Further Thoughts on Firstfruits

Paul, as apostle and teacher of the Gentiles (Romans 11:13, 1 Timothy 2:7, 2 Timothy 1:11) usually initiated his ministry within a given city in the local synagogue:

“They came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: And Paul, as his manner was,
went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures…”
(Acts 17:1 & 2)

Evidence of this synagogue-based audience can be seen in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. In his teaching about resurrection, Paul evokes the thoroughly Hebrew image of the first sheaf of the barley harvest being offered in the Feast of Firstfruits (Leviticus 23:9-14):

“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.”
“But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.”
(1 Corinthians 15:20 & 23)

As a gentile, I had to have the Firstfruits explained to me, but apparently Paul’s audience understood the significance of the Third Day after the Passover. They could, by a simple reference, appreciate Jesus as the fulfillment of the Firstfruits!