X. THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. CHAP. 15.
From ecclesiastical, moral, and liturgical questions, the apostle
passes to one of a dogmatic nature. He has reserved it for the last,
no doubt, because of its importance. Doctrine is the vital element in
the existence of the Church. The Church itself is i... [ Continue Reading ]
“Moreover, brethren, I make known unto you the gospel which I
preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein also ye
stand; 2. by which, also, ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.”
There is something surprising in the term γνωρίζω... [ Continue Reading ]
I. WITH THE FACT OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY CHRISTIAN SALVATION
RISES OR FALLS. VERS. 1-34.
The apostle's first care is to establish firmly the fact of the
resurrection of Jesus, on which rests the expectation of our own (1
Corinthians 15:1-11).... [ Continue Reading ]
“For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received:
how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, 4. and
that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to
the Scriptures, 5. and that He was seen of Cephas, then of the
Twelve.”
The _for_ bears,... [ Continue Reading ]
It is asked why the burial of Jesus occupies a place among these few
essential facts. It is certainly not with a view to the spiritual
application which is made of it, Romans 6:4; for this belonged to a
more advanced stage of teaching. Neither is it to establish the
reality of the death, for interme... [ Continue Reading ]
The two first appearances mentioned here, that to Peter in the course
of the day of the resurrection, and that to the Twelve on the evening
of the same day, are also mentioned by Luke (Luke 24:34-36); the
second only by John 20:19 seq. Paul omits that to the two disciples
going to Emmaus described i... [ Continue Reading ]
“After that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of
whom the greater part remain unto this present, and some are fallen
asleep.”
The ἔπειτα, _thereafter_, separates more forcibly than the
εἶτα, _then_, of 1 Corinthians 15:5; it makes the following
appearance a new step in the series,... [ Continue Reading ]
“After that He was seen of James, then of all the apostles.”
The reading ἔπειτα, _afterwards_, is preferable here; for we
come now to the last appearances granted to the apostles. That given
to James no doubt preceded by a short time the appearing on the day of
the ascension, which immediately follo... [ Continue Reading ]
“And lastly, after all, He was seen of me also, as of one born out
of due time [the untimely birth]”
By the first words the apostle seems to indicate not only that the
appearance to him came after the others, but that it was the close of
the appearances of the risen One in general. He is not speaki... [ Continue Reading ]
“For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called
an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. 10. But by the
grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain;
but I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace
of God with me.”
The _fo... [ Continue Reading ]
“Therefore whether I, or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.”
The οὕτω, _so_, expressly goes back on the τίνι λόγῳ,
_in what sense_, of 1 Corinthians 15:2. The present
κηρύσσομεν, _we preach_, denotes a constant fact; the aorist
ἐπιστεύσατε, _ye believed_, a past fact done once for all,
but with... [ Continue Reading ]
“Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some
among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?”
Why, then, it has been asked by Rückert and Scherer, would the
resurrection of Christ be denied by denying the resurrection of the
dead? If Christ is of a different nature from u... [ Continue Reading ]
CONCLUSIONS REGARDING THE PASSAGE. 1 CORINTHIANS 15:12-28.
On this passage we find _four principal views: _
1. Some, like Reuss, think that it applies throughout only to
believers, and that it contains absolutely nothing in regard to
unbelievers, because in the context Paul deals only with the
dev... [ Continue Reading ]
“If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen.
14. But if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your
faith is also vain. 15. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God;
because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ: whom He
raised not up, if so be th... [ Continue Reading ]
The testimony of the apostles had for its essential subject the
resurrection of Christ. If this is not a fact, their testimony is an
imposture.
The word κενόν, _vain_, denotes a testimony the matter of which
is an unreal event. And if the testimony is such, it is the same with
faith in the testimon... [ Continue Reading ]
And what in this case are the apostles who have borne witness to the
world of an unreal fact? Impostors, and impostors of the worst kind,
for their testimony bears on a false fact which they dared to ascribe
to God Himself! The verb εὑρισκόμεθα, _we are found_,
expresses the idea of surprisal: “Lo,... [ Continue Reading ]
“For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised.”
This verse seems to be a needless repetition of 1 Corinthians 15:13.
It is not so. Paul once more takes up the inference already drawn in 1
Corinthians 15:13, in order to deduce from it a second conclusion
parallel to that which he had expounded... [ Continue Reading ]
.... [ Continue Reading ]
“Now, if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in
your sins. 18. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are
perished.”
Once deny Christ's resurrection, and there is no more salvation in
Him.
The word ματαία denotes, as often, the vanity of the thing from
the standpoint of i... [ Continue Reading ]
There is a sharp contrast between the two terms. _falling asleep in
Christ_ and _having perished._ To close the eyes in the joy of
salvation, to open them in the torments of perdition! The verb
ἀπώλοντο, _perished_, cannot designate annihilation, for it
is explained by the preceding expression: _to... [ Continue Reading ]
“If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men
most miserable.”
Rückert makes the adverb _only_ apply to the regimen _in Christ:_
“If we have rested all our hopes here below on Christ only...” But
in order that this conditional proposition might form a ground for the
following inf... [ Continue Reading ]
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, the first-fruits of them
that sleep. 21. For since by a man came death, by man came also the
resurrection of the dead. 22. For as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive.”
The words: _But now_, are, as it were, the cry of deliverance, after... [ Continue Reading ]
In the expression ἀπαρχή, _first-fruits_, there was implicitly
contained the notion of a community of nature between Christ and us.
For the ear gathered as first-fruits is corn like all the rest. This
is the idea which the apostle expounds in this verse. As it was by a
member of the human family tha... [ Continue Reading ]
The fact proves the principle; hence the _for._
It is not without intention that Paul in this verse substitutes the
preposition ἐν, _in_, for the διά, _by_, of the preceding verse.
The relation expressed by διά was more external; it was that of
causality. The relation expressed by ἐν is more intima... [ Continue Reading ]
“But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits, and
afterward they that are Christ's at His coming.” The word
τάγμα, _order_, denotes the place assigned in a series to each
individual or group. The apostle has here before him two ranks of the
risen: the first formed by Christ alone, moving... [ Continue Reading ]
“Then the end, when He shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the
Father: when He shall have put down all rule, and all authority and
power.”
The εἶτα, _then_, does not allow us to identify the time of the
τέλος, _the end_, with that of the Advent. Paul would have
required to say in that sense τ... [ Continue Reading ]
“For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.”
Paul cites the well-known words of Psalms 110:1: “The Lord said unto
my Lord: Sit Thou at My right hand till I make Thine enemies Thy
footstool.” The Divine necessity expressed by _He must_ follows from
this promise of Jehovah to the... [ Continue Reading ]
“The last enemy which is destroyed is death.”
The literal rendering is: “As last enemy, death is destroyed.”
Here is the consummation of the reign and of the judgment exercised by
Christ over the powers opposed to God. Death is impersonal, no doubt,
but its reign nevertheless does violence to the Di... [ Continue Reading ]
“For He hath put all things under His feet; now when He saith all
things are subjected to Him, it is manifest that He is excepted who
subjected all things to Him.”
The first proposition is laid down as an indisputable truth; because
it is taken from Scripture, Psalms 8:7. In the Old Testament it
re... [ Continue Reading ]
“But when all things shall be subjected unto Him, then shall the Son
also Himself be subject unto Him that subjected all things to Him,
that God may be all in all.”
The δέ is progressive: from the subjection of all things to Christ,
Paul passes to the subjection of Christ to the Father. We here retu... [ Continue Reading ]
“For else, what shall they do which are baptized for the dead? If
the dead rise not at all, why are they baptized for them?”
The ἐπεί, _for since_, is here taken, as often, in the sense of:
for if it is not so (if the dead rise not). The English translation
can render this idea by: _for otherwise,... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 15:29-34 .
After securing for the resurrection of the body its place among the
great hopes which stir the hearts of all believers, the apostle adds,
as a supplementary argument, a few reflections as to the moral
consequences of the denial of the dogma. Suppress the resurrection,
and _... [ Continue Reading ]
“And why stand we also in jeopardy every hour? 31. I protest,
brethren, by that glorying in you, which I have in Christ our Lord, I
die daily.”
The transition from the bloody death of the martyrs (1 Corinthians
15:29) to the daily life of the apostles, which is a constant menace
of martyrdom (1 Cori... [ Continue Reading ]
“If it is as man that I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what
advantageth it me? If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink; for
to-morrow we die.”
The meaning of the expression κατὰ ἄνθρωπον, _according
to man_, must be determined by the context. It might be applied to
human _strength_, which wa... [ Continue Reading ]
“Be not deceived: evil company doth corrupt good manners. 34. Awake
up righteously, and sin not; for some of you have not the knowledge of
God: I speak [thus] to move you to shame.”
The formula μὴ πλανᾶσθε does not signify: Let not
yourselves be misled by others; its meaning always is: “Do not
decei... [ Continue Reading ]
“But some one will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what
body do they come?”
These two questions have not altogether the same meaning, as is
obvious even from the δέ, _and further_, which connects them. But
neither do they differ, according to Meyer's view, as the general idea
from the part... [ Continue Reading ]
II. THE MODE OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 1 CORINTHIANS 15:35-58.
After demonstrating the essential part played by the resurrection in
the Christian salvation, the apostle sets himself to answer the
objections which this doctrine might raise. These objections were
probably uttered ironically by... [ Continue Reading ]
“Fool! That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die.”
The vocative ἄφρον, _fool_, is evidently a correction, and
ἄφρων to be read as a nominative; comp. Luke 12:20. This
nominative is used by apposition: “Fool _that thou art_, thou that
thinkest thyself so wise!”
The pronoun σύ, _thou_,... [ Continue Reading ]
“And when thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but
bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: 38. but
God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed a body
of its own.”
The καί, _and_, marks the transition to the second question. The
answer to it wi... [ Continue Reading ]
With this bareness of the grain deposited in the earth, the apostle
contrasts God's creative power, which quickly invests the seed with
the covering, the body assigned to its kind, by making the plant
sprout which is to serve as its organ. By saying: _as it hath pleased
Him_, and not: as it pleases... [ Continue Reading ]
“All flesh is not the same flesh; but the flesh of men is one, the
flesh of beasts another, that of birds another, that of fish
another.”
Σάρξ, _flesh_, denotes the substance of the organism, and not
merely its external form. In this series of examples, man is placed at
the head; for, while belongi... [ Continue Reading ]
“There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial; but the
glory of the celestial is different from the glory of the
terrestrial.”
In the first words Paul has in view difference of substance. Many, de
Wette, Meyer, etc., understand by bodies celestial the bodies of
angels; comp. Luke 20:36; M... [ Continue Reading ]
“The glory of the sun is one, and the glory of the moon another, and
the glory of the stars another: for star differeth from star in
glory.”
Even in the case of beings having so great a resemblance in nature
(substance and form), if we observe them with some care we discover
differences between one... [ Continue Reading ]
“So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in
corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43. it is sown in dishonour;
it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in
power.”
Here, strictly speaking, is the answer to the second question of 1
Corinthians 15:35: _With what... [ Continue Reading ]
“It is sown a psychical body, it is raised a spiritual body; there
is a psychical body, and there is a spiritual body.”
The terms _animated_ or _animal_ body are the only ones in our
language by which we can render the term reproduced in our translation
by the Anglicized Greek term. The meaning of t... [ Continue Reading ]
“And so it is written: the first man, Adam, was made a living soul;
the last Adam, a quickening spirit.”
The apostle does not say, as usually in his Scripture proofs:
καθὼς γέγραπται, _as it is written._ The form οὕτω
καί, _and so_, indicates, not a proof strictly so called, but
simple agreement of... [ Continue Reading ]
“Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is
psychical; and afterward that which is spiritual.”
Are we right in regarding this as a general law, or must we, with
Osiander and others, understand the substantive σῶμα, _body_, and
apply the verse exclusively to the particular fact... [ Continue Reading ]
“The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is from
heaven.”
Here is the sovereign application of the general law enunciated in the
previous verse. To the psychical state, which must come _first_, there
corresponds the earthly body of the _first_ man; as to the spiritual
state, which com... [ Continue Reading ]
“As is the earthly, such are they also that are earthly: and as is
the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49. And as we have
borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the
heavenly.”
The two facts pointed out in 1 Corinthians 15:48 rest on this
principle: that ever... [ Continue Reading ]
“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”
The formula τοῦτό φημι, _here is what I say_, is used by the
apostle to announce a decisive and final explanation, the exposition
of a more profound point of view, which... [ Continue Reading ]
“Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed, 52. in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
The word ἰδού, _behold_, is a call to attention, and... [ Continue Reading ]
“For this corruptible body must put on incorruption, and this mortal
body put on immortality. 54. So when this corruptible shall have put
on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then
shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is
swallowed up in victory.”
The f... [ Continue Reading ]
The form of parallelism is continued. The word τότε, _then_,
expresses the grandeur of the time. The participle: _that which is
written_, is added to denote the certainty of fulfilment: Scripture
cannot lie. The saying quoted is Isaiah 25:8, the meaning of which is
that the theocracy once restored,... [ Continue Reading ]
“Where is thy sting, O death? O death, where is thy victory? 56. Now
the sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.”
The text varies considerably in the MSS., influenced no doubt by the
differences between the Hebrew text and that of the LXX. Hos 13:14
says, according to what seems t... [ Continue Reading ]
“But thanks to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ!” Christ's victory over death has two aspects: the one
relating to Himself; the other concerning men. He first of all
conquered _sin_ in relation to Himself by denying to it the right of
existence in Him, condemning it to... [ Continue Reading ]
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, become stedfast, immoveable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your
labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
This ὥστε, _so that, therefore_, is like all those which in the
preceding parts served to introduce the practical conclusions to... [ Continue Reading ]