That’s a very good question. The ‘first resurrection’ of those who die as Christ died must, I think, be understood as a real vindication and a real victory over death: I would see it as having the same status as Christ’s own resurrection, except that it was presumably not witnessed. I rather think Matthew 27:52-53 might share the same background of thought, but it applies to the ‘saints’ (an allusion to Daniel’s vision?), the righteous, who suffered and died before this point.

I suppose, though, that one might also see the possibility of a metaphorical interpretation in that not all the ‘righteous’ who suffered during the eschatological transition did so to the point of death. In a sense all those who share in the life and experience of the messianic community share in the sufferings of the messiah (cf. 2 Cor. 1:3-7) and consequently in his vindication, exaltation and enthronement. The resurrection motif in the Old Testament emerges as a metaphor for the renewal of Israel following judgment (cf. Hos. 6:1-2).

The distinction between the living and the dead at the parousia (the moment of vindication) also occupies Paul in 1 Thess. 4:13-18. The whole community, as one body in Christ, suffers persecution and must in some sense participate in the vindication. I suggested in the book that Paul’s narrative here reflects (no doubt by way of interpretive tradition) a distinction in Daniel 12 between those who are raised and those who are ‘saved’ or ‘lifted up’ (COSM 164-165).