325
also death is destroyed. It may be said, Does not the same prin- ciple hold good as to all the enemies alike ? for in so far as all the others have been destroyed , death has been also destroyed , 2 Tim. i. 10, therefore inasmuch as death remains , the other enemies still remain , and therefore death is not destroyed last . Ans. Christ, in so far as He formerly engaged with His enemies, first overcame Satan by His death ; next sin, in His death ; lastly death, in His resurrection ; and in the same order, in which He destroys His enemies, He delivers believers from their power. Again, it may be said, how is death destroyed last , if the resurrection of the dead precedes the destruction of all rule ?” Ans. The resurrection is immediately followed by the judgment, with which the destruction of all rule is connected ; and the destruction of death and hell immediately succeeds this. The order of destruction is described, Rev. xix. 20, xx. 10, 14. Moreover the expression ought to be taken in a reduplicative sense. The enemies will be destroyed, as enemies. For even after all this, Satan will still be Satan, hell will still be hell, the goats will still be accursed. They will indeed be first destroyed, before death, the last enemy ; not that they may altogether cease to be, as death shall ; not that they may cease to be what they are called, namely Satan, hell, accursed ; but that they may be no longer enemies, resisting, and able to oppose, for they will be completely subdued, rendered powerless, taken cap- tive, visited wdth punishment, put under the feet of our Lord. The destruction of all rule ought not to be reckoned as the destruction [i.e. annihilation] of enemies ; moreover the destruc- tion of the power of our enemies according to Rev. xix. 20 is accomplished even before the destruction of death, wThich the destruction of all authority and of all rule straightway follows. The good angels are also then to obtain exemption from service. — £%fyos, enemy ) Death, an enemy ; therefore it was not at first natural to man. Those, who denied the resurrection, also denied the immortality of the soul. The defence of the former in- cludes the defence of the latter. — xurapysTrai, is destroyed) The present for the future. — 6 Qdvarog, death) Hell is also included in the mention of death, so far as it is to be destroyed, ver. 55.
27. Udvra ydp, for all things) not. even excepting death. The Psalm [viii.] might seem by this syllable, ^3, all things , merely
326