose on Sunday, the day after the Sabbath, the day of the Firstfruits offering. Paul, a trained Pharisee who knew the liturgical calendar intimately, would have recognized the alignment immediately. The first sheaf was waved in the temple on the same day the tomb was found empty.
The agricultural reality behind the metaphor was visceral for an agrarian society. A farmer who saw the first heads of barley ready for harvest did not question whether the rest of the field would produce. The first sheaf rising out of the soil was proof of life in the entire field. If one stalk has broken through, the ground is warm, the rain has come, the conditions are right. The harvest is underway.
The Corinthians to whom Paul writes were dealing with doubts about resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:12). Some said there is no resurrection of the dead. Paul's aparche argument meets their skepticism with farming logic: you already have the first sheaf. You accepted that Christ rose. The same ground that produced the first sheaf will produce the rest. To deny the coming harvest while holding the firstfruits in your hand is a contradiction.
For reflection
The firstfruits sheaf was one stalk, waved in a temple, on a specific day. The entire future harvest depended on it. Christ's resurrection is the single sheaf. Every promise about your future, about death being temporary, about bodies being raised, rests on the fact that one body already came out of the ground. Take a moment with 1 Corinthians 15:20. The guarantee is already in hand. What are you still anxious about that the firstfruits have already settled?
No one ate from the new harvest until the firstfruits were offered. The ceremony had to come first. Christ came first. The rest follows.
Sources: BDAG Lexicon; TDNT; Fee, '1 Corinthians' (NICNT)