The resurrection of the righteous (Luke 14:14;
John 5:29) is distinguished from the resurrection
of the unrighteous (Rev 20:5, 11-15).
The translation of living believers and the resurrection
of deceased believers receive much attention in
1 Corinthians 15. The fifteenth chapter begins with
an introduction of the Gospel, which “first argues
the resurrection of Christ as an essential of Christian
faith and hope, and then links this with the resurrection
of men in general.”¹ “The grand exception
to the doctrine of resurrection”² is the translation
(rapture) of living believers. Until that joyful day
occurs, God’s people are to remain faithful and true,
“always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Cor
15:58).

“MYSTERY” IN THE NEW TESTAMENT?

Revelation concerning the translation of living
saints is stated as a “mystery” in the New Testament.
Although a mystery is a truth that was not revealed
previously by God, it is not something that God intended
to withhold perpetually as a secret; God
would rather reveal it in the opportune time. When
God does reveal a mystery, He intends for it to be
taught and for believers to be “stewards” of His revelation
(cf. 1 Cor 4:1).

Paul used the word “mystery” on twenty occasions
(Rom 11:25; 16:25; 1 Cor 2:7; 4:1; 13:2; 14:2; 15:51;
Eph 1:9; 3:3, 4, 9; 5:32; 6:19; Col 1:26, 27; 2:2; 4:3; 2
Thess 2:7; 1 Tim 3:9, 16). The Gospel writers even referred
to the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, or kingdom of God (Matt 13:11; Mark 4:11; Luke
8:10).³ The Apostle Paul referenced various mysteries,
such as the mystery of the resurrection and
translation of church saints (1 Cor 15:50-58; 1
Thess 4:14-17); the mystery of the church being
composed of both Jews and Gentiles in equality
(Eph 3:1-11); and the mystery of Christ and the
church (Eph 5:28-32). The incarnation was a mystery
(Col 2:2, 9; 1 Cor 2:7). The existence of sin in
the presence of a holy and righteous God is revealed
as the mystery of lawlessness (2 Thess 2:7).
Israel’s present blindness to the Gospel is a mystery
(Rom 11:25). There is even the mystery of “Christ
in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). The Apostle
John referred to the mystery of the seven stars (Rev
1:20), the finishing of the mystery of God (10:7),
and the mystery of the harlot (17:5, 7). Commenting
on the usage of mystery in 1 Corinthians 15,
Barnes noted:

The word here does not mean anything which was in its
nature unintelligible, but that which to them had been
hitherto unknown. This commences the third subject of inquiry
in this chapter—the question, what will become of
those who are alive when the Lord Jesus shall return to
raise the dead? This was an obvious inquiry, and the answer
was, perhaps, supposed to be difficult, and says that they
will undergo an instantaneous change, which will make
them like the dead that shall be raised.⁴

The mystery regarding the resurrection is that
some believers will not die; consequently, all saints
will overcome death either through translation or resurrection
at the coming of Christ. When Paul used
the Greek particle, translated “behold” (1 Cor 15:51),
it was for the purpose of stating this truth emphatically.
The use of the particle “has the effect of focusing
attention on what follows.”⁵ Indeed, the attention
of the reader is demanded to understand the mystery
of Paul’s teaching to the Corinthians.

TRANSLATION OF THE LIVING AND RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD

The mystery that Paul revealed to the Corinthians
is that not all the church will experience death (1 Cor
15:51). The specific mystery is the instantaneous
translation of living saints (1 Cor 15:51-52), because
even the Old Testament reader would understand the
existence of living saints on the earth in association
with the resurrection of the righteous dead (cf. Dan
12:2; Zech 12:10). The teaching not revealed in the
Old Testament is the translation of living saints “in
the twinkling of an eye.” Some believers will not die
physically before the eschatological resurrection of
the saints. When Paul wrote, “we will not all sleep,”
he was clearly referring to physical death,⁶ and not to
“soul sleeping,” which would be in contrast to Philippians
1:23.

The use of the first plural for “sleep” (death)
would mean that Paul included himself with those
facing the possibility of being translated while living.⁷
Clearly, Paul anticipated this occurrence as an imminent
event that could occur in his own lifetime because
there were no events to precede it (cf. Tit 2:13).
Radmacher commented, “There may be delay, but
there would be no necessary prophesied event before
the coming of Christ for His church.”⁸ Contrariwise,
Morris believed the teaching that the rapture/second
coming (which are combined in his posttribulational view) could occur in Paul’s own lifetime was an illegitimate
view: “The plain fact is that Paul did not
know when these events would take place, and
nowhere does he claim to know.When he says we he
means ‘we believers,’ ‘Christians
alive at that day.’”⁹
Morris believed that the
emphasis was upon how
“flesh and blood” will
enter the kingdom. In response,
if the passage could
mean “Christians alive at that day,” then this would
include the Apostle Paul. Surely, if Paul believed that
the rapture and second coming were one event, and
that the tribulation would precede that event, then
there would not be emphasis upon being changed “in
the twinkling of an eye” without any necessary
prophesied events occurring.Without doubt, Paul regarded
the imminent translation, which could occur
while he was yet living, as an incentive for holy living
(cf. Phil 3:20; Tit 2:13).

Scripture also reveals, “we will all be changed” at
the rapture. A believer’s body may be dead or living at
the time of this coming of Christ (1 Thess 4:13-18).
Regardless of whether one has “fallen asleep in Jesus”
or is of those who are “alive and remain until the
coming of the Lord” (1 Thess 4:14-15), all will be
changed.¹⁰ Of course, such teaching answers the question,
“What will happen to believers who do not die
prior to the resurrection”? “How will they experience
the resurrection of the body”? “Flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God,” so there must be a
transformation (1 Cor 15:50; Phil 3:21).

It must be stated that the doctrine of the resurrection
itself is not a mystery, since it is taught in the Old
Testament (Job 14:14). The truth that living saints
will receive their resurrection body by means of an instantaneous
translation is a mystery previously unknown.
There will be a group of believers who will
not experience the intermediate state, which follows
physical death and precedes the resurrection of the
body (2 Cor 5:10). The rapture will occur “in 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 will be changed” (1 Cor
15:52). The translation will occur
instantly: “in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye.” The
Greek word for “moment”
denotes something
that cannot be
divided, that is, an indivisible
period of time. The change will occur so quickly
that it could be said to occur in the smallest unit of
time. A double emphasis is given with the use of the
Greek noun translated “twinkling,” meaning a wink,
flutter, or jerk of an eyelid.¹¹ Beet remarked that the
phrase “in the twinkling of an eye” “dwells upon,
and intensifies, the idea of suddenness.”¹² The suddenness
of the change is given great emphasis.

RESURRECTION AT THE LAST TRUMPET

The instantaneous change will occur “at the last
trumpet.” Interestingly, the Jewish understanding regarding
the last trumpet is that it will be seventh in a
series of trumpet blows, resulting in the dead being
raised and clothed with immortality for the purpose
of standing before the “Throne of Glory.”

In the future the Holy One, blessed be He, will resurrect
the dead. How will He do it? He takes the Great Shofar and
blows it seven times. At the first blast, the whole world
shakes and suffers pangs like a woman in childbirth.At the
second, the dust is scattered and the graves open. At the
third, the bones gather together. At the fourth, the limbs
are stretched out.At the fifth, skin comes into being.At the
sixth, spirits and souls enter the bodies. At the seventh, they
live and stand up on their feet in their clothes.¹³

The New Testament uses the noun “trumpet”
eleven times (Matt 24:31; 1 Cor 14:8; 15:52; 1 Thess
4:16; Heb 12:19; Rev 1:10; 4:1; 8:2, 6, 13; 9:14). The
verb “to sound a trumpet” occurs twelve times in the
New Testament (Matt 6:2; 1 Cor 15:52; Rev 8:6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13; 9:1, 13; 10:7; 11:15). The four noun usages
and ten verb usages in Revelation 8—11 are in
reference to the seven trumpet judgments of the
tribulation (Daniel’s seventieth week). The noun usage
in Matthew 24:31 is in reference to a great sound
of a trumpet following Christ’s coming in the clouds
following “the tribulation of those days” (Matt
24:29). The trumpet mentioned in the Olivet Discourse
gathers the elect who have survived the tribulation
and have been scattered throughout the earth
as a result of the persecution of Antichrist and the
outpouring of God’s wrath. In the passages related directly
to the future tribulation, there is no mention of
translation or resurrection in relationship with the
trumpets. Conversely, 1 Corinthians 15:52 and
1 Thessalonians 4:16 do not have any reference to
judgment; rather, they refer to the resurrection and
translation, which should indicate an obvious dissimilarity.

First Thessalonians 4:16 emphasizes the “trumpet
of God” that would seem to be logically equated with
the “last trumpet” in 1 Corinthians 15:52. Both passages
reference a resurrection and translation of believers
who are identified as being in Christ Jesus.
The purpose of this coming of Christ is not to judge
and reign; rather, it is to meet His saints in the air and
to have them “changed.” Therefore, it is entirely logical
to understand that this last trumpet is referring to
the end of the dispensation of the church. It is best
identified as referring to the rapture of the church
prior to the tribulation, since the trumpets mentioned
in the tribulation are associated with the coming of
Christ in judgment to establish His visible kingdom
on earth.

Some equate the “last trumpet” with the seventh
trumpet in Revelation 11:15 and the trumpet in the
Olivet Discourse (Matt 24:29-31). For example, one
of the arguments expounded by posttribulationalists
is that the resurrection passages make no reference to
an earlier, separate resurrection of all believers, but
place the resurrection of all believers at a point prior
to the millennium (cf. 1 Cor 15:23-24; Rev 20:1-4).
Posttribulationist Robert Gundry regarded the last
trumpet of 1 Corinthians as possibly looking “back to
the trumpet at the end of the age in the oral tradition
of Jesus’ discourse on the Mount of Olives.” According
to Gundry, “the superintendence of the Holy
Spirit would have brought about a harmony of meaning”
between the trumpet references in the Olivet
Discourse, 1 Corinthians 15:52, and the seven trumpets
of Revelation.¹⁴ Certainly, it is theoretically possible
that the last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15 could
later be connected with the seven trumpets of Revelation.
God does, indeed, reveal things progressively.
The problem in arguing that God related the last
trumpet of 1 Corinthians with later revelation is the
issue of context. There is nothing in the context of
1 Corinthians that would indicate a time of intense
tribulation upon the whole world that would precede
the return of their Lord. Posttribulationalists are
interpreting the 1 Corinthians 15 passage by forcing
the content of Revelation into it. The interpretation
of the last trumpet in 1 Corinthians would be
changed by the revelation of the seventh trumpet in
Revelation.

The issue here is focused upon whether or not
“last” is limited only to a given chronological sequence.
The usage of the word “last” is not limited to
the last in a given chronological sequence; it can also
refer to the end of a specific period (or age).¹⁵ Therefore,
“last” can refer to the end of something chronologically,
as in the seven trumpets of Revelation, or to
the end of a specific period (e.g. the dispensation of
the church). Gerald Stanton rightly stated, “the fact
of subsequent trumpets is no problem” for a pretribulational
interpretation of 1 Corinthians 15:52.¹⁶
Even amillennialist Barnes noted, “The word ‘last’
here does not imply that any trumpet shall have been
before sounded at the resurrection, but is a word denoting
that this is the consummation or close of
things; it will end the economy of this world; it will
be connected with the last state of things.”¹⁷

Although God’s plans and purposes for Israel and
the church are distinct, both appear to end with the
sounding of a trumpet. However, these trumpets are
not identical. The “last trumpet” of 1 Corinthians
15:52 is not a reference to the last in any preceding sequence,
but is related to the end of a specific age,
namely, the dispensation of the church. The significance
of the “last trumpet” in verse 15:52 may be
twofold. First, the last trumpet may be a technical
phrase denoting the end of the dispensation of the
church. The word last is quite common when referring
to events surrounding the end of the church age (Acts
2:17; 2 Tim3:1-5; Heb 1:2; Jas 5:3; 1 Pet 1:5, 20; 1 John
2:18; Jude 18). Second, “last trumpet” may also be a
technical phrase indicating the gathering together of
the church. E. Schuyler English noted that the sounding
of a trumpet in Numbers 10 was to gather an assembly
of the people. Therefore, “last trumpet” would
be a “rallying call” indicating that the church is changing
locations, much like Israel changed camps in the
wilderness (1 Cor 15:23).¹⁸

CONCLUSION

At the rapture, the dead in Christ will be raised incorruptible,
never to die again. Those church saints
who are alive and remain at the rapture will never experience
death. Both the dead in Christ and the living
saints at the rapture will be raised immortal at the
sound of the “last trumpet,” “and as such are now partakers
of the future life.”¹⁹ The Christian has a great
hope in Jesus Christ. All ofmankind is condemned before
God as sinners, but victory over the wages of sin
is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone as one’s
Lord and Savior. He alone can provide the victory
through either resurrection or translation.

ENDNOTES

1 John F.Walvoord, The Return of the Lord (Grand Rapids:Dunham,1955),
52.

2 Ibid.

3 As argued previously:“This kingdom could also be called the single,
unified, mediatorial kingdom that existed historically under the Mosaic
Covenant and was prophesied by the Old Testament prophets to be
restored in its former glory at the second coming. It is the same kingdom John
the Baptist preached and Jesus offered to Israel at His first
coming; it is, therefore, the same kingdom that Israel rejected in the
first century. The kingdom is historic, prophetic, offered, and rejected”
(Ron J.Bigalke Jr.,“God’s Purpose for the Church – Part IV,”Midnight Call
[July 2008]:19).

4 Albert Barnes, Notes on the First Epistle to the Corinthians (London: Gall &
Inglis,1847), 383.

5 Leon Morris, 1 Corinthians, 2nd ed. (1958, 1985; reprint, Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans,1993),227.

6 William F. Bauer, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English
Lexicon of The New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 2nd
ed., rev. F. Wilbur Gingrich and Frederick W. Danker (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1979), 437.

7 For some who disagree that Paul included himself as possibly being
one of the living at the resurrection, see Charles Hodge, Commentary
on the First Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980),
354-55; and, A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in The New Testament, 6 vols.
(Grand Rapids: Baker, 1931), 4:198.

8 Earl Radmacher, “The Imminent Return of the Lord,” in Issues in Dispensationalism,
gen. eds. Wesley R. Willis and John R. Master (Chicago:
Moody, 1994), 258.

9 Morris, Corinthians, 227.

10 Since Paul stated, “we will all be changed” (1 Cor 15:51) and “even so
God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus”(1 Thess
4:14),Scripture negates the idea of a partial rapture.

11 Barnes, Corinthians, 384.

12 Joseph Agar Beet, Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians
(Albany: Ages Software, Version 6.02, 1998), 753.

13 Rabbi Akiba, Pesiqta Hadta, BhM 6:58, as quoted in Raphael Patai, The
Messiah Texts (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1979), 203.

14 Robert H.Gundry, The Church and the Tribulation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
1973), 149-50.

15 J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1964),
189.

16 Gerald B. Stanton, Kept from the Hour (Miami Springs: Schoettle Publishing,
1991), 194-95.

17 Barnes, Corinthians, 386.

18 E.Schuyler English, Re-Thinking the Rapture (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux
Brothers,1954), 109.

19 Bauer, Greek-English Lexicon, 125.