Premil holds that Christ returns before the 1000 year reign. Postmil holds that Christ will only return at the end of the 1000 years. It has been put forward by Postmil that 1 Corinthians 15 disproves premil. This passage evaluates that evidences.

The passage under consideration:

²⁰ But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. ²² For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

²³ But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ. ²⁴ Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be abolished is death. ²⁷ For God has put everything under his feet. Now when it says “everything” is put under him, it is obvious that he who puts everything under him is the exception. ²⁸ When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

Correct sequence of events

The correct sequence of events in this passage is:

1. Christ is raised (vs. 23)
2. Afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ are raised (vs. 23)
3. Christ reigns (vs. 25)
4. Death is defeated (vs. 26)
5. Then comes the end. (vs. 28, 24)

Verse 28 & 24 describe the same thing: Christ handing everything to the Father after death is abolished (v. 26).

The point of contention is whether verse 25 “For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet.” occurs in the middle of verse 23 (“But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ.“), or at the end of verse 23.

Premil contends that Jesus reigns from heaven now, and will reign from earth in the future. Postmil argues that there is no gap between the end of verse 23 and start of verse 24, and that Christ rules now from heaven and will stay in heaven until all enemies are defeated.

We’ll take these one at a time.

Does verse 24 happen immediately at the end of verse 23?

Postmils place verse 25 between Christ raising from the dead and those raised at his coming (verse 23), to make verse 24 occur immediately after the end of verse 23.

There several challenges to this:

• Jesus promises that we will reign (future tense) with him on the earth, not that we are reigning. Revelation 5:10; Revelation 3:21; 2 Timothy 2:12 (cf. 1 Cor 4:8). There is no passage that claims that saints are ruling with Christ now, on earth.
• We are promised to inherit the kingdom (Matthew 25:34). If we are to believe that “the end” fully and completely occurs at Christ’s return, wherein Jesus “hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power” we cannot be said to reign with Christ on the earth, we cannot be said to meaningfully sit on his throne.
• Post-mill teaches that the kingdom of earth is the kingdom of God now, however Revelation 11:15-17 says it will become part of Christ’s kingdom when he returns and gathers us at the last trumpet. “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.…You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.” These are future statements that occur at the last trumpet. Revelation 5:10 pushes this point “And You made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.“. This means that Christ must rule physically on earth as we are told he will (after defeating the Beast and False prophet) with a rod of iron (Revelation 19:15).
• Revelation 20 describes the reign of the saints after their death and physical resurrection (see discussion on the nature of the resurrection and reign – https://endtim.es/amillennialism/). The resurrection spoken of in 1 Corinthians 15, is a physical resurrection, not conversion Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:12 that if we endure we shall reign, not we are reigning if we endure. Thus, our reign with Christ is future, not present. No writing in the NT suggests Christians are reigning now (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:8 is mockery and proves Christians are not reigning now)
• Jesus statement in Revelation 3:21, “To the one who conquers I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.” Jesus shows the nature of his conquering and sitting on the throne will happen in the same way as the Christian’s conquering and sitting on the throne. Both are achieved through physical death for he says “as I also”. He also shows that this is future “I will grant”. It cannot be said to be spiritual conversion because Jesus is already speaking to Christians and making a future promise to Christians. This means that the reign must occur post death (as also stated in Revelation 2:10) and resurrection, which accords with Revelation 20. If the postmil view is correct, Revelation 3:21 cannot be true because Christ if Christ returns at the very end when Christ hands the kingdom over to the Father who abolishes all rule and authority (1 Corinthians 15:24); it means that Christians will not rule as promised by Christ.

Is Christ confined to be only at the feet of the Father?

Postmils hold that per Hebrews 1:13 and Acts 2:34-35 “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool?“, necessarily means there is no earthly reign because Christ is confined to sit and reign from heaven, and cannot reign from earth. By this, Postmils hold that Christ is bound in heaven until death is defeated.

Some challenges objections:

1. Postmils hold no similar such constrains on Satan being bound in the bottomless pit (Revelation 20:2) unable to deceive, and roaming about right now (John 14:30; 1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 2:2). If the postmil was consistent, they would recognise that Christ could reign both in heaven and/or physically on earth, all the while being seated with the Father.
2. Christ says that the ruler of the world was coming after him (John 14:30), and many other verses that shows that Satan is very active in the world then and now. This doesn’t change that the ruler has also been judged (John 16:11) and cast out of heaven (John 12:31), but does in-fact demonstrate that multiple events happen even if apparently contrary, and does demonstrate that Satan’s earthly rule would come after Christ ascension.
3. Revelation 19 shows Christ on earth before the defeat of death. Meaning that Christ must rule from earth for some of his reign. If death is the last enemy but death has already been defeated (Revelation 1:18; Romans 6:9-10; Hebrew 2:14; 1 John 3:14). Many will quote 1 Cor 15:54-57 to show that death’s defeat is yet future. This shows that the dual nature and understanding is possible. Revelation describes the two physical resurrections, separated by 1000 years. It is only after the second physical resurrection, that death is thrown into the the Lake of fire (Rev 20:14).
4. Christ is on Earth in Revelation 19:20 when he destroys the Beast and False prophet and throws them in the Lake of Fire – the same place he throws Satan in at the end of the 1000 year reign Revelation 20:7-10, “where the Beast and False Prophet are already”. This shows Christ on earth even though death has not been defeated.
5. Jesus describes the dual nature of his reign: “But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Matthew 26:64). He is both seated, and physically coming to earth at the same time. Therefore it shows that Jesus is coming and physically on earth while simultaneously sitting in heaven.
6. Jesus talking to Nicodemus said that he was in heaven, while he was on earth: “…even the Son of Man who is in Heaven.” (John 3:13 – see note at bottom).
7. Jesus is on earth after his resurrection talking to his disciples, while claiming that he has been given all authority (Matthew 28:18) and by logical extension is reigning, and yet physically present on earth.
8. Jesus promises to be always with us. Thus he is seated in heaven and present with us (Matthew 28:20.
9. If all things have been committed to Christ, when did that occur? For in John 13:3 “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands…”. Thus we see that even before his death, that whether the Father had given all things into Christ in eternity past, or future, we see here in being spoken as a present reality even before the crucifixion.

Looking now at other textual elements of the passage.

We see in verse 25 that Christ must reign until he (God) puts all enemies under his feet. We can only conclude that all enemies are not under Christ’s feet presently (despite having all authority), because if they were, then Jesus would have handed over the kingdom to God the Father (v. 24).

Some have argued that Christ is not reigning, and does not begin his reign until he returns. While this can be supported from the text (see Revelation 11:17), most Christians do accept that Christ reigns now in heaven.

We see in verse 27 that Christ has everything under his feet. Either all enemies are under his feet now, or that are not, or this describes the authority rather than the reality. Hebrews 10:13 says Christ is waiting, not ruling: “He is now waiting until his enemies are made his footstool.” Is Christ reigning, or merely waiting?

It is a mistake to understand verse 24, “the end” to mean the end of the 1000 years. Numerous passages in Scripture demonstrate that the “end” is not immediate in context. And, as we have seen, “the day of the Lord” is a day of judgement, but it is not a single day. Hebrews says that Jesus has appeared at the end of the ages (Hebrews 9:6) demonstrating that we must not superimpose our expectations of “the end” onto Scripture.

Notes on John 3:13

“And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.“

Jesus describes that the Son of Man “who is in heaven“. Some argue this is a minor textual variant, however 95% of the Greek manuscripts contain this, and numerous early church writers cited this to demonstrate that Christ was in heaven even while on earth, and was the accepted view of the early church.

Scholarly works have been written on this:

• https://www.thetextofthegospels.com/2018/02/john-313-son-of-man-who-is-in-heaven.html
• Dr D. Black, Grace Theological Journal 6.1 (1985) 49-6 – https://biblicalelearning.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Black-Jn3-GTJ-85.pdf)

Some of the early church writers who cite this are listed below:

• Tatian (converted AD.150) The Diatessaron (Section 32) – https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/100232.htm
• Hippolytus (d. AD.236), one of the early church writers also included this in his quotation of John 3:13, so it is almost certain to be the original and is directly attributed to Jesus and not an appellation from John. – http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0521.htm
• Aphrahat (b. AD.280) quotes this passage. (Demonstration 8 – https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/370108.htm)
• Chrysostom (b. AD.347) Homily 27 on the Gospel of John – https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/240127.htm; and Homily 47 – https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/240147.htm; and Homily 54 – https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/200154.htm
• Augustine (b. AD.354) in fact discusses this very issue, citing that “is in heaven” is the correct understanding. (Tractate 27, paragraph 4 – https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1701027.htm)
• Theodorat (b. AD.393) (Letter 84 – https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2707084.htm)
• John Cassain (b. AD. 360) challenges people to deny that Christ said he was in heaven. On the Incarnation (Book IV) – https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/35094.htm
• Hilary of Poitiers (d. AD. 367) shows the dual and eternal nature of Christ. (On the Trinity (Book X) – https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/330210.htm)
• Novatian (b. AD.200) citing Christ’s divinity and dual nature – On the Trinity (Chapter 13) https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0511.htm
• John of Damascus (b. AD.675) cites this passage to show that Christ had a dual nature, and even added “And lo, I am with you always” and other passages as evidence of this. (An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Book IV) – https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/33044.htm)