18 and what’s more, those who have died in Christ are gone forever.
19 If we have a hope in Christ only in this life, then we deserve to be pitied more than anyone else.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead. He’s the first crop of the harvest of those who have died.
21 Since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came through one too.
22 In the same way that everyone dies in Adam, so also everyone will be given life in Christ.
23 Each event will happen in the right order: Christ, the first crop of the harvest, then those who belong to Christ at his coming,
24 and then the end, when Christ hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he brings every form of rule, every authority and power to an end.