ACC ~ 1 Corinthians 15 v51 - 58

OVERVIEW:

The resurrection is of real flesh. Otherwise words like “died,” “was buried” and “rose again” would have little meaning (SEVERIAN OF GABALA). The body’s mortality and corruption will disappear when immortality and incorruption come on it (CHRYSOSTOM). Human nature will grow more vigorous after death (AMBROSE).

This mortal nature will become immortal when it loses its love for corruption and allows the practice of constant chastity (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA). Carnal habits will disappear (AUGUSTINE). Without the law sin is weak (CHRYSOSTOM). The power of sin is the law (AUGUSTINE). Sin is overcome along with death (THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA). The death of Christ defeats the devil, who was forced to surrender all those who had died because of sin (AMBROSIASTER). Rightly understood, this one teaching should cure all heresy (AUGUSTINE). Paul is viewing the mystery of the future as if it had already happened (CHRYSOSTOM, THEODORET OF CYR).

Anyone who is not changed in this world cannot experience change in the next (CASSIODORUS). At the sound of the last trumpet our vision will be clear and our joy will be full (GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS, JEROME, AUGUSTINE). God has made the end of life here the beginning of a true life for us (MACRINA). While the identical body is raised, it will be transformed by the putting on of incorruption, as iron exposed to the fire is made incandescent (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM, JEROME). What has been mortal will be clad in immortality (CHRYSOSTOM). The One who was able to make you when you did not want to exist is able to make over what you once were (AUGUSTINE). The masculine and the feminine sexes will remain just as their bodies were created (FULGENTIUS). The resurrected person will be blessed and happy (PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS). One who puts on the faith of the cross despises even what is naturally fearful and for Christ’s sake is not afraid of death (ATHANASIUS). Death no longer exists in this resurrected condition where there are no enticements to sin, and we are made young by eternal incorruptibility (AUGUSTINE). The human race first wounded itself unto death in such a way that it made death pass to and through its offspring (FULGENTIUS). Baptism destroys the sting of death (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM). Human infirmity added strength to evil even from a good law, since in the fulfilling of that law it trusted in its own strength. We are no longer slaves to the law through fear but friends through love and slaves of the righteousness which was the very source of the law’s promulgation (AUGUSTINE).

15:51 | We Shall All Be Changed

ALL MORTALS. CHRYSOSTOM: Even those who do not die will be changed, because they too are mortal. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 42.3.

TRANSFORMING THE OLD MAN. AUGUSTINE: The pious people will be raised as they transform the remnants of the “old man” that cling to them into the “new man.” The impious people who have kept the “old man” from the beginning to the end will be raised in order to be precipitated into the second death. Those who read diligently can make out the divisions of the ages. They have no horror of tares or chaff. ON TRUE RELIGION 27.50.

A MYSTERY. THEODORET OF CYR: Paul calls this a mystery because it is not clear to everyone but is believed only by the beloved. COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 280.

THE NECESSITY OF CHANGE. CASSIODORUS: Anyone who is not changed in this world cannot experience change in the next. EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 20.

THE RADIANCE OF THE SAINTS. CASSIODORUS: The radiance of the saints refers to when they will gleam at the resurrection like the angels of God. They will be so cleansed and radiant that they can gaze on the Majesty with the heart’s eyes. They cannot gaze on that Light unless they are changed for the better. In Paul’s words: “We shall all rise again, but we shall not all be changed.” EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 3.

15:52a | The Twinkling of an Eye

THE SPEED OF LIGHT IN A WORLD OF WONDERS. AUGUSTINE: The glance of our eye does not reach nearer objects more quickly and distant ones more slowly. Rather it reaches both with equal speed. Similarly when, as the apostle says, the resurrection of the dead is effected in the twinkling of the eye, it is as easy for the omnipotence of God and his awe-inspiring authority to raise the recently dead as those long since fallen into decay. To some minds, these things are hard to accept because they are outside their experience, yet the whole universe is full of wonders which seem to us hardly worth noticing or examining, not because they are easily penetrated by our reason but because we are accustomed to seeing them. But I, and those who join me and are striving to understand the “invisible things of God by the things that are made,” wonder neither more nor less at the fact that in one tiny seed all that we praise in the tree lies folded away. LETTER 102, TO DEOGRATIAS.

NO TIME TO ARGUE. AUGUSTINE: With the utterance of that cry and the resurrection of the dead, all comfort of human praise shall be taken away. There will be no doubt that the judgment is now present and at hand. Then there will be no time to argue about that one, or to judge of another, or to do a favor or offer support to another. LETTER 140, TO HONORATUS 34.

15:52b | The Trumpet Will Sound

THE LAST TRUMPET. AMBROSIASTER: The last trumpet is the one which is sounded when the battle is over. After a thousand years, when the antichrist has been destroyed and the Savior has reigned, Satan will be released from his prison in order to lead astray the nations of Gog and Magog, who are demons, in order that they might attack the fortresses of the saints. They will fail, and when they are defeated they will suffer the same fate as the antichrist and the false prophet. It is then that the last trumpet will sound the final victory. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THEN I SHALL SEE MY BROTHER. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: Why am I so earthly in my thoughts? I shall await the voice of the archangel, the last trumpet, the transformation of heaven, the change of earth, the freedom of the elements, the renewal of the universe. Then I shall see my brother Caesarius himself, no longer in exile, no longer being buried, no longer mourned, no longer pitied, but splendid, glorious, sublime, such as you were often seen in a dream, dearest and most loving of brothers, whether my desire or truth itself represented you. ON HIS BROTHER CAESARIUS 21.

JUDGMENT DAY. JEROME: Then at the sound of the trumpet the earth and its people shall tremble, but you shall rejoice. The world shall lament and groan when the Lord comes to judge it. The tribes of the earth shall smite the breast. Once mighty kings shall shiver in their nakedness. Then shall Jupiter, with all his progeny, indeed be shown aflame, and Plato with his disciples will be marked a fool. Aristotle’s argument shall be of no avail. You may be a poor man and country bred, but then you shall exult and laugh and say: behold the crucified, my God! Behold my Judge! LETTER 14.11.

A CLEAR SIGNAL. AUGUSTINE: By “trumpet” he wants us to understand some very clear and prominent sign, which he elsewhere calls the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God [1 Thess 4:16]. LETTER 34.

15:52c | We Shall Be Changed

DISBELIEF BRINGS CONDEMNATION. AMBROSE: He who has not believed will be forsaken, and by his disbelief he will bring upon himself his own condemnation. ON HIS BROTHER SATYRUS 2.76.

THE BEGINNING OF TRUE LIFE. MACRINA (AS REPORTED BY GREGORY OF NYSSA): At her death Macrina prayed: “O Lord, you have freed us from the fear of death. You have made the end of life here the beginning of a true life for us. You give rest to our bodies in sleep, and you awaken us again with the last trumpet. The dust from which you fashioned us with your hands you give back to the dust of the earth for safe keeping, and you who have relinquished it will recall it after reshaping with incorruptibility and grace our mortal and graceless substance.” … As she said this, she made the sign of the cross upon her eyes and mouth and heart, and little by little, as the fever dried up her tongue, she was no longer able to speak clearly. Her voice gave out and only from the trembling of her lips and motion of her hands did we know that she was continuing to pray. Then the evening came on and the lamp was brought in. … When she had completed the thanksgiving and indicated that the prayer was over by making the sign of the cross, she breathed a deep breath and with the prayer her life came to an end. THE LIFE OF ST. MACRINA.

EASY FOR GOD. AUGUSTINE: It is as easy for God to raise the recently dead as those long since fallen into decay. LETTER 102, TO DEOGRATIAS.

REAL FLESH. SEVERIAN OF GABALA: In saying this Paul is showing that the heretics who say that there is a resurrection of the soul but not of the flesh are wrong. These people blaspheme concerning the divine dispensation, thinking that Christ did not really rise again in his flesh but only appeared to do so. But if it was not real flesh, what do words like “died,” “was buried” and “rose again” mean? If all this did not really happen, does it mean that we shall not really die either? PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

15:53 | Putting On Immortality

DESIRE EDUCATED TO SELF-CONTROL. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: This nature will put on immortality when the intensity of desire that degenerates into sensuality is educated to self-control and, losing its love for corruption, allows us to practice constant chastity. CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 2.100.

AS IRON TRANSFORMED BY FIRE. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: While the identical body is raised up, it will be transformed by the putting on of incorruption, as iron exposed to fire is made incandescent. This occurs in a manner known only to the Lord who raises the dead. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 8.18.

SOURCE OF GAIN. AMBROSE: The blossom of the resurrection is immortality and incorruption. What is richer than everlasting rest? What is a source of greater gain and satisfaction than perpetual security? Here is the manifold fruit, the harvest, whereby man’s nature grows more vigorous and productive after death. ON HIS BROTHER SATYRUS 2.54.

CORRUPTION VANISHES. CHRYSOSTOM: The body remains, but its mortality and corruption vanish when immortality and incorruption come upon it. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 42.3.

CLAD IN IMMORTALITY. CHRYSOSTOM: What has been mortal will be clad in immortality. After the resurrection of our bodies he promised to grant us enjoyment of the kingdom, life with the saints, enjoyment for all eternity, and those ineffable good things “which eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor have they been imagined by the human heart.” HOMILIES ON GENESIS 36.15.

THE SAME BODY TRANSFORMED. JEROME: Just as before the Lord suffered his passion, when he was transformed and glorified on the mountain, he certainly had the same body that he had had down below, although of a different glory, so also after the resurrection, his body was of the same nature as it had been before the passion but of a higher state of glory and in more majestic appearance. HOMILY 61 ON PSALM 15.

GOD IS ABLE TO REMAKE YOU. AUGUSTINE: People are amazed that God, who made all things from nothing, makes a heavenly body from human flesh. When he was in the flesh, did not the Lord make wine from water? Is it anything so much more wonderful if he makes a heavenly body from human flesh? … Is he who was able to make you when you did not exist not able to make over what you once were? SERMONS FOR THE FEAST OF ASCENSION 264.6.

BOTH SEXES WILL HAVE DISTINGUISHABLE GLORIFIED BODIES IN THE RESURRECTION. FULGENTIUS: The masculine and feminine sexes will remain just as their bodies were created. Their glory will vary according to the diversity of their good works. For all the bodies of both men and women, all that will exist in that kingdom will be glorious. TO PETER ON THE FAITH 237.

BLESSEDLY HAPPY. PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS: Our minds shall be freed from passion and from earth. That is how we shall be. We shall receive a gift of light from him and, somehow, in a way we cannot know, we shall be united with him and, our understanding carried away, blessedly happy. We shall be struck by his blazing light. THE DIVINE NAMES 1.4.

15:54 | Death Is Swallowed Up

DESPISING WHAT IS NATURALLY FEARFUL. ATHANASIUS: For man is by nature afraid of death and of the dissolution of the body. But there is this most startling fact, that he who has put on the faith of the cross despises even what is naturally fearful and for Christ’s sake is not afraid of death. ON THE INCARNATION 28.

NOTHING CORRUPT LEFT. CHRYSOSTOM: Incorruption will swallow up corruption, leaving nothing of the former life behind. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 42.4.

THE CURE FOR HERESY. AUGUSTINE: Were our heretics capable of grasping this one truth, they would surrender their pride and become reconciled and would never again worship God anywhere but in the church. THE WAY OF LIFE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 30.64.

DEATH EXISTS NO LONGER. AUGUSTINE: Where is death? Seek it in Christ, for it exists no longer. It did exist, and now death is dead. O Life, O Death of death! Be of good heart, death will die in us also. What has taken place in our Head will also take place in his members. Death will die in us also. But when? At the end of the world, at the resurrection of the dead in which we believe and about which we have no doubt. … These are words given to those who triumph, that you may have something to think about, something to sing about in your heart, something to hope for in your heart, something to seek with faith and good works. EASTER SERMON 233.4.

THIS CORRUPTIBLE. AUGUSTINE: The apostle Paul seems to have directly pointed his finger at the flesh when he wrote: “this corruptible must put on incorruption.” When he says this, he as good as points with his finger. That which is visible can be pointed at in this way. The soul cannot be pointed at, though it can be called corruptible, because it is corrupted by moral biases. FAITH AND THE CREED 10.22.

IMMORTALITY REMOVES EARTHLY DESIRES. AUGUSTINE: There are many desires of the sick which health takes away. In just the same way as physical health undercuts those desires, so immortality does remove all other desires because immortality is our health. EASTER SERMON 55.8.

NO ENTICEMENTS TO SIN IN HEAVEN. AUGUSTINE: Then not only shall we not obey any enticement of sin, but there will be no such enticements of the kind we are commanded not to obey. LETTER 196, TO ASELLICUS.

MADE YOUNG BY ETERNAL INCORRUPTIBILITY. AUGUSTINE: Because of the necessary activities of this life, health is not to be despised until “this mortal shall put on immortality.” This is the true and perfect and unending health which is not refreshed by corruptible pleasure when it fails through earthly weakness but is maintained by heavenly strength and made young by eternal incorruptibility. LETTER 130, TO PROBA.

15:55 | O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?

THE DEVIL INSULTED. AMBROSIASTER: “Death” here refers to the devil, who is being insulted. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THE FUTURE AS PRESENT. CHRYSOSTOM: Like a man who is making a sacrifice in the hope of victory, Paul is inspired to see the future as something which has already happened, and he tramples upon death as if it has fallen at his feet. Death is gone, it is finished, it has vanished away. Christ has not only overcome it, he has destroyed it and eliminated it completely. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 42.4.

THE VICTOR BLESSED. AUGUSTINE: Because human nature was subjected to an enemy as the just desert of sin, man must first be rescued from his power, that he might find him. Then if his life in this flesh is prolonged, he is assisted in the conflict that he may overcome the enemy. And finally the victor will be beatified, that he may reign, and at the very end he will ask: “Death, where is thy devouring?” AGAINST JULIAN 20.65.

DEATH OF CARNAL HABITS. AUGUSTINE: I think that “death” in this passage refers to a carnal habit which resists the good will through a delighting in temporal pleasures. QUESTIONS 70.

15:56a | Sin the Sting of Death

BAPTISM DESTROYS THE STING OF DEATH. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: Baptism destroys the sting of death. For you descend into the water laden with your sins. But the invocation of grace causes your soul to receive this seal, and after that it does not lead you to be swallowed up by the dread dragon. You go down “deadly indeed in sin,” and you come up “alive unto righteousness.” CATECHETICAL LECTURES 3.11-12.

LAW INCREASED PUNISHMENT. CHRYSOSTOM: Without the law sin was weak. It existed, to be sure, but it did not have the power to condemn, because although evil occurred, it was not clearly pointed out. Thus it was no small change which the law brought about. First, it caused us to know sin better, and then it increased the punishment. But if the effect of the law was to increase sin when it meant to check it, that is not the fault of the law but of the way in which it was abused. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 42.4.

WOUNDED UNTO DEATH. FULGENTIUS: By that sting, the human race first wounded itself unto death in such a way that he made death also pass to and through his offspring. LETTER 35, TO SCARILA.

15:56b | The Power of Sin

THE POWER OF SIN IS THE LAW. AUGUSTINE: Nothing could be truer. For a prohibition always increases an illicit desire so long as the love of and joy in holiness is too weak to conquer the inclination to sin. So without the aid of divine grace it is impossible for man to love and delight in sanctity. CITY OF GOD 13.5.

ADDING STRENGTH TO EVIL EVEN THROUGH A GOOD LAW. AUGUSTINE: The prohibition increased the concupiscence. It rendered it unconquered. So transgression was added, which did not exist without the law, although there was sin. … It is not to be wondered at that human infirmity has added the strength even from a good law to evil, since in the fulfilling of that very law it trusted in its own strength. ON CONTINENCE 7.

FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. AUGUSTINE: Indeed, by sinning we slip down into death. For where the law forbids, we sin more seriously than if we were not forbidden by the law. However, when grace is added, we then fulfill without difficulty and most willingly that very thing which the law had oppressively commanded. We are no longer slaves of the law through fear but friends through love and slaves of the righteousness which was the very source of the law’s promulgation. Accordingly the law of sin and death, that is, the law imposed upon sinning and dying men, merely commands that we do not covet. Nonetheless, we do covet. However, the law of the spirit of life—the law which belongs to grace and sets us free from the law of sin and death—causes us not to covet. It causes us to fulfill the commands of law. QUESTIONS 66.

DEAD TO THE LAW. AUGUSTINE: Why, if the law is good, is it the power of sin? Because sin wrought death by that which is good, that it might become exceedingly sinful, that is, might acquire greater powers by becoming also transgression. Why, if the law is good, are we “dead to the law by the body of Christ”? Because we are dead to the law’s condemnation, being set free from the disposition which the law condemned and punishes. … So the same precept, which is law to those who fear it, is grace to those who love it. TO SIMPLICIAN—ON VARIOUS QUESTIONS 1.17.

SIN TAKEN ALONG WITH DEATH. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: By “law” here Paul simply means either what inheres in the flesh or what is added to it. His point is that sin is taken away along with death and that the law ceases to exist once we have become immortal and are governed by the grace of the Spirit. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

15:57 | Thanks Be to God

THE VICTORY. AMBROSIASTER: Christ did not win the victory for himself but for our benefit. For when he became a man, he remained God, and by overcoming the devil, he who never sinned gained the victory for us, who were bound in death because of sin. The death of Christ defeated the devil, who was forced to surrender all those who had died because of sin. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

GRACE GIVEN WHEN UNWORTHY. AUGUSTINE: The crown could not have been given to one who was worthy of it, unless grace had been given to him when still unworthy. PROCEEDINGS OF PELAGIUS 35.

15:58 | Abounding in the Lord’s Work

BE STEADFAST. AMBROSIASTER: Those who persevere in a life of faith and good works have the assurance that they will be accepted by God and receive their reward and that they will not be led astray by wicked arguments. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

LABOR ABUNDANTLY IN THE LORD. CHRYSOSTOM: We ought not merely to labor in the Lord but to do so abundantly, to overflowing. The labor of man after his expulsion from paradise was punishment for his transgressions, but this labor is the basis for the rewards which are to come. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 42.5.