Bible Commentaries
1 Corinthians 15

Verse 6

THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD

6. “ of whom most remain to this day, but some are fallen asleep.” Our Savior corrected them when they said Lazarus was dead, refusing to receive their report. He said, “Lazarus is not dead, but sleepeth.” The great Bible truth involves the conclusion that man inherited immortality from the creative fiat appertaining to soul, mind and body. Hence the body is as immortal as the soul, only taking a nap in the dust, awaiting the mandate of God, revealed by the resurrection trumpet. It is very injudicious for us to speak of our departed loved ones as dead, as it is difficult to keep hearts and faces bright while indulging in blue talk. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” We should look upon and speak of our departed friends as yet alive, and living in a better country than ever before.

Verse 8

8. “ I seem unto myself the last of the apostles, as one born out of due time.” This is a reference to the fact that Paul was not one of the original Twelve, but came in afterward, not recognized as an apostle in his early ministry, and, as is generally thought, not till the “prophets and teachers” at Antioch consecrated him and Barnabas to the work by fasting, prayer and the imposition of hands. This very Pauline epistle also recognizes Apollos as an apostle, who, I verily believe, with Dean Alford and other critics, wrote the epistle to the Hebrews. James and Jude, the brothers of our Lord, became eminent apostles, though not belonging to the original Twelve, both of them honored with the epistles which bear their names, and the former even with the pastorate of the mother church at Jerusalem. Hence we must recognize an elasticity in the apostolic office, similar to that of prophet, evangelist, pastor and other offices.

Verse 12

12. “ But if Christ is preached that He is risen from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection from the dead?

Verse 13

13. “ But if there is no resurrection from the dead, then is Christ not risen;

Verse 14

14. “ And if Christ is not risen, then truly is our preaching vain, and your faith is vain.” The doctrine of a corporeal resurrection was the most incredible of all the inspired curriculum. The Greek philosophers hissed and hooted at it, actually ejecting Paul from the Areopagus because he preached it. It staggered the Jews awfully, the Sadducees, the richest and most influential sect of the Jewish church, rejecting it altogether; the Hebrews being actually more favorable to translation, however paradoxical, than to the resurrection. Even after Paul had preached at Corinth eighteen months, and Peter and Apollos had preached there, all perfectly sound and clear on corporeal resurrection, yet there were some in the Corinthian church who did not receive it. At the present day the Swedenborgians, and some others, reject it altogether; while the popular theology in the orthodox churches actually restricts this grand problem to one single and final resurrection of the dead, whereas the Scriptures are so clear and explicit on the two resurrections, i. e., the first and the second; the former including the Bridehood and the latter all others. “I saw thrones and they sat on them, and the government was given unto them;” that evidently includes the Bridehood in general, who had gone up in the rapture and returned with the Heavenly Bridegroom to inaugurate His Millennial Theocracy, and have thus taken possession of the earthly thrones as His subordinates, to reign with Him a thousand years. “And” (I saw) “the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and the word of God” ( i. e., a supplement to the first resurrection in order to take in the tribulation saints) “and who did not worship the beast nor his image, nor receive the mark upon their forehead nor upon their hand: and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead live not until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:0). This passage is absolutely unanswerable in favor of the conclusion that there will be two resurrections, the first preceding and the second following the Millennium. The logic that does away the former inevitably does away the latter, as the Holy Ghost uses the same identical word, anastasia, to reveal the resurrection in the former case as in the latter. We are not seeking controversy, but truth. It is a significant and astounding fact that the masses of the popular churches, theologians included, discard the first resurrection here specified, utterly explaining it away by spiritualizing it and construing it identical with spiritual regeneration. Of course, the soul is raised from the dead in regeneration, but there is no possible nor conceivable allusion to it in these Scriptures. Since the very same phraseology is used by the Holy Ghost to reveal both of these resurrections, it is utterly impossible to construe one spiritual and the other corporeal. If the first is spiritual, so is the second, and the Swedenborgians are right, and Paul and John are wrong, for they also very emphatically preach unto us the resurrection. So we need not wonder that there were people in the Corinthian church of Paul’s own planting who did not accept the doctrine of bodily resurrection, when we consider the fact that the rank and file of Christendom today are heretical on the first resurrection, only accepting one, while the Bible so explicitly reveals two. The grand argument of Paul here is generic on the subject in order to settle it as a fundamental Bible truth; in other Scriptures he stoutly advocates the two resurrections; e. g., Philippians 3:11, “If perchance I may attain to the resurrection which is out from the dead,” i. e., an especial and extraordinary resurrection. You see in this argument his grand, salient fact is the corporeal resurrection of Christ, which is conclusively demonstrative that all the dead will rise. This follows as a logical sequence from the perfect humanity of Christ, the uniformity of humanity and the representation of humanity by the world’s Messiah, who must take our nature (sin excepted) in order to serve as Mediator between God and man. In this argument you see Paul ties the proposition fast to the resurrection of Christ, to stand or to fall. Hence the logical sequence that if there is no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. If He is not risen the Christhood of Jesus is a failure, the scheme of redemption collapses, and we are all left in our sins.

Verse 15

15. “ And we are even found false witnesses of God, because we testified according to God that He raised the Christ, whom He raised not if the dead are not raised.” In this verse Paul settles the matter that the doctrine of the resurrection must rise or fall with the Christhood of Jesus, which is an eternal failure if He be not risen.

Verse 17

17. “ If Christ is not risen, your faith is vain, and you are still in your sins.

Verse 18

18. “ Then truly those who have fallen asleep in Christ perished.” In case that the Christhood fails, there is no conceivable alternative but for the scheme of redemption to eternally collapse and all departed souls relegated to Hell.

Verse 19

19. “ If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most miserable.” This follows as a legitimate sequence from the terrible persecutions which at that time everywhere set against them, and in which, not many years after this writing, Paul lost his head at Nero’s block. Since their leader had been cruelly murdered by the authorities of Church and State, they had no right to expect anything else but a similar fate. Hence, living amid the contempt and maltreatment of a wicked world, in a fallen church, in daily anticipation of martyrdom, they were certainly the most miserable people of the world if their hope was lost.

Verse 20

20. “ Now is Christ risen from the dead, the first-fruit of them that slept.” A number of others had been raised from the dead before our Lord came forth from the tomb, but, as we have no assurance in their case that they received the glorified body, of course theirs was merely adumbratory resurrection, as they afterward died and became subjects of the final resurrection. The very fact that Christ arose from the dead is confirmatory proof that all will rise, and consequently He became the first-fruit.

Verse 21

21. “ For since death is through man, the resurrection of the dead is also through man.

Verse 22

22. “ For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” This verse is very comprehensive. While, of course, it has direct allusion to the body, confirmatory of the conclusion that every human body will rise from the dead as Christ did, yet this is not only comprehensive of the body, but of the soul. The Universalists very unfairly construe it in favor of universal salvation. While it does mean that all are made alive in Christ, i. e., all regenerated in Him, it is simply no argument in the final salvation of all, from the fact that Hell was never made for any but backsliders in the beginning, Satan himself being an old backslider, having once been an archangel in Heaven (Isaiah 14:12), and all the demons having once been angels in Heaven (Jude 1:7). Hence they are all backsliders, the same being true of every human being who ever has made, or ever will make, his bed in the bottomless pit. This conclusion is legitimate from the great Bible truth that all human beings are vitalized in Christ. When God created Adam He created all the human race seminally, Eve being no exception, but an evolution from Adam’s rib. Hence the whole human race became corrupted in their federal head and were ejected from the Divine presence.

“I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalms 51:5), tells the sad story which Charles Wesley sang a hundred and fifty years ago:

“Lord, I am vile, conceived in sin, Born unholy and unclean;

Sprung from the man whose guilty Fall Corrupts his race and taints us all. ”

While the conception is in Adam the first, the physical birth is in Adam the Second. “He tasted death for every one” (Hebrews 2:9). The pronoun tis in this passage means every human being from the moment when soul and body, united, constitute personality, which takes place before the physical birth. “Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God” (John 3:5), should read, “Except every one be born from above.” The adverb “again” in the E.V. leads to the conclusion that it must always follow the natural birth, which is not true of the original anoothen, which simply means “from above.” This corroborates the uniform teaching of the Scriptures that every human being must be renewed by grace, and that every infant is actually born in the kingdom of God, and only gets out by sinning out; e. g., the prodigal son (Luke 15:0) was born in his father’s house, to which he returned when he was converted; his older brother never getting out, so never losing his infantile justification, though he much needed sanctification to take the fret out of him which he evinced when they made so great ado over his returned brother, who, despite the scheming of Satan, had already gotten ahead of his clever older brother, being happily justified when the father gave him the kiss of reconciliation, and gloriously sanctified when they put on him the “best robe” of holiness. Then, if the infants are all born in the kingdom of grace, justified by the normal efficacy of the atonement without faith, and regenerated by the normal renewing grace of Christ, so they are not the children of Satan, i. e., sinners, but the children of God, i. e., Christians, why do they need conversion if they are brought up so as not to forfeit their infantile justification, of which there is a gracious possibility, and of whose delinquency they ought to be ashamed? Conversion simply means a turning, and does not necessarily include justification nor regeneration, which are only incidental to it in case of actual sins. Hence God’s time to get everybody converted is before they forfeit infantile justification. In that case, you have nothing to do but preach Jesus to the little one, turn him round and introduce him to the Savior. Then, instead of going right away into sin, as all do without conversion, pursuant to inbred depravity, the little one, turned round, introduced to the Savior, his countenance electrified by His glory, leaps for joy and sets out on the way to Heaven. Hence, “In Adam all die, and in Christ shall all be made alive,” is true spiritually as well as corporeally. The latter is verified in the fact that all do rise from the dead, and the former in the fact that every human being in all ages and nations is born in the kingdom of God, not because of original purity, but because Christ tasted death for every one, i. e., every human being. Hence the very moment soul and body are united, personality obtains, the vicarious atonement avails, the law is satisfied, and the Holy Spirit imparts life to the soul. Hence every sinner in all the world is like Satan, a backslider, having been a Christian in his innocent infancy, but fallen away since he reached responsibility. Hence Bishop Taylor is right in the assumption that heathen infants are Christians till they are made sinners and heathens by human influence. Hence the importance of establishing nurseries throughout heathendom, gathering in the infants, and retaining them in the kingdom; i. e., getting them converted before they are old enough to sin, and then getting them sanctified before they backslide.

Verse 23

23. “ Everyone in his own rank.” In the resurrection we will all be identical with our former selves, i. e., everyone will be what he has been. There will be infinite degrees in the resurrection, as in Heaven and Hell. Here is the greatest conceivable inspiration to be as good and true as we possibly can, as we will rise what we have been and so remain through all eternity; enough to stir everyone to strive night and day to attain as good an estate as possible, since you are assured that you will retain it forever. “Christ the first-fruits, then those that are Christ’s at His coming.” Here is certainly a beautiful allusion to the Rapture of the saints when our Lord comes, the burden of the apostle’s argument being the establishment of the great truth of corporeal resurrection universal and without defalcation.

Verse 24

END OF THE MEDIATORIAL KINGDOM

24. “ Then cometh the end,” i. e., the end of time and the mediatorial kingdom, this being the only one that will ever have an end. “ When He may deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when He may destroy all government, all authority and power,” i. e., all governmental authority antagonistic to God. When a human province revolted, the emperor always sent out a proconsul with an army to put down the rebellion, the former preparing to furnish the latter all of the men and money he needed until the work was done. When the news of the Fall reached Heaven, all the golden harps were hung on weeping willows, and Heaven turned into a Bochim of weeping over the loss of this world; no finite power was adequate to the emergency. Behold, the glorified Son espouses the lost cause! The news thrills all Heaven with unutterable surprise and shakes all Hell with unspeakable consternation. Then and there was inaugurated the mediatorial kingdom for the restoration of this lost world. Under this kingdom is every soul from righteous Abel to the last one that will be saved in the nick of time, when Gabriel is lifting the trumpet to roar the judgment blast. What is time? It is that portion of eternity which measures the duration of the mediatorial kingdom. Before the fall eternity was revolving its mighty course while millions of worlds sped their flight around the Throne of God. The revolt supervened and the Son of God came down from the Throne, mediatorial King, to put down the rebellion and expurgate sin from the universe. The mediatorial kingdom will sweep on through the Millennium from the simple fact that it includes the theocracy, which is the culmination of it. Hence salvation will continue through the Millennium down to the end of time.

Verse 25

25. “ It behooves him to reign, till He may put all enemies under His feet.

Verse 26

26. “ The last enemy, death, is being destroyed.” The Son of God entered upon the mediatorial reign for the purpose of putting down the rebellion in the Divine empire. Therefore He is going to reign until all opposition to the perfect, pure and holy administration of the Heavenly Father is established throughout the universe. As 1 Corinthians 15:24 says, “He is going to put down all rule, authority and power,” i. e., all human and Satanic power, rule and authority antagonistical to Divine rule, authority and power. Death temporal, spiritual and eternal is a great and irreconcilable enemy to Him who is the life of the universe. Hence Jesus came to destroy death, and as the Greek says, “Death is being destroyed.” The constant work of salvation in millions of souls is incessantly destroying the spiritual, eternal and temporal death which Satan put in them in the Fall. While the Millennial reign will bring a glorious and unprecedented victory into this world, and lock up Satan and Hell a thousand years, yet he will be let loose again. There is no doubt but a degree of physical suffering, sin and temporal death will be on the earth during the Millennium, as all the coming generations will be born with inherent depravity in their hearts, which is the essence of spiritual death, hence the final consummation of the mediatorial victory will not come till the end of time (1 Corinthians 15:24), when the final resurrection will take place

(Revelation 20:11-15), immediately followed by the general judgment, in which the Son will preside, thus winding up all the momentous affairs of the mediatorial kingdom, consummating the ultimate destruction of death, temporal, spiritual and eternal, appertaining to all the loyal subjects of the mediatorial reign, thus bringing an end to mortality and probation; finally casting Satan and all of the fallen angels, who are not included in the restitutionary economy, and to all the inmates of Hell who forfeited their probation rejecting mediatorial grace, into the “lake of fire” which Jesus mentions repeatedly in His gospels as located eis to skotos to exooteron, i. e., into the darkness which is without, i. e., into the void immense lying clear beyond the remotest reaches of solitary illumination through the combined irradiation of one hundred and seventeen millions of glowing suns. Thus in the grand finale, death temporal, spiritual and eternal in all the voluntary subjects of mediatorial grace will be destroyed, mortality and probation forever eliminated from this world. Simultaneously with the progress of the final Judgment, this earth will undergo a purgatorial cremation (2 Peter 3:10), consummating a perfect and final salvation from all the effects of sin, mortality, death and diabolical occupancy during the period of its rebellion and expatriation from the Celestial Empire. The normal effect of this final, fiery purgation, accompanied by the creative presence of Omnipotence, will be the complete renovation of the earth and Heaven the firmament (Revelation 21:0), and its reannexation back to the Celestial Empire, whence it was wrested by Satan with a view of adding it to Hell.

Verse 27

27. “ For He subordinated all things beneath His feet;” i. e., Christ, our glorious mediatorial King, with a single act of His omnipotence, as indicated by the Greek aorist, put his feet on the devil, sin and the whole problem of rebellion in the Divine empire. This He did the very moment He assumed the mediatorial kingdom, though centuries and ages elapse in the consummation. “But when He may say that all things have been subordinated, it is evident that He who subordinated all things is excepted;” i. e., as Christ Himself is the omnipotent mediatorial Conqueror who subdues “all rule, authority and power,” human and Satanic, antagonistical to the Divine administration, of course the consummation of the subordination of all the enemies of the Almighty does not include Himself, as He is really a party in the Divine administration.

Verse 28

28. “ But when He may subordinate all things to Himself, then indeed the Son Himself will be subordinated to Him ” ( i. e., the Father) “ who subordinateth all things to Himself, in order that God may be all things in all.” Thus we see the ultimatum of the grand finale, when the Son shall have “put down all rule, authority and power” (Satanic and human), and have destroyed mortality and death temporal, spiritual and eternal, appertaining to all the willing subjects of His mediatorial grace, wound up the momentous administration of His kingdom with the resurrection of all the dead, good and bad, and the final Judgment, and the eternal ejectment of Satan and all the demons, and the unfortunate people who rejected mediatorial grace, beyond the remotest regions of the inhabitable universe into “outer darkness,” and sanctified the earth and firmament with the fiery baptism, and renovated it into a “new Heaven” (firmament) “and a new earth,” and restored it back to the Celestial Empire, where it belonged before the devil broke it loose; having thus consummated all the work of the mediatorial kingdom, like George Washington at the close of the Revolutionary War, hurried away from the last battle, where he had received the surrendered sword of Lord Cornwallis, to Annapolis, where the Colonial Congress was in session, and there surrendered up his commission, going out of office forever. When I was in Rome I was much interested looking at those grand triumphal arches built two thousand years ago to receive the triumphant proconsul, who, after years of war and battle in subduing a revolted province, returned to Rome to be congratulated with all the immortal honors of the empire, forever laying down his proconsulship at Caesar’s feet. So when the Son of God shall have consummated all the wonderful achievements of the mediatorial kingdom, restoring this world back to the Heavenly empire to be inhabited by glorified saints and angels like other celestial worlds forever, abolishing death and forever banishing sin and Satan from the celestial universe, then He will enter Heaven amid the triumphant shouts of angels, archangels, cherubim, seraphim, and multiplied millions of redeemed spirits and the tall sons of God, representing millions of immortal worlds, when He shall stand before the great white throne of celestial glory and say to His Father: “I have finished the work thou didst give me to do” sin and death are obliterated from the universe. “

Verse 29

BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD

29. “ Then what shall they do who are baptized instead of the dead? If the dead rise not at all, why indeed are they baptized instead of them?” During the apostolic age, as history well authenticates, while the apostles and their innumerable evangelistic contemporaries were traversing the whole country, preaching from house to house, as was their custom, as they had no church edifices, anon they evangelize a family and baptize them all in the name of the Heavenly Trinity, thus inducting them into the dispensation of Christ, for whom their ancestors had waited through ages. Here is a brother in tears. “Oh, that you had only come and told us this good news before Brother Thomas died last summer, so he could have been baptized with us. I do wish you would baptize me in his name, as a substitute for him.” So they kindly proceed to baptize for his dead brother, after he has been baptized for himself. Other members of the family are baptized in lieu of their dead brothers, sisters and parents. The Mormons now practice this baptism for the dead. Of course it did no good, and Paul does not here insinuate his endorsement of it. Baptism was an old Jewish institution among them, repeated over and over. A Jew might be baptized ten thousand times during life if he had contracted ceremonial defilement so often. These people were Jews entering the gospel dispensation by water baptism, hence they did not hesitate to repeat baptism in this way. It illustrates the large liberty enjoyed by the apostles and their contemporaries on the subject of baptism. Paul is a powerful logician. He sticks close to his subject, which is not baptism, but the resurrection of the dead. Hence the only end for which he makes this allusion is to strengthen his argument on the resurrection. It is a strong point, showing that those persons receiving and practicing baptism for the dead did certainly believe in the resurrection of the dead, because this was a recognition of him as still in existence, and going to live again. If he were utterly gone, there would be no consistency in baptizing for him. The very fact that a brother is baptized for his dead brother shows that his body is not utterly and eternally perished, but is still on hand and will rise again.

Verses 30-31

DAILY DYING

30. “ Why are we in jeopardy every hour?

31. “ I die daily, by your rejoicing which we have in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Verse 32

32. “ If after the manner of men I fought with the wild beasts at Ephesus, what profit is it unto me if the dead rise not?” The plain fact here specified is that he was daily exposed to martyrdom. Some make a great mistake by applying this daily dying to old Adam, in reference to which the Scriptures constantly reveal an instantaneous and complete destruction, radical and eternal extermination (Romans 6:6). We can not apply this daily dying to the soul, because Paul is not speaking of it, but the body, as his theme is simply the resurrection of the body. Hence the daily dying is daily exposition to martyrdom, which was a significant matter of fact. Their Leader had been killed, and they had no right to expect any other fate. Besides, the prophetic eye of Paul rested on the rivers of blood which deluged Christendom but a few years subsequently under the imperial persecutions. A problem arises in reference to Paul’s ejectment to the wild beasts at Ephesus, as that was in the Roman Empire, and it was contrary to law to cast a Roman citizen to a wild beast. The critics believe it is a reference to an awful spell of sickness which brought him to the very verge of death (2 Corinthians 1:7).

“If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” This follows as a logical sequence from the nucleus of the preceding argument, identifying the doctrine of the resurrection of all the dead with that of Christ, which is the necessary confirmation of His Messiahship.

Hence it follows as a logical sequence that if the resurrection is not true the Bible is a myth, Christ an impostor and the plan of salvation a failure.

Verse 33

33. “ Be not deceived, evil communications corrupt good manners.” Beware that you keep your houses pure, lest your children intermarry the wicked and the whole family be turned over to the devil. In this way the antediluvian world was ruined and the flood became a necessity, when the Holiness people (the descendants of Seth) entered into matrimonial alliances with the worldly people, i. e., the descendants of Cain.

Verse 34

34. “ Awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” Faith is the foundation of the gracious economy. While all real salvation is received by spiritual faith (Romans 10:10), yet the intellectual is the necessary antecedent of the spiritual. When the intellect does not apprehend and receive the great truth of the Bible, the spiritual superstructure is without foundation. “He that believeth not shall be damned” has a very extensive application. Here Paul certainly does recognize belief in the doctrine of corporeal resurrection. When we reject any cardinal truth revealed in the Bible we so grieve the Holy Spirit as to put ourselves beyond the pale of hope.

Verses 35-39

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE RESURRECTION

35. “ But one will say: How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?

36. “ Thou fool, that that thou sowest is not quickened except it may die.” Does not Paul contradict Jesus when he says “Thou fool,” for He said, “Whosoever shall call his brother a fool is in danger of Hell fire”? Suffice it to say there is no contradiction, because though the E.V. has them use the same word, yet they did not. Jesus said mooros, which means a natural fool who is inevitably irresponsible. Hence it is wicked to reproach your brother for natural disability which he can not help. Paul said aphroon which means a spiritual fool, i. e., a fool in spiritual things because he rejects the Holy Spirit.

37. “ That which thou sowest thou sowest not the body which shall be, but naked grain, if it may happen of wheat or of some one of the rest.

38. “ And God giveth to it a body as He wished, and to each one of the seeds its own body.” You sow your wheat. It is dry dead grain. The beautiful green blade grows up, bearing a nice flower. There is no similitude whatever between the latter and the former. Yet there is perfect identity. It is not only wheat, but it produces the same kind of wheat. If you sow bearded wheat it will produce the same species. Hence we see from this illustration that while the resurrection body will be perfectly identical with the body I have had in this life, i. e., it will be the very same body, yet there will be no similitude whatever, no more than there is between the dead grain and the beautiful green blade and flower.

39. “ All flesh is not the same flesh, one flesh of men, another of beasts, another of birds and another of fishes.” This verse does not argue the resurrection of animals.

Verses 40-43

INFINITE DIVERSITY IN THE RESURRECTION

40. “ There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies, and the glory of the celestials is one and the glory of the terrestrials is another.

41. “ There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from a star in glory.

42. “ So also is the resurrection of the dead.” We see from this description that there be an endless diversity of glories in the resurrection. The naked eye recognizes sixteen different stellar magnitudes, while the most powerful telescopes discriminate a thousand different magnitudes. Hence we see the diversity in the resurrection will be infinitesimal. This certainly is exceedingly inspiring, throwing wide open the stadium and inviting every one to come in and run for a crown of glory that shall never fade away. The progressive facilities of this life are illimitable. Rest assured, you will retain all you achieve, and in this way your status will obtain on the resurrection morn, when every one will be raised in his own rank (1 Corinthians 15:23). “It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption;

43. “ It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in no strength, it is raised in dynamite.” The contrast is truly wonderful and inconceivable, the antithesis given by the Holy Ghost descriptive of the contrast being hyperbolical in the superlative degree.

Verse 44

AN ANIMAL BODY AND A SPIRITUAL BODY

44. “ It is sown an animal body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is an animal body, there is also a spiritual body.” The conclusion from these Scriptures is clear and irresistible. Precisely as the present body is for the occupancy of the animal life, soul and intellect, for all of this really belongs to the animal kingdom; e. g., the horse has an intelligent mind, so has every animal an amount of intelligence. There is this fact in reference to all animals: while you can teach them many things, you can not teach them anything about God; from the fact that while they have a mind, they have no spirit homogeneous to the human spirit. Hence my body, like that of the animal, is the tenement in which my animal life dwells. In a similar manner the resurrection body will be a tenement for my spirit to live in. Hence you may depend on it, as Paul here certifies, that there is a body for human spirit to live in, as well as a body for the animal life, soul and intellect to dwell in.

Verse 45

45. “ And as has been written, The first Adam became a living soul, the last Adam a life-creating spirit.” We read that when God created man, He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul as a result of that inbreathing. The Hebrew word ruach, translated “spirit” throughout the whole Bible, i. e., applied both to the Holy Spirit and the human spirit, also means the breath, which is but the atmosphere and one of the prominent symbols of the Holy Spirit. Hence, when it is said God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, using the verb form of the same word, the revelation is that God in so doing imparted to Adam his spirit.

The effect of the human spirit thus imparted was to confer immortality on the human soul already existing as a result of creation; because God never created anything dead. Hence we must conclude that when He created Adam he was alive, i. e., had animal life like the entire animal creation. Whereas it is said that God breathed into Adam the breath of life, and he became a living soul, He did nothing of this kind to any of the other animals. Hence the mistake of John Wesley and others in their conclusion that the animals are immortal and will be raised from the dead. While the body of man is a mere animal, he has the additional element of the human spirit, which inherits immortality from God who gave it, and confers the same on the human soul resident in the body. Whereas Adam the first became a living soul, this being the ultimatum of his existence, the last Adam, who has a human soul and body like the first Adam, is different from and superior to His predecessor in the fact that He is a life-creating spirit, i. e., none other than the very and eternal God who created the universe, and this same Second Adam became the Omnipotent Executive of the new creation, in which He creates life in the dead human spirit, the Greek word for “quickening” (E. V.) being zoopoioun, from zooee, “life,” and poieoo, “create.” Hence it means life-creating, constantly and pertinently applied to the Second Person of the Trinity, who (Colossians 1:0) is certified to have created all things in Heavens and in earth, visible and invisible, involving the conclusion that Omnipotence becomes creative in the Second Person of the Trinity.

MAN CREATED

Verses 47-49

MORTAL, BUT DESIGNED FOR IMMORTALITY

47. “ The first man is from earth earthy, the second man is from Heaven.

48. “ As is the earthy, such also are they which are earthy; as is the Heavenly, such also are they who are Heavenly:

49. “ As we have borne the image of the earthy, so also we must bear the image of the Heavenly.” These Scriptures clearly involve the conclusion that man was created out of earthly elements and mortal. However, the conclusion does not follow that he would have died if he had never sinned, because God had created the tree of life, the normal effect of whose fruit was to confer immortality. Hence, if they had never sinned, when they had been duly tried and tested and stood their earthly probation, guided by instinct or Providence, they would have had access to the tree of life, of whose fruit they were never forbidden to take. The effect of this fruit would have conferred immortality, i. e., ripened them for translation, which would have enabled them to fly away from this probationary world like Enoch and Elijah, and range ad libitum through the fenceless fields of glory, winging their flight from world to world. If sin had never entered, the race would have multiplied with great rapidity on the earth, pursuant to the mandate already given to “multiply and replenish the earth”; instead of getting old and dying, their families, well cognizant that their beloved parents we are ripening for glory, would have kept their eyes on them, like Elisha pursuing and watching Elijah, that he might see the last of him. Thus translation at the expiration of probation, which probably would have been a thousand and more years, was evidently the original economy. This conclusion is clearly involved from the fact that, as we live in these houses of clay bearing the image of the earthy, so are we to live in a glorified spiritual body, thus bearing the image of the Heavenly; in our case death supervened as a sanctified auxiliary under the redemptive scheme, which never would have been known if the original twain had sustained their probation. Still, however, having been created in the earthly image, they also would have passed by translation into the Heavenly.

Verse 50

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.

Verse 51

GLORIFICATION ENTERED BY TRANSLATION AND RESURRECTION

51. “ Behold, I speak to you a mystery: we shall not all sleep,” i. e., not all die, because the Bible says sleep where we say die. Hence the glorious consolation that some of us will enjoy the honor of translation like Enoch and Elijah. “But we shall all be changed.

Verse 52

52. “ In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” The case is very clear here that Paul is speaking of the rapture of the saints, as there is no allusion whatever to the wicked. In the final resurrection the wicked as well as all the righteous not identified with the Bridehood will rise about the same time, perhaps even then a short interval between the righteous and the wicked. Hence we see from this Scripture that the living saints at the sound of the trumpet will all be translated instantaneously. This is beautifully corroborated in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, including a large paragraph devoted to this subject. There we learn that, when the Lord descends with a shout and with the trump of the archangel, the buried saints will first leap out of their graves all round the world. Then, “we who are alive, having been left, shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall be forever with the Lord.” Hence we see that the interval between the resurrection of the saints and the translation of the living will be very brief; because the latter will fly right up, and along with the former meet the Lord in the air. The most inspiring privilege of the Lord’s people, is to be living on the earth when He returns, and thus honored with the translation. Hence we have here the two distinct methods by which the Lord’s saints will enter the glorified state, i. e., translation and resurrection. In either case we pass into the transfiguration glory of our risen and ascended Lord.

Verse 53

53. “ For it behooveth this corruption to put on incorruption, and this mortal to put on immortality.” While this must be done we can enter by either of the two gateways, i. e., translation or the resurrection. In case of the former we escape death altogether, which is certainly a glorious privilege. In case of the latter we pass through the portals of death, but achieve a complete victory over it.

Verse 54

54. “ When this corruption may put on incorruption, and this mortal may put on immortality, then shall come to pass the word which has been written, “Death swallowed up in victory,” i. e., in the glorious ultimatum the victory of Christ is going to swallow up death, i. e., destroy him altogether, so that the grim monster will never again be heard of.

Verse 55

55. “ O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?

Verse 56

56. “ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” This arises from the fact that the law says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Hence when the sting of death is extracted it becomes harmless. If the sting of a hornet were extracted it would do the baby for a toy just as well as the butterfly, as it would be perfectly harmless. Hence the wonderful victory of Christ! He lays hold on the grim monster, extracts his sting, then turns him loose and makes him a blessing to His true people. It is the glorious work of entire sanctification to destroy sin, which is the sting of death, thus saving us not only from the power, but even from, the terror of the grim monster, thus utterly disarming and divesting him of all his terrors and transforming him into an angel of mercy, carrying the golden key to unlock the pearly gates and let us sweep in with a shout.

Verse 57

57. “ Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This victory comes when we receive the glorious sanctifying power, which takes away the sin-principle, thus utterly and eternally disarming death of all his terrors.

Verse 58

58. “ So, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” Oh! blessed and glorious consolation! “He that giveth a saint a cup of cold water in the name of the Lord shall not fail to receive his reward.” Earth is the field of toil, peril and battle. Heaven is the mount of victory, where every pilgrim will receive a glorious reward for all our labors of love in this life.