Quickening spirit (avedua fworoodv). Rev., life-gwing. Not merely dwing, but «mparting life. Compare John i. 4; i363 ve 26/405 tas 35, 355 xe 0s axl 12> so xiv. 6.0 ee per iod at which Christ became a quickening Spirit is the resurrec- tion, after which His body began to take on the characteristics of a spiritual body.* See Rom. vi. 4; 1 Pet. i. 21.
46. Not first—spiritual—natural. A general principle, il- lustrated everywhere in human history, that the lower life pre- cedes the higher.
47. Earthy (yoixes). Only in this chapter. The kindred noun yovs dust appears Mark vi. 11; Apoc. xviii. 19. From xéw to pour ; hence of earth thrown down or heaped up: loose earth. Compare Gen. ii. 7, Sept., where the word is used.
From heaven (é& ovpavod). °EE out of, marking the origin, as €« ys out of the earth. Meyer acutely remarks that “no predicate in this second clause corresponds to the earthy of the first half of the verse, because the material of the glorified body
* See Newman Smyth, ‘‘ Old Faiths in New Light,” p. 858; and a beautiful article by the Rev. J. Oswald Dykes, ‘‘The Identity of the Lord Jesus after His Resurrection,” ‘“ Expositor,” first series, iii., 161,
Cu. XV.] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 285
of Christ transcends alike conception and expression.” The phrase includes both the divine origin and the heavenly nature ; and its reference, determined by the line of the whole argu- ment, is to the glorified body of Christ—the Lord who shall descend from heaven in His glorified body. See Philip. iii. 20, 21%
49. We shall bear (gopécopev). The great weight of au- thority is in favor of dopécwper let us bear. This reading pre- sents a similar difficulty to that of le¢ ws have in Rom. v. 1 (see note). The context and the general drift of the argument are certainly against it. The preceptive or hortative subjunctive is, as Ellicott remarks, singularly out of place and unlooked for. It may possibly be a case of ¢tacism, i.e., the confusing of one vowel with another in pronunciation leading to a loose mode of orthography.
51. We shall not all sleep (aavres od xowwndnodpeda). Not, there is not one of us now living who shall dre before the Lord’s coming, but, we shall not al’ die. There will be some of us Christians living when the Lord comes, but we shall be changed. The other rendering would commit the apostle to the extent of believing that not one Christian would die before the coming of Christ.
52. Moment (dtéu@). Only here in the New Testament. Atomos, from @ not and téuvw to cut, whence our atom. An undivided point of time. The same idea of indivisibility ap- pears in dxapys (not in the New Testament), from @ not and xelpw to shear ; primarily of hair too short to be cut, and often used in classical Greek of time, as in the phrase év dxapet ypov-
od in a moment of tume.
Twinkling (fv). Only here in the New Testament. Orig- inally the swing or force with which a thing is thrown; @ stroke or beat. Used in the classics of the rush of a storm, the flap- ping of wings; the buzz of a gnat; the quivering of a harp- string; the twinkling of the stars. Generally of any rapid
* See the admirable discussion of the passage by Godet.
286 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. XV.
movement, as of the feet in running, or the quick darting of a fish.
53. This corruptible. As if pointing to his own body. Compare these hands, Acts xx. 84; this tabernacle, 2 Cor. v. 1.
Put on (évdtcac3ar). The metaphor of clothing. Compare 2 Cor. v. 2-4. Incorruption and immortality are to invest the spiritually-embodied personality like a garment.
54. Is swallowed up (xatezo9). From Isa. xxv. 8. The quotation agrees with the Hebrew: Ze shall swallow up death JSorever, rather than with the Septuagint, Death has prevailed and swallowed men up, which reverses the meaning of the He- brew. Compare 2 Oor. v. 4.