1 Corinthians 15:1-58. THE DOCTRINE OF THE RESURRECTION This chapter is one of the deepest and most mysterious in the Bible. It is the one exception to the statement in ch. 3 that St Paul was unable to feed the Corinthians with meat; for it ranks with the profound exposition of the principles of Jus... [ Continue Reading ]
1. From this verse to 1 Corinthians 15:11 the Apostle states the facts connected with the Resurrection of Christ, as he had proclaimed them from the outset of his ministry. ΓΝΩΡΊΖΩ ΔΈ. MOREOVER, I MAKE KNOWN. The A.V. ‘moreover’ gives the idea at once of continuation and variation in the subject, e... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣΏΖΕΣΘΕ. Observe the change of tense. The others refer to past acts, this to a present condition. The A.V. ‘are saved’ is equivalent to the Greek perfect. Cf. σωζόμενος in ch. 1 Corinthians 1:18; Acts 2:47; 2 Corinthians 2:15. ΤΊΝΙ ΛΌΓΩΙ ΕΥ̓ΗΓΓΕΛΙΣΆΜΗΝ ὙΜΙ͂Ν ΕἸ ΚΑΤΈΧΕΤΕ. ‘That is to say, provided yo... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝ ΠΡΏΤΟΙΣ. Not first in order of time, but in order of importance ‘as a truth of the first magnitude.’ Chrysostom takes it as equivalent to ‘at the first.’ See however Plat. _Pol._ VII. 522 C ὃ καὶ παντὶ ἐν πρώτοις�. Ὃ ΚΑῚ ΠΑΡΈΛΑΒΟΝ. The close resemblance of this passage to the Apostles’ Creed shew... [ Continue Reading ]
ὍΤΙ ἘΤΆΦΗ, ΚΑῚ ὍΤΙ ἘΓΉΓΕΡΤΑΙ. Literally, WAS BURIED AND HATH RISEN again, the aorist referring to the single act, the perfect to Christ’s continued life after His Resurrection.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΗΦΑ͂Ι. See Luke 24:34. St Paul and St John alone use the Aramaic form of the Apostle’s surname, the former only in this Epistle and once in the Epistle to the Galatians. This, coupled with the fact that St John only uses the Aramaic form in the narrative in ch. John 1:42, is one of those minute tou... [ Continue Reading ]
6. [καί] bef. ἘΚΟΙΜΉΘΗΣΑΝ rec. Text אABDEFG Vetus Lat. Vulg. Peshito. 6. ΠΕΝΤΑΚΟΣΊΟΙΣ�. This kind of appearance was one about which there could be no mistake or illusion. It either happened, or if not, its falsehood must have been capable of being exposed. St Paul must have seen and conversed with... [ Continue Reading ]
ἸΑΚΏΒΩΙ. It would seem from this (see Stanley and Alford) that St James was _an Apostle_. But it does not necessarily follow that he was one of the Twelve. See Professor Plumptre’s elaborate note on the brethren of our Lord in the Commentary on St James in this series. Also note on 1 Corinthians 9:5... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΩ͂Ι ἘΚΤΡΏΜΑΤΙ. The word refers to a birth out of the usual course of nature, about which there is therefore (1) something violent and strange. Such was the nature of St Paul’s conversion, an event unparalleled in Scripture. Moreover, (2) such children are usually small and weakly, an idea which the... [ Continue Reading ]
ἹΚΑΝΌΣ. A.V. _meet_. Literally, SUFFICIENT. ΔΙΌΤΙ ἘΔΊΩΞΑ. Acts 7:58; Acts 8:3; Acts 9:1. Cf. Galatians 1:13; 1 Timothy 1:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣῪΝ ἘΜΟΊ אBDFG Vetus Lat. Vulg. ἡ σὺν ἐμοί rec. with AE. 10. ΧΆΡΙΤΙ ΔῈ ΘΕΟΥ͂. St Paul is willing to admit his _personal_ inferiority to the other Apostles, but such willingness does not lead him to make a similar admission regarding his _work_. For that was God’s doing, not his, or only his so far a... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΗΡΎΣΣΟΜΕΝ. This word, which originally meant to proclaim publicly, as a herald, came to mean the delivery of any public discourse. Cf. κηρύσσειν ἐν ἐκκλησίαις καὶ ῥήτορας ἐκδιδάσκειν Lucian _Deor. Dial._ 24. See 1 Corinthians 9:27, note. The present denotes the fact that St Paul is still proclaimin... [ Continue Reading ]
12. From this point to 1 Corinthians 15:19 the Apostle insists on a belief in a resurrection as absolutely essential to the existence of any Christian faith whatsoever, and stigmatizes the absence of such a belief as fatal to the acknowledgment of the Resurrection of Christ. ΕἸ ΔΈ. BUT IF. Followed... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸ ΔΈ. BUT IF, implying a contradiction to what has been said. ἈΝΆΣΤΑΣΙΣ ΝΕΚΡΩ͂Ν ΟΥ̓Κ ἜΣΤΙΝ. The question has here been raised, against whom was St Paul contending? against those who maintained the immortality of the soul, but denied the resurrection of the body, or those who maintained that man alt... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸ ΔΈ. AND IF. Here and in 1 Corinthians 15:16 it is the simple continuation of the argument. ΚΕΝΉ, i.e. _useless, in vain_, as we say. Literally, _empty._ Vulg. _inanis_. ‘You have a vaine faith if you believe in a dead man. He might be true _man_, though He remained in death. But it concerns you... [ Continue Reading ]
ΨΕΥΔΟΜΆΡΤΥΡΕΣ. Not only is our authoritative proclamation of Christ’s Resurrection useless, but it is even false, though it has been made from the beginning. See Acts 1:22; Acts 2:24; Acts 3:15; Acts 3:21; Acts 4:2; Acts 4:10; Acts 4:33; Acts 5:30; Acts 10:40;... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΑΤΑΊΑ. This word is in all probability synonymous with κενή above, 1 Corinthians 15:14. But Meyer would distinguish between them. The former with him means _without result_, the latter _without reality_. ἜΤΙ ἘΣΤῈ ἘΝ ΤΑΙ͂Σ ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑΙΣ ὙΜΩ͂Ν. Christ came, not only to make reconciliation for sin, but to... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΟΙΜΗΘΈΝΤΕΣ. See note on ch. 1 Corinthians 7:39. ‘The word does not apply to the soul, for that does not sleep (Luke 16:22-23; Luke 23:43), but it describes the state of the bodies of those who sleep in Jesus.’ Bp Wordsworth. ἈΠΏΛΟΝΤΟ. ‘You are required to believe that those who died in the field of... [ Continue Reading ]
ἨΛΠΙΚΌΤΕΣ ἘΣΜΈΝ. The meaning of this form differs to a certain extent from that of the simple perfect. The latter relates to the action of the persons referred to. The participle with ἐσμέν refers to their _condition_. ἘΛΕΕΙΝΌΤΕΡΟΙ ΠΆΝΤΩΝ�. Literally, MORE TO BE PITIED THAN ALL MEN. Because of the... [ Continue Reading ]
20. [ἐγένετο] after ΚΕΚΟΙΜΗΜΈΝΩΝ rec. with Peshito and Origen. Text אABDEFG Vetus Lat. Vulg. 20. The next eight verses point us to Adam and Christ, as types respectively of fallen and perfect humanity. As Adam’s fall was man’s fall, so Christ’s Resurrection was man’s resurrection. Christ’s triumph... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙ' ἈΝΘΡΏΠΟΥ ΘΆΝΑΤΟΣ. Cf. Romans 5:12; Romans 5:17; Romans 6:21; Romans 6:23; James 1:15; and the narrative in Genesis 3. ΚΑῚ ΔΙ' ἈΝΘΡΏΠΟΥ�. Athanasius remarks that here we have not παρά but διά, as pointing out that even in Jesus Christ man was not the _source_, but the _means_ of the blessings giv... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝ ΤΩ͂Ι ἈΔᾺΜ ΠΆΝΤΕΣ�. In the possession of a common nature with Adam all mankind are liable to death. The pres. as in 1 Corinthians 15:15. ΖΩΟΠΟΙΗΘΉΣΟΝΤΑΙ. By possession of a common nature with Christ all shall partake of that Resurrection to which He has already attained. Cf. John 5:21; John 6:27;... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝ ΤΩ͂Ι ἸΔΊΩΙ ΤΆΓΜΑΤΙ. This explains why the last verb in 1 Corinthians 15:22 is in the future. Christ’s Resurrection must necessarily precede in order the resurrection of the rest of mankind, for as in the world at large, so in every individual, the natural necessarily (1 Corinthians 15:46) precede... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΑΡΑΔΙΔΟΙ͂ BFG. παραδιδῶ אADE. παραδῶ rec. _Tradiderit_ Vetus Lat. Vulg. 24. ΕἾΤΑ ΤῸ ΤΈΛΟΣ. The end, i.e. the supersession of the present order of things by one more perfect; a time when sin and death cease to be, and ‘the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΕΙ͂ ΓᾺΡ ΑΥ̓ΤῸΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΎΕΙΝ, i. e. Christ as Man and Mediator. For at present we can only discern God through the medium of Christ’s Humanity. Cf. John 12:45; John 14:9. In the end, we shall be able to ‘see Him as He is,’ 1 John 3:2. For the present He must reign in His Church, in His sacraments and... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΣΧΑΤΟΣ ἘΧΘΡῸΣ ΚΑΤΑΡΓΕΙ͂ΤΑΙ Ὁ ΘΆΝΑΤΟΣ. θάνατος is emphatic. Therefore the sense of the passage is best given in English thus, DEATH, THE LAST ENEMY, IS BROUGHT TO NOUGHT. Cf. Revelation 20:6; Revelation 20:14. The οὐκ ἔχει ἐξουσίαν of this last passage (taking ἐξουσία in the sense of _power_, as in... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΆΝΤΑ ΓᾺΡ ὙΠΈΤΑΞΕΝ. This is an almost literal quotation from the LXX. of Psalms 8:6. This fact settles the meaning of the passage. To Christ, as the Man, God has subjected all things on earth. In Him these words of the Psalmist, in their highest possible sense, are fulfilled. ὍΤΑΝ ΔῈ ΕἼΠΗΙ. BUT WHEN... [ Continue Reading ]
ὍΤΑΝ ΔῈ ὙΠΟΤΑΓΗ͂Ι. Here again the subject is Christ, whereas αὐτῷ here refers to the Father, thus reversing the construction in the last verse. ΤᾺ ΠΆΝΤΑ. If everything is put under Christ, it is in order that there may be no divided empire. ‘I and my Father are One,’ He said (John 10:30). Cf. John... [ Continue Reading ]
ΑΥ̓ΤΩ͂Ν אABDEFG Vetus Lat. Vulg. τῶν νεκρῶν rec. with Peshito. 29. From hence to 1 Corinthians 15:34 arguments are drawn from the practice of baptism for the dead and from St Paul’s daily life of suffering, and the section winds up with an exhortation to greater holiness of life. ἘΠΕΊ. Here and in... [ Continue Reading ]
ὙΜΕΤΈΡΑΝ אBDEFG Vetus Lat. Vulg. Peshito. ἡμετέραν rec. with A. ἀδελφοί אAB Vulg. Peshito. Rec. om. with DEFG Vetus Lat. 31. ΚΑΘ' ἩΜΈΡΑΝ�. I AM DAILY DYING. Cf. Romans 6:3-4; Romans 6:11; Romans 7:24; Romans 8:13; Romans 8:36; 2 Corinthians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 4:10-12;... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΤᾺ ἌΝΘΡΩΠΟΝ. From a purely human point of view, one bounded entirely by the horizon of this world, and excluding the idea of another life. Cf. ch. 1 Corinthians 3:3, and Romans 3:5; Galatians 1:11; Galatians 3:15. Cf. Soph. _Aj._ 761 βλαστὼν ἔπειτα μὴ κατ' ἄνθρωπον φρονῇ. Also line 777. ἘΘΗΡΙΟΜΆΧΗ... [ Continue Reading ]
ΧΡΗΣΤᾺ אABDEFG. Rec. χρῆσθ’. Scrivener follows Lachmann, who edits χρήσθ’ ‘per meram licentiam’ (Tischendorf). 33. ΦΘΕΊΡΟΣΙΝ ἬΘΗ ΧΡΗΣΤᾺ ὉΜΙΛΊΑΙ ΚΑΚΑΊ. Perhaps the nearest approach to this in English is BAD COMPANY CORRUPTS GOOD HABITS. This passage is taken from the _Thais_ of Menander, and like Ac... [ Continue Reading ]
ΛΑΛΩ͂ אBDE Vulg. λέγω AFG Peshito. 34. ἘΚΝΉΨΑΤΕ ΔΙΚΑΊΩΣ. ‘The aor. marks the sudden momentary occurrence of the awakening.’ Meyer. ἐκνήφειν signifies to arise from the stupefaction of a slumber produced by over-indulgence. Cf. ch. 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Corinthians 12:2. δικαίως, literally RIGHTEOUS... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΛΛᾺ ἘΡΕΙ͂ ΤΙΣ. We now proceed from the _fact_ of the resurrection to its _manner_, a question which the Apostle discusses as far as 1 Corinthians 15:54, where he begins to treat of its _result_. The steps of the argument are as follows. The seed dies before it comes up. God then gives it a body acc... [ Continue Reading ]
ἌΦΡΩΝ. Literally, O MAN WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING. _Insipiens_, Vulg. _Unwise man_, Wiclif. The stronger term _fool_ (μωρός) (except in ch. 1 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Corinthians 4:10) seems in the Scriptures to imply _moral_ as well as intellectual error. ΣῪ Ὃ ΣΠΕΊΡΕΙΣ. The word _thou_ is emphatic: ‘Thou w... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ Ὃ ΣΠΕΊΡΕΙΣ. ‘There are two parts in this similitude: first that it is not wonderful that bodies should arise again from corruption, since the same thing happens in the case of the seed; and next that it is not contrary to nature that our bodies should be endowed with new qualities, when from nak... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΘῺΣ ἨΘΈΛΗΣΕΝ. Literally, AS HE WILLED. Cf. ch. 1 Corinthians 12:11 (where however the word is not the same in the Greek). ‘Life even in its lowest form has the power of assimilating to itself atoms.’ Robertson. And these are arranged and developed according to the law that God has impressed on eac... [ Continue Reading ]
39. [σάρξ] before ἈΝΘΡΏΠΩΝ rec. with Peshito. Om. אABDEFG Vetus Lat. Vulg. ΣΆΡΞ before ΠΤΗΝΩ͂Ν אBDEFG and some copies of Vulg. Om. rec. with A Peshito and Vulg. (auth.). אABDE Vulg. Peshito have πτηνῶν before ἰχθύων. Rec. reverses the order with FG. 39. ΟΥ̓ ΠΑ͂ΣΑ ΣΆΡΞ. The same principle is now app... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ ΣΏΜΑΤΑ ἘΠΟΥΡΆΝΙΑ. The principle is now further extended to the heavenly bodies, and another argument thus drawn from the close analogy which subsists between the kingdom of nature and the kingdom of grace. Meyer, De Wette, and Alford consider the heavenly bodies to be those _of angels_. But we n... [ Continue Reading ]
ἌΛΛΗΙ. The change from ἑτέρα is not without its meaning. The glory of the various celestial bodies is the same in kind but different in degree. The glory of heavenly and earthly bodies is different in kind. So in 1 Corinthians 15:39. ΔΌΞΑ ἩΛΊΟΥ. The argument is pushed a step farther. The celestial b... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟὝΤΩΣ ΚΑῚ Ἡ�. The fact is now plainly stated that all shall _not_ possess the same degree of glory in heaven. οὕτως, i.e. as has been before stated. But St Paul goes on to deal less with the fact than with the manner in which the fact is accomplished. ΣΠΕΊΡΕΤΑΙ ἘΝ ΦΘΟΡΑ͂Ι. Cf. Romans 8:21; Galatians... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣΠΕΊΡΕΤΑΙ ἘΝ�. The dishonour is, of course, corruption, with its revolting accompaniments. What the glory will be we may learn, to a certain extent, from the Transfiguration of our Lord, and from the account of the majesty and splendour of His Resurrection-Body in Revelation 1:13-16. Cyril of Jerusa... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸ אABCDFG Vetus Lat. Vulg. Rec. om. with E and Peshito. Rec. adds σῶμα before πνευματικόν with Peshito. Text אABCDEFG Vetus Lat. Vulg. 44. ΨΥΧΙΚΌΝ. See ch. 1 Corinthians 2:14. The σῶμα ψυχικόν is the body accommodated to, and limited by, the needs of the animal life of man. Man possesses a spiritua... [ Continue Reading ]
ΓΈΓΡΑΠΤΑΙ. In Genesis 2:7. This applies only to the first part of the verse. But did not St Paul know that the words had been uttered, and would one day be recorded, which make it true also of the second part? See John 5:21; John 6:33; John 6:39-40; John 6:54; John 6:57; John 11:25. The citation is... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΛΛ' ΟΥ̓ ΠΡΩ͂ΤΟΝ. See note on 1 Corinthians 15:23. ‘The law of God’s universe is progress.’ Robertson. His whole lecture on this passage will repay study. He shews how the Fall was an illustration of this law, a necessary consequence of a state of mere natural life; a ‘step onward,’ if for the time... [ Continue Reading ]
47. [ὁ κύριος] bef. ἘΞ ΟΥ̓ΡΑΝΟΥ͂ rec. with A and Peshito. Text אBCDEFG Vetus Lat. Vulg. Vulg. adds _coelestis_ at the end of the verse. So also FG. 47. ΧΟΪΚΌΣ. χοϊκός from χοῦς, dust, is an allusion to the ‘dust of the ground’ in Genesis 2:7; in the LXX. χοῦς. Ὁ ΔΕΎΤΕΡΟΣ ἌΝΘΡΩΠΟΣ ἘΞ ΟΥ̓ΡΑΝΟΥ͂. The... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟἿΟΣ Ὁ ΧΟΪΚΌΣ, i. e. Adam. Man, when united to Christ by faith, partakes of _both_ natures. He is liable, therefore, still to the weakness and infirmities of the former. ‘This infection of nature doth remain, yea in them that are regenerated.’ Art. IX. And this they must bear to the end. They must b... [ Continue Reading ]
ΦΟΡΈΣΩΜΕΝ אACDEFG Vetus Lat. Vulg. φορέσομεν B. 49. ΤῊΝ ΕἸΚΌΝΑ. The _image_ or _likeness_. In this present life we are like Adam: in the next we shall be like Christ, cf. Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Philippians 3:21; Colossians 3:10; 1 John 3:2. ΦΟΡΈΣΩΜΕΝ. We might have been disposed to suspec... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΎΝΑΤΑΙ אB. δύνανται ACDEFG. 50. ΤΟΥ͂ΤΟ ΔΈ ΦΗΜΙ. The δέ here must receive the adversative sense. ‘On the other hand, I must remind you of this.’ We enter now upon a new phase of the argument. The image of the heavenly is not merely added to, it replaces the image of the earthy. The present constitu... [ Continue Reading ]
51. [μὲν] after ΠΆΝΤΕΣ אAEFG Vulg. Text BCD. ΠΆΝΤΕΣ ΟΥ̓ ΚΟΙΜΗΘΗΣΌΜΕΘΑ, ΠΆΝΤΕΣ ΔῈ� BE Peshito. A reads πάντες κοιμηθησόμεθα, οἱ πάντες δὲ κ.τ.λ. אCFG read πάντες κοιμηθησόμεθα, οὐ πάντες δὲ�. D, Vulg. and most copies of Vetus Lat. substitute ἀναστησόμεθα for the κοιμηθησόμεθα of the last reading. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝ�. The literal meaning of the word here used is, _that which is so small as to be actually indivisible_. ἘΝ ῬΙΠΗ͂Ι ὈΦΘΑΛΜΟΥ͂. Some MSS. read ῥοπῇ for ῥιπῇ, i.e. the _downward motion_ of the eyelid (literally, _the inclination of the scale_), for the rapid movement suggested by the word _twinkling... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΕΙ͂ ΓᾺΡ ΤῸ ΦΘΑΡΤῸΝ ΤΟΥ͂ΤΟ. The Apostle has just said that ‘flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.’ He now explains in what sense these words are to be taken. There is a sense in which the mortal body is not destroyed entirely and created again. ‘Change,’ says Tertullian, ‘must be dissoc... [ Continue Reading ]
54. The concluding words of this chapter relate to the _effects_ of the Resurrection, the destruction of death, the abolition of its attendant terrors, sin and the law, coupled with the assurance that our labours and toils while the conflict with evil was yet undecided shall not have been in vain. Κ... [ Continue Reading ]
ΝΙ͂ΚΟΣ before ΚΈΝΤΡΟΝ אBC Vulg. They are transposed in rec. with DEFG Vetus Lat. Peshito. Rec. also reads ᾅδη for the second θάνατε with Peshito. Text אBCDEFG Vetus Lat. Vulg. Also Irenaeus, Tertullian and Origen. 55. ΠΟΥ͂ ΣΟΥ ΘΆΝΑΤΕ ΤῸ ΝΙ͂ΚΟΣ; Neither the LXX. nor Hebrew of Hosea 13:14 are followe... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἡ ΔῈ ΔΎΝΑΜΙΣ ΤΗ͂Σ ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑΣ Ὁ ΝΌΜΟΣ. That the sting of death is sin is very easy to understand. It is not so easy at first sight to understand the introduction here of St Paul’s favourite doctrine that the strength of sin is the law. But a reference to the strict meaning of δύναμις (which is often ex... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΩ͂Ι ΔΙΔΌΝΤΙ ἩΜΙ͂Ν ΤῸ ΝΙ͂ΚΟΣ. This sense of having transgressed that righteous law need disturb us no longer. Our shortcomings have been fully atoned for by the Life and Death of Jesus Christ and by our participation first in that Death, and next in that Life. The mortal part of us must pay the pena... [ Continue Reading ]
ὭΣΤΕ, ἈΔΕΛΦΟΊ ΜΟΥ�. The aim of St Paul is always practical. Even this magnificent passage comes to what from a merely oratorical point of view is a somewhat tame conclusion, a conclusion however which, regarded from the point of view of Christian edification, is full of beauty. ‘Be not weary in well... [ Continue Reading ]