this congenidity and conformity are included in the idea which is expressed by saying, we shall be raised up with him, i. e. in his fellowship and likeness. The resurrection, there- fore, was the one great, all-absorbing object of anticipation and desire to the early Christians, and should be to us. It is then that we shall be introduced hito the glorious liberty of the sons of God ; it is then that the work of redemption shall be consummated, and Christ be admired in his saints. And 2)r€seiit us together with you. To present, irapiaT-qixi^ is to cause to stand near or by, to offer to. We are required to present our members (Rom. 6, 13,) or our bodies (Rom. 12, 1,) unto God ; Paul says he desired to present the Corinthians as a chaste virgin unto Christ, 11, 2 ; God is said to have recon- ciled us to present us holy in his sight. Col. 1, 22 ; and Jude (v. 24) gives thanks to him who is able to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. This is the idea here. It is true that in the following chapter it is said that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, whence many suppose that the apostle means here that having been raised ^from the dead, believers shall be presented before the tribunal of the final judge. But tlie idea of judg- ment is foreign from the connection. It is a fearful thing to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, even with the cer- tainty of acquittal. The apostle is here exulting in the assur- ance that, however persecuted and down-trodden here, God, who had raised up Jesus, would raise him up and present him with all other believers before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. This it was that sustained him, and has sus- tained so many others of the afflicted of God's people, and given them a peace w^hich passes all understanding.
The resurrection of Christ here, as in other passages, is represented as the pledge of the resurrection of his people. " He that raised Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies," Rom. 8, 11. "God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his own power," 1 Cor. 6, 14. " Christ is risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept ; for ... in Christ shall all be made alive," 15, 19-22. " For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with hiin," 1 Tliess. 4, 14. See also John 11,25. Eph. 2,0. Col. 2/ 12. In the view of the sacred writers, theretbre, the glori- ous resurrection of believers is as certain as the resurrection of Christ, and that not simply because God who has raised up