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 ]
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“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 ]