24. Then--after that: next in the succession of "orders" or "ranks."
the end--the general resurrection, and final judgment and consummation ([Mt 25:46]).
delivered up ... kingdom to ... Father--(Compare [Joh 13:3]). Seeming at variance with [Da 7:14], "His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away." Really, His giving up of the mediatorial kingdom to the Father, when the end for which the mediatorial economy was established has been accomplished, is altogether in harmony with its continuing everlastingly. The change which shall then take place, shall be in the manner of administration, not in the kingdom itself; God shall then come into direct connection with the earth, instead of mediatorially, when Christ shall have fully and finally removed everything that severs asunder the holy God and a sinful earth ([Col 1:20]). The glory of God is the final end of Christ's mediatorial office ([Php 2:10], ). His co-equality with the Father is independent of the latter, and prior to it, and shall, therefore, continue when its function shall have ceased. His manhood, too, shall everlastingly continue, though, as now, subordinate to the Father. The throne of the Lamb (but no longer mediatorial) as well as of God, shall be in the heavenly city ([Re 22:3]; compare [Re 3:21]). The unity of the Godhead, and the unity of the Church, shall be simultaneously manifested at Christ's second coming. Compare [Zep 3:9]; [Zec 14:9]; [Joh 17:21-24]. The oldest manuscripts for "shall have delivered up," read, "delivereth up," which suits the sense better. It is "when He shall have put down all rule," that "He delivereth up the kingdom to the Father."
shall have put down all rule--the effect produced during the millennary reign of Himself and His saints ([Psa 110:1]; ; 2:6-9), to which passages Paul refers, resting his argument on the two words, "all" and "until," of the Psalmist: a proof of verbal inspiration of Scripture (compare [Re 2:26], 27). Meanwhile, He "rules in the midst of His enemies" ([Psa 110:2]). He is styled "the King" when He takes His great power ([Mt 25:34]; [Re 11:15], ). The Greek for "put down" is, "done away with," or "brought to naught." "All" must be subject to Him, whether openly opposed powers, as Satan and his angels, or kings and angelic principalities ([Ep 1:21]).
25. must--because Scripture foretells it.
till--There will be no further need of His mediatorial kingdom, its object having been realized.
enemies under his feet--([Lu 19:27]; [Ep 1:22]).
26. shall be--Greek, "is done away with" ([Re 20:14]; compare [Re 1:18]). It is to believers especially this applies ([1Co 15:55-57]); even in the case of unbelievers, death is done away with by the general resurrection. Satan brought in sin, and sin brought in death! So they shall be destroyed (rendered utterly powerless) in the same order ([1Co 15:56]; [He 2:14]; [Re 19:20]; , ).
27. all things--including death (compare [Ep 1:22]; [Php 3:21]; [He 2:8]; [1Pe 3:22]). It is said, "hath put," for what God has said is the same as if it were already done, so sure is it. Paul here quotes [Psa 8:6] in proof of his previous declaration, "For (it is written), 'He hath put all things under His feet.'"
under his feet--as His footstool ([Psa 110:1]). In perfect and lasting subjection.
when he--namely, God, who by His Spirit inspired the Psalmist.
28. Son ... himself ... subject--not as the creatures are, but as a Son voluntarily subordinate to, though co-equal with, the Father. In the mediatorial kingdom, the Son had been, in a manner, distinct from the Father. Now, His kingdom shall merge in the Father's, with whom He is one; not that there is thus any derogation from His honor; for the Father Himself wills "that all should honor the Son, as they honor the Father" ([Joh 5:22], ; [He 1:6]).
God ... all in all--as Christ is all in all ([Col 3:11]; compare [Zec 14:9]). Then, and not till then, "all things," without the least infringement of the divine prerogative, shall be subject to the Son, and the Son subordinate to the Father, while co-equally sharing His glory. Contrast [Psa 10:4]; . Even the saints do not fully realize God as their "all" ([Psa 73:25]) now, through desiring it; then each shall feel, God is all to me.
29. Else--if there be no resurrection.
what shall they do?--How wretched is their lot!
they ... which are baptized for the dead--third person; a class distinct from that in which the apostle places himself, "we" ([1Co 15:30]); first person. Alford thinks there is an allusion to a practice at Corinth of baptizing a living person in behalf of a friend who died unbaptized; thus Paul, without giving the least sanction to the practice, uses an ad hominem argument from it against its practicers, some of whom, though using it, denied the resurrection: "What account can they give of their practice; why are they at the trouble of it, if the dead rise not?" [So Jesus used an ad hominem argument, Mt 12:27]. But if so, it is strange there is no direct censure of it. Some Marcionites adopted the practice at a later period, probably from taking this passage, as Alford does; but, generally, it was unknown in the Church. Bengel translates, "over (immediately upon) the dead," that is, who will be gathered to the dead immediately after baptism. Compare [Job 17:1], "the graves are ready for me." The price they get for their trouble is, that they should be gathered to the dead for ever ([1Co 15:13], ). Many in the ancient Church put off baptism till near death. This seems the better view; though there may have been some rites of symbolical baptism at Corinth, now unknown, perhaps grounded on Jesus' words ([Mt 20:22], ), which Paul here alludes to. The best punctuation is, "If the dead rise not at all, why are they then baptized for them" (so the oldest manuscripts read the last words, instead of "for the dead")?
30. we--apostles ([1Co 15:9]; [1Co 4:9]). A gradation from those who could only for a little time enjoy this life (that is, those baptized at the point of death), to us, who could enjoy it longer, if we had not renounced the world for Christ [Bengel].
31. by your rejoicing--by the glorying which I have concerning you, as the fruit of my labors in the Lord. Some of the earliest manuscripts and fathers read "our," with the same sense. Bengel understands "your rejoicing," to be the enjoyable state of the Corinthians, as contrasted with his dying daily to give his converts rejoicing or glorying ([1Co 4:8]; [2Co 4:12], ; [Ep 3:13]; [Php 1:26]). But the words, "which I have," favor the explanation--"the rejoicing which I have over you." Many of the oldest manuscripts and Vulgate insert "brethren" here.
I die daily--This ought to stand first in the sentence, as it is so put prominently forward in the Greek. I am day by day in sight of death, exposed to it, and expecting it ([2Co 4:11], ; [1:8, 9]; ).
32. Punctuate thus: "If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me? If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink," &c. [Bengel]. If "merely as a man" (with the mere human hope of the present life; not with the Christian's hope of the resurrection; answering to "If the dead rise not," the parallel clause in the next sentence), I have fought with men resembling savage beasts. Heraclitus, of Ephesus, had termed his countrymen "wild beasts" four hundred years before. So Epimenides called the Cretians ([Tit 1:12]). Paul was still at Ephesus ([1Co 16:8]), and there his life was daily in danger ([1Co 4:9]; compare [2Co 1:8]). Though the tumult ([Ac 19:29], ) had not yet taken place (for after it he set out immediately for Macedonia), this Epistle was written evidently just before it, when the storm was gathering; "many adversaries" ([1Co 16:9]) were already menacing him.
what advantageth it me?--seeing I have renounced all that, "as a mere man," might compensate me for such sufferings, gain, fame, &c.
let us eat, &c.--Quoted from the Septuagint, ([Is 22:13]), where the prophet describes the reckless self-indulgence of the despisers of God's call to mourning, Let us enjoy the good things of life now, for it soon will end. Paul imitates the language of such skeptics, to reprove both their theory and practice. "If men but persuade themselves that they shall die like the beasts, they soon will live like beasts too" [South].
33. evil communications corrupt good manners--a current saying, forming a verse in Menander, the comic poet, who probably took it from Euripides [Socrates, Ecclesiastical History, 3.16]. "Evil communications" refer to intercourse with those who deny the resurrection. Their notion seems to have been that the resurrection is merely spiritual, that sin has its seat solely in the body, and will be left behind when the soul leaves it, if, indeed, the soul survive death at all.
good--not only good-natured, but pliant. Intimacy with the profligate society around was apt to corrupt the principles of the Corinthians.
34. Awake--literally, "out of the sleep" of carnal intoxication into which ye are thrown by the influence of these skeptics ([1Co 15:32]; [Joe 1:5]).
to righteousness--in contrast with "sin" in this verse, and corrupt manners ([1Co 15:33]).
sin not--Do not give yourselves up to sinful pleasures. The Greek expresses a continued state of abstinence from sin. Thus, Paul implies that they who live in sinful pleasures readily persuade themselves of what they wish, namely, that there is to be no resurrection.
some--the same as in [1Co 15:12].
have not the knowledge of God--and so know not His power in the resurrection ([Mt 22:29]). Stronger than "are ignorant of God." An habitual ignorance: wilful, in that they prefer to keep their sins, rather than part with them, in order to know God (compare [Joh 7:17]; [1Pe 2:15]).
to your shame--that you Corinthian Christians, who boast of your knowledge, should have among you, and maintain intercourse with, those so practically ignorant of God, as to deny the resurrection.
35. How--It is folly to deny a fact of REVELATION, because we do not know the "how." Some measure God's power by their petty intelligence, and won't admit, even on His assurance, anything which they cannot explain. Ezekiel's answer of faith to the question is the truly wise one ([Eze 37:3]). So Jesus argues not on principles of philosophy, but wholly from "the power of God," as declared by the Word of God ([Mt 19:26]; [Mr 10:27]; ; [Lu 18:27]).
come--The dead are said to depart, or to be deceased: those rising again to come. The objector could not understand how the dead are to rise, and with what kind of a body they are to come. Is it to be the same body? If so, how is this, since the resurrection bodies will not eat or drink, or beget children, as the natural bodies do? Besides, the latter have mouldered into dust. How then can they rise again? If it be a different body, how can the personal identity be preserved? Paul answers, In one sense it will be the same body, in another, a distinct body. It will be a body, but a spiritual, not a natural, body.
36. fool--with all thy boasted philosophy ([Psa 14:1]).
that which thou--"thou," emphatical: appeal to the objector's own experience: "The seed which thou thyself sowest." Paul, in this verse and in [1Co 15:42], answers the question of [1Co 15:35], "How?" and in 1Co 15:37-41, 43, the question, "With what kind of body?" He converts the very objection (the death of the natural body) into an argument. Death, so far from preventing quickening, is the necessary prelude and prognostication of it, just as the seed "is not quickened" into a new sprout with increased produce, "except it die" (except a dissolution of its previous organization takes place). Christ by His death for us has not given us a reprieve from death as to the life which we have from Adam; nay, He permits the law to take its course on our fleshly nature; but He brings from Himself new spiritual and heavenly life out of death ([1Co 15:37]).
37. not that body that shall be--a body beautiful and no longer a "bare grain" [Bengel]. No longer without stalk or ear, but clothed with blade and ears, and yielding many grains instead of only one [Grotius]. There is not an identity of all the particles of the old and the new body. For the perpetual transmutation of matter is inconsistent with this. But there is a hidden germ which constitutes the identity of body amidst all outward changes: the outward accretions fall off in its development, while the germ remains the same. Every such germ ("seed," [1Co 15:38]) "shall have its own body," and be instantly recognized, just as each plant now is known from the seed that was sown (see on [1Co 6:13]). So Christ by the same image illustrated the truth that His death was the necessary prelude of His putting on His glorified body, which is the ground of the regeneration of the many who believe ([Joh 12:24]). Progress is the law of the spiritual, as of the natural world. Death is the avenue not to mere revivification or reanimation, but to resurrection and regeneration ([Mt 19:28]; [Php 3:21]). Compare "planted," &c., [Ro 6:5].
38. as it hath pleased him--at creation, when He gave to each of the (kinds of) seeds (so the Greek is for "to every seed") a body of its own ([Ge 1:11], "after its kind," suited to its species). So God can and will give to the blessed at the resurrection their own appropriate body, such as it pleases Him, and such as is suitable to their glorified state: a body peculiar to the individual, substantially the same as the body sown.
39-41. Illustrations of the suitability of bodies, however various, to their species: the flesh of the several species of animals; bodies celestial and terrestrial; the various kinds of light in the sun, moon, and stars, respectively.
flesh--animal organism [De Wette]. He implies by the word that our resurrection bodies shall be in some sense really flesh, not mere phantoms of air [Estius]. So some of the oldest creeds expressed it, "I believe in the resurrection of the flesh." Compare as to Jesus' own resurrection body, [Lu 24:39]; [Joh 20:27]; to which ours shall be made like, and therefore shall be flesh, but not of animal organism ([Php 3:21]) and liable to corruption. But [1Co 15:50] below implies, it is not "flesh and blood" in the animal sense we now understand them; for these "shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
not the same--not flesh of the same nature and excellency. As the kinds of flesh, however widely differing from one another, do not cease to be flesh, so the kinds of bodies, however differing from one another, are still bodies. All this is to illustrate the difference of the new celestial body from its terrestrial seed, while retaining a substantial identity.
beasts--quadrupeds.
another of fishes ... another of birds--Most of the oldest manuscripts read thus, "another FLESH of birds ... another of fishes": the order of nature.
42. sown--Following up the image of seed. A delightful word instead of burial.
in corruption--liable to corruption: corruptible: not merely a prey when dead to corruption; as the contrast shows, "raised in incorruption," that is, not liable to corruption: incorruptible.
43. in dishonour--answering to "our vile body" ([Php 3:21]); literally, "our body of humiliation": liable to various humiliations of disease, injury, and decay at last.
in glory--the garment of incorruption ([1Co 15:42], ) like His glorious body ([Php 4:21]), which we shall put on ([1Co 15:49], ; [2Co 5:2-4]).