1 Corinthians 15:35-50 | |
35. But some man;will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? | 35. Sed dicet quispiam: Quomo-do suscitabuntur mortui? quali nu-tem corpore venient? |
36. Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. | 36. Demens, tu quod seminas, non vivificatur nisi mortuum fuerit. |
37. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: | 37. Et quod seminas, non corpus quod nascentur, seminas, sed nudum granum: exempli gratis, tritici, nut alterius cujusvis generis: |
38. But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. | 38. Deus autem illi dat corpus, quemadmodum voluerit, et unicui-que seminum proprium corpus. |
39. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. | 39. Non omnis caro, eadem caro: sed alia caro horninum, alia vero cato pecudum, alia volucrum, alia piscium. |
40. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. | 40. Sunt et corpora coelestia, sunt corpora terrestria: quin etiam alia coelestium gloria, alia terrestrium. |
41. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory'. | 41. Alia gloria solis, alia gloria lunae, alia gloria stellarum: stella a stella differt in gloria: |
42. So also is the resurrection of the dead; it is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: | 42. Sic et resurrectio mortuorum. |
43. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: | 43. Seminatur in corruptione, re surgit in incorruptione: seminatur in ignominia, resurgit in gloria: seminatur in infirmitate, resurgit in potentia: |
44. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. | 44. Seminatur corpus animale, resurgit corpus spirituale: est corpus animale, est et corpus spirituale. |
45. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit, | 45. Quemadmodum et scriptum eat, (Gen 2:7,) Factus eat primus homo Adam in animam viventem, ultimus Adam in spiritum vivificantem. |
46. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. | 46. Sed non primum quod spiri-tuale eat: sed animale, deinde spiri-tuale. |
47. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. | 47. Primus homo ex terra ter-renus, secundus homo, Dominus e coelo. |
48. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. | 48. Qualis terrenus, tales et ter-reni, et qualis coelestis, tales et coe-lestes. |
49. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. | 49. Et quemadmodum portavi-mus imaginem terreni, portabimus et imaginem coelestis. |
50. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. | 50. Hoc autem dico, fratres, quod cato et sanguis regnum Dei heredi-tate possidere non possunt, neque corruptio incorruptionem hereditate possidebit. |
35.
36.
37.
He adds,
39.
41.
He removes, then, every idea of absurdity, by instituting this comparison: The substance of the sun and moon is the same, but there is a great difference between them in point of dignity and excellence. Is it to be wondered, then, if our body puts on a more excellent quality?7 "I do not teach that anything will take place at the resurrection but what is already presented before the eyes of all." That such is the meaning of the words is clear from the context. For whence and for what purpose would Paul make such a transition, were he now comparing them with one another in respect of the difference of their condition, while up to this point he has been comparing the present condition of all with their future condition, and immediately proceeds with that comparison?
43.
Christ will change our vile body,
that he may make it like to his own glorious body.
44.
45. As it is written
Now as to his calling Christ
46.
47.
But some one will say in reply, Adam is said to be
We must, however, reply to another objection still. For Christ, so long as he lived in the world, lived a life similar to ours, and therefore earthly: hence it is not a proper contrast. The solution of this question will serve farther to refute the contrivance23 of the Manichees. For we know, that the body of Christ was liable to death, and that it was exempted from corruption, not by its essential property, (as they speak,)24 but solely by the providence of God. Hence Christ was not merely earthy as to the essence of his body, but was also for a time in an earthly condition; for before Christ's power could show itself in conferring the heavenly life, it was necessary that he should die in the weakness of the flesh, (2 Corinthians 13:4.) Now this heavenly life appeared first in the resurrection, that he might quicken us also.
49.
50.
1 "Comme la plus grande absux, dite du monde;" -- "As the greatest absurdity in the world."
2 See Calvin on the Corinthians, vol. 1. p. 281, n. 1.
3 "Nearly allied to these are the examples of peculiar transformations undergone by various insects, and the state of rest and insensibility which precede those transformations; such as the chrysalis or aurelia state of butterflies, moths, and silkworms. The myrmeleon forniicaleo, of whose larva, and its extraordinary history, Reaumur and Roesel have given accurate descriptions, continues in its insensible or chrysalis state about four weeks. The libellula, or dragon-fly, continues still longer in its state of inaction. Naturalists tell us that the worm repairs to the margin of its pond, in quest of a convenient place of abode, during its insensible state. It attaches itself to a plant, or piece of dry wood, and the skin, which gradually becomes parched and brittle, at last splits opposite to the upper part of the thorax: through this aperture the insect, now become winged, quickly pushes its way, and being thus extricated front confinement, begins to expand its wings, to flutter, and, finally, to launch into the air with that gracefulness and ease which are peculiar to this majestic tribe. Now who that saw, for the first time, the little pendant coffin in which the insect lay entombed, and was ignorant of the transformation of which we are now speaking, would ever predict that, in a few weeks, perhaps in a few days or hours, it would become one of the most elegant and active of winged insects? And who that contemplates, with the mind of a philosopher, this current transformation, and knows that two years before the insect mounts into the air, even while it is living in water, it has the rudiments of wings, can deny that the body of a dead man may, at some future period, be again invested with vigor and activity, and soar to regions for which some latent organization may have peculiarly fitted it?" -- Olythus Gregory's Letters on the Evidences of the Christian Religion, page 225. -- Ed.
4 "Ceste dinersite de qualite se monstre;" -- "This difference of quality shows itself."
5 " En l'application de ceste similitude;" -- "In the application of this similitude."
6 "Comment different nos corps que nons auons maintenant de ceux que nons aurons apres;" -- "In what respect our bodies, which we have now, will differ from those that we shall have afterwards."
7 "Qu'il n'ha maintenant;" -- "Than it has now."
8 "Au propos precedent;" -- "In the foregoing statement."
9 "It is generally agreed on by the best expositors, that
10 "Au reste la ou nous traduisons, Sensuel, il y auroit a le tourner au plus pres du Grec, Animal: c'est a dire, gouuerne et viuifie de l'ame. Voyla donc que signifie Le corps sensuel. Le corps spirituel est celuy qui est viuifie de l'Esprit;" -- "But what we translate sensual, might be rendered, more closely to the Greek, animal: that is to say, governed and quickened by the soul. Mark then what is meant by the sensual body. The spiritual body is that which is quickened by the Spirit."
11 "Sera vne chose beaucoup plus excellente;" -- "Will be a thing much more excellent."
12 "La substance du corps sera tousiours vne;" -- "The substance of the body will always be the same."
13 "Animation, qui est nom descendant de ce mot Ame;" -- "Animation, which is a name derived from this word Soul."
14 "Vne nouuelle imagination qu'il ait forgee;" -- "A new fancy that he had contrived."
15 "Ceci n'est point trouue en lieu quelconque de l'Escriture;" -- "This is not found in any passage of Scripture."
16 "As it is said, Adam was at first a living soul, (' So God breathed into him the breath of life,' -- that pure, divine, and heavenly breath,) ' and he became a living soul;' so, then to have asked the question, ' What is man?' must have been to receive the answer, ' He is a living soul: he is all soul, and that soul all life.' But now is this living soul buried in flesh, a lost thing to all the true, and great, and noble ends and purposes of that life which was at first given it. It is true, indeed, that this is a thing much less than what is said of the second Adam, in 1 Corinthians 15:45. ' The first man Adam was made a living soul; the second Adam was a quickening Spirit.' This latter is a great deal more. A living soul signified him to live himself; but a quickening spirit signifies a power to make others live. That the first Adam could not do; the more excellent kind of life which he had (for there was a complication of lives in the first creation of this man) he could not lose: but he could not give. He could not lose it from himself; but he could never have giver, it, by any power or immediate efficiency of his own, to another. -Here the second Adam -- the constitution of the second Adam -- was far above that of the first, in that he could quicken others -- a quickening spirit, not only quickened passively, but quickened actively, such a spirit as could give spirit, and diffuse life." -- Howe's Works, (Lond. 1834,) page 1209. -- Ed.
17 The views held by Apollinaris were as follows: "Christum corpus assumpsisse sine anima, quod pro anima ei fuerit deitas illudque corpus consubstantiale fuisse deitati, nec ex substantia Martin efformatum;" -- "That Christ assumed a body without a stud, because Deity was to him in place of a stud, and that body was co-essential with Deity, and was not formed from the substance of Mary." -- See Mastrieht's Theology, (1698,) volume it. page 975. "Apollinaris, or Apollinarius, taught that the Son of God assumed manhood without a soul, (
18 "Le poure mal-heureux par sa transgression;" -- "The poor miserable creature by his transgression."
19 "Adam done et Christ;" -- "Adam and Christ, therefore."
20 "La vie sensuelle, ou animale, c'est a dire, que nous auons par le moyen de l'ame, precede;" -- "The sensual or animal life, that is to say, what we have by means of the soul, comes first."
21 "Plus haute et excellente que la terre;" -- "Higher and more excellent than the earth."
22 "La nature de l'antithese et comparison;" -- "The nature of the contrast and comparison."
23 "La meschante imagination;" -- "The wicked fancy."
24 "Afin que Fuse du terme commun;" -- "To use the common phrase."
25 "Pourtant en lieu de Nous porterons, aucuns ont traduit Portons. Et mesme aucuns liures Grecs le lisent ainsi;" -- "Hence instead of We shall bear, some have rendered it, Let us bear. And even some Greek manuscripts read it thus."
26 The Alexandrine manuscript, with some others, reads
27 "Car nons ne faisons encore que commencer a porter l'image de Jesus Christ;" -- "For as yet we do but begin to bear the image of Jesus Christ."