Timtofly
Well-Known Member
The passage is not really about Christ being presented as made alive. Adam's offspring is made alive by Christ. You read the verses like this:In the reference here to “firstfruits,” Paul is effectively outlining an existing truth. He is stating how Christ is currently “the firstfruits,” rather than merely was or will be. The reference here to “the firstfruits” therefore is simply made in the context of what Christ is today rather than describing the actual resurrection event that occurred years before Paul wrote this Epistle. That’s why Paul could assuredly write, many years after Christ’s physical resurrection, “NOW is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” Paul was simply testifying of the present reality that Christ has “now” become the firstfruits of them that sleep.
"For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall only Christ be made alive. Only Christ: Christ the firstfruit; afterward only Christ at his coming."
That is your version, because you leave out the OT redeemed made alive at the Cross. You conflate the Second Coming, and you deny handing back creation a thousand years later. You don't have Christ handing back a complete and glorious creation sans death. You have Christ handing God a burnt offering.