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that, according to the apostle, here belongs to all those whose corruptible bodies have put on incorruption; which, therefore, must be only those that rise the second in order. From whence it is clear, that their resurrection alone is that which is here mentioned and described.

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Fifthly, A farther proof whereof is, ver. 56, 57, in that their sins being taken away, the sting, whereby death kills, is taken away. And hence St. Paul says, God has given "us" the victory, which is the same should bear the image of the heavenly Adam, ver. 49. who should "all" be changed, ver. 51, 52. All which belong to none, but those who are Christ's, who shall be raised by themselves, the second in order, before the rest of the dead.

us," or we," who And the same 66 we," places can, therefore,

It is very remarkable what St. Paul says, in the 51st verse, "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in the twinkling of an eye." The reason he gives for it, ver. 53, is, because this corruptible thing must put on incorruption, and this mortal thing must put on immortality. How? Why, by putting off flesh and blood, by an instantaneous change, because, as he tells us, ver. 50, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; and therefore, to fit believers for that kingdom, those who are alive at Christ's coming shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye; and those, that are in their graves, shall be changed likewise, at the instant of their being raised; and so all the whole collection of saints, all the members of Christ's body, shall be put into a state of incorruptibility, ver. 52, in a new sort of bodies. Taking the resurrection, here spoken of, to be the resurrection of all the dead, promiscuously, St. Paul's reasoning in this place can hardly be understood. But upon a supposition that he here describes the resurrection of the just only, that resurrection, which, as he says, ver. 23, is to be the next after Christ's, and separate from the rest, there is nothing can be more plain, natural, and easy, than St. Paul's reasoning; and it stands thus: "Men alive are flesh and blood; the dead in the graves are but the remains of corrupted flesh and blood; but flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither corruption inherit incorruption, i. e. immortality: therefore, to make all those, who are Christ's, capable to enter into his eternal kingdom of life, as well those of them who are alive, as those of them who are raised from the dead, shall, in the twinkling of an eye, be all changed, and their corruptible shall put on incorruption, and their mortal shall put on immortality : and thus God gives them the victory over death, through their Lord Jesus Christ." This is, in short, St. Paul's arguing here, and the account he gives of the resurrection of the blessed. But how the wicked, who are afterwards to be restored to life, were to be raised, and what was to become of them, he here says nothing, as not being to his present purpose, which was to assure the Corinthians, by the resurrection of Christ, of a happy resurrection to believers, and thereby to encourage them to continue stedfast in the faith, which had such a reward. That this was his design, may be seen by the beginning of his discourse, ver. 12—21, and by the conclusion, ver. 58, in these words: "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know, that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." Which words show, that what he had been speaking of, in the immediately preceding verses, viz. their being changed, and their putting on incorruption and immortality, and their having thereby the victory, through Jesus Christ, was what belonged solely to the saints, as a reward to those who remained stedfast, and abounded in the work of the Lord.

The like use of the like, though shorter, discourse of the resurrection, wherein he describes only that of the blessed, he makes to the Thessalonians, 1 Thess. iv. 13-18, which he concludes thus: "Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

Nor is it in this place alone that St. Paul calls the resurrection of the just by

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 endeavours, “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 to 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 zwμa Luxixò, 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.

n Vid. Phil. iii. 21.

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.

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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 plaρtòy, "corruptible," and to Suntly, "mortal," have not here cμa, "body," for their substantive, as some imagine; but are put in the neuter gender absolute, and stand to represent vexpoì, "dead;" as appears by the immediately preceding verse, and also ver. 42, οὕτω καὶ ἡ ἀνάςασις τῶν νεκρῶν, σπείρεται ἐν φθορᾶ. "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 strauge, or strained, that I interpret apo and now, 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 of than ver. 46, are these: 'Αλλ' οὐ πρῶτον τὸ πνευματικὸν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ψυχικὸν, äteila tò wvevμalixò. 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 σῶμα, σε 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 Tεipela, "is sown," and not owμx, "body," when he considers the sense of the place, wherein the apostle's purpose is to speak of venpoì, "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:

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Linquebant dulces animas, aut ægra trahebant
Corpora." Æneid. 1. 3, ver. 140,

where, by finding the nominative 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 song of 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 stedfast, 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 from the 58 rigour of the law. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, continue stedfast and unmoveable in the Christian faith, always abounding in your obedience to the precepts of Christ, and in those 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

VOL. VIII.

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