The interpretation timeline

1Cor 15:22

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

14 Patristic · 1 Catholic

1Cor 15:22 · Douay-Rheims
“And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
202
A.D.
Irenaeus Patristic
c. A.D. 130–202
“Vain also are the Ebionites, who do not receive by faith into their soul the union of God and man, but who remain in the old leaven of [the natural] birth, and who do not choose to understand that the Holy Ghost came upon Mary, and the power of the Most High did overshadow her: wherefore also what was generated is a holy thing, and the Son of the Most High God the Father of all, who effected the incarnation of this being, and showed forth a new [kind of] generation; that as by the former generation we inherited death, so by this new generation we might inherit life. Therefore do these men reject the commixture of the heavenly wine, and wish it to be water of the world only, not receiving God so as to have union with Him, but they remain in that Adam who had been conquered and was expelled from Paradise: not considering that as, at the beginning of our formation in Adam, that breath of life which proceeded from God, having been united to what had been fashioned, animated the man, and manifested him as a being endowed with reason; so also, in [the times of] the end, the Word of the Father and the Spirit of God, having become united with the ancient substance of Adam's formation, rendered man living and perfect, receptive of the perfect Father, in order that as in the natural [Adam] we all were dead, so in the spiritual we may all be made alive. For never at any time did Adam escape the hands of God, to whom the Father speaking, said, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness." And for this reason in the last times, not by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but by the good pleasure of the Father, His hands formed a living man, in order that Adam might be created [again] after the image and likeness of God.”
Source
220
A.D.
Tertullian Patristic
c. A.D. 150–220
“If Adam is a type of Christ then Adam's sleep is a symbol of the death of Christ, and by the wound in the side of Christ was typified the church, the true mother of all the living.”
220
A.D.
Tertullian Patristic
c. A.D. 150–220
“(This he says) in order, on the one hand, to distinguish the two authors-Adam of death, Christ of resurrection; and, on the other hand, to make the resurrection operate on the same substance as the death, by comparing the authors themselves under the designation man. For if "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive," their vivification in Christ must be in the flesh, since it is in the flesh that arises their death in Adam.”
Source
220
A.D.
Tertullian Patristic
c. A.D. 150–220
“Blush, O flesh, who hast "put on" Christ! Suffice it thee once for all to marry, whereto "from the beginning" thou wast created, whereto by "the end" thou art being recalled! Return at least to the former Adam, if to the last thou canst not! Once for all did he taste of the tree; once for all felt concupiscence; once for all veiled his shame; once for all blushed in the presence of God; once for all concealed his guilty hue; once for all was exiled from the paradise of holiness; once for all thenceforward married. If you were "in him," you have your norm; if you have passed over "into Christ," you will be bound to be (yet) better.”
Source
311
A.D.
Methodius of Olympus Patristic
c. A.D. 260–311
“Adam, should "all be made alive.". he was changed into the nature of the latter, himself being neither the tree of life nor that of corruption; but having been shown forth as mortal, from his participation in and presence with corruption, and, again, as incorrupt and immortal by connection with and participation in life; as Paul also taught, saying, "Corruption shall not inherit in corruption, nor death life". But if any one were to think that the earthy image is the flesh itself, but the heavenly image some other spiritual body besides the flesh; let him first consider that Christ, the heavenly man, when He appeared, bore the same form of limbs and the same image of flesh as ours, through which also He, who was not man, became man, that "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."”
Source
407
A.D.
John Chrysostom Patristic
A.D. 347–407
“"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." What then? tell me; did all die in Adam the death of sin? How then was Noah righteous in his generation? and how Abraham? and how Job? and how all the rest? And what, I pray? shall all be made alive in Christ? Where then are those who are led away into hell fire? Thus, if this be said of the body, the doctrine stands: but if of righteousness and sin, it doth so no longer. Further, lest, on hearing that the making alive is common to all, thou shouldest also suppose that sinners are saved, he adds...”
Source
430
A.D.
Augustine of Hippo Patristic
A.D. 354–430
“This does not mean that all who die in Adam will be members of Christ, since the majority will be punished in eternity by a second death. The apostle uses the word all in both clauses because as no one dies in a natural body except in Adam, so no one is made to live again in a spiritual body, except in Christ.”
430
A.D.
Augustine of Hippo Patristic
A.D. 354–430
“Man indeed brought death to himself and to the Son of Man. But the Son of Man, by dying and rising again, brought life to man.”
430
A.D.
Augustine of Hippo Patristic
A.D. 354–430
“No human enters into death except through Adam and no one into eternal life except through Christ. This is the meaning of that repeated phrase all, because as all men belong to Adam through their first or carnal birth, so all men who belong to Christ come to the second or spiritual birth. Therefore he says "all" in both places because as all who die die only in Adam, so all who will be made alive will not be made alive except in Christ.”
Source
430
A.D.
Augustine of Hippo Patristic
A.D. 354–430
“Notice how he emphasizes "one" and "one," that is Adam and Christ, the former for condemnation, the latter for justification.… Obviously he is speaking of the resurrection of the just where there is life eternal, not of the resurrection of the wicked where there will be eternal death. Those who "shall be made alive" are contrasted with the others who will be damned.”
Source
430
A.D.
Augustine of Hippo Patristic
A.D. 354–430
“We commonly say that all enter a certain house through one door, not because all humanity enters that house but because no one enters except through that door. It is in this sense that as all die in Adam so do all those who live live in Christ.… Aside from the one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, there is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved.”
Source
430
A.D.
Severian of Gabala Patristic
fl. c. A.D. 400
“Strictly speaking, not everyone has died. Enoch and Elijah, for example, never did. Some will be found alive at the second coming of the Savior.”
844 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500
1274
A.D.
Thomas Aquinas Catholic
1225–1274
“932. – For as in Adam. Here he proves the same in special, saying that as in Adam we all die a bodily death, so too we are all made alive in Christ: "As sin came into the world through one man" (Rom 5:12). He does not say through Eve, which seems contrary to Sir (25:33): "Through her we all die." I answer that this is through Eve suggesting, but through Adam as cause. For if Eve alone had sinned, original sin would not have been passed on to their descendants. That shall all be made alive, I say, in Christ, namely, the good and the bad with the life of nature, but the good only with the life of grace. Yet the Apostle speaks here of a resurrection to a life of nature, to which all shall be made alive. "As the Father has life in himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in himself" (Jn. 5:26), i.e., the power to grant life: "All who are in the tombs will hear his voice" (Jn. 5:28).”
Source
Undated date unknown
Ambrosiaster Patristic
fl. c. A.D. 366–384
“Adam died because he sinned, and so Christ, who was without sin, overcame death, in that death comes from sin. Everyone, the righteous and the unrighteous alike, dies in Adam, and everyone, believers and unbelievers alike, will also be raised in Christ. But the unbelievers will be handed over for punishment, even though they appear to have been raised from the dead, because they will receive their bodies back again in order to suffer eternal punishment for their unbelief.”
Source
Cosmas Indicopleustes Patristic
c. A.D. 550
“For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection. And by way of showing who the first man was by whom death was introduced, he adds; For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.