1 Corinthians 15 and the Millenium

I usually get a pretty shocked reaction from evangelicals when I say that I don't believe in a pre-trib rapture. When asked why, they become more shocked that I don't believe Jesus is going to set up any kind of literal 1,000 year reign on earth after His second coming. So I thought it would be fun to give a brief exposition of 1 Corinthians 15, which was a pivotal text in destroy the premillenialist in me. Here's the text in question:

20But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27For "God has put all things in subjection under his feet." But when it says, "all things are put in subjection," it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

Now, I want to begin by pointing out the order of events contained within the text.

1. Christ is raised from the dead. This is His kingly coronation, in a sense.
2. We, who believe in Him, are raised from the dead, at His coming.
3. Then comes the end. What happens at the end? Jesus defeats all rulers and authorities delivers the kingdom to God the Father. Why does this order of events occur? Because He must reign until this happens.

Now, in order to remain a premillenialist, one must insert 1,000 years in between the statement about His coming, and "the end," which the text indicates occurs at His coming. So the text says that Jesus reigns until He comes, at which point He hands the kingdom back to the Father. Mark that: At the Second Coming of Jesus, Jesus' kingly reign ends, and He is once again subjected to the Father. You see the text puts all of these things at the Second Coming: the resurrection of believers; the defeat of all enemies, death lastly; and the end of Jesus' reign as King over the earth. Note that the last enemy is death, as we move on to later in the chapter.

Someone will argue, "But the verses later in the chapter talk about the rapture!" Let's look at those verses:

51Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 55"O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, if you take these verses entirely in isolation, and then link them up to a bunch of other obscure verses taken out of their contexts, you might be able to come up with a pretrib rapture. But remember we just learned just a few verses earlier when death is defeated - at the Second Coming. This portion of the text describes the defeat of death at the coming of Jesus, and therefore simply must be a reference to the Second Coming, and not a pretrib rapture.

Lots of other questions abound, such as the "binding of Satan" and the other passages in Revelation, and I will get to those in another post. Suffice it to say that for me, this text (as well as many others) ended premillenialism for me. That leaves us with either amillenialism or postmillenialism, and I'm still struggling through that question. But either way, we affirm with the text here that Jesus indeed is reigning now.