Why did Christ need to be the first person to be resurrected? Christ is the firstfruits; he was the first person to be resurrected. Why did he need to be the first? Why couldn't anybody else be resurrected until after Christ was first resurrected?

We are taught that Christ loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. What are the pains of death?

When we were born, some power enabled our spirits to enter our bodies. We also know that some people have been brought back to life; some power enabled their spirits to re-enter their bodies after having left. So what then are the bands of death, if not a power that keeps our spirits out of our bodies? Yet the power to put our spirits into our bodies already exists.

So what then did Christ's resurrection enable? What did it overcome? Why couldn't anybody be resurrected until after Christ was?
The answer is because Jesus was without sin.

When Adam and Eve first sinned, not only were they thrown out of the Garden of Eden, but they were also rendered mortal; they were now capable of dying. Everyone who sins dies, and everyone sins. Even those before Jesus who died and were returned to life (like Lazarus) still had to die again later.

Jesus however never sinned. When He died on the cross, Jesus paid the price for all of our sins. And when Jesus was reborn, He was reborn in a form that no longer had to die.

And that was why Jesus had to die: to be the sacrifice in payment for our sins. That is why no one could be resurrected as He was until after He was; the debt for our sin was still outstanding. Our resurrection will not be into these bodies we currently live in, but into new bodies that will be free of sin.