Charles Spurgeon Commentary 1 Corinthians 15:20

"But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep." — 1 Corinthians 15:20 (ASV)

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits –

He must always come first, that in all things he may have the preeminence.

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

Paul has been arguing on every supposition, and now he comes back with his own positive witness: Christ is risen. You remember that Jesus died at the time of the Passover, as the one great Paschal Lamb; but he rose again on the first day of the week, and that was the feast of firstfruits with the Jews. They brought handfuls of wheat from the fields to show their gratitude to God, and in order that a blessing might rest on all the crop; and Paul uses Christ's rising on that particular day as a figure: Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.

He lives. He is the firstfruits, and the full harvest will follow. All who are in him will rise from the dead, for he is one with them, and none can separate them from him, nor sever him from them. They died in him, and they live because he lives, blessed be his name. 1 Corinthians 15:1–28, 50-58.