Firstfruits

Biblical Texts

The Law commands that the first portion of the land's produce be offered to God. Exodus 23:16, 19 and 34:22, 26 prescribe the feast at which the firstfruits are harvested and the offerings that accompany it. Leviticus 23:9–14 directs that a sheaf of the first grain be brought to the priest and waved before the Lord. This rite is commonly called the Feast of Firstfruits. Leviticus 23:15–17 then requires that on the fiftieth day afterward two loaves baked from the new grain be offered; this is the Feast of Weeks.

Numbers 18:12–13 assigns the firstfruits to the priests as their portion. Deuteronomy 26:1–11 describes the worshiper presenting firstfruits in a basket and making a confession that begins, "A Syrian ready to perish was my father." Proverbs 3:9 exhorts, "Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase." The New Korean Revised Version renders the term in various ways depending on the context, such as "first fruits," "first ripe fruits," and "first sheaf."

Background and Original Languages

The Hebrew bikkurim means the first ripe fruits, and reshit means the first or the best. Offering the firstfruits was a confession that the land and its harvest belonged to God. The practice is rooted in the same idea as the law that the firstborn be consecrated to God (Exodus 13:2). The New Testament Greek aparchē is the word the Septuagint used to translate the firstfruits offering.

Meaning in the New Testament

The New Testament takes up the term figuratively.

• The resurrection of Christ: 1 Corinthians 15:20–22 calls Christ "the firstfruits of them that slept." Just as the first sheaf guarantees the harvest to follow, Christ's resurrection guarantees the resurrection of believers.
• The Holy Spirit: Romans 8:23 speaks of believers as having "the firstfruits of the Spirit," referring to the Holy Spirit they have received. The Spirit is thus a pledge that gives a foretaste of the salvation yet to be completed.
• The first believers: Epaenetus in Romans 16:5 and the household of Stephanas in 1 Corinthians 16:15 are called "firstfruits" as the first people in their regions to believe.
• The people of God: James 1:18 calls believers "a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." Revelation 14:1–5 calls the 144,000 "the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb."

Interpretation and Debated Points

Even within ancient Judaism, interpretations are known to have differed as to which day is meant by "the morrow after the sabbath" in Leviticus 23:11. Many Christian interpreters connect Christ's resurrection on the day after the Sabbath with the rite of offering the first sheaf. They also regard the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which took place at the Feast of Weeks, as the fulfillment of the firstfruits offering. Because the texts do not state these connections directly, however, they are understood as interpretive links.

Most denominations read the 144,000 of Revelation as a symbolic number. Jehovah's Witnesses, by contrast, teach that it is the literal number of those who will reign with Christ in heaven.

In the Korean Church

Harvest Thanksgiving (Maekchu Gamsajeol), observed by a number of denominations, is based on the feast of firstfruits in Exodus 23:16 and is commonly held in early July. Some churches encourage believers to give their first paycheck or their first income of the new year as a "firstfruits" offering.

Views on this practice differ.

• Some regard it as an expression of gratitude.
• Some regard it as a direct carryover of Old Testament ceremonial law.
• Some criticize the teaching that blessing follows the giving of firstfruits as bordering on prosperity theology.

This discussion also overlaps with the tithing debate.