Philippians 3:11

τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν. So אABD2, 17 73 80, vulg goth syr (pesh and harkl), Bas Chrys Orig (Lat. transl.) Tert. So all recent Editors. K2L, most cursives, copt, Theodoret Theophyl read τῶν νεκρῶν.

11. εἴπως καταντήσω κτλ. “If by any means I may arrive.” Observe the (unusual) use of the conjunctive with εἰ. Cp. 1 Corinthians 14:5, ἐκτὸς εἰ μή τις διερμηνεύῃ, and the reading εἰ … θερίσωμεν in some MSS. of 1 Corinthians 9:11. The construction is found in e.g. the Greek tragedians, and in Greek of the Roman period it is not unfrequent.—Note the strong language of contingency; cp. 1 Corinthians 9:27, μή πως … ἀδόκιμος γένωμαι. Contrast the exulting assurance of Romans 8:35, τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει; κτλ.: and cp. ibid. Romans 8:30; John 10:27-29; &c.; and indeed the whole tone of “joy and peace in believing” so largely pervading the Scriptures. The two classes of expression represent as it were parallel lines, each of which is necessary to convey the idea of salvation. One line is the omnipotent grace, “made perfect in our weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). The other is the unalterable fact of our duty, to watch and pray. As one line or the other is brought into prominence (and there are times when one, or the other, must be stated alone), the language of assurance or of contingency is appropriate; till the parallel lines (as to us they seem and practically are) prove at last, in the love of God, to converge in glory.

εἰς τὴν ἐξανάστασιν τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν. On the reading, see critical note. “At the resurrection which is from the dead.” The phrase is peculiar and forcible, both by the use of the rare ἐξανάστασις, found here only in Biblical Greek (but ἐξανίστημι, with no special emphasis of meaning, is not uncommon in O.T. Greek), and by the τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν. The double compound ἐξανα- must not be pressed; such forms are a characteristic of later classical Greek, in which (Polybius, Strabo) ἐξανάστασις occurs; ἐξανίστημι being familiar earlier, in e.g. the Tragedians, Thucydides, and Plato, and often without emphasis on the ἐξ. But in the phrase here as a whole there is assuredly a fulness and force of its own. Accordingly it has been held that St Paul refers to a special resurrection, and that this is the mysterious “first resurrection” of Revelation 20:5-6, a rising of either all saints only, or of a special class of saints only; a resurrection “up from among the dead,” leaving the multitude behind. But St Paul nowhere else makes any certain reference to such a prospect (1 Corinthians 15:23-24, is not decisive, and 1 Thessalonians 4:16 has another bearing). This surely makes it unlikely that he should refer to it here, where he is plainly dealing with plain and ruling truths and hopes. It seems best then to explain these words of the glorious prospect of the resurrection of believers in general, as it is seen in 1 Corinthians 15.; and the force of the phrase may be due to the energy and climax of the passage; he throws his whole soul into the thought of leaving behind for ever the state of death, which state he denotes (on this hypothesis) by the concrete phrase, οἱ νεκροί.

It is observable that he here implies his expectation of death, to be followed by resurrection; not of survival till the Lord’s Return.