As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let’s also bear the image of the heavenly. Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can’t inherit God’s Kingdom; neither does the perishable inherit imperishable.
Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54 He applieth both the earthly naturalness of Adam (if…
He applieth both the earthly naturalness of Adam (if I may so say) to our bodies, so long as they are naturally conversant on earth, to wit, in this life, and in the grave: and also the spirituality of Christ to the same our bodies, after that they are risen again: and he saith, that that goeth before and this shall follow.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv48–57 48 As is the earthy, such are they also…
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
Ver. 48. They that are earthy] κερυμος ο ανθρωπος, Vulgus fictilis. Man is but an earthen pot, Isa 64:8.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv48–57 Such a body as Adam had, (which was earthy),…
Such a body as Adam had, (which was earthy), such all the sons of Adam have; and such a body as Christ now hath since his resurrection, (which is a heavenly body), such a body also shall believers, who are heavenly, have in the resurrection.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv50, 51, 53, 54, 56, 57 By flesh and blood, here, we are to understand…
By flesh and blood, here, we are to understand our bodies in their present natural, corruptible, and mortal state. Such flesh and blood as ours is at present, unchanged, and unclothed with its heavenly body, cannot inherit the kingdom of God; that is, it cannot possibly enter into heaven, and bear the weight of glory which will there be put upon it.
Corruption, or nature subject to corruption, cannot inherit incorruption; that is, our corruptible bodies cannot enter into an incorruptible heaven.
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Note here, Another argument produced by the apostle, to prove the necessity of the resurrection, or of raising and new-moulding the body in a spiritual condition: because our natural body, till it be made spiritual, cannot bear the presence of God in heaven; it must be fitted for that glorious place and state, before it be brought into it: by a change of qualities it must be spiritualized, purified, and immortalized, or it can never bear that weight of glory which is prepared for the saints in that glorious kingdom.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v51 To confirm what he had said of this change,
To confirm what he had said of this change,
I. He here tells them what had been concealed from or unknown to them till then - that all the saints would not die, but all would be changed. Those that are alive at our Lord's coming will be caught up into the clouds, without dying, Th1 4:11. But it is plain from this passage that it will not be without changing from corruption to incorruption. The frame of their living bodies shall be thus altered, as well as those that are dead; and this in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, Co1 15:52. What cannot almighty power effect? That power that calls the dead into life can surely thus soon and suddenly change the living; for changed they must be as well as the dead, because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. This is the mystery which the apostle shows the Corinthians: Behold, I show you a mystery; or bring into open light a truth dark and unknown before. Note, There are many mysteries shown to us in the gospel; many truths that before were utterly unknown are there made known; many truths that were but dark and obscure before are there brought into open day, and plainly revealed; and many things are in part revealed that will never be fully known, nor perhaps clearly understood. The apostle here makes known a truth unknown before, which is that the saints living at our Lord's second coming will not die, but be changed, that this change will be made in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and at the sound of the last trump; for, as he tells us elsewhere, the Lord himself shall descend with a shout, with a voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God (Th1 4:16), so here, the trumpet must sound. It is the loud summons of all the living and all the dead, to come and appear at the tribunal of Christ. At this summons the graves shall open, the dead saints shall rise incorruptible, and the living saints be changed to the same incorruptible state, Co1 15:52.
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II. He assigns the reason of this change (Co1 15:53): For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. How otherwise could the man be a fit inhabitant of the incorruptible regions, or be fitted to possess the eternal inheritance? How can that which is corruptible and mortal enjoy what is incorruptible, permanent, and immortal? This corruptible body must be made incorruptible, this mortal body must be changed into immortal, that the man may be capable of enjoying the happiness designed for him. Note, It is this corruptible that must put on incorruption; the demolished fabric that must be reared again. What is sown must be quickened. Saints will come in their own bodies (Co1 15:38), not in other bodies.
III. He lets us know what will follow upon this change of the living and dead in Christ: Then shall be brought to pass that saying, Death is swallowed up in victory; or, He will swallow up death in victory. Isa 25:8. For mortality shall be then swallowed up of life (Co2 5:4), and death perfectly subdued and conquered, and saints for ever delivered from its power. Such a conquest shall be obtained over it that it shall for ever disappear in those regions to which our Lord will bear his risen saints. And therefore will the saints hereupon sing their epinikion, their song of triumph. Then, when this mortal shall have put on immortality, will death be swallowed up, for ever swallowed up, eis nikos. Christ hinders it from swallowing his saints when they die; but, when they rise again, death shall, as to them, be swallowed for ever. And upon this destruction of death will they break out into a song of triumph.
1. They will glory over death as a vanquished enemy, and insult this great and terrible destroyer: "O death! where is thy sting? Where is now thy sting, thy power to hurt? What mischief hast thou done us? We are dead; but behold we live again, and shall die no more. Thou art vanquished and disarmed, and we are out of the reach of thy deadly dart. Where now is thy fatal artillery? Where are thy stores of death? We fear no further mischiefs from thee, nor heed thy weapons, but defy thy power, and despise thy wrath. And, O grave! where is thy victory? Where now is thy victory? What has become of it? Where are the spoils and trophies of it? Once we were thy prisoners, but the prison-doors are burst open, the locks and bolts have been forced to give way, our shackles are knocked off, and we are for ever released. Captivity is taken captive. The imaginary victor is conquered, and forced to resign his conquest and release his captives. Thy triumphs, grave, are at an end. The bonds of death are loosed, and we are at liberty, and are never more to be hurt by death, nor imprisoned in the grave." In a moment, the power of death, and the conquests and spoils of the grave, are gone; and, as to the saints, the very signs of them will not remain. Where are they? Thus will they raise themselves, when they become immortal, to the honour of their Saviour and the praise of divine grace: they shall glory over vanquished death.
2. The foundation for this triumph is here intimated, (1.) In the account given whence death had its power to hurt: The sting of death is sin. This gives venom to his dart: this alone puts it into the power of death to hurt and kill. Sin unpardoned, and nothing else, can keep any under his power. And the strength of sin is the law; it is the divine threatening against the transgressors of the law, the curse there denounced, that gives power to sin. Note, Sin is the parent of death, and gives it all its hurtful power. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, Rom 5:12. It is its cursed progeny and offspring. (2.) In the account given of the victory saints obtain over it through Jesus Christ, Co1 15:56. The sting of death is sin; but Christ, by dying, has taken out this sting. He has made atonement for sin; he has obtained remission of it. It may hiss therefore, but it cannot hurt. The strength of sin is the law; but the curse of the law is removed by our Redeemer's becoming a curse for us. So that sin is deprived of its strength and sting, through Christ, that is, by his incarnation, suffering, and death. Death may seize a believer, but cannot sting him, cannot hold him in his power. There is a day coming when the grave shall open, the bands of death be loosed, the dead saints revive, and become incorruptible and immortal, and put out of the reach of death for ever. And then will it plainly appear that, as to them, death will have lost its strength and sting; and all by the mediation of Christ, by his dying in their room. By dying, he conquered death, and spoiled the grave; and, through faith in him, believers become sharers in his conquests. They often rejoice beforehand, in the hope of this victory; and, when they arise glorious from the grave, they will boldly triumph over death. Note, It is altogether owing to the grace of God in Christ that sin is pardoned and death disarmed. The law puts arms into the hand of death, to destroy the sinner; but pardon of sin takes away this power from the law, and deprives death of its strength and sting. It is by the grace of God, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, that we are freely justified, Rom 3:24. It is no wonder, therefore, (3.) If this triumph of the saints over death should issue in thanksgiving to God: Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through Christ Jesus, our Lord, Co1 15:57. The way to sanctify all our joy is to make it tributary to the praise of God. Then only do we enjoy our blessings and honours in a holy manner when God has his revenue of glory out of it, and we are free to pay it to him. And this really improves and exalts our satisfaction. We are conscious at once of having done our duty and enjoyed our pleasure. And what can be more joyous in itself than the saints' triumph over death, when they shall rise again? And shall they not then rejoice in the Lord, and be glad in the God of their salvation? Shall not their souls magnify the Lord? When he shows such wonders to the dead, shall they not arise and praise him? Psa 88:10. Those who remain under the power of death can have no heart to praise; but such conquests and triumphs will certainly tune the tongues of the saints to thankfulness and praise - praise for the victory (it is great and glorious in itself), and for the means whereby it is obtained (it is given of God through Christ Jesus), a victory obtained not by our power, but the power of God; not given because we are worthy, but because Christ is so, and has by dying obtained this conquest for us. Must not this circumstance endear the victory to us, and heighten our praise to God? Note, How many springs of joy to the saints and thanksgiving to God are opened by the death and resurrection, the sufferings and conquests, of our Redeemer! With what acclamations will saints rising from the dead applaud him! How will the heaven of heavens resound his praises for ever! Thanks be to God will be the burden of their song; and angels will join the chorus, and declare their consent with a loud Amen, Hallelujah.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv48–55 Behold, I show you a mystery,.... Or a secret,…
Behold, I show you a mystery,.... Or a secret, which could never have been discovered by reason, or the light of nature, and what is of pure revelation; and which perhaps the apostle became acquainted with, when he was caught up into the third heaven; and is what is never made mention of by any prophet, or apostle, but himself: he prefaces the account of it in this manner, partly to show the great respect he had for these Corinthians, that he treated them as his bosom friends, to whom he communicated his secrets; and partly to excite their curiosity and attention:
we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed; some copies read, "we shall all rise again, but we shall not all be changed", and so the Vulgate Latin version; according to which the sense is, all will rise again, both just and unjust, but all will not be changed into a state of glory; but the apostle is only speaking of the saints, of whom it is true, not only that they shall rise again, but shall be changed from corruption to incorruption; wherefore this cannot be a true reading: others read the words thus, "we shall all die, but we shall not all be changed"; and so the Ethiopic version and the Alexandrian copy seem to have read; which is just the reverse of the text, and arises from a wrong sense of Heb 9:27 where it is not said, it is "appointed unto all men", but "unto men once to die"; from which rule there has been some exceptions, as the instances of Enoch and Elijah show; and there will be more at the time of Christ's coming, for all will not sleep in their graves, or die, for death is meant by sleeping; they will not die as men ordinarily do, and continue under the power of death, but they will be changed at once from corruption to incorruption, from dishonour to glory, from weakness to power, from being natural to be spiritual bodies; this change all the saints will undergo, whether dead or alive, at Christ's coming; the dead by a resurrection from the dead, and the living by a secret and sudden power, which will at once render their bodies, without separating them from their souls, immortal and glorious: and this reading and sense are confirmed by the Syriac and Arabic versions.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57 They that are earthy - Who continue without any…
They that are earthy - Who continue without any higher principle. They that are heavenly - Who receive a divine principle from heaven.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv48–57 Verse 48. As is the earthy, c.] As Adam…
Verse 48. As is the earthy, c.] As Adam was, who was formed from the earth, so are all his descendants frail, decaying, and subject to death.
As is the heavenly] As is the heavenly state of Adam and all glorified beings, so shall be the state of all those who, at the resurrection, are found fit for glory.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv50, 53, 55, 56 1Co 15:50-52. Now this I say, brethren — This…
1Co 15:50-52. Now this I say, brethren — This I offer to your consideration as a great and important truth, that we must first undergo an entire change; for flesh and blood — Such as we are now clothed with; cannot inherit the kingdom of God — Cannot enter that happy place which Christ hath gone to prepare for the reception of his people, (Joh 14:7,) cannot possess that kingdom which is wholly spiritual, because it affords no objects suited either to the senses or to the appetites of such a body. Neither doth corruption — This corruptible body; inherit incorruption — That incorruptible kingdom. Spirits, clothed with corruptible bodies like our present bodies, cannot enjoy objects that are incorruptible. They are not capable of enjoying the divine vision, nor of performing the exalted services, nor of relishing the pure pleasures, which constitute the glory and felicity of the kingdom of God. Behold, I show you a mystery — A truth hitherto unknown, and not yet fully revealed to any of the sons of men. We — Christians: the apostle considers them all as one in their succeeding generations; shall not die — Suffer a separation of soul and body; but we shall all — Who do not die; be changed — So that this animal body shall become spiritual; in a moment — Amazing work of omnipotence! in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump — Blown by the divine command. For the trumpet shall sound, &c. — At the giving of the law from Sinai, there was heard a great noise, like the sounding of a trumpet, exceeding loud, which sounded long, and waxed louder and louder. In like manner, at the descent of Christ from heaven, a great noise called the trump of God, (1Th 4:16,) will be made by the attending angels, as the signal for the righteous to come forth from their graves. And this noise being made at Christ’s command, it is called by himself, his voice, Joh 5:25. After the righteous are raised, the trumpet shall sound a second time; on which account it is called here the last trumpet. And while it sounds, the righteous who are alive on the earth shall be changed. And the dead shall be raised incorruptible — Though this expression be general, yet, as appears from 1Co 15:51, and indeed from the whole latter part of the chapter, it is evident it must be restricted to the dead in Christ, of whom alone the apostle is discoursing. Besides, as appears from 1Th 4:16, the wicked are not to be raised at the same time with the righteous.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv48–57 As is the earthy - Such as Adam was.
As is the earthy - Such as Adam was.
Such are they also ... - Such are all his descendants; all who derive their nature from him. That is, they are frail, corruptible, mortal; they live in an animal body as he did, and like him, they are subject to corruption and decay.
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And as is the heavenly - As is he who was from heaven; as is the Lord Jesus now in is glorified body. “Such are they also, etc.” Such will they be also. They will be like him; they will have a body like his. This idea is more fully expressed in Phi 3:21, “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv51, 52, 54 We shall all indeed rise again, but we shall…
We shall all indeed rise again, but we shall not all be changed.[3] This is the reading of the Latin Vulgate, and of some Greek manuscripts, and the sense is, that all both good and bad shall rise, but only the elect to the happy change or a glorified body. The reading in most Greek copies at present is, we shall not all sleep, (i.e. die) be we shall be all changed: so also read St. John Chrysostom: and St. Jerome found it in many manuscripts from which divers, especially of the Greek interpreters, thought that such as should be found living at the day of judgment should not die, but the bodies of the elect (of whom St. Paul here speaks) should be changed to a happy state of immortality. This opinion, if it deserve not to be censured, is at least against the common persuasion of the faithful, who look upon it certain that all shall die before they come to judgment. Some expound the Greek only to signify, that all shall not sleep, i.e. shall not remain for any time in the grave, as others who die are accustomed to do. (Witham)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Omnes quidem resurgemus, sed non omnes immutabimur; and so some Greek manuscripts have, Greek: pantes anastesomen, but in most Greek copies we find, Greek: pantes men ou koimethesometha, pantes de allagesometha. See St. Jerome (Ep. ad Minervium Alexandrium, tom. iv. p. 207. et seq. Ed. Ben.) where he gives at large the different opinions and readings. See also his Epist. to Marcella, (tom. iv. p. 166) where he says: Deprehensi in corpore in iisdem corporibus occurent ci (Christo).
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George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v51 D. Conclusion in reference to those who survive at…
D. Conclusion in reference to those who survive at the advent. Final exhortations
1Co_15:51-58
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51Behold, I shew [tell, λέγω] you a mystery; We shall not all sleep [We all shall not sleep, πἀντες οὺ κοιμηθ.44], but we shall all be changed. 1 52In a moment [an atom, ὰτόμω̣], in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised45 incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible 54must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So [But, δὲ], when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,46 and this mortal shall have put on immortality,3 then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is [was, κατεπόθη] swallowed up in victory. 55O death, where is thy sting?47 O grave [death, 56θάνατε], where is thy victory?4 [But, δὲ] The sting of death is sin; and the strength 57of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory4 through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know [knowing, εἰδότες] that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1Co_15:51. He now proceeds to reveal to them something of the process of the resurrection. And what he has to say is introduced in a manner solemn, and calculated to awaken attention.—Behold,—The word points to an object presented for inward contemplation, and at the same time extraordinary, q. d, ‘behold, look my words full in the face—they contain a truth which we are slow to recognize, but which is true notwithstanding.’ The thing to be announced he calls—a mystery—not simply something hitherto unknown to the reader, but something ascertained only through a divine revelation, or the illumination of the Spirit (1Co_4:1; 1Co_13:2).—tell I unto you:—This mystery was, that those who are alive at the coming of the Lord will experience a change that shall fit them for participating in the kingdom of God, just as those would who arose from the dead; hence, that that which was said in 1Co_15:49 was applicable also to them. The same truth is set forth in 1Th_5:1-17, save that the idea of a change, which, in the latter text, is only presupposed, is, in our passage, definitely brought to view. In both places he gives his readers to understand that the disclosure made rested upon revelation (1Th_4:15, “by the word of the Lord”).—The received text of our passage has, from the earliest time, created difficulty. 48 It seems to assert that the Apostle expected, not death, but a sudden change both for himself and for all his cotemporaries—a thing not reconcilable with actual events. Hence, οὐ has been put after κοιμηθησόμεθα, connecting it with the following verb; [so Stanley, who renders: “we shall all sleep, but we shall not all be changed”] (besides, some put οὖν before κοιμηθ, which is, perhaps, only a trace of the original position of οὐ); but this reading would be unsuitable by reason of the more exactly defining statement of time, immediately following in 1Co_15:52, which could only be joined to a positive clause. [It would hardly do to say, ‘ we shall not all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,’ etc. It was perhaps with a view of obviating this difficulty that the reading ἀναστησόμεθα, we shall arise, [found in D., and adopted by the vulgate], was introduced; but which even in this way betrays its non-authenticity, and, besides, is less sustained. In the case of the received text, πάντες μὲν οὐ κοιμηθησόμεθα, πάντες δὲ ἀλλαχησόμεθα,—there still arises, however, the objection, that the apostle could not assert concerning himself and all his readers, or all Christians of his time that they would not “sleep,” but would rather all “be changed,” [as is implied here by the position of the negative οὐ, which bears directly upon the verb, and not upon the adjective πἀντες all—making it mean, ‘all of us shall not sleep’]. Hence, a trajection of the negative is here assumed, πάντες ον̓, standing for ον̓ πάντες, and the clause taken to be equivalent, to οὐ πάντες κοιμηθ., meaning not all of us shall sleep;’ and ἀλλαγησόμεθα is interpreted in a broader sense, as including the idea of rising from the dead, which is opposed by the stricter signification of the term, and by the more exact intimation given in 1Co_15:52, where it is said that the dead also shall rise. Nor yet can the above-mentioned trajection of the negative be justified on the ground of giving the word πάντες, all, a more emphatic position, or from Num_23:13; Jos_11:13 or Sir_17:30 (where it does not occur); and, besides, the assumption of a various range of meaning for ἀλλαγησόμεθα in such close succession has something arbitrary in it. The same is true also of the expedient of putting οὐ κοιμηθ. not sleep, in a parenthesis, q. d., ‘ we all (shall, indeed, not die, but yet) all shall be changed. [So Hodge, who, as above, broadens the scope of the verb rendered ‘changed,’ so as to denote not simply the transformation of the living, but also the reinvestiture of the dead, thus making it apply to all Christians generally. Stanley is singularly confused here, following Lachmann in his text, and rendering “we shall all sleep; but we shall not all be changed;’ yet, in his note, giving a decided preference for the Rec. Text, and rendering it, “We shall, all of us, not die, but be changed.” In the latter he follows Meyer and Winer (Gr. Gram. Pt. 3 § 61, 4 f.) who insist that the only translation consistent with Greek is as Kling gives it in his version—We shall all not sleep, but we shall be changed,—The intention of the apostle is to answer a question, which would naturally occur to some in view of the declaration that “flesh and blood could not inherit the kingdom of God.” If this were so, it might be asked, what would become of the living? While the dead would rise with new bodies, what would become of them who were expecting to survive till the advent. These are the parties whom he now has solely in his eye, and since the great crisis was supposed to be near at hand, he speaks here in the first person, and says ‘ we.’]. The difficulty in regard to πάντες, all, is relieved by the supposition that he had in mind the sum total of the survivors (among whom, he also reckoned himself), to whom alone the whole context relates. But that the words μὲν δὲ should stand in connection with the same emphatically repeated word πάντες, all, when they appear to relate to the contrast between ‘not sleeping’ and ‘being changed,’ is entirely in accordance with Greek usage (comp. Passow upon the words 1:176, b, above). They had better remain untranslated.—By ‘being changed’ he indicates the immediate transition from the earthly into the heavenly body, without the intervening process of death and the resurrection. This is to take place—In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,—Both these expressions indicate the same thing, and set forth, in a most striking manner, the instantaneousness of the transition, excluding the possibility of death coming in between, ἄτομον, an indivisible point of time. In this change a prevenient qualification, a preparation for this glorification, by the operation of the Spirit of Christ, is indeed not excluded; it is only asserted that this glorification would take place suddenly.—A second particular relating to the time of this change, is expressed by the words—at the last trump:—ἐν τῇ ἐσχ. σάλπ.ἐν; is used as expressive of the time in which the last trumpet sounds, as in 1Th_4:16, where it is said of the Lord that He will descend from Heaven ἐν σαλπιγγι θεοῦ; “in the trumpet of God;” whereupon the dead will rise. [For this use of ἐν, see Jelf. Gr. Gram. § 622, 2. fin.]. The word σαλπίζειν is used to denote the trumpet blast accompanying the Theophanies, and resounding over the whole region of their manifestation, arousing and shaking all things there (comp. Exo_19:16; Isa_27:13; Zec_9:14). The last trumpet refers to that great Theophany, or Christophany, by which all the revelations of God in this dispensation will be brought to their close. That this will coincide with the seventh trumpet (Rev_11:15), is, by no means, improbable; because, there also John is speaking of the end of the world-power, and the coming in of the kingdom of God and of Christ—an event with which that here mentioned must synchronize. From this, however, we are not to conclude that Paul had in mind the seven trumpets of the Apocalypse, of which he supposed this to be the last; “for it is hardly proper to ascribe the peculiarity of John’s vision to the apostle Paul, as though the doctrine of the latter were moulded by the former.” Burger.—But in no case are we to suppose any allusion here to the seven trumpets, according to which the Rabbis were wont to exhibit the seven stages of the resurrection—the last announcing the instant when the dead were to stand upon their feet—since the apostle furnishes not the remotest hint of the kind. Moreover, to interpret the trumpet sound of those commotions and revolutions which were to introduce and accompany the judgment; or, as Olshausen does, of a powerful all-shaking operation of the Spirit; or, of an all-agitating κέλευσμα, command, or νεῦμα, nod, of God (Theoph.); or indefinitely of some sign that the judgment is to be held, is arbitrary. The trumpet blast, elsewhere spoken of as the signal for battle, (comp. 1Co_14:7), or for assembling, or for judgment, here comes as the signal for the great act of the all-victorious king, who will call his people out from among the quick and the dead into the glory of His heavenly life, and so shall gather them about himself. But Neander says: “We shall not be able to take the statement of the trumpet literally. It denotes the call to the last act of Divine omnipotence.”—for the trumpet shall sound,—σαλπισει is impersonal, it shall sound, like ὕιει, it rains, and the like. It is unnecessary to suppose any definite subject here, whether God, or Christ (comp. “the trump of God,” 1Th_4:16; and “the Lord God shall blow the trumpet,” Zec_9:14), or an angel (comp. Rev_8:2).—The events following upon the sound of the trumpet are introduced by καὶ; first, the resurrection of the dead according to 1Th_4:16, “the dead in Christ shall rise first” (comp. above 1Co_15:23), and that, too, in a state of incorruption (comp. 1Co_15:42).—and the dead shall be raised incorruptible;—then, the change of the living, which, as is shown from what follows, is also a transition into a state of incorruption. [This is in exact accordance with 1Th_4:15. “Those who are alive when Christ comes shall not prevent,” i. e., take the precedence of, “them which are asleep”]. But to take the term “we” as a sort of generalization, by which he did not intend literally to denote himself and his cotemporaries, but only those living at the time of the Advent, and who belonged to an entirely different period, and so, as equivalent to ‘we Christians,’ i. e., those who shall then be alive [as Hodge and others], is entirely arbitrary. It is unquestionable that the apostle, although opposed to all fanciful expectations and designations of time (2 Thes. 11), regarded the second Advent as near, and hoped to survive to it; nor does what is said in 1Co_6:14, at all conflict with this (see above).—The event thus predicted is confirmed by a reference to the necessity of this change, pointing back to 1Co_15:50.—For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.—The epithets “corruptible” and “mortal” relate to the human body in its present state; but they are not to be distinguished, as though the former applied to the dead and the latter to the living (Bengel); for that which he designates as a mystery and has just made known, and that whereupon, therefore, the emphasis lies, is, that “we shall be changed.” Hence, he is speaking mainly of the living. To “put on” (ἐνδύσασθαι) a figure borrowed from clothing (comp. 1Co_15:49; 2Co_5:3, “not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon”). The maintenance of a personal identity, with a change in the quality of the vesture, is here unmistakably implied; according to de Wette, the figure is one of an inward purification (Luke 26:49; Rom_13:14; Eph_4:24; Col_3:10); according to Osiander of adornment and manifestation of the change—both doubtful. The aorist infinitive indicates the instantaneousness of the process. The repetition of the verb gives emphasis, and preserves the symmetry of the sentence.
1Co_15:54-57. He here announces in a solemn manner, enhanced by the literal repetition of what he has just said, that this event will consummate the victory over the last enemy, and in it will be fulfilled the prophecy which predicts the cessation of all death at that time. [“The argument closes in a burst of almost poetical fervor, (as in the corresponding passage, Rom_8:31).” Stanley].—And when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality,—[“a repetition in a triumphant spirit, of the description of the glorious change.” Alford].—then shall come to pass—γενήσεται here expresses the thought elsewhere conveyed by πληροῦσθαι, τελεῖσθαι.—the saying that is written,—The declaration is found in Isa_25:8, in a passage announcing the final consummation of God’s kingdom, and is cited, not according to the LXX., but according to the original Hebrew, except that בִּלַע הַפָּוֶת, he will destroy death, is turned into the passive “is swallowed up;” and לָנֶצַּח is translated as elsewhere in several passages in the LXX., e. g., Amo_1:11; Amo_8:8, εἰς νῖκος, into victory; while it properly means entirely, altogether (comp. Hupfeld on Psa_13:2), which also suits the passage in Isa. (others: “altogether”)—Death is swallowed up into victory.—κατεπόθη the same idea that is expressed in καταργεῖται (1Co_15:26). “It is a remarkable expression, denoting the swallowing up of the all-swallower.” (Vitringa).—Εἰς νῖκος can here be interpreted neither as equivalent to ‘forever,’ nor yet to ‘entirely;’ nor can we take it as an adverb, ‘victoriously’ (Flacius); but it indicates the result of being swallowed up—“into victory,” i. e., so that victory is gained, and the enemy is overcome. To this the following triumphal song is well appended. An argument may be urged against Osiander’s local interpretation of εἰς, (by which victory is personified and represented as a ravenous beast, as though the expression meant ‘swallowed up in the jaws of victory’), from the want of the article, as also from to τὸ νῖκος of 1Co_15:55. Inasmuch as in this whole context death must mean physical death, the doctrine of the restoration of all things, as suggested by Olshausen, has here no support.—The reference to the prophecy fulfilled at the resurrection culminates in a triumphal song, in uttering which, the Apostle seems transported in spirit to the moment of that grand consummation.—Where,—ποῦ, 1Co_1:20; Rom_3:27.—thy sting,—By κέντρον we are not to understand a goad, which death may be supposed to use in tilling his field, since without sin he could have no power over us [Billr. and Scholt.]; nor yet as something which calls out the power of death over us, awakes its slumbering might to tyrannize over us (Olsh.); but death is here figured as a venomous beast, armed with a poisonous, deadly sting—a scorpion, for example, [or a serpent like a viper in allusion to Genesis 3, and Numbers , 21]—O Death!—In this direct address the personification of death comes out more forcibly than in 1Co_15:54.—Where thy victory, O Death?—In this clause the Rec. Text has ἅφη, Hades, the kingdom of the dead, instead of θάνατε repeated. By “victory,” in this case, we would understand the detention in Hades of those who had departed to it; and this would be destroyed if Hades were compelled to give up the dead in a resurrection. But the reading ᾅδη is perhaps a correction made in accordance with the LXX version of Hos_13:14. This passage undoubtedly floated before the mind of the Apostle, and apparently in the form in which it appears in the LXX in so far as we translate the passage, “From the power of Sheol will I ransom them; from death will I deliver them,” thus: “O death, I will be thy plagues; O Grave, I will be thy destruction.” But אֱהִי [translated I in our version] may be also=אַיֵּה, as in Hos_13:10, [where it occurs in the sense of ποῦ, where,] (comp. Fürst, Handwörterbuch, s. v., אֱהִי 1Co_1:30). But instead of דְבָרֶיךָ thy plagues (plural of דֶּבֶר=the mille viæ leti, the thousand ways of death), others appear to have read דָּרְבָנְךָthy sting, (Fürst, s. v., דֶּבֶר); and קָטָבְךָ may be translated thy overthrow, viz., that which thou workest; in which case it is=τὸ νῖκος σου, thy victory, (comp. Schmieder on Hos_13:14). This prophecy opens for us a bright view into the last glorious epoch, like as Isa_25:8; and the thought mounts from the state of not dying, implied in the loss of death’s sting, to that of resurrection from the dead (Meyer Ed. 3). If we now unite this passage in Isa. to the citation from Hosea, which is not inadmissible, then we have here a combination of texts as in Rom_11:8, and eleswhere. [Hodge says the Apostle does not quote Hosea, but expresses an analogous idea in analogous terms].—To this triumphal song there is appended, first, a short explanation respecting the sting of death, which serves to confirm the statement that death is swallowed up (1Co_15:56). “It affords,” says Meyer, “a firm doctrinal basis for the certainty of victory over death, furnished in the Gospel system.”—The sting of death is sin;—The parallel here between κέντρον and δύναμις. might seem to indicate the propriety of taking the former in the sense above given, viz., that of a goad, implying that that which set death in motion, and rendered it active, is sin. But there is no necessity for this; and the connection with 1Co_15:55, where “sting” being parallel with “victory,” cannot denote that by which death is goaded, does not allow of it. The meaning is, rather, that death, like a scorpion, has a sting, a fatal power imparted to it by means of sin (comp. 1Co 6:23; 1Co_5:12). But in relation to sin he adds—and the strength of Sin is the law.—This has been understood, either of the sin-awakening, and the sin-strengthening power of the law in the sense of Rom_7:7 if.; or of its condemning power (2Co_3:6 ff.; chap. 9); or both ideas have here been combined (Osiander). The first interpretation is the correct one. As death has no sting, no fatal power, when sin is done away, and therefore is destroyed, as death; so sin has no power, is become weak and nullified, when the law is removed. The law is indeed the revelation of the Divine will in the form of a command or prohibition, which both presupposes, and calls out the opposition of man against God. So long as this stands in authority, sin, and accordingly death, has power. And here the question arises, Does the Apostle intend to infer from the nullification of the power of death at that period, that then sin and the law are done away? Or does he presuppose this as a matter evident of itself, and from it draw a conclusion in support of the destruction of death, and for the resurrection? Or does he mean to indicate that sin and the law stand in the way of this consummation? The following verse most readily connects itself with the last supposition; since here God is praised as the one who, through Jesus Christ, ensures a victory over every thing which obstructs the grand consummation; or, more exactly, the victory over death, of which mention has been before made; since in communion with Him we are delivered from the law, and, together with this, from the power of sin, and hence also from death (Rom_8:1). Thus is this complete victory exhibited to us in connection with the redemption secured by Christ, which is nothing less than a deliverance from law and sin; and the whole is referred back to God, the Author of our redemption, with ascriptions of thanksgiving.—But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.—The present participle τῷ διδόντι, he giving us, may be taken as a vivid representation of the future in the form of the present, showing the absolute certainty of the thing; or it may denote the simple fact considered by itself apart from all idea of time; or, finally, it may represent God to us as the One who continually gives us the victory by taking away the condemnation of the law, and so destroying the power of sin in a life of faith, which is nothing less than a fellowship with Christ, who is the end of the law, and the destroyer of sin’s power. [“This He is: 1. Because He has fulfilled the demands of the law. It has no power to condemn those who are clothed in His righteousness. “There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Rom_8:1). Christ, by His death, hath “destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and delivered them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb_2:14-15). That is, in virtue of the death of Christ, by which the demands of justice are satisfied, Satan, the great executioner of divine justice, has no longer the right or power to detain. If, therefore, it be the law which gives sin its reality and strength, and if sin gives death its sting, He who satisfies the law destroys the strength of sin, and consequently the sting of death. It is thus that Christ deprives death of all its power to injure His people. It is for them disarmed and rendered as harmless as an infant. 2. But Christ not only gives us this victory through His justifying righteousness, but also by His almighty power, He new creates the soul after the image of God; and, what is here principally intended, He repairs all the evils which death had inflicted. He rescues our bodies from the grave, and fashions them like unto His glorious body, even by that “power whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself” (Php_3:21). Hodge].
1Co_15:58. He concludes with an earnest exhortation to stedfastness and to advancement in Christian activity. And this which he introduces with an endearing epithet—My beloved brethren,—he joins first to a thankful allusion to the God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ; and thus the whole exposition comes at last to its close. This is evident also from the corroborative clause.—wherefore—since God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.—be ye stedfast unmovable,—suffer not yourselves to be shaken from the foundation of your faith and hope by any person or thing. “Ἐδραῖοι, stedfast,—‘do not turn yourselves from the faith of resurrection;’ ἀμετακίνητοι, unmovable,—‘be not led away by others.’ Bengel.—To this still another quality is annexed.—always abounding in the work of the Lord,—This is not to be taken as subordinating what precedes, as Meyer, who interprets: “so that ye distinguish yourselves in furthering the work of the Lord by your stedfastness in the Christian faith and life;” but it is still another feature of good conduct resulting from the conviction spoken of in 1Co_15:57, viz., excelling in activity for the cause of Christ. By ἔργοντοῦκυρίου we are not to understand, either Christ’s work in a preëminent sense, i.e., the church (as the Romanists); nor yet a divine and blessed life (de Wette); but the work which Christ Himself undertook in obedience to the Father’s commission, and which He has commanded His followers to carry forward. In this are comprised both the proclamation and spread of the Gospel and the furtherance of the common weal by the reformation of individuals and of society. “It is something in which every Christian should coöperate through word and work in his own sphere.” Burger. To such activity he encourages them by a general assurance of success.—knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.—By κόπος he means an activity full of effort, involving burdens and self-denials for the advancement of the Redeemer’s kingdom. All this were vain and fruitless if our salvation were not to be consummated in triumph, if no victory over death and no resurrection were to be hoped for. But since this hope is sure, we know that our efforts will not fail of their goal,—that the glorious end will be reached at last which will compensate us for all our toil. The phrase “in the Lord” belongs, not to the subject (Meyer), but to the predicate, or rather to the whole clause. The profitableness of our labor is established in Christ. In fellowship with Him is its objects surely attained.
[Obs. 1. In order to appreciate the force of the Apostle’s reasoning throughout this whole chapter, it will be necessary to connect it with that general scheme of historical development in which his great argument moves. In speaking of the “other world,” or “the world to come,” it is common to understand by these expressions some mysterious realm existing outside of, or apart from the material world into which we are introduced by death, and where departed spirits are supposed to be now living. Not unfrequently are these terms used interchangeably with “eternity.” On such an interpretation, it is not easy to see why the Apostle should make a future happy existence so contingent upon the resurrection; or, indeed, what necessity there is for a new body, if in our disembodied state we are so completely introduced into fellowship with Christ, and the glories of heaven. Nor can we discover a reason why the resurrection should not take place with every individual immediately after death, according to the theory of Bush and the Swedenborgians. To keep the soul, that would “not be unclothed but clothed upon,” waiting for centuries before it can assume its new vesture, seems almost like an arbritrary and needless appointment. But the difficulty here presented is all removed when we come to reflect that the term translated “world” (αἴων) is not a designation of space, denoting any particular realm in which people live, but of time. It properly means an age—a distinct cycle of years through which certain great transactions similar in kind are carried on to their consummation, and which is to be followed by another of a different kind. Now it is through a series of these ages, or aeons, that Paul considers the work of the world’s redemption to be progressively carried on, all separated by certain great crises. The “present age” is that period which dating from the Fall is to last until the second coming of Christ. At this point the “future age” will begin to date, and this will be the age of redemption completed—the age of the Messiah’s Kingdom and Glory. And the expression for ‘eternity’ is generally in the plural—‘ages’, or ‘ages upon ages,’ to signify the ceaseless procession of time, under which conception eternity was ordinarily represented.
From this exposition will be seen the impropriety of speaking of souls at death passing at once into “the other” or “future world” or age. That future world or age has not yet come in; and no one can be said to enter it until Christ appears to set up His Kingdom. It is then only that the earth will be in readiness for the reception of the risen saints. And inasmuch as the glory which they are waiting for is to be found here, it will be seen why a resurrection is necessary,—why they want a body at all, and a glorified body, since it is in this as their organ that they will be fitted to dwell in a glorified earth and enjoy the felicity of that age. According to Paul’s theory, man is not to be separated from this lower creation of which he forms a part and of which he is the lord. The world was viewed by him as one complete whole, termed in Romans 8 “the creature” (κτίσις) which as it had been involved in the curse of the Fall was also to be restored in its completeness as the theatre of the Redeemer’s glory. But the time of its restoration could not occur, until all the redeemed of earth were brought in and the number of the elect completed. It is then that the Redeemer will appear to set up His Kingdom and around Him the whole church will be glorified together, none “preventing,” i.e., anticipating the other in the fruition of future glory.
On such a scheme we discover a foundation for the Apostle’s argument which identifies a blessed immortality, with the fact of a future resurrection, and seemingly ignores the possibility of an existence in some purely spiritual state, such as Pagan philosophy dreams of. The process of redemption underlying this scheme of history has been well represented by Fairbairn (Hermeneutical Manual, p. 367) under four successive stages and developments indicated by four fundamental gospel terms. “We see it beginning in the region of the inner man—in the awakening of a sense of guilt and danger, with earnest strivings after amendment (μετάνοια, repentance); then, through the operation of the grace of God, it discovers itself in a regenerated frame of spirit, the possession of an essentially new spiritual condition (παλιγγενεσία, regeneration) this once found, proceeds by continual advances, and fresh efforts to higher and higher degrees of spiritual renovation (ἀνακαίνωσις, renewing), while according to the gracious plan and wise disposal of God, the internal links itself to the external, the renovation of soul paves the way for the purification of nature, until, the work of grace being finished, and the number of the elect completed, the bodies also of the saints shall be transformed, and the whole material creation shall become a fit habitation for redeemed and glorified saints (αποκατάστασις, restoration). What a large and divine-like grasp in this regenerative scheme! How unlike the littleness and superficiality of man! How clearly be-speaking the profound insight and far-reaching wisdom of God! And this not merely in its ultimate results, but in the method also and order of its procedure! In beginning with the inner man, and laying the chief stress on a regenerated heart, it takes possession of the fountain head of evil, and rectifies that which most of all requires the operation of renewing agency. As in the moral sphere, the evil had its commencement, so in the same sphere are the roots planted of all the renovation, that is to develop itself in the history of the Kingdom. And the spiritual work once properly accomplished, all that remains to be done shall follow in due time; Satan shall be finally cast out; and on the
ruins of his usurped dominion, the glories of the new creation shall shine forth in their eternal lustre.”
For a list of works on this whole subject of the nature and destiny of the soul, the reader may consult the appendix to the History of the Doctrine of a Future Life, by Alger, where nearly five thousand works on this engrossing theme are enumerated and described by Ezra Abbot. Among the best of the moderns are Delitzsch, Psychologie, 2. Ed.; Bleek, Seelenlehre; Heard, on the Tripartite nature of man. Consult also articles in Bib. Sacra, 17:303; 13 p. 159].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
The risen saint’s retrospect and triumph. From the heights of a salvation completed the spirit looks back, in thought, on the dangers and difficulties through which it is to pass, and then, in contrast, to the deliverance provided for it in its several essential particulars; and such a review awakens it anew to the praise of God’s grace which through the power of Christ removed all obstacles, and gave it that victory in which it is to obtain the fulfilment of all the divine promises. But from this also there springs the earnest determination to remain stedfast in the maintenance of the grace conferred, and constantly to excel in furthering the great word of salvation in the joyful confidence that every sincere effort will result in securing at last a perfect communion with Christ who in His own person has overcome all obstacles and invites His followers to share in His victory.
The attainment of our salvation proceeds through three inseparably connected stages—the doing away: 1. of the law; 2. of sin; 3. of death. The law is done away (so far as it calls out and intensifies an opposition to God), through the revelation of the perfect love of God, who sent His only-begotten Son, the holy and righteous One, to take upon himself and endure the curse of the law, or to become sin and a curse for us, and so to redeem us from curse and from judgment, and to secure our justification. Thus, sin is forgiven; we are accepted in the beloved; and a loving child-like communion is established which involves a participation in the divine glory. Through the manifestation of this love, the law is changed from being a summary of stringent exactions and prohibitions enforced by fearful threatenings, into a proclamation of the will of a Father now reconciled to us in Christ, and who is thus recognized as meaning kindness in every requirement, who forbids nothing but what is injurious, enjoins nothing but what is necessary and beneficial, obliges us to suffer nothing but what is subservient to our best good, and disciplines us because He loves us.—By this means, also, the power of sin is broken, and instead thereof a disposition to love awakened, which grows ever stronger and stronger, masters more and more perfectly all opposing tendencies and impulses, and brings the whole life with all its organs and powers more resolutely and undividedly, more willingly and joyfully, into the service of God’s holy love, and thus promotes the sanctification of the whole man.—By this same means also death is robbed of its sting. For believers who pursue after holiness, death appears no longer as an extinction of life causing pain and fear, and making us dreary and desolate; but as an entrance into the rest of Christ, which leads to a glorious renewal of life (comp. Joh_8:51; Joh_11:25 ff.; Rom_6:8 ff; Rom_8:11; Rom_8:38 ff.), in which our perfect victory over death, and, together with this, the consummation of our redemption, is made gloriously manifest.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Starke:
1Co_15:51. Hed.: Who then will fear the last great day! To become whole at once, is this a plague? In an instant mortal will be swallowed up of life.—At the resurrection men will have indeed new, yet not other bodies; their own, only changed.
1Co_15:53. What after all is beauty of body, and the finest garments; all must molder;—the resurrection will, for the first time, clothe us in beautiful and lasting array.
1Co_15:54 f. There are three it is finished: 1. at the creation,—for then all was very good; 2. at the redemption—achieved through the blood of Christ; and that was better; 3. at our sanctification and the eternal joy and glory which follow thereupon; which is the best of all. Then our mouth will be full of laughter and our tongue full of praise.—Death lies prostrate, and has now no more power. Life leaps aloft and exclaims: ‘Thus subdued, where, O Death, art thou now? and where that sting wherewith thou didst give men their deadly wound?’—Believers are now delivered from all dying.’ Wondrous triumph!
1Co_15:57. Through His perfect obedience and atoning work Christ has rendered satisfaction for our sins, and conquered death. Of this fact His victorious resurrection is a witness. This victory becomes ours through faith, and gives us the power to overcome sin and death likewise. This will be made manifest when Christ has raised our bodies to glory.—No one can confidently expect this victory but he who can say, ‘my faith also has overcome the world both within and without me’ (1Jn_5:4 f.).—What can be more comforting to a Christian than that there should be granted him such a victory over physical death through Christ—that from being the punishment of sin it should become to him a blessing, a happy exit from all misery, and a joyful entrance into glory, and so, a triumph?
1Co_15:58. So long as we do not seek to become steadfast in Christianity, to be well grounded in faith, upon the Rock Christ, and to be immoveable against all the storms of temptation, so long will all labor in the practice of Christianity be, for the most part, useless. Indeed, not so much as earnest labor, as idleness and sleepy existence.
Berlenb. Bibel:—If we do not put on Jesus Christ and the new man from day to day, then the corruptible and the new incorruptible humanity of the glorified Saviour will not be so speedily fused together. He who would share in this much wished for change must have his heart changed here.—The art of transformation God alone understands. What happens now is only preparatory. Hence, no one must regard such divine operations and purifications as a burden.
1Co_15:54. The victory of Christ will then first be fulfilled in us when the corruptible shall have put on incorruption (regeneration in a complete sense Mat_19:28). This victory has already taken place; but it must be fulfilled in all for whom it has been achieved separately and actually, both in this world and in the next. It will be actually begun in each one, when, in his soul, sin and its wages, death, have been subdued in victory over sin, through Christ’s new resurrection power, and, on the other hand, an innocent divine life has been begotten in us.
1Co_15:55. A consolation which is now concealed from our eyes, in order that we may walk by faith. Death must be disarmed of its means of hurt if we can appropriate this language.
1Co_15:56. This he introduces after his song of triumph in order that we may not jubilate after too wild a sort. If the sting of death is to be entirely renounced, sin itself must be once for all entirely annihilated.—The power of sin shows itself in the torments of conscience and in its urging men against their will and better resolutions to do what they know to be wrong. This power, especially that of accusation and condemnation, which every penitent experiences at his conversion is given to sin by the law, when it shows to him what he has merited from God, in all his thoughts, and words, and deeds. And although now such a person earnestly resolve to deliver himself from sin and begin to guard himself against his old habits, and to strive against his evil inclinations, he will nevertheless not often succeed. The law of sin in the members strives against the spirit, so that we do not that which we gladly would.
1Co_15:57. God gives us victory, one after the other. If we at any time have already overcome any lust, this happened not from any power of nature, but of grace which has been secured through our Lord Jesus Christ. He who has this grace strong in him may boast in the Lord and in the power of His might.—What boots it, though we daily console ourselves with all these sayings respecting Christ’s victory, and are yet not daily obedient to him?—Our enemies are not overcome for us in any such way that they need not also be overcome in us through the power of Christ.
1Co_15:58. Firm and immoveable shall we become, if we earnestly hold to the centre.—Striving, watching, praying, the work of faith and the labor of love—this is what will preserve God to us. Let us only be found diligent therein.—The work is ours in respect to its exercises; it is not ours in respect to its origin.
Rieger:
1Co_15:51 ff. Every divine truth furnishes its own contribution to faith, partly, in preparing the heart for it; partly, in actually awakening it; partly, in promoting its growth; partly, in furthering its activity and fruitfulness; and partly, in leading it on to its glorious end.
1Co_15:54 ff. God’s work cannot remain unfinished. The patient waiting of believers, and the sighing of God’s creatures will not remain unheard. But for this, we must give God time.—The power of hope brought to light we have to enjoy in the extremities of death; but the song of victory: O, Death, where is thy sting? will chiefly be sung amid the joys of the resurrection. There is no encouragement in the scriptures for a haughty contempt of death. Even in the New Testament, all comfort in reference to it, is derived from communion with Christ, and from that fellowship in love, in which death can effect no break nor separation.
1Co_15:56. Faith bows itself beneath the judgment of God; seizes the shield of the hope of salvation; and every where shows that it has more to do with God, and His honor, and the sanctification of His name and the fulfilment of His work, and that it is enough for us that with all this, God has intimately in woven our salvation also. The sting, by which Death can do us the most hurt, is sin, or the sentence, that death through sin has come into this world, and is now its wages. And the law on its awakening in the conscience, first shows this enemy in its full strength. Do not, however, try to avoid it on this account. He who shrinks from entering into the pain and anguish occasioned by the law, will be deficient in consolation and joyful thanksgiving to God. To become free from the fear of death at a bound, would to many a one seem right; but the victory given us through Christ, has its stages. We are called out of sin into grace, die unto the law in its power, come into subjection to Christ Jesus and the rule of His Spirit, learn thereby how there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, and also what is revealed to our hope even for this mortal body. Therefore (1Co_15:58), he who has so learned to know sin and grace, death and life, and discovers in himself the germ of eternal life through the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, can stand fast against all inward fickleness, be immovable against external temptations, and avoid all weariness, and instead, rather abound more and more in the work of the Lord, faith in whom is the spring of every thing else.
Heubner:
1Co_15:54 f. The Christian experiences indeed the natural dread of death, but not its inward terrors. Through Christ he becomes stronger than nature. Death has for him no more terror, because it brings to him no destruction of being, no judgment, no pain and punishment. Such a song of triumph no wisdom of this world can strike up. Only the fact of redemption tunes us to such peans.
1Co_15:56. That which makes death so fearful is the consciousness of sin, and the fear of damnation. But sin is terrible on account of the holy law of God. This law shows us at once its guilt and its curse.
1Co_15:57. With this song of praise the Christian celebrates the victory over these great enemies, Death, Sin and Satan. These enemies Christ has already overcome, and celebrated His triumph in the unseen world (Col_2:15). Without his aid, no one could overcome these mighty enemies. This victory is not our merit, but a grace given us by God through Christ. The atonement, and the hope of eternal life are closely connected. Everything which Christ has is ours, and this should be our daily medicine.
1Co_15:58. The work of our Lord is, a. what works in us; b. what we bring to pass in His strength. No pure, humble work is ever in vain. The Lord’s work succeeds, and he does not suffer his followers’ work to fail.
W. F. Besser:
1Co_15:55. For him whom hell no more frights with its torments there is a victory over hell also at the last day, when Christ will be revealed as the Man who has the keys of death and of hell. Whence now have we the right, and derive we the courage to sing such a song of triumph as we feel welling up even in this our mortal body? It stands not in our power to avoid the sting of death; but what is impossible with us has been made possible by God in Christ.
1Co_15:58. In order to become stedfast through faith in the hope of the Gospel, and to stand immovable in the citadel of Apostolic doctrine we should seek the aid of the Holy Ghost. But in the Christian life there is no firm endurance without constant watchfulness. If we would abound in the work of the Lord, we must allow the work of His great love to operate in us, and stand in faithful co-operation with that love, in order that every one according to his gift and office, may devote himself to the edification of the Church, with the word of truth and with the labor of love (1Co_12:14). He who works in the Lord, and directs his eye to the day of harvest say’s with Paul: “I die daily,” and quiets his heart in patience, being joyful in hope.
Gerock:—Faith’s song of triumph at the grave of the risen: “O, Death, where is thy sting?” Thy sting whereby thou, a. robbest me me of my dearest (1Co_15:52); b. and threatenest my own body (1Co_15:51); c. and frightenest my poor soul (1Co_15:56); d. and destroyest the work of my hands (1Co_15:58).
Luther:—“Thanks be unto God,” etc. This may we also sing, and so keep perpetual Easter, that we may extol and praise God for such a victory, which was not achieved through us, nor won in fight (for it is too high and great), but has been graciously given to us of God—who pitieth our sorrows out of which none could help us, and sent unto us His son, and let Him undertake the conflict. Sin, Death and Hell has He overcome, and given unto us the victory, so that we may say: ‘It is our victory,’ so that we may accept it with earnestness, and not give God the lie, neither be found ungrateful for it, but maintain it with firm faith in our hearts, and strengthen ourselves therein, and always sing of this victory in Christ, and go on, joyful therein until we see Him also in our own body. To this, may God help us through His own dear Son, and to Him be all glory and praise forever and ever. Amen!”
[Sermons.—Manning:
1Co_15:51. The Commemoration of the faithful departed.—Newton: 1Co_15:51. The general resurrection. I. The mystery. 1. Beyond the reach of fallen man to discover without a revelation from God. 2. Still unintelligible without a further revelation through the influence of the Spirit. II. What to be expected—universal changes. III. Suddenness of event—in a moment. IV. The grand preceding signal—the trumpet sound. Improvement. 1. A joyful day to believe 2. In view of it what manner of men ought we to be.
1Co_15:54. Death swallowed up in victory. How predicable of Christians. I. They were once dead in law—but forgiven. II. Once dead in sin—but quickened. III. Once under the tyranny of Satan—but made conquerors over him. IV. Once subject to woes and sufferings—but sorrow and sighing are turned to joy and gladness. V. Once reaped the bitter fruits of sin—but grace triumphs over every evil.—1Co_15:55-57.—Triumph over death and the grave. I. Death armed with a powerful sting. 1. What the sting Isaiah 2. How sharpened by the law. II. Death disarmed by the death of Christ. III. The doxology—emphatic in every word. 1. Thanks to God—His work. 2. Who giveth us the victory—a victory indeed. 3. Through Jesus Christ. This song best sung when the whole redeemed are collected together.—Howe:
1Co_15:54. The Christian’s triumph over death. I. The explication of its rational import. 1. The import—God’s general determination to put a perpetual end to death. a. Death as here spoken of supposes a certain limited subject, viz.: such as are Christ’s. b. It extends to the whole of that subject—the inner and the outward man. c. Presupposes a war. d. Where this war ends not in victory on the one side, it ends in victory on the other. 2. The reasonableness of the import. a. God’s glory requires it. b. The felicity of the redeemed requires it. II. The use of the doctrine. 1. If asserted to be believed. 2. Full of comfort; a. in reference to departed friends; b. in reference to our own death. III. A monition to us since spoken only of some and not of all. IV. This doctrine should cause us to abstain from rash censures of providence that God lets death reign over so great a part of His creation for so long a time. John Logan:—1Co_15:55-57. The Christian’s victory over death. Christ sets us free: I. From the doubts and fears that are apt to perplex the mind from the uncertainty in which a future state is involved. II. From the apprehensions of wrath proceeding from the consciousness of sin. III. From the fears that arise in the mind upon the awful transition from this world to the next. Spurgeon:—1Co_15:56-57. Thoughts on the last battle. I. The sting of death—Sin. 1. Because it brought death into the world. 2. Because it is that which shall make death most terrible. 3. If sin in the retrospect be the sting of death, what must sin in the prospect be? II. The strength of sin—the Law. 1. In this respect that the law being spiritual it is quite impossible for us to be without sin. 2. It will not abate one tittle of its stern demands. 3. For every transgression it will exact a punishment. III. The victory of faith. 1. Christ has taken away the strength of sin in that He has removed the law. 2. In that, He has completely satisfied it by His perfect obedience. 3. By having brought life and immortality to light through the resurrection.
Footnotes:
[44]1Co_15:51.—The Rec. is satisfactorily authenticated, [πάντες μέν οὐ κοιμθησόμεθα, πάντες δὲ ἀλλαγησόμεθα]. The origin of the other readings is easily explained from the apparent difficulty of this. Lachmann [and Stanley] have πάντες [μὲν] κοιμηθησόμεθα, οὐ πάντες δὲ ἀλλαγ. Others have πάντες μὲν ἀναστησόμεθα, οὐ πάντες δὲ ἀλλαγ. [The μὲν has in its favor A. C. (2d. hand), D. (2d and 3d hand), E. F. G. K. L. Sinait., Vulg., later Syr., Copt., and a few eccles. writers, hut against it B. C. (1st hand), D. (1st hand), the Syr. (Pesch.), Aeth., and Orig. Jerome testifies that in his day all the Latins had omnes quidem resurgemus, but that the Greeks were divided between omnes dormiemus, and non omnes dormiemus. Augustine also mentions that both Greeks and Latins were divided about it. It was very likely to have originated in an attempted conformity with the subsequent δὲ. For placing the οὐ before κοιμηθ., so that it may qualify that word, and not after, with the comma before it, so that it may quality ἀλλαγ., we have B. D. (2d and 3d hand), E. K. L., almost all the cursives, with the Goth., Syr., (both), Copt., Aeth., Arab. versions, and many of the best Greek and Latin writers. Among the other MSS. there is an almost inextricable confusion, suggesting that they are not reliable. They appear to have sprung from the idea that otherwise Paul would assert (contrary to fact) that he, and those to whom he wrote, were not to die. See all the readings discussed elaborately in Reiche and Tischendorf.—C. P. W.]
[45]1Co_15:52.—Lachmann has ἀναστήσονται, but the evidence for that reading is not quite convincing. [It is sustained by A. D. E. F. G., 2 cursives, Orig. (one ms.), Chrys. (one ms.), Damasc., Theophyl. (marg.); but B. C. K. L. M., Sinait., several copies of the Latin, Vulg. (resurgunt), Orig. (5 times). Dialog., Chrys. (one ms.), Cyr., Theodt., have ἐγερθήσονται.—C. P. W.]
[46]1Co_15:54.—The whole sentence τὸ φθαρτὸν τ. ἐνδύσ. αφθαρσ. και is omitted in C. (1st hand), Sinait., (1st hand), 2 cursives, the Vulg., Goth., Copt., Aeth. (both), Marcion (in Epiph.), Athan., Iren. (Lat.), Hilar., Aug. (once), Ambrst., Fulg., Oros., Bede. By A., the Arm., version, and some unimportant MSS., it is inserted after τὸ θνητ. τ. ἐνδύς. ἀθαν.; D. (1st hand, not in the Lat. 1st hand), entirely omits this latter sentence. Doubtless by homœoteleuton.—C. P. W.]
[47]1Co_15:55.—The κέντρον and νῖκος are arranged in the reverse order by a number of good MSS. [B. C. J. M. Sinait. (1st hand), Vulg., Copt. Aeth., Arm., Slav., Eus., Athan., Didym., Cyr., Damasc, Iren. (Lat.), Tert., Jer., Ambr.] This was done probably, to make the sentence conform to the Septuagint. Such, too, was doubtless the origin of the substitution of ᾀδη for the second θάνατε [in A. (2d hand), K. L. M. Sinait., (3d hand), several cursives, the Goth., Syr. (both), Orig., Athan. (once), Cyr., Epiph. For θάνατε twice we have B. C. D. E. F. G. I., 2 cursives, the Ital., Vulg., Copt., Aeth., Arm., Euseb., Athan. (once), Nyss., Iren. (Lat.), Tertul., Cypr., Ambr., August. Wordsworth, gives as a reason for the change of ᾅδη into θάνατε, that the primitive Christians, who would not be surprised at a personification of θάνατος, would have been shocked at such a bold apostrophe as the Apostle here derived from his Hebrew Scriptures to Hades, on the ground that it would countenance the heathen notion of a personal deity so named.—C. P. W.]
[48][Calvin remarks: “There is here no difference in the Greek MSS. [which is true, so far as those he had to deal with went], but in the Latin versions there are three different readings. The first is, We shall, indeed, all die, but we shall not all be changed. The second is, We shall, indeed, all rise again, but we shall not all be changed. [This is the reading of the Vulgate followed by Wickliffe and the Rheim’s version.] The third is, We shall not, indeed, all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” This diversity he ascribes to the fact, “that some readers, who are not the most discerning, dissatisfied with the true reading, ventured to conjecture a reading which was more approved by them”].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv48–57 As is the earthy--namely, Adam.
As is the earthy--namely, Adam.
they . . . that are earthy--All Adam's posterity in their natural state (Joh 3:6-7).
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the heavenly--Christ.
they . . . that are heavenly--His people in their regenerate state (Phi 3:20-21). As the former precedes the latter state, so the natural bodies precede the spiritual bodies.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv48–57 48. As… earthy, such… earthy—By the universal law of…
48. As… earthy, such… earthy—By the universal law of descent, earthly beings inherit the nature of their progenitors. See note, Rom_5:12, on the phrase all have sinned.
Heavenly—But the nature of the heavenly is stamped at the resurrection upon the earthy by a direct act of divine power.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv48–57 48. As is the earthy] i.e. Adam. Man, when…
48. As is the earthy] i.e. Adam. Man, when united to Christ by faith, partakes of both natures. He is liable, therefore, still to the weakness and infirmities of the former. “This infection of nature doth remain, yea in them that are regenerated.” Art. IX. And this he must bear to the end. He must be subject to the law of the natural order of things, before he attains fully to the law of the spiritual order. He must receive the wages of sin, namely death. But, possessing faith in Christ, he possesses the imperishable principle of life.
as is the heavenly] i.e. Christ. ‘When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be brought to an end.’ ‘Mortality shall be swallowed up of life:’ the old Adam shall be done away in Christ Cf. Php_3:20-21.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv49–57 (49) We shall also bear the image of the…
(49) We shall also bear the image of the heavenly.—Better, let us bear also the image of the heavenly. Such is the reading of the best MSS. The words transport the thoughts of the reader to the future glory, and, at the same moment, show a light on present duty. The resurrection life is to be begun in us even now. “If by any means we can attain to the resurrection of the dead” (2Co_3:18; Php_3:21).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv48–57 As is the earthy, etc. Men resemble their first…
As is the earthy, etc. Men resemble their first parent Adam; Christians, their spiritual Redeemer, Christ. (Php_3:20, 21)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv50, 53, 55 Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
1Co_15:50-54
Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
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Flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of God
I. The general law.
1. This carries with it its own proof: for, obviously, darkness might as well become light, or death life, as that which is corrupt rise into the incorruptible. On this point St. Paul is earnest and absolute. The exception of 1Co_15:51 is only an apparent one. Those who are alive when Christ comes will nevertheless be changed (1Co_15:52).
2. Note the significance of this law. Flesh and blood is a Scripture term for the lusts and passions of our lower nature. Jewish readers would instantly apprehend its force. To them the blood was the life; and therefore it was shed in sacrifice. It was the seat of passion and desire, of all that is lawless and irregular; and therefore they were not permitted to partake of it. Their conception finds utterance to-day in such phrases as, His blood is up, or, A hot-blooded fellow. St. Paul uses the term here as the symbol of this life, these lusts, these corruptions, which cannot inherit incorruption.
3. Mark the different use of the phrases flesh and blood and flesh and bones in the New Testament. Flesh and blood cannot inherit; the incorrupt and heavenly kingdom, but flesh and bones may and do. After His resurrection Christ had flesh and bones (Luk_24:37-39); and Christians are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones (Eph_5:30). Christs blood as the symbol of life has been shed for the redemption of the world: as the symbol of corruption, it is poured out, exhausted. Flesh and bones may still be retained even when the natural becomes a spiritual body; but the life that pulses through it is that of a higher than mortal existence.
II. The truths and hopes which underlie it.
1. The truth for which St. Paul contends is not the immortality of the soul, but the resurrection of the body. Centuries before Christ the Greeks had believed that the souls of the departed survived the pangs of death. But these souls were not themselves, they were but their shades. Elysium was as thin and unsubstantial in its avocations and joys as the poor ghosts that tenanted it. And as nature shrinks from disembodiment, the Greeks were accustomed to offer rich garments on the tombs of heroes, if so be that, being thus clothed, they might not be found naked, and a Corinthian queen is said to have appeared to her husband after death, entreating him to burn dresses for her as a covering for her disembodied spirit. We may smile at all this, but none the less we are touched by this naive childish testimony to the universal dread of disembodiment, the universal desire to be clothed upon with some vesture whether of earth or heaven. To men gazing thus sadly into the future St. Pauls strong hearty words must have been as health to the sick. So, then, they were not to become disembodied spirits, but to be clothed upon with a body more exquisitely attuned to the faculties and energies of their spiritual life!
2. In our Lords risen body we have the express type of the spiritual bodies we are to wear.
(1) The body which His disciples recognised was essentially the same although it had undergone a mysterious change. What that change was St. Paul hints in the phrase, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Consequently we find that they did not instantly recognise Him when He came to them. They knew Him only as He was pleased to make Himself known. He was not bound by material laws. He is found present, no one knows from whence. He passes away, no one knows whither (Joh_20:19; Luk_24:31; Act_1:9). In the person of Christ we see the whole man--body, soul, and spirit--raised from the grave. We see all the intelligent and passionate faculties of the soul held in perfect subjection to the higher claims of the spirit. The body is not simply restored to its pristine vigour and purity, but lifted To a higher and more spiritual pitch. It is not unclothed, but clothed upon. The corruptible has put on incorruption, the mortal has put on immortality.
(2) And this is the change that must pass on us, if indeed Christ be in us, the hope of glory. Like Him we are to put on immortality and incorruption: not to break with the past, nor to lose our identity; not to be changed beyond our own recognition or that of our friends, but to be purged from the corruptible and baser elements of our nature, to be redeemed from our bondage to sense, and its laws; to be transfigured, that the spirit which Christ has quickened in us may dwell in a quick spiritual body--a body that shall not check, nor thwart, nor dull, but perfectly second and express, the untiring energies of our higher and renewed nature. As a man awaking for a moment from a mortal trance, so we may wake from the sleep of death, and say, nothing is lost, but, ah, how much gained! (S. Cox, D.D.)
The change required that we may inherit the kingdom of God
I. The kingdom intended.
1. Not the kingdom of Christ on earth.
2. But the kingdom of God in glory, which is heavenly and eternal.
II. The unfitness of man for it.
1. His nature is morally corrupt.
2. Physically it is earthly and corruptible.
III. The change necessary.
1. A new birth.
2. A resurrection. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Corporeal transformation
Paul here speaks of a bodily transformation that is--
I. Indispensable (verse 50). Flesh and blood, i.e., our mortal nature, cannot inherit the heavenly world. He does not say why--whether the state of the atmosphere, or the means of subsistence, or the force of gravitation, or the forms and means of vision, or the conditions of receiving and communicating knowledge, or the nature of the services required. Flesh and blood can no more exist yonder, than the tenants of the ocean can exist on the sun-burnt hills. In such corporeal transformations there is nothing extraordinary, for naturalists point us to spheres of existences where they are as regular as the laws of nature.
II. Certain (verse 51). Mystery here does not point to the unknowable, but to the hitherto unknown, viz., that we shall all be changed. We shall not all sleep.
1. Some will be living when the day dawns. As in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man, they ate, they drank, etc.
2. Both those who will be living and those who will be sleeping in the dust will undergo corporeal transformation.
III. Instantaneous (verse 52). The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, etc.
IV. Glorious (verses 53, 54). The transformation is from mortality to immortality, from the dying to the undying; death will be swallowed up in victory. The idea may be taken of a whirlpool or maelstrom that absorbs all that comes near it. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
The necessity of the believers resurrection arises
I. Out of the nature of the kingdom of God, which is--
1. Heavenly.
2. Spiritual.
3. Incorruptible.
4. Divine.
5. Holy.
II. Out of the imperfection of the human body, which is--
1. Earthly.
2. Sensual.
3. Corruptible.
4. Sinful.
III. Out of the purpose of God.
1. It is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom.
2. The body of flesh and blood cannot inherit it.
3. Therefore it must be subject to a marvellous change. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.--
Corruption cannot inherit incorruption
I. Corruption.
1. Implies dissolution.
2. Is on earth a natural law.
3. Overtakes man in consequence of sin.
4. Includes decay, disease, death, decomposition.
II. Incorruption.
1. Implies immortality.
2. Is the distinguishing feature of the heavenly world.
3. Results from the immediate presence and power of God.
4. Secures purity, happiness, immortal vigour, eternal life.
III. The incompatibility of the two.
1. Is obvious.
2. Hence the absolute necessity of a change not only in mans moral but physical condition.
3. To be effected in the resurrection.
4. That man may inherit eternal life. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Behold, I shew you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all he changed.
The mystery of the resurrection revealed
I. The great change.
1. Its nature.
(1) The resurrection of the dead.
(2) The transformation of the living.
2. When and how effected.
(1) At the last trump.
(2) In a moment.
(3) By the power of God.
3. Its absolute certainty.
II. The triumph.
1. Death swallowed up in victory.
2. Hence the exultation of the redeemed over death and the grave.
III. The means of participation in it. The victory is--
1. The free gift of grace.
2. Through Christ.
3. By the destruction of sin.
IV. The practical lesson,
1. Steadfastness.
2. Abundant toil.
3. Confident hope. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Change
I. Our life on earth is full of change. Every hour brings changes and chances. The sun which rises to shine on happy childrens faces, bright with laughter, sets over a desolate home. Have you ever seen the famous picture of The Railway Station? That, or the reality, will show you any day what a tangle life is. There you will see youth and age, joy and sorrow, success and failure, hope and despair, going their several ways in the great journey of life.
II. But the greatest change of all is yet to come. There will be a change--
1. In our bodies. The poor, worn-out clothing of flesh which was laid in the grave to decay, will be no longer needed. As the trees are clad with new clothing in the spring-time, so will our souls be at the great spring-time of the Lords coming. As the beggar forgets his rags when wrapped in soft raiment, so shall we doubtless forget our poor bodies, or remember them only as a dream when one awaketh. Here they are constantly getting out of repair. When we are changed, we may believe it will be always well with us in body.
2. In our minds and feelings. We shall be improved by the lessons we learn, just as we see a child altered by wise and careful schooling. The man of science has a world of knowledge and beauty open to him which the unlearned does not dream of. So in the school beyond there must be a still wider world of which the cleverest men know nothing. Then our mind, no longer warped by prejudice, will understand rightly; then we shall know even as we are known. We shall see clearly what seemed so dark and perplexing before. We shall understand how some of Gods dealings with us, which appeared so strange and hard, were the best of blessings for us.
III. The change will be very great, but we ,shall be fitted for it.
IV. The change will not make us feel lonely. In that land none are strangers. Sometimes when one is going to emigrate, I have asked him if he did not expect to feel very strange and lonely, and the answer was, Oh no, I have friends waiting for me there. And so with us.
V. Though the great change comes then, there must be a change in us now. Our most constant, prayer should be, Give me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew a right spirit within me. (H. J. W. Buxton, M.A.)
The final change
This is one in which you will be, not merely spectators, but parties concerned. It is an event the most certain. It is a solemnity that is continually drawing near. Note--
I. The union there is among the followers of the redeemer. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
1. Of the number of this universal Church, some sleep. Death is often an alarming subject, and to reduce this dread we should do well to view it;as Scripture does as a departure--a going home--a sleep. Man is called to labour, and the sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much. So Christians must work while it is day, etc. But then they will rest from their labours. Sleep is a state from which you may be easily awakened; and, lo! all that are in their graves shall hear Christs voice, and come forth.
2. Many will be found alive. The earths inhabitants will not be gradually consumed till none are left: the world will be full; and all the common concerns of life will be pursued with the same eagerness as before. And, as it was in the days of Noah, etc. Many of the Lords people too will be found alive; and perhaps they will be much more numerous than at any former period.
II. In what manner will this be disposed of? We shall all be changed. We are always varying now. But what a change is here from time to eternity, from earth to heaven, from the company of the wicked to the presence of the blessed God: from ignorance to knowledge; from painful infirmities to be presented faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy! But the change principally refers to the body: for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, etc. Enoch and Elias, though they did not die, passed through a change equivalent to death. The same change which will be produced in the dead by the resurrection will be accomplished in the bodies of the living by this transformation; and of this we have the clearest assurance (verses 42-44).
III. The ease and despatch with which all this will be performed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. What a view does this give us of the dominion and power of God! Think of the numbers that will be alive--all these metamorphosed in one instant. And why should it be thought a thing incredible? Is anything too hard for the Lord?
IV. The signal. At the last trump, etc. When the Lord came down on Horeb to publish the law, the voice of the trumpet waxed exceeding loud. By the sound of the trumpet the approach of kings has been announced. Judges in our country enter the place of assize preceded by the same shrill sound. And those who have witnessed the procession well know what an awe it impresses, and what sentiments it excites. Will the last trump call you to lamentation, and mourning, and woe? or will its language be, Lift up your heads with joy, for your redemption draweth nigh? Conclusion: He who will then be the Judge, is now the Saviour. He will then say to the wicked, Depart--but He does not say so now to any--His language is, Come. (W. Jay.)
For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible.--
The trumpet shall sound
It is said when Lord Nelson was buried at St. Pauls Cathedral, all London was stirred. As the funeral procession passed on, it moved amid the sobbing of a nation. Thirty trumpeters stood at the door of the cathedral with musical instruments in hand, and when the illustrious dead arrived at the gates of St. Pauls Cathedral these thirty trumpeters blew one united blast; but the trumpets did not wake the dead. He slept right on. What thirty trumpets could not do for one man, one trumpet will do for all nations.
The trumpet of judgment
The blowing of trumpets at particular seasons was a statute for Israel. The trumpet was to be blown on the solemn feast day, to assemble the people together, to direct their march when the camp was to be moved, they were to be sounded over the burnt-offerings, and at the new moons, and when the year of jubilee arrived to proclaim liberty, also to summon the people to war. To this St. Paul alludes, when he says, If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? All this was typical of the trumpet of the gospel which is to resound till all are warned to flee from the wrath to come (Psa_89:15). But there is another trumpet we must all hear.
I. The manner of its sound.
1. Sudden. Our Lord intimates this (Mat_24:38, etc.). The destruction of Jerusalem was a fit representation of this, it was awfully sudden. When the trumpet sounds to judgment there shall be the giddy and profane pursuing their unhallowed pleasures. In a moment! in the twinkling of an eye, the trumpet shall sound! Oh! to be found watching, waiting, praying, ready. Blessed is that servant who, when his Lord cometh, shall be found so doing.
2. Universal. It shall re-echo in heaven, reach every corner of earth, and penetrate the dark abyss of hell. Every soul shall hear it that ever lived in the world from the days of Adam to the period when the last infant shall be born, the king and the peasant, the righteous and wicked, etc. You who dislike the sound of the gospel; you who neglect the great salvation; you, formal professor, and self-righteous pharisee; you, hypocrite with the mask of religion--all must hear it.
3. Final. It is the close of all things the termination of our probation. There is a period when you shall hear of salvation, when you shall attend the sanctuary, when you shall read the Bible and surround the sacramental table for the last time.
II. The import of its accents. The Sound shall proclaim--
1. The end of time. How solemn the thought! Now we have the seasons in regular succession, times of business, recreation, devotion, etc. But soon time shall be no longer. The river of time will be emptied in the ocean of eternity. Oh! then, now seize it, and sail in the ship of the gospel, and you shall be safely conducted by the Divine Pilot till you glide safely into an ocean of bliss, that knows not the ruffle of a wave.
2. The resurrection of the dead.
3. The approach of the Judge. It shall be glorious. How unlike His first advent. The scene will be majestic beyond description. How great the designs of His coming! Not to present an atoning sacrifice, but to hold the last assize. He shall come to explain the mysteries of His providence, to display the riches of His grace, in the consummation of the happiness of His people, to vindicate His justice in the everlasting destruction of His foes.
III. The solemnity of its results.
1. The final triumphs of the righteous.
2. The eternal punishment of the wicked. (Ebenezer Temple.)
The resurrection
I. What are we to understand by the sounding of the trumpet? That this will announce our Saviours coming to judgment is frequently asserted (Mat_24:31; 1Th_4:16). As at the giving of the law, so at the judging of men according to that law, God shall cause some such sound to be uttered as shall be heard over the whole world, and summon all men to appear before His judgment-seat, and when this sounds then shall the dead be raised.
II. Who are those dead that shall be raised at the sound of this trumpet?
1. There is a threefold life: natural, the union of the soul to the body; spiritual, the union of Christ to the soul; eternal, the communion of the soul with God. Answerable to this there is a threefold death.
(1) Natural, when the soul and body are divorced from one another.
(2) Spiritual, which is the separation of the soul from Christ. Though many by grace are redeemed from this, yet all by nature are subject to it. And as all by nature are subject to it, so do most by practice still lie under it. Dead as to all sense of sin, as to all spiritual graces, as to all heavenly comforts, as to that life of faith which the children of God are quickened with.
(3) Eternal, the separation of the soul from God; and you that lie under the spiritual death of sin must either get yourselves quickened by the life of faith in Christ, or else except by eternal death to be separated from the Lord of Life.
2. Which of these shall be raised? All of them, and yet it is the naturally dead which are chiefly to be understood here.
III. How shall the dead be raised? When the trumpet shall sound by the power of the most high God, every mans body being made fit to receive its soul, the soul shall immediately be united to it, and so we, even the very self-same persons that now we are, shall be raised to answer for what we have done here.
IV. How doth it appear that the dead shall thus be raised?
1. From Scripture (Isa_26:19; Dan_12:2; Joh_5:28-29; Mat_22:31-32).
2. From reason.
(1) Christ has been raised.
(2) The soul is immortal, and it is against all reason that one essential part of man should be continued in its being, and the other should be turned to nothing.
(3) Justice requires that they that are co-partners in vice and virtues should be co-partners also in punishments and rewards. Though a sin would not be a sin without the soul, yet it would not be committed without the body. The body could not sin unless the soul consented; the soul would not sin so often unless the body tempted.
V. How shall they be raised incorruptible? The apostle here treats of principally the resurrection of the saints, who shall be raised incorruptible.
1. In their souls, which being wrought up into an exact conformity to the will of God, will be emptied of all corruptions, and blessed with all perfections.
2. In body. As our souls shall be void of all corruptions, so shall our bodies be of all imperfections, for these our vile bodies shall be made like unto Christs glorious body. What is sown a natural shall be raised a spiritual body; it shall not any longer be a clog to us in the performance of duties to God; but it shall be as quick, agile, and subservient as if it was advanced beyond the degree of a body, and had commenced a soul.
3. In their happiness. There shall be no crosses in their relations, no losses in their possessions, no disgrace in their honours, no fears in their preferments, no irregularities in their affections, no sorrow in their joys, no darkness in their light, not one drop of misery in the whole ocean of happiness they shall enjoy.
VI. What is meant by we shall be changed? There will be a change in--
1. Our opinions. We shall think otherwise of most things. Here we are apt to look upon sin as amiable, and grace as not desirable; but then we that once esteemed all things before God, shall look upon God as to be esteemed above all things.
2. Our conditions. A Dives in this may become a Lazarus in the other world; and a Lazarus here, a Dives there. (Bp. Beveridge.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv48, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57 48. As is the earthy. All have earthly bodies…
48. As is the earthy. All have earthly bodies like that of Adam. As is the heavenly. When we are raised to heaven we shall have spiritual bodies like Christ's, not like the body he received from Mary, but the glorious body in which he appears to saints and angels on high. Do we ask what body we shall have? It shall be like Christ's glorious body. See Phil. 3:21. Not of flesh and blood, for (verse 50)
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. If of flesh and blood, our bodies would be corruptible, and would not be suited to the eternal kingdom.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv50–57 50. “I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood…
FLESH AND BLOOD ARE NOT ABLE TO INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD
50. “I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood are not able to inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” While these identical bodies will inherit the kingdom of God, yet it is equally true that flesh and blood shall not inherit. Why? Because flesh and blood are the elements of mortality peculiar to probation. Then what will become of our flesh and blood, which include our bones, sinews, nerves and all the constituencies of this material organism? Here comes in the philosophy of transfiguration. The Holy Ghost omnipotently eliminates away all ponderable matter, so that the transfigured body is destitute of weight, and consequently free to follow the impulses of the immortal spirit and thus fly away to join the Heavenly consanguinity beyond the skies. In this way we get rid of flesh and blood. This took place with the translated prophets when they mounted the fiery chariot and bade the world adieu.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v50 1 Corinthians
1 Corinthians
THE DEATH OF DEATH
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1Co 15:20 - 1Co 15:21; 1Co 15:50 - 1Co 15:58.
This passage begins with the triumphant ringing out of the great fact which changes all the darkness of an earthly life without a heavenly hope into a blaze of light. All the dreariness for humanity, and all the vanity for Christian faith and preaching, vanish, like ghosts at cock-crow, when the Resurrection of Jesus rises sun-like on the world’s night. It is a historical fact, established by the evidence proper for such,-namely, the credible testimony of eye-witnesses. They could attest His rising, but the knowledge of the worldwide significance of it comes, not from testimony, but from revelation. Those who saw Him risen join to declare: ‘Now is Christ risen from the dead,’ but it is a higher Voice that goes on to say, ‘and become the first-fruits of them that slept.’
That one Man risen from the grave was like the solitary sheaf of paschal first-fruits, prophesying of many more, a gathered harvest that will fill the great Husbandman’s barns. The Resurrection of Jesus is not only a prophecy, showing, as it and it alone does, that death is not the end of man, but that life persists through death and emerges from it, like a buried river coming again flashing into the light of day, but it is the source or cause of the Christian’s resurrection. The oneness of the race necessitated the diffusion through all its members of sin and of its consequence-physical death. If the fountain is poisoned, all the stream will be tainted. If men are to be redeemed from the power of the grave, there must be a new personal centre of life; and union with Him, which can only be effected by faith, is the condition of receiving life from Him, which gradually conquers the death of sin now, and will triumph over bodily death in the final resurrection. It is the resurrection of Christians that Paul is dealing with. Others are to be raised, but on a different principle, and to sadly different issues. Since Christ’s Resurrection assures us of the future waking, it changes death into ‘sleep,’ and that sleep does not mean unconsciousness any more than natural sleep does, but only rest from toil, and cessation of intercourse with the external world.
In the part of the passage, 1Co 15:50 - 1Co 15:58, the Apostle becomes, not the witness or the reasoner, as in the earlier parts of the chapter, but the revealer of a ‘mystery.’ That word, so tragically misunderstood, has here its uniform scriptural sense of truth, otherwise unknown, made known by revelation. But before he unveils the mystery, Paul states with the utmost force a difficulty which might seem to crush all hope,-namely, that corporeity, as we know it, is clearly incapable of living in such a world as that future one must be. To use modern terms, organism and environment must be adapted to each other. A fish must have the water, the creatures that flourish at the poles would not survive at the equator. A man with his gross earthly body, so thoroughly adapted to his earthly abode, would be all out of harmony with his surroundings in that higher world, and its rarified air would be too thin and pure for his lungs. Can there be any possibility of making him fit to live in a spiritual world? Apart from revelation, the dreary answer must be ‘No.’ But the ‘mystery’ answers with ‘Yes.’ The change from physical to spiritual is clearly necessary, if there is to be a blessed life hereafter.
That necessary change is assured to all Christians, whether they die or ‘remain till the coming of the Lord.’ Paul varies in his anticipations as to whether he and his contemporaries will belong to the one class or the other; but he is quite sure that in either case the indwelling Spirit of Jesus will effect on living and dead the needful change. The grand description in 1Co 15:52, like the parallel in 1Th 4:16, is modelled on the account of the theophany on Sinai. The trumpet was the signal of the Divine Presence. That last manifestation will be sudden, and its startling breaking in on daily commonplace is intensified by the reduplication: ‘In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.’ With sudden crash that awful blare of ‘loud, uplifted angel trumpet’ will silence all other sounds, and hush the world. The stages of what follows are distinctly marked. First, the rising of the dead changed in passing through death, so as to rise in incorruptible bodies, and then the change of the bodies of the living into like incorruption. The former will not be found naked, but will be clothed with their white garments; the latter will, as it were, put on the glorious robes above the ‘muddy vesture of decay,’ or, more truly, will see the miracle of these being transfigured till they shine ‘so as no fuller on earth could white them.’ The living will witness the resurrection of the dead; the risen dead will witness the transformation of the living. Then both hosts will be united, and, through all eternity, ‘live together,’ and that ‘with Him.’ Paul evidently expects that he and the Corinthians will be in the latter class, as appears by the ‘we’ in 1Co 15:52. He, as it were, points to his own body when he says, recurring to his former thought of the necessity of harmony between organism and environment, ‘this corruptible must put on incorruption.’ Here ‘corruption’ is used in its physical application, though the ethical meaning may be in the background.
The Apostle closes his long argument and revelation with a burst, almost a shout, of triumph. Glowing words of old prophets rush into his mind, and he breathes a new, grander meaning into them. Isaiah had sung of a time when the veil over all nations should be destroyed ‘in this mountain,’ and when death should be swallowed up for ever; and Paul grasps the words and says that the prophet’s loftiest anticipations will be fulfilled when that monster, whose insatiable maw swallows down youth, beauty, strength, wisdom, will himself be swallowed up. Hosea had prophesied of Israel’s restoration under figure of a resurrection, and Paul grasps his words and fills them with a larger meaning. He modifies them, in a manner on which we need not enlarge, to express the great Christian thought that death has conquered man but that man in Christ will conquer the conqueror. With swift change of metaphor he represents death as a serpent, armed with a poisoned sting, and that suggests to him the thought, never far away in his view of man, that death’s power to slay is derived from-or, so to say, concentrated in-sin; and that at once raises the other equally characteristic and familiar thought that law stimulates sin, since to know a thing to be forbidden creates in perverse humanity an itching to do it, and law reveals sin by setting up the ideal from which sin is the departure. But just as the tracks in Paul’s mind were well worn, by which the thought of death brought in that of sin, and that of sin drew after it that of law, so with equal closeness of established association, that of law condemnatory and slaying, brought up that of Christ the all-sufficient refuge from that gloomy triad-Death Sin, Law. Through union with Him each of us may possess His immortal risen life, in which Death, the engulfer, is himself engulfed; Death, the conqueror, is conquered utterly and for ever; Death, the serpent, has his sting drawn, and is harmless. That participation in Christ’s life is begun even here, and God ‘giveth us the victory’ now, even while we live outward lives that must end in death, and will give it perfectly in the resurrection, when ‘they cannot die any more,’ and death itself is dead.
The loftiest Christian hopes have close relation to the lowliest Christian duties, and Paul’s triumphant song ends with plain, practical, prose exhortations to steadfastness, unmovable tenacity, and abundant fruitfulness, the motive and power of which will be found in the assurance that, since there is a life beyond, all labour here, however it may fail in the eyes of men, will not be in vain, but will tell on character and therefore on condition through eternity. If our peace does not rest where we would fain see it settle, it will not be wasted, but will return to us again, like the dove to the ark, and we shall ‘self-enfold the large results of’ labour that seemed to have been thrown away.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv48–57 As is the earthy, such are they also that…
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly .
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv51, 52, 56 (See Scofield "Mat 13:11").
mystery
(See Scofield "Mat 13:11").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v50 The transformation of the last day and the victory…
The transformation of the last day and the victory over death:
v. 50. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
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v. 51. Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed
v. 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.
v. 53. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
v. 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.
v. 55. O death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory?
v. 56. The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law.
v. 57. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
v. 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
The apostle here sets forth a final argument for the resurrection of the body. For the burial of the dead, with its picture of decay and corruption, far from shaking our faith in the reality of the resurrection, rather teaches us that the body in its present state must perish and be changed before it can inherit the glories of heaven. With great emphasis Paul writes: But this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood, the natural body as such, cannot inherit God’s kingdom; nor, indeed, does perishableness inherit imperishableness. If human beings want to become possessors of the heavenly glory, with all the bliss that is included in its enjoyment, then it is absolutely necessary that they pass through the change by which this earthly dress and this bondage of corruption is removed.
This indispensable change in the case of people still living is the object of a wonderful revelation, which Paul proceeds to communicate, calling attention, incidentally, to its importance: Lo, a mystery I tell you! He opens before their eyes one of the secrets which the Lord had made known to him. Not all shall we sleep, not all believers would be lying in the sleep of death on the last day, but we shall all be changed. Our perishable body, whether through death or not, must undergo the change by which it becomes spiritual. The change will be universal and extend to all those that are living when Judgment Day dawns. In a moment, literally, in an atom of time, in the length of time required for a wink of the eyelids, during the sounding of the last trumpet, this would take place. That will be one of the certain signs of the Lord’s advent: The final trumpet will sound, and the dead, all of them, will arise, will be raised with their bodies incorruptible. At that point of time the peculiar change in the living will also take place by which their mortal, corruptible bodies become immortal, incorruptible. This change must take place, it is a necessity according to the will of God: This perishable is bound to put on imperishableness, and this mortal is to put on immortality. Note that Paul, throughout the passage, assumes that the believers feel the certainty of the coming immortality.
What glories then shall open up before our eyes the apostle pictures in a triumphant burst of victorious shouting: When this has been accomplished, as it is certain to come about, when this perishable body has been invested with incorruption, and when this mortal body has been invested with immortality, then the word will find its fulfillment which is written Isa 25:8; Hos 13:14, which Paul quotes from the Greek text, but in the corrected form. Death has been swallowed up unto victory; the greedy, insatiable enemy has been forced to succumb, and has, in turn, been devoured; the last bulwark of the enemy has been destroyed, v. 26. In triumphant exultation the challenge rings out:
Where, O Death, is thy victory?
Where, O Death, is thy sting?
Now the sting of Death is Sin, and the strength of Sin is the Law;
But to God be thanks, who gives to us the victory
Through our Lord Jesus Christ!
Death, who, like a poisonous serpent, has used his sting to put people to death, has lost this sting. He that was accustomed to having the victory at all times, has himself been definitely conquered. For the sting of death is sin, through which it came into the world, Rom 5:12, and Jesus has borne all sin, paid all guilt, submerged all trespasses in the depths of the sea. And the strength of sin is the Law, Rom 8:2, because it promises salvation to men upon terms which they cannot fulfill, and thus makes sin abound; but Jesus has fulfilled the Law and thus removed the strength of sin. To God, therefore, the Triune God, the Author of our salvation, be thanks, who gives to us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! A full and complete victory was gained by Christ, and its entire fullness and completeness belongs to us by virtue of our Savior’s work, which we accept by faith. As Christians we possess eternal life even now; to us, as Christians, death no longer has the bitter taste of God’s wrath. At the very graves of those that have fallen asleep in Christ we chant this great hymn of victory, knowing that death and the grave have lost their power over them that are in Christ Jesus, and that death is to believers the entrance to eternal joys.
Paul concludes the chapter by applying the wonderful teaching to the state of the Corinthian congregation, whose members may have become lax in their Christian work, due to the doubts that were afloat in their midst. Pleadingly and urgently he writes: Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be firm, show yourselves steadfast, do not let the foundation of your faith be removed; be immovable, do not let yourselves be led away by others. That is the one side of their work. But the other will follow: Abounding in the work of the Lord always, in that work which God does through you and you perform to His glory; knowing that your toil, your strenuous labor, is not empty in the Lord; it cannot remain without fruit and effect if begun in His name, carried out in His strength, and intended for His glory.
Summary.The apostle brings the historical and logical proof for the resurrection of the body, describes the nature of this resurrection, reveals the fact of the transformation of the last day, and closes with a triumphant hymn of victory.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv50, 52, 54, 56 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Paul wants them to realize that some believers will not die physically but will still get a resurrected body through Christ's victory.
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flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither does what is perishable inherit what is imperishable
Possible meanings are 1) the two sentences mean the same thing. AT: "human beings who will surely die cannot inherit the permanent kingdom of God" or 2) the second sentence finishes the thought begun by the first. AT: "weak human beings cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither do those who will certainly die inherit a kingdom that will last forever" (See: Parallelism)
flesh and blood
Those who inhabit a body that is doomed to die. (See: Metaphor and Metonymy)
inherit
Receiving what God has promised believers is spoken of as if it were inheriting property and wealth from a family member. (See: Metaphor)
is perishable ... is imperishable
"can rot ... cannot rot." See how these words are translated in 1 Corinthians 15:42.
we will all be changed
This can be stated as active. AT: "God will change us all" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
flesh
blood
inherit
kingdom of God
perish
mystery
die
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 57 15:48 Earthly people (literally those of the dust): Like…
15:48 Earthly people (literally those of the dust): Like Adam, natural human beings are under the curse of sin and death. All return to dust (see Gen 3:19)—they all die. • heavenly people are like the heavenly man: Those who belong to Christ are like him in having an unending spiritual life.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.