52. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump : for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
The change in question is to be instantaneous ; in a mo- ment^ literally, an atom^ i. e. in a portion of time so short as to be incapable of further division. It is to take place at the last trump^ i. e. on the last day. As the trumpet was used for assembling the people or marshalling a host, it became the symbol for expressing the idea of the gathering of a multitude. So, in Matt. 24, 31, Christ says, " He will send liis angels with a great sound of a trumpet ; and they shall gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to another." Comp. Is. 27, 13. 1 Thess. 4, 16. This trumpet is called the last^ not because several trumpets (the Jews say seven) are to sound in succession, but because it is the last that ever is to sound. In other words, the resurrection is to take place on the last day. For the trumpet shall sound. This is a con- firmation of the preceding. That day shall surely come — the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, shall certainly re- sound as it did from Sinai, Ex. 19, 16. A^id^ i. e. and then, in consequence of the summons of God, the dead shall he raised in the manner described in vs. 42. 43, incorruptible, glorious and powerful. And we shall he changed. This is in exact accordance with 1 Thess. 4, 15. Those who are alive when Christ comes "shall not prevent them which are asleep." The dead in Christ shall rise first, and then the hving shall undergo their instantaneous change. As remarked on the preceding verse, it is not necessary to understand the apostle as including himself and feUow believers in Corinth, when he says We shall be changed. The connection indeed is different here from what it is there. There he says, " We shall not all die." If that means that the men of that generation should not all die, it is a positive assertion of what the event has proved to be false. But here he simply says, all who are alive when Christ comes shall be changed. If he hoped that he might be of the number there would be nothing in that ex- pectation inconsistent with his inspiration. Cahdn, therefore, so understands the passage.* Considering, however, his ex-
* Quum aiitem dicit, Nos immutahimur in eorum numero se comprebendit qui victuri sunt ad Cliristi adventum ; quoniam jam erant postrema tempora, expectandus fuit dies ille in singulas horas.