In discussing the question of the idolothyta Paul gives a glance to the more positive side of the Christian’s relations with external nature. He recalls the attitude of the Old Testament towards earthly blessings by quoting, ‘‘ The earth is the Lord’s, and the ful- ness thereof” (x. 28). The idols have no power to usurp God's creatures, nor to limit His children’s use of them. An enlightened conscience will not scruple at the enjoyment of food sacrificed to an. idol, though circumstances will often make this inexpedient (viii., x. 23 ff.). The Jewish distinctions of meat are obsolete (vi. 12 f.); it was in this sense that Paul had enunciated the much-abused maxim, ‘«« All things are lawful to me’’. The σαρκικὰ of life he enlists in the service of its πνευματικά; they serve to multiply and strengthen the bonds of mutual necessity arising from our kinship in Christ (ix. 7- 12;,¢f37Rom. xv.) 27, Gal, ,vi.),
In the relationship of man and woman the Apostle sees the natural and spiritual order blended ; he passes from the one to the other with perfect congruity, and appeals to the teaching of “‘ nature,” expressed in secular customs of dress, as an exponent of the Divine will (xi. 1-15). While censuring the greed and arrogance displayed by the rich (xi. 17 ff.), he leaves distinctions of wealth and rank un- condemned ; from the analogy applied in chap. xii. 13 ff. we infer that he viewed these as a part of “the fashion of this world,” necessary but transient.
(3) Death, like sin which gives to it its “ sting,’’ belongs to the system of the present evil world. Since the resurrection of Christ, death is in principle ‘‘ abolished” for those who are His (xv. 26, 55 ff.). The resurrection is no mere immortality of the spirit, such as philosophers conceived ; it is the reversal of death, the recovery of the entire man from its power. Christ’s people, to be sure, will not be reclad in mortal habiliments, nor resume the corpse that was laid in the grave. The new frame will differ from the old as the plant from its perished seed. Heavenly bodies must surpass earthly in unimaginable ways. Adam and Christ are types of two modes of being: in our present ‘‘ natural body” we “wear the image” of the former; our future body will be “ spiritual” after the image of God’s Son (xv. 35-57).
This glorious and inconceivable change will supervene—for Christians living or departed alike (xv. 51 f.)—at “the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,” which the Corinthian Christians are await- ing (i. 7). This is ‘“‘the end” of the course of revelation and of God's dealings with mankind—when Christ’s redemption is com- plete, when His enemies throughout creation are overcome, and He-