be like the glorious body of the Son of God, adapted to a heavenly, and not to an earthly condition.
A third question which this verse presents is. In what sense is Christ to deliver up the kingdom to the Father ? In the common text the words are orav TrapaSw, when he shall have delivered up / most of the modern editors read irapaStSw, when he delivers up. That is, when the end comes, Christ is to de- liver up the kingdom to his Father. What does this mean ? The Scriptures constantly teach that Christ's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and of his dominion there is no end. In what sense, then, can he be said to deliver up his kingdom ? It must be remembered, that the Scriptures speak of a three- fold kingdom as belonging to Christ. 1. That which necessa- rily belongs to him as a divine person, extending over all creatures, and of which he can never divest himself. 2. That which belongs to him as the incarnate Son of God, extending over his own people. This also is everlasting. He will for ever remain the head and sovereign of the redeemed. 3. That dominion to which he was exalted after his resurrection, when all power in heaven and earth was committed to his hands. This kingdom, which he exercises as the Theanthropos, and which extends over all principalities and powers, he is to de- liver up when the work of redemption is accomplished. He was invested with this dominion in his mediatorial character for the purpose of carrying on his work to its consummation. When that is done, i. e. when he has subdued all his enemies, then he wiQ no longer reign over the universe as Mediator, but only as God ; while his headship over his people is to con- tinue for ever. To God even the Father., i. e. to him who is at once his God and Father. This is the Scriptural designation of the first person of the Trinity. He is the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, inasmuch as he is the God whom Christ came to reveal, and whose work he performs. He is his Father in vir- tue of the eternal relation subsisting between the first and second persons in the Godhead.
The fourth question which this pregnant verse suggests is presented in the last clause. When he shall have put down all rule^ and authority and power. Calvin and others under- stand this to mean, ' When he shall have abrogated all other do- minion than his own.' Whatever authority is now exercised by one man over others is at last to be abolished, and merged in the all-pervading authority of God. Most commentators, in obedience to the context, understand the passage to refer to