TEXT. 43 It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. PARAPHRASE. in this world', and comes to die, is a poor, weak, contemp43 tible, corruptible thing: When it is raised again, it shall be 44 powerful, glorious, and incorruptible. The body, we have here, surpasses not the animal nature. At the resurrection it shall be spiritual. There are both animal and spiritual" 45 bodies. And so it is written, "The first man Adam was made a living soul," i. e. made of an animal constitution, endowed with an animal life; the second Adam was made of a spiritual constitution, with a power to give life to others. NOTES. the general name of the resurrection of the dead. He does the same, Phil. iii. 11, where he speaks of his sufferings, and of his endeavors, "if by any means he might attain unto the resurrection of the dead" whereby he cannot mean the resurrection of the dead in general which, since he has declared in this very chapter, ver. 22, all men, both good and bad, shall as certainly partake of as that they shall die, there need no endeavours to attain it. Our Saviour, likewise, speaks of the resurrection of the just, in the same general terms of the resurrection, Matt. xxii. 30. "And the resurrection from the dead," Luke xx. 35, by which is meant only the resurrection of the just, as is plain from the context. 42 The time, that man is in this world, affixed to this earth, is his being sown ; and not when being dead, he is put in the grave; as is evident from St. Paul's own words. For dead things are not sown; seeds are sown, being alive, and die not, until after they are sown. Besides, he that will attentively consider what follows, will find reason, from St. Paul's arguing, to understand him so. 44 m Zapa fuxor, which in our Bibles is translated, " a natural body," should, I think more suitably to the propriety of the Greek, and more conformably to the apostle's meaning, be translated "an animal body:" for that, which St. Paul is doing here, is to show, that as we have animal bodies now, (which we derived from Adam) endowed with an animal life, which, unless supported with a constant supply of food and air, will fail and perish, and at last, do what we can, will dissolve and come to an end; so, at the resurrection, we shall have from Christ, the second Adam, "spiritual bodies," which shall have an essential and natural, inseparable life in them, which shall continue and subsist perpetually of itself, without the help of meat and drink, or air, or any such foreign support; without decay, or any tendency to a dissolution: of which our Saviour speaking, Luke xx. 35, says, " They who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead," cannot die any more; for they are equal to the angels, i. e. of an angelical nature and constitution. TEXT. 46 Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward, that which is spiritual. 47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49 And, as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump (for the trumpet shall sound,) and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. PARAPHRASE. 46 Howbeit, the spiritual was not first, but the animal; and 47 afterwards the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made up of dust, or earthy particles: the second man is the Lord 48 from heaven. Those who have no higher an extraction than barely from the earthy man, they, like him, have barely an animal life and constitution; but those, who are regenerate, and born of the heavenly seed, are, as he that is heavenly, 49 spiritual and immortal. And as in the animal, corruptible, mortal state, we were born in, we have been like him that was earthy; so also shall we, who, at the resurrection, partake of a spiritual life from Christ, be made like him, the Lord from heaven, heavenly, i. e. live, as the spirits in heaven do, without the need of food, or nourishment, to support it, and without infirmities, decay, and death, enjoying a fixed, 50 stable, unfleeting life. This I say to you, brethren, to satisfy those that ask, "with what bodies the dead shall come?" that we shall not at the resurrection have such bodies as we have now for flesh and blood cannot enter into the kingdom which the saints shall inherit in heaven; nor are such fleeting, corruptible things, as our present bodies are, fitted to that 51 state of immutable incorruptibility. To which let me add, what has not been hitherto discovered, viz. that we shall not 52 all die, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the sounding of the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise and as many 53 of us, believers, as are then alive, shall be changed. For TEXT. 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." 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law, PARAPHRASE. this corruptible frame and constitution of ours must put on 54 incorruption, and from mortal become immortal. And, when we are got into that state of incorruptibility and immortality, then shall be fulfilled what was foretold in these words, "Death is swallowed up of victory P: " i. e. death is perfectly subdued and exterminated, by a complete victory over 55 it, so that there shall be no death any more. Where, O death, is now that power, whereby thou deprivest men of life? What is become of the dominion of the grave, whereby 56 they were detained prisoners there? That, which gives death NOTES. 53 To plaptov, "corruptible," and To Svatov, "mortal," have not here wμx, 'body," for their substantive, as some imagine; but are put in the neuter gender absolute, and stand to represent vexpo, "dead;" as appears by the immediately preceding verse, and also, ver. 42, OUTW 21 ανασασις των νεκρων σπείρεται εν φθορα. "So is the resurrection of the dead; it is sown in corruption;" i. e. mortal, corruptible men are sown, being corruptible and weak, nor can it be thought strange, or strained, that I interpret aplov and varov, as adjectives of the neuter gender to signify persons, when in this very discourse, the apostle uses two adjectives, in the neuter gender, to signify the persons of Adam and Christ, in such a way, as it is impossible to understand them otherwise. The words, no farther off than ver. 46, are these: 'Αλλ' ου πρωτον το πνευματικών αλλά το ψυχικόν, επείτε το πνευματικον. The like way of speaking we have, Matt. i. 20, and Luke i. 35, in both which the person of our Saviour is expressed by adjectives of the neuter gender. To any of all which places I do not think any one will add the substantive caud, "body," to make out the sense. That, then, which is meant here being this, that this mortal man shall put on immortality, and this corruptible man incorruptibility; any one will easily find another nominative case to "is sown," and not raua, "body," when he considers the sense of the place, wherein the apostle's purpose is to speak of vaxpo, "mortal men," being dead, and raised again to life, and made immortal. Those, with whom grammatical construction, and the nominative case, weigh so much, may be pleased to read this passage in Virgil: -—Linquebant dulces animas, aut ægra trahebant pla where, by finding the nomnitive case to the two verbs, in it, he may come to discover that personality, as contradistinguished to both body and soul, may be the nominative case to verbs. 54 p Nixos, victory," ," often signifies end and destruction. See Vossius "de lxx. interpret." cap. 24. 55 This has something of the air of a songlof triumph, which St. Paul breaks out into, upon a view of the saints' victory over death, in a state, wherein death is never to have place any more. TEXT 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. PARAPHRASE. the power over men is sin, and it is the law, by which sin has 57 this power. But thanks be to God, who gives us deliverance and victory over death, the punishment of sin, by the law, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who has delivered us fromt he 58 rigour of the law. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, continue steadfast and unmoveable in the Christian faith, always ab ou..d. ing in your obedience to the precepts of Christ, and in thos duties which are required of us by our Lord and Saviour knowing that your labour will not be lost. Whatsoever you shall do, or suffer for him, will be abundantly rewarded, by eternal life. SECTION XI. CHAPTER XVI. 1-4. CONTENTS. He gives directions concerning their contribution to the poor Christians at Jerusalem. TEXT. 1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. 2 Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. PARAPHRASE. 1 As to the collection for the converts to Christianity, who are at Jerusalem I would have you do as I have directed the churches of Galatia. Let every one of you, according as he thrives in his calling, lay aside some part of his gain by TEXT. 3 And when I come, whomsoever you shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. 4 And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me. a PARAPHRASE. itself, which, the first day of the week, let him put into the common treasury of the church, that there may be no need of 3 any gathering when I come. And when I come, those, whom you shall approve of, will I send with letters to Jerusalem, to 4 carry thither your benevolence. Which if it deserves that I also should go, they shall go along with me. NOTES. 2 Onσaupir seems used here in the sense I have given it. For it is certain that, the apostle directs, that they should, every Lord's day, bring to the congregation what their charity had laid aside the foregoing week, as their gain came in, that there it might be put into some public box, appointed for that purpose, or officers' hands. For if they only laid it aside at home, there would nevertheless be need of a collection when he came. 3 » Δοκιμασητε, δι επιτελών τουτους πέμψω. This pointing, that makes & επιστολων belong to u, and not to dexons, the apostle's sense justifies; he telling them here, that finding their collection ready, when he came, he would write by those, they should think fit to send it by, or go himself with them, if their present were worthy of it. There needed no approbation of their messengers to him, by their letters, when he was present. And if the Corinthians, by their letters, approved of them to the saints at Jeruselem, how could St. Paul say, he would send them? SECTION XII. CHAPTER XVI. 5-12. CONTENTS. He gives them an account of his own, Timothy's, and Apollos's intention of coming to them. |