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1 Corinthians 15

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1 Γνωρίζω δὲ ὑμῖν, ἀδελφοί, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ὃ εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν, ὃ καὶ παρελάβετε, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἑστήκατε, 2 δι' οὗ καὶ σῴζεσθε, τίνι λόγῳ εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν εἰ κατέχετε, ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ εἰκῇ ἐπιστεύσατε. 3 παρέδωκα γὰρ ὑμῖν ἐν πρώτοις, ὃ καὶ παρέλαβον, ὅτι Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν κατὰ τὰς γραφάς, 4 καὶ ὅτι ἐτάφη, καὶ ὅτι ἐγήγερται τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τρίτῃ κατὰ τὰς γραφάς, 5 καὶ ὅτι ὤφθη Κηφᾷ, εἶτα τοῖς δώδεκα: 6 ἔπειτα ὤφθη ἐπάνω πεντακοσίοις ἀδελφοῖς ἐφάπαξ, ἐξ ὧν οἱ πλείονες μένουσιν ἕως ἄρτι, τινὲς δὲ ἐκοιμήθησαν: 7 ἔπειτα ὤφθη Ἰακώβῳ, εἶτα τοῖς ἀποστόλοις πᾶσιν: 8 ἔσχατον δὲ πάντων ὡσπερεὶ τῷ ἐκτρώματι ὤφθη κἀμοί. 9 ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι ὁ ἐλάχιστος τῶν ἀποστόλων, ὃς οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς καλεῖσθαι ἀπόστολος, διότι ἐδίωξα τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ: 10 χάριτι δὲ θεοῦ εἰμι ὅ εἰμι, καὶ ἡ χάρις αὐτοῦ ἡ εἰς ἐμὲ οὐ κενὴ ἐγενήθη, ἀλλὰ περισσότερον αὐτῶν πάντων ἐκοπίασα, οὐκ ἐγὼ δὲ ἀλλὰ ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ [ἡ] σὺν ἐμοί. 11 εἴτε οὖν ἐγὼ εἴτε ἐκεῖνοι, οὕτως κηρύσσομεν καὶ οὕτως ἐπιστεύσατε.

1 Here, brethren, is an account of the gospel I preached to you. It was this that was handed on to you; upon this your faith rests; 2 through this (if you keep in mind the tenor of its preaching) you are in the way of salvation; unless indeed your belief was ill founded.[1] 3 The chief message I handed on to you, as it was handed on to me, was that Christ, as the scriptures had foretold, died for our sins; 4 that he was buried, and then, as the scriptures had foretold, rose again on the third day. 5 That he was seen by Cephas, then by the eleven apostles, 6 and afterwards by more than five hundred of the brethren at once, most of whom are alive at this day, though some have gone to their rest. 7 Then he was seen by James, then by all the apostles; 8 and last of all, I too saw him, like the last child, that comes to birth unexpectedly.[2] 9 Of all the apostles, I am the least; nay, I am not fit to be called an apostle, since there was a time when I persecuted the church of God; 10 only, by God’s grace, I am what I am, and the grace he has shewn me has not been without fruit; I have worked harder than all of them, or rather, it was not I, but the grace of God working with me. 11 That is our preaching, mine or theirs as you will; that is the faith which has come to you.

1 Notum autem vobis facio, fratres, Evangelium, quod prædicavi vobis, quod et accepistis, in quo et statis, 2 per quod et salvamini: qua ratione prædicaverim vobis, si tenetis, nisi frustra credidistis. 3 Tradidi enim vobis in primis quod et accepi: quoniam Christus mortuus est pro peccatis nostris secundum Scripturas: 4 et quia sepultus est, et quia resurrexit tertia die secundum Scripturas: 5 et quia visus est Cephæ, et post hoc undecim: 6 deinde visus est plus quam quingentis fratribus simul: ex quibus multi manent usque adhuc, quidam autem dormierunt: 7 deinde visus est Jacobo, deinde Apostolis omnibus: 8 novissime autem omnium tamquam abortivo, visus est et mihi. 9 Ego enim sum minimus Apostolorum, qui non sum dignus vocari Apostolus, quoniam persecutus sum ecclesiam Dei. 10 Gratia autem Dei sum id quod sum, et gratia ejus in me vacua non fuit, sed abundantius illis omnibus laboravi: non ego autem, sed gratia Dei mecum: 11 sive enim ego, sive illi: sic prædicamus, et sic credidistis.

12 Εἰ δὲ Χριστὸς κηρύσσεται ὅτι ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγήγερται πῶς λέγουσιν ἐν ὑμῖν τινες ὅτι ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν οὐκ ἔστιν; 13 εἰ δὲ ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν οὐκ ἔστιν, οὐδὲ Χριστὸς ἐγήγερται: 14 εἰ δὲ Χριστὸς οὐκ ἐγήγερται, κενὸν ἄρα καὶ τὸ κήρυγμα ἡμῶν, κενὴ καὶ ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν: 15 εὑρισκόμεθα δὲ καὶ ψευδομάρτυρες τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅτι ἐμαρτυρήσαμεν κατὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ὅτι ἤγειρεν τὸν Χριστόν, ὃν οὐκ ἤγειρεν εἴπερ ἄρα νεκροὶ οὐκ ἐγείρονται. 16 εἰ γὰρ νεκροὶ οὐκ ἐγείρονται, οὐδὲ Χριστὸς ἐγήγερται: 17 εἰ δὲ Χριστὸς οὐκ ἐγήγερται, ματαία ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν, ἔτι ἐστὲ ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν. 18 ἄρα καὶ οἱ κοιμηθέντες ἐν Χριστῷ ἀπώλοντο. 19 εἰ ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ ἐν Χριστῷ ἠλπικότες ἐσμὲν μόνον, ἐλεεινότεροι πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἐσμέν. 20 Νυνὶ δὲ Χριστὸς ἐγήγερται ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἀπαρχὴ τῶν κεκοιμημένων. 21 ἐπειδὴ γὰρ δι' ἀνθρώπου θάνατος, καὶ δι' ἀνθρώπου ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν: 22 ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ πάντες ἀποθνῄσκουσιν, οὕτως καὶ ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ πάντες ζῳοποιηθήσονται. 23 ἕκαστος δὲ ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ τάγματι: ἀπαρχὴ Χριστός, ἔπειτα οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ αὐτοῦ, 24 εἶτα τὸ τέλος, ὅταν παραδιδῷ τὴν βασιλείαν τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρί, ὅταν καταργήσῃ πᾶσαν ἀρχὴν καὶ πᾶσαν ἐξουσίαν καὶ δύναμιν. 25 δεῖ γὰρ αὐτὸν βασιλεύειν ἄχρι οὗ θῇ πάντας τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ. 26 ἔσχατος ἐχθρὸς καταργεῖται ὁ θάνατος: 27 πάντα γὰρ ὑπέταξεν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ. ὅταν δὲ εἴπῃ ὅτι πάντα ὑποτέτακται, δῆλον ὅτι ἐκτὸς τοῦ ὑποτάξαντος αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα. 28 ὅταν δὲ ὑποταγῇ αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, τότε καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ υἱὸς ὑποταγήσεται τῷ ὑποτάξαντι αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, ἵνα ᾖ ὁ θεὸς τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν.

12 If what we preach about Christ, then, is that he rose from the dead, how is it that some of you say the dead do not rise again? 13 If the dead do not rise, then Christ has not risen either; 14 and if Christ has not risen, then our preaching is groundless, and your faith, too, is groundless. 15 Worse still, we are convicted of giving false testimony about God; we bore God witness that he had raised Christ up from the dead, and he has not raised him up, if it is true that the dead do not rise again. 16 If the dead, I say, do not rise, then Christ has not risen either; 17 and if Christ has not risen, all your faith is a delusion; you are back in your sins. 18 It follows, too, that those who have gone to their rest in Christ have been lost. 19 If the hope we have learned to repose in Christ belongs to this world only, then we are unhappy beyond all other men. 20 But no, Christ has risen from the dead, the first-fruits of all those who have fallen asleep; 21 a man had brought us death, and a man should bring us resurrection from the dead; 22 just as all have died with Adam, so with Christ all will be brought to life. 23 But each must rise in his own rank; Christ is the first-fruits, and after him follow those who belong to him, those who have put their trust in his return.[3] 24 Full completion comes after that, when he places his kingship in the hands of God, his Father, having first dispossessed every other sort of rule, authority, and power; 25 his reign, as we know, must continue until he has put all his enemies under his feet, 26 and the last of those enemies to be dispossessed is death.[4] God has put all things in subjection under his feet; that is, 27 all things have been made subject to him, except indeed that power which made them his subjects. 28 And when that subjection is complete, then the Son himself will become subject to the power which made all things his subjects, so that God may be all in all.

12 Si autem Christus prædicatur quod resurrexit a mortuis, quomodo quidam dicunt in vobis, quoniam resurrectio mortuorum non est? 13 Si autem resurrectio mortuorum non est: neque Christus resurrexit. 14 Si autem Christus non resurrexit, inanis est ergo prædicatio nostra, inanis est et fides vestra: 15 invenimur autem et falsi testes Dei: quoniam testimonium diximus adversus Deum quod suscitaverit Christum, quem non suscitavit, si mortui non resurgunt. 16 Nam si mortui non resurgunt, neque Christus resurrexit. 17 Quod si Christus non resurrexit, vana est fides vestra: adhuc enim estis in peccatis vestris. 18 Ergo et qui dormierunt in Christo, perierunt. 19 Si in hac vita tantum in Christo sperantes sumus, miserabiliores sumus omnibus hominibus. 20 Nunc autem Christus resurrexit a mortuis primitiæ dormientium, 21 quoniam quidem per hominem mors, et per hominem resurrectio mortuorum. 22 Et sicut in Adam omnes moriuntur, ita et in Christo omnes vivificabuntur. 23 Unusquisque autem in suo ordine, primitiæ Christus: deinde ii qui sunt Christi, qui in adventu ejus crediderunt. 24 Deinde finis: cum tradiderit regnum Deo et Patri, cum evacuaverit omnem principatum, et potestatem, et virtutem. 25 Oportet autem illum regnare donec ponat omnes inimicos sub pedibus ejus. 26 Novissima autem inimica destruetur mors: omnia enim subjecit pedibus ejus. Cum autem dicat: 27 Omnia subjecta sunt ei, sine dubio præter eum qui subjecit ei omnia. 28 Cum autem subjecta fuerint illi omnia: tunc et ipse Filius subjectus erit ei, qui subjecit sibi omnia, ut sit Deus omnia in omnibus.

29 Ἐπεὶ τί ποιήσουσιν οἱ βαπτιζόμενοι ὑπὲρ τῶν νεκρῶν; εἰ ὅλως νεκροὶ οὐκ ἐγείρονται, τί καὶ βαπτίζονται ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν; 30 τί καὶ ἡμεῖς κινδυνεύομεν πᾶσαν ὥραν; 31 καθ' ἡμέραν ἀποθνῄσκω, νὴ τὴν ὑμετέραν καύχησιν, ἀδελφοί, ἣν ἔχω ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν. 32 εἰ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον ἐθηριομάχησα ἐν Ἐφέσῳ, τί μοι τὸ ὄφελος; εἰ νεκροὶ οὐκ ἐγείρονται, φάγωμεν καὶ πίωμεν, αὔριον γὰρ ἀποθνῄσκομεν. 33 μὴ πλανᾶσθε: φθείρουσιν ἤθη χρηστὰ ὁμιλίαι κακαί. 34 ἐκνήψατε δικαίως καὶ μὴ ἁμαρτάνετε, ἀγνωσίαν γὰρ θεοῦ τινες ἔχουσιν: πρὸς ἐντροπὴν ὑμῖν λαλῶ.

29 Tell me, what can be the use of being baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise again? Why should anyone be baptized for them?[5] 30 Why do we, for that matter, face peril hour after hour? 31 I swear to you, brethren, by all the pride I take in you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that death is daily at my side. 32 When I fought against beasts at Ephesus with all my strength, of what use was it, if the dead do not rise again? Let us eat and drink, since we must die to-morrow.[6] 33 Do not be led into such errors; bad company, they say, can corrupt noble minds.[7] 34 Come back to your senses, like right-minded men, and sin no longer; there are some, I say it to your shame, who lack the knowledge of God.

29 Alioquin quid facient qui baptizantur pro mortuis, si omnino mortui non resurgunt? ut quid et baptizantur pro illis? 30 ut quid et nos periclitamur omni hora? 31 Quotidie morior per vestram gloriam, fratres, quam habeo in Christo Jesu Domino nostro. 32 Si secundum hominem ad bestias pugnavi Ephesi, quid mihi prodest, si mortui non resurgunt? Manducemus, et bibamus, cras enim moriemur. 33 Nolite seduci: corrumpunt mores bonos colloquia mala. 34 Evigilate justi, et nolite peccare: ignorantiam enim Dei quidam habent, ad reverentiam vobis loquor.

35 Ἀλλὰ ἐρεῖ τις, πῶς ἐγείρονται οἱ νεκροί; ποίῳ δὲ σώματι ἔρχονται; 36 ἄφρων, σὺ ὃ σπείρεις οὐ ζῳοποιεῖται ἐὰν μὴ ἀποθάνῃ: 37 καὶ ὃ σπείρεις, οὐ τὸ σῶμα τὸ γενησόμενον σπείρεις ἀλλὰ γυμνὸν κόκκον εἰ τύχοι σίτου ἤ τινος τῶν λοιπῶν: 38 ὁ δὲ θεὸς δίδωσιν αὐτῷ σῶμα καθὼς ἠθέλησεν, καὶ ἑκάστῳ τῶν σπερμάτων ἴδιον σῶμα. 39 οὐ πᾶσα σὰρξ ἡ αὐτὴ σάρξ, ἀλλὰ ἄλλη μὲν ἀνθρώπων, ἄλλη δὲ σὰρξ κτηνῶν, ἄλλη δὲ σὰρξ πτηνῶν, ἄλλη δὲ ἰχθύων. 40 καὶ σώματα ἐπουράνια, καὶ σώματα ἐπίγεια: ἀλλὰ ἑτέρα μὲν ἡ τῶν ἐπουρανίων δόξα, ἑτέρα δὲ ἡ τῶν ἐπιγείων. 41 ἄλλη δόξα ἡλίου, καὶ ἄλλη δόξα σελήνης, καὶ ἄλλη δόξα ἀστέρων: ἀστὴρ γὰρ ἀστέρος διαφέρει ἐν δόξῃ. 42 οὕτως καὶ ἡ ἀνάστασις τῶν νεκρῶν. σπείρεται ἐν φθορᾷ, ἐγείρεται ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ: 43 σπείρεται ἐν ἀτιμίᾳ, ἐγείρεται ἐν δόξῃ: σπείρεται ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ, ἐγείρεται ἐν δυνάμει: 44 σπείρεται σῶμα ψυχικόν, ἐγείρεται σῶμα πνευματικόν. εἰ ἔστιν σῶμα ψυχικόν, ἔστιν καὶ πνευματικόν. 45 οὕτως καὶ γέγραπται, ἐγένετο ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος Ἀδὰμ εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν: ὁ ἔσχατος Ἀδὰμ εἰς πνεῦμα ζῳοποιοῦν. 46 ἀλλ' οὐ πρῶτον τὸ πνευματικὸν ἀλλὰ τὸ ψυχικόν, ἔπειτα τὸ πνευματικόν. 47 ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος ἐκ γῆς χοϊκός, ὁ δεύτερος ἄνθρωπος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ. 48 οἷος ὁ χοϊκός, τοιοῦτοι καὶ οἱ χοϊκοί, καὶ οἷος ὁ ἐπουράνιος, τοιοῦτοι καὶ οἱ ἐπουράνιοι: 49 καὶ καθὼς ἐφορέσαμεν τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ χοϊκοῦ, φορέσομεν καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου. 50 Τοῦτο δέ φημι, ἀδελφοί, ὅτι σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα βασιλείαν θεοῦ κληρονομῆσαι οὐ δύναται, οὐδὲ ἡ φθορὰ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν κληρονομεῖ.

35 But perhaps someone will ask, How can the dead rise up? What kind of body will they be wearing when they appear? 36 Poor fool, when thou sowest seed in the ground, it must die before it can be brought to life; 37 and what thou sowest is not the full body that is one day to be, it is only bare grain, of wheat, it may be, or some other crop; 38 it is for God to embody it according to his will, each grain in the body that belongs to it. 39 Nature is not all one; men have one nature, the beasts another, the birds another, the fishes another; 40 so, too, there are bodies that belong to earth and bodies that belong to heaven; and heavenly bodies have one kind of beauty, earthly bodies another. 41 The sun has its own beauty, the moon has hers, the stars have theirs, one star even differs from another in its beauty. 42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown corruptible, rises incorruptible; 43 what is sown unhonoured, rises in glory; what is sown in weakness, is raised in power; 44 what is sown a natural body, rises a spiritual body. If there is such a thing as a natural body, there must be a spiritual body too. 45 Mankind begins with the Adam who became, as Scripture tells us, a living soul;[8] it is fulfilled in the Adam who has become a life-giving spirit. 46 It was not the principle of spiritual life that came first; natural life came first, then spiritual life; 47 the man who came first came from earth, fashioned of dust, the man who came afterwards came from heaven, and his fashion is heavenly. 48 The nature of that earth-born man is shared by his earthly sons, the nature of the heaven-born man, by his heavenly sons; 49 and it remains for us, who once bore the stamp of earth, to bear the stamp of heaven.[9] 50 What I mean, brethren, is this; the kingdom of God cannot be enjoyed by flesh and blood; the principle of corruption cannot share a life which is incorruptible.[10]

35 Sed dicet aliquis: Quomodo resurgunt mortui? qualive corpore venient? 36 Insipiens, tu quod seminas non vivificatur, nisi prius moriatur: 37 et quod seminas, non corpus, quod futurum est, seminas, sed nudum granum, ut puta tritici, aut alicujus ceterorum. 38 Deus autem dat illi corpus sicut vult: ut unicuique seminum proprium corpus. 39 Non omnis caro, eadem caro: sed alia quidem hominum, alia vero pecorum, alia volucrum, alia autem piscium. 40 Et corpora cælestia, et corpora terrestria: sed alia quidem cælestium gloria, alia autem terrestrium. 41 Alia claritas solis, alia claritas lunæ, et alia claritas stellarum. Stella enim a stella differt in claritate: 42 sic et resurrectio mortuorum. Seminatur in corruptione, surget in incorruptione. 43 Seminatur in ignobilitate, surget in gloria: seminatur in infirmitate, surget in virtute: 44 seminatur corpus animale, surget corpus spiritale. Si est corpus animale, est et spiritale, sicut scriptum est: 45 Factus est primus homo Adam in animam viventem, novissimus Adam in spiritum vivificantem. 46 Sed non prius quod spiritale est, sed quod animale: deinde quod spiritale. 47 Primus homo de terra, terrenus: secundus homo de cælo, cælestis. 48 Qualis terrenus, tales et terreni: et qualis cælestis, tales et cælestes. 49 Igitur, sicut portavimus imaginem terreni, portemus et imaginem cælestis. 50 Hoc autem dico, fratres: quia caro et sanguis regnum Dei possidere non possunt: neque corruptio incorruptelam possidebit.

51 ἰδοὺ μυστήριον ὑμῖν λέγω: πάντες οὐ κοιμηθησόμεθα, πάντες δὲ ἀλλαγησόμεθα, 52 ἐν ἀτόμῳ, ἐν ῥιπῇ ὀφθαλμοῦ, ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ σάλπιγγι: σαλπίσει γάρ, καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐγερθήσονται ἄφθαρτοι, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀλλαγησόμεθα. 53 δεῖ γὰρ τὸ φθαρτὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσασθαι ἀφθαρσίαν καὶ τὸ θνητὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσασθαι ἀθανασίαν. 54 ὅταν δὲ τὸ φθαρτὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσηται ἀφθαρσίαν καὶ τὸ θνητὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσηται ἀθανασίαν, τότε γενήσεται ὁ λόγος ὁ γεγραμμένος, κατεπόθη ὁ θάνατος εἰς νῖκος. 55 ποῦ σου, θάνατε, τὸ νῖκος; ποῦ σου, θάνατε, τὸ κέντρον; 56 τὸ δὲ κέντρον τοῦ θανάτου ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἡ δὲ δύναμις τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ νόμος. 57 τῷ δὲ θεῷ χάρις τῷ διδόντι ἡμῖν τὸ νῖκος διὰ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. 58 ὥστε, ἀδελφοί μου ἀγαπητοί, ἑδραῖοι γίνεσθε, ἀμετακίνητοι, περισσεύοντες ἐν τῷ ἔργῳ τοῦ κυρίου πάντοτε, εἰδότες ὅτι ὁ κόπος ὑμῶν οὐκ ἔστιν κενὸς ἐν κυρίῳ.

51 Here is a secret I will make known to you; we shall all rise again, but not all of us will undergo the change I speak of.[11] 52 It will happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet sounds; the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise again, free from corruption, and we shall find ourselves changed;[12] 53 this corruptible nature of ours must be clothed with incorruptible life, this mortal nature with immortality. 54 Then, when this mortal nature wears its immortality, the saying of scripture will come true, Death is swallowed up in victory.[13] 55 Where then, death, is thy victory; where, death, is thy sting?[14] 56 It is sin that gives death its sting, just as it is the law that gives sin its power; 57 thanks be to God, then, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Stand firm, then, my beloved brethren, immovable in your resolve, doing your full share continually in the task the Lord has given you, since you know that your labour in the Lord’s service cannot be spent in vain.

51 Ecce mysterium vobis dico: omnes quidem resurgemus, sed non omnes immutabimur. 52 In momento, in ictu oculi, in novissima tuba: canet enim tuba, et mortui resurgent incorrupti: et nos immutabimur. 53 Oportet enim corruptibile hoc induere incorruptionem: et mortale hoc induere immortalitatem. 54 Cum autem mortale hoc induerit immortalitatem, tunc fiet sermo, qui scriptus est: Absorpta est mors in victoria. 55 Ubi est mors victoria tua? ubi est mors stimulus tuus? 56 Stimulus autem mortis peccatum est: virtus vero peccati lex. 57 Deo autem gratias, qui dedit nobis victoriam per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum. 58 Itaque fratres mei dilecti, stabiles estote, et immobiles: abundantes in opere Domini semper, scientes quod labor vester non est inanis in Domino.

[1] ‘Unless indeed your belief was ill founded’; some commentators take this as meaning ‘Unless your belief has been ineffectual’, i.e. ‘has not succeeded in forming a true Christian character’.

[2] St Paul compares himself to a child born prematurely; hence it is difficult to see how there can be any allusion to the comparative lateness of our Lord’s appearance to him. He seems to be thinking rather of the sudden, catastrophic manner in which grace came to him. Others think that he compares himself out of humility, to a child born physically weak.

[3] ‘Those who have put their trust in his return’; most Greek manuscripts have simply ‘when he comes’.

[4] vv. 23-26: Probably three stages in the Resurrection are here given, (i) that of our Lord himself, (ii) that of the predestined, or perhaps only that of predestined persons who are still alive at the second Coming, (iii) that of the rest of mankind, implied in verse 26.

[5] There may be an allusion to the practice of vicarious baptism on behalf of those who had died unchristened, which is known to have existed (though only amongst heretics) in the second century a.d. The other explanations which have been suggested are only conjectures.

[6] Others would render, ‘If it was from human motives that I fought against beasts at Ephesus, of what use was it? If the dead do not rise again, let us eat and drink’, etc. ‘Fighting against beasts’ is generally understood of withstanding bitter human persecution. Cf. Is. 22.13.

[7] ‘Bad company’, etc.: this was a heathen proverb, which is to be found in the works of the poet Menander.

[8] Gen. 2.7.

[9] ‘It remains for us to bear’; the Greek texts here are divided between ‘we shall bear’ (in heaven) and ‘let us bear’ (presumably on earth); the Latin versions follow the second reading.

[10] ‘Flesh and blood’, that is, flesh and blood as we know it here, under earthly conditions. That St Paul taught the continuity of the Resurrection body with the body which is the soul’s partner on earth, is evident from the comparison he uses in verses. 36-38 above.

[11] The Greek manuscripts are here strangely divided; some read the text given here, but there is better support for the reading ‘We shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed’. The sense in that case would be, that those of the elect who are still alive at the Day of Judgement will pass into a heavenly existence without undergoing death. According to the text here given, which is that of the Latin versions, the sense is rather that all men will die, but only the elect will be glorified after death. Owing to this textual doubt, the generally received view that those who are alive at the Second Coming will experience physical death is not certain, but only a more probable opinion.

[12] ‘We shall find ourselves changed’; St Paul, it seems, writing as a living man to living men, identifies them and himself with those who will be alive at the time of the Second Coming.

[13] Is. 25.8.

[14] Os. 13.14. The text here agrees with the Greek Septuagint, but not with the Hebrew.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd