and of his own participation of its benefits. This clause, "we also believe," depends on the participle at the beginning of the verse. ' Having the Holy Spirit, the author of faith, we speak.' The interpretation here given of this passage is the common one. Calvin and many other commentators take a very different view. They say that by the same faith is to be understood, not the same the Psalmist had, but the same that the Corinthians had. Paul, says Calvin, is to be understood as saying, ' Although there is a great difference between my circumstances and yours; although God deals gently with you and severely with me, yet, notwithstanding this difference, w^e have the same faith ; and where the faith is the same, the inheritance is the same.' But this supposes that the design of the preceding part of the chapter is to contrast the exter- nal condition of Paul with that of the Corinthians ; and it supposes that by we is meant ice Christians, whereas the apos- tle evidently means himself. ' We are persecuted, cast down, and delivered to death, but we, having the same faith with David, do as he did. We retain our confidence and continue to confess and to proclaim the gospel.' It is liis own experi- ence and conduct, and not those of the Corinthians, that Paul is exhibitinjr.
14. Knowing, that he which raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present (us) with you.
That this is to be understood of the literal resurrection, and not of a mere deliverance from dangers, is evident, 1 . Be- cause wherever a figurative sense is preferred to the literal meaning of a word or proposition, the context or nature of the passage must justify or demand it. Such is not the case here. There is nothing to forbid, but every thing to tavour the literal interpretation. 2. Because the figurative interpre- tation cannot be carried through without doing violence to the passage and to the analogy of Scripture. "To present us with you " cannot be made to mean, ' to exhibit us with you as rescued from danger.' 3. The figurative interpretation rests on false assumptions. It assumes that Paul confidently expected to survive the second coming of Christ, and there- fore could not say he expected to be raised from the dead. In this very connection, however, he says he longs to be ab-