1 Corinthians 15:50

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 constituents of our natural bodies will form no part of our spiritual organization. There must be change, even (1 Corinthians 15:51) in the case of those who are not compelled to undergo death. Not that the essential principle of life which animates the body will be changed, but its relations to things external will be largely modified.

σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα … οὐ δύναται. It is not the material particles of our body which endure for ever. They are subject to corruption and dissolution. It is the spiritual principle of life which abides, and like the seed, attracts to itself such material particles as shall serve it for a suitable habitation. (See notes on 1 Corinthians 15:37-38.) The early heretics mentioned above, 1 Corinthians 15:12, caught eagerly at this verse as disposing of the idea of a material resurrection. But the early Fathers of the Church shewed conclusively that it was not to be so understood. They cited Luke 24:39 to prove that Jesus Christ had ‘flesh and bones’ after His Resurrection. And we may observe, moreover, that in St Paul’s language ‘flesh and blood’ stood for our ordinary humanity, as distinguished from everything of a spiritual nature. See John 6:63; Romans 8:1-10; Galatians 1:16; Ephesians 6:12. If we read δύναται we must suppose the singular is used because σάρξ and σἷμα are so intimately connected in one being. But it is possibly a copyist’s error.

οὐδὲ ἡ φθορά. An additional proof of what has just been stated. Our ordinary flesh and blood is by its very nature destined to corruption. It is not with such flesh and blood that we can become partakers of the incorruptible life.