First Corinthians 15 and Inmillennialism

We are constructing a model of biblical prophecy that, we hope, will allow Christians to better understand the Bible. We are almost ready to show the usefulness of our model by applying it to extended passages throughout God’s Word. A little tidying up of our reasoning will prepare us to do that.

Our work in recent posts has concentrated on the Olivet Discourse. Earlier, we mentioned how 1 Corinthians 15 is important to our model.¹ Our effort to integrate these two passages has been a little herky-jerky. This post will attempt to rectify this situation and show the harmony between these two passages. We believe a single prophetic outlook controls the theme of each and that inmillennialism sets forth that common viewpoint.

A Short Review

We begin with a short review of how we have developed inmillennialism in our previous posts. The following paragraphs will refer to the Start Reading Here page and its list of the posts in chronological order. (Readers who understand our prophetic model and the reasoning behind it may wish to skip this review and continue reading in the following section below.)

The first five posts encourage the study of prophecy. Two of these—He Must Reign and Hooray for Big Government!—interacted with 1 Corinthians 15 to a significant degree.

Post 6, Let’s Start Building a Prophetic Model, gives the rationale for our approach. It explains, for example, why we began building our model in the Olivet Discourse. It does not mention 1 Corinthians 15, but says “other passages . . . [Must] supply necessary elements to the complete model.” Astute readers might have guessed that 1 Corinthians 15 would be chief among these “other passages.”

Our full outline of the Olivet Discourse does not occur until the tenth post, The X-Factor In The Olivet Discourse. It divides this passage in Matthew’s account (Matthew 24:1 – 25:46) into six sections.

Posts 9 and 12 contribute to the forward motion of our project but in a less direct manner. The former answers questions readers raised about our first few posts. The latter stresses the reliability of the Bible as a basis for all areas of faith, including the interpretation of prophecy.

Other posts move through the Olivet Discourse section by section. Posts 7, 8, 11, and 13 through 19 discuss the first four sections of our outline. These discuss Jesus’ prophecy, the disciples when question, their sign question, and Jesus’ response to the sign question.

The most recent posts, 21 through 24, cover Jesus’ response to the when question and his five warnings. These comprise the final two sections of our outline.

Along the way, we realized the desirability of presenting the entire model in advance of proving every element it contains. We did this in post 20, where we revealed the name of our model—Inmillennialism.

We have on occasion been explicit about the role 1 Corinthians 15 plays in our model. On one occasion we said, “the complete model rests, in skeletal form, on the explanation of only two extended passages.”² We also stated that our model will “come from two lengthy New Testament prophetic passages: the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24 – 25; Mark 13; and Luke 21:5–38) and 1 Corinthians 15.”³

In summary, we believe 1 Corinthians 15 complements the Olivet Discourse by providing clarity about certain details of the parousia (presence) of Christ. Our reasoning is as follows.

The Agreement of Inmillennialism’s Two Foundational Passages

We maintain that inmillennialism (or something close to it) contains the prophetic orientation of both Jesus in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24 – 25) and Paul in 1 Corinthians 15.

In the Olivet Discourse, given in AD 30,⁴ Jesus incorporated the entire Messianic Age. We can divide the events he described into three groups based on when they would occur: 1.) those in the “last days” of the Mosaic age; 2.) those in the course of the Messianic Age, and 3.) those at the end of the Messianic Age.

Due to the historical situation and for his own purposes, Jesus emphasized the first group (i.e., events in the “last days” of the Mosaic Age). His entire conversation with his disciples revolved around his prophecy of the Temple’s destruction. The disciples asked about when this would happen and for a sign of its approach (Matthew 24:1–3). The rest of the Olivet Discourse contains Jesus answers to these two questions. He gave the signs (Matthew 24:4–31) and the time (Matthew 24:32–36). His five warnings (Matthew 24:37 – 25:46) pertain to the same topic. The Temple fell in AD 70.

Even though Jesus’ emphasis was on events of his generation (Matthew 24:34), he mentioned the other two phases of the Messianic Age. The fall of the Temple would end the Mosaic age, but this would not bring the end of history. Another age, already begun, would continue after the Temple no longer stood. The disciples (Matthew 24:3) and Jesus (Matthew 24:27, 37, 39) referred to the new age as the age of Christ’s parousia (presence). This parousia was a reality in the lifetime of the disciples (Matthew 24:34).

The new age began in the “last days” of the Mosaic age. During that transition period, God began to fulfill many of the centuries-old prophecies uttered by Israel’s prophets. He would complete their fulfillment during the course of the inaugurated new age.⁵

God would not fulfill some prophecies until the end of the Messianic Age, or soon thereafter. In his final warning (Matthew 25:31–46) to his generation (Matthew 24:34), Jesus mentioned the final judgment. The King will assign men their final destinies—“everlasting punishment” or “life eternal” (Matthew 25:46) to fulfill Daniel 12:1–2. The Lord used this fulfillment—one that will occur at the end of the Messianic Age—to warn of the separation of sheep and goats that would occur in his generation.

We conclude, therefore, that Jesus talked about Israel’s “last days” (the destruction of the Temple), the Messianic Age itself (the parousia of Christ), and the end of the Messianic Age (the final judgment).

The apostle Paul, writing around AD 55,⁶ followed Jesus’ pattern. His immediate concern in 1 Corinthians 15 differs from that of Jesus in the Olivet Discourse. He is refuting a fundamental error regarding the gospel of Christ—a denial of the resurrection of the body. Even though he has a different purpose, his argument takes him through the same three phases of the Messianic Age.

Paul bases his resurrection argument on events in the “last days” of the Mosaic age. In that period, “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). The resurrection of Jesus’ body occurred less than a week after he had foretold the destruction of the Temple. Many witnesses who could verify these events had remained alive during the intervening 25 years. Paul could verify these foundational “last days” events on which he based his argument.⁷

But Paul could not stop with the end of the Mosaic Age. He must link Christ’s bodily resurrection to that of believers in the distant future. That resurrection will occur in Christ’s parousia, or “in his presence” (1 Corinthians 15:23, YLT).

Paul argues for the resurrection of the body as follows. The resurrection of Christ was the central last-days event that established the parousia of Christ. The parousia began in Jesus’ generation and is the period during which he reigns. This fulfills passages like Psalm 110:1. Paul says, quoting this Psalm, “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25). Christ will subdue his enemies during the Messianic Age. Paul has moved from the “last days” of the Mosaic Age into the Messianic Age.

For Paul, the “all enemies” must include death, the monster who has reigned over men because of Adam’s sin.⁸ Of necessity, the subjugation of all Christ’s enemies will involve a victory over the chiefest of enemies. But that will not occur until the end of Christ’s parousia after the Messianic Age has run its course. Then God will raise the dead on the last day (cp. John 11:24).

Thus, Paul, like Jesus talked about Israel’s “last days” (the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ), the Messianic Age itself (the progressive subjugation of Christ’s enemies), and the end of the Messianic Age (the resurrection of the body).

All this creates a difficulty for other prophetic models. As we have seen, Jesus and his disciples associated the destruction of the Temple in their generation with the parousia.⁹ Paul places the resurrection of the body in the parousia, too. How can these two events—one in AD 70 and the other at the end of the Messianic Age—both be in Christ’s parousia (presence)?

Inmillennialism says the definition of parousia is a key to understanding both Jesus and Paul. This word does not represent a point-in-time event at the end of the Messianic Age. Instead, it represents the state-of-being God started through Christ in the last days of the Mosaic Age. This situation will continue to the end of history.

Without this understanding, placing both the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 and the bodily resurrection of believers in the parousia (presence) of Christ becomes problematic. That Scripture clearly does this has forced other prophetic systems to invent creative explanations, including dual fulfillment, elastic time, prophetic perspective, etc. Letting parousia retain its natural meaning, as in inmillennialism, eliminates the need for these corrective devices.

Conclusion

The Olivet Discourse is the source from which other New Testament prophecies spring. Jesus spoke about the end of the Mosaic Age, his parousia during the Messianic Age, and the end of the Messianic Age.

Later, the apostles spoke on these subjects in a similar manner. They based their prophetic doctrine on Jesus’ emphatic statements in the Olivet Discourse.¹⁰ The underlying harmony between the Olivet Discourse and 1 Corinthians 15 should not, therefore, surprise us.

Future posts will (D.V.) show this agreement in perspective throughout Scriptures. The inmillennialism model will, therefore, help us interpret, understand, and apply a large swath of God’s prophetic word.

1. The image shows Jesus reigning. Attribution: Florentinischer Meister um 1300, Mosaik im Baptisterium San Giovanni von Florenz, Szene: Christus Pantokrator und das Jüngste Gericht – The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.
2. See Let’s Start Building A Prophetic Model.
3. See Inmillennialism.
4. A. T. Robertson, A Harmony of the Gospels for Students of the Life of Christ (New York: Harper, 1922), 173.
5. E.g., Psalm 110; Isaiah 2:1–5; Daniel 2:28, 35, 44–45; et al.
6. Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993), 9.
7. This reminds us of Jesus’ promise that that generation would not end until the Temple fell (Matthew 24:34).
8. See Paul’s statements in Romans 5:14, 17, and 21.
9. See Matthew 24:3, 27,  37, 39.
10. Milton S. Terry, Biblical Hermeneutics: A Treatise on the Interpretation of the Old and New Testaments (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, Academie Books, n.d.), 457.