CHAPTER 15 SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER He proves the resurrection of the dead against the false teachers who denied it: I. From the fact of Christ's resurrection. Thus (ver. 12) he gives the bearing of it on our resurrection. II. He proves the resurrection by the authority of those who are baptized... [ Continue Reading ]
_Was seen of Cephas._ Paul puts this appearance of Christ first, and therefore implies that the first man that Christ appeared to was Peter. I say "the first man," for He appeared to the Magdalene before S. Peter (S. Mar 16:9). _Then of the eleven._ On the Sunday after the resurrection, when Thomas... [ Continue Reading ]
_After that He was seen of James._ The son of Alphæus, first Bishop of Jerusalem, and styled brother of the Lord. There is a tradition mentioned by Jerome (_Lib. de Scrip. Eccles. in Jacobo_) that James had taken a vow not to eat anything till he should see Christ risen. S. Jerome, however, does not... [ Continue Reading ]
_And last of all Ale was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time._ Born out of due time is, (1.) according to Theophylact and Theodoret, contemptible and despised, because young that come too soon to the birth are generally imperfectly formed, thin, and undersized. (2.) According to Ambrose... [ Continue Reading ]
_For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle._ Not only the least and unworthy because of my sins, but not fit for the apostleship; for it is not meet that one who was a persecutor should be a leader and Apostle of the Church. Morally, see the humility of S. Paul in... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am what I am_ an Apostle, and Teacher of the Gentiles. _His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain._ Not empty, barren, without results. S. Ambrose reads: "His grace was not poor in me," and then the meaning would be: "Though I persecuted the Church of Christ, yet I did not on that acc... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed._ So not only I, but all the Apostles, as was said in ver. 3, preach and affirm as eye-witnesses, viz., that Christ died, and rose from the dead, and appeared to us. The Apostle returns here, as if after a long digression, to the... [ Continue Reading ]
_How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?_ Cerinthus with his followers are meant here. He was the first heresiarch after Simon Magus to deny, in S. Paul's time, the resurrection. See Eusebius (_Hist._ lib. vii. c. 23, and lib. iii. c. 28) and Epiphanius (_Hæres._ 28). Cerin... [ Continue Reading ]
_But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen._ Not only because Christ was one of the dead, but also because the primary cause of Christ's death and resurrection was the complete destruction of death, and the restoration of life. Moreover, the resurrection of Christ was a p... [ Continue Reading ]
_If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins._ It rightly follows that, if Christ has not risen, we are still in our sins; for 1. if Christ has not risen, therefore faith in a risen Christ, which is the basis of justification, is false; but a false faith cannot be the beginn... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished, i.e._, who have died in faith, hope, and charity. If the body is not to rise again, but perishes outright at death, the soul too will perish: it cannot exist for ever without the body, for its nature is the "form" of the body. Unless, t... [ Continue Reading ]
_If in this life only we have hope in Christ._ 1. The word "hope" here signifies, not the act of hope, for this exists in this life only, but the object of hope or the thing hoped for. If our only hope in Christ is for the goods of this life, then are we the most miserable of men; we are the most fo... [ Continue Reading ]
_But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept._ (1.) Christ was and is the first of those that rise again, both in order of dignity and of merit. (2.) He was first in the Divine will and intention. (3.) First causally, for by Him we shall all rise again. (4.)... [ Continue Reading ]
_For since by man came death._ Adam brought death on all men, Christ resurrection. The word _since_ gives the reason why Christ is called the firstfruits of them that rise, viz., because by Christ, as a leader of the first rank of God's army and the subduer of death, the resurrection of the dead was... [ Continue Reading ]
_But every man in his own order._ 1. According to Chrysostom, Theodoret and Theophylact this is the just among the blessed, the wicked among the reprobate. 2. According to the commentary ascribed to S. Jerome, this means that each shall rise higher and more blessed as he has been more holy here. 3.... [ Continue Reading ]
_For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. I e_., Christ must rule the Church till God the Father puts all the devils and the wicked under Him. _Till_ does not denote an end of His reign, for there is no doubt that when His enemies shall have been overcome Christ will reign mor... [ Continue Reading ]
_He hath put all things under His feet._ God will in the resurrection put all men and angels, good and bad, under Christ. He speaks of the future as past, after the manner of the prophets. _But when He saith_... _which did put all things under Him_. S. Paul adds this lest any one should suppose tha... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him._ Some understand this of His Godhead, as though Christ as God will show Himself to have received everything, and His very Godhead, from His Father, and will so declare Himself to His Father. But this is too bold a statement; for the Son is not, s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Else what shall they do?_... _why are they then baptized for the dead?_ 1. This baptism is metaphorical, the baptism of pain, afflictions, tears, and prayers, which they endure on behalf of the dead, in order to deliver them from the baptism of fire in purgatory. For even those Judaisers are baptiz... [ Continue Reading ]
_I die daily. I.e_., I expose myself every day to danger of death, on behalf of the Gospel and the conversion of the Gentiles. _By your rejoicing._ That is, I die daily for the sake of the glory which awaits you in heaven, in order that I may win it for you; or, better still, as your father and Apo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Evil communications corrupt good manners._ Viz., with atheists and unbelievers who deny the resurrection. This is an iambic senarius of Menander's, as S. Jerome points out. VER. 34. _Awake to righteousness and sin not._ Awake from sin to be righteous. The Greek copies give "awake righteously;" Ephr... [ Continue Reading ]
_All flesh is not the same flesh._ He goes on to prove what he has said, viz., that God gives to each seed its own body as He hath pleased and determined. He proves it by analogy. "God," he says, "gives one flesh to man his own, another to beasts, another to fishes, another to birds. He gives one bo... [ Continue Reading ]
_There is one glory of the sun_, &c. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Primasius, Œcumenius, Bede, Augustine (_de_ _Sanct. Virg_. c. 26), Jerome (_contra Jovinian._ lib. ii.), prove from this that not only is the resurrection of the saints glorious, but that there is also an inequality of rewards... [ Continue Reading ]
_So also is the resurrection of the dead._ As there is one brightness of the sun, another of the moon, another of the stars, so will God give to each of the blessed the blessed and glorious body that belongs to him, and that is proportioned to his merits. The saints and blessed are well compared to... [ Continue Reading ]
_It is sown in dishonour._ Man's body when it is buried and thrown like seed into the ground, is base, thick, heavy, opaque. _It is raised in glory._ It will rise glorious clear, resplendent. The Apostle here strikes at another root of their error. There were some who at that time denied the resurr... [ Continue Reading ]
_It is sown a natural body._ It dies as it lived: its life was vegetative and sensitive, and needed for its support food and drink, like the life of other animals. So, too, it was solid, inert, unable to give place to other bodies, and impenetrable. Such was the body of Adam, even in Paradise. The n... [ Continue Reading ]