925
κ ζωῇ ταύτῃ im ἠλπικότες i siey Viii.
éopev! | ἐν Χριστῷ] µόνον, ” ἐλεεινότεροι πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἐσμέν. ΚΕΙ. i.20;
20. Nuvi δὲ "Χριστὸς ’ἐγήγερται "ἐκ νεκρῶν, ! ἀπαρχὴ τῶν
12) ν.ό νι τσι Τον. α5.
1 Eph, i.12; 4 Kings xviii. 5; cf. ελπιζ. εις, 2 Cor. i. το. 7. n Rev. iii. 17; for compar. with παντων, see xiii. 13.
Jas. iv. 14 1 Pet. iii, 10 (Psa, XXXiii.
m Pf., 2 Cor. i. 10; 1 Tim. iv. το, ο See vv. 4 and 14.
p xvi. 15; Rom. viii. 23, xi. 16, xvi. 5; 2 Th. ii. 13 (?); Jas. i. 18; Rev. xiv. 4; Exod. xxiii. το, etc.
lev Χριστῳ ηλπικοτες εσµεν (in this order): all pre-Syrian uncc.
‘‘perishing’’ which befalls those ‘‘ yet in their sins” (cf. i. 18, viii. 11, Rom. ii. 12, vi. 23, etc.; also John viii. 21, 24). They were “‘ put to sleep in Christ” (cf. 1 Thess. iv. 14), as the sense of His presence and the promises of His gospel turned their death into sleep (John xi. 11, etc.). The µαταιότης of being lulled to sleep when falling into utter ruin! They thought “the sting of death” drawn (56), and lay down to rest un- troubled: cruelly deceived! For the un- classical position of apa, see Wr., p. 699.
Ver. 19 expresses the infinite bitterness of such a deception. In the right order of words (see txtl. note), µόνον is attached to ἠλπικότες (cf. Luke xxiv. 21): ‘‘If in this life we have only had hope in Christ’”’—no present deliverance from sin, no future inheritance in heaven— ‘we are more than all men to be pitied’”’. For a hope without legitimate basis or ultimate fruition, Christians have sacri- ficed all material good! (cf. 30 ff., iv. αι ff.; Heb. x. 32-46, Luke xviii. 22, etc.). ἠλπικότες ἐσμὲν = ἠλπίκαμεν (1 Tim. iv. το), with stress laid on the actual condition of those who have formed this futile hope. ἐν Χριστῷ points to Christ as the ground of Christian hope (cf. Phil. ii. το). ἐν τῇ Coq ταύτῃ brings to mind all that the Christian forfeits here and now—losing ‘‘ this life ”’ for the vain promise of another, letting earth go in grasping at a fancied heaven ; no wonder the world pities us!—Ed. ad, loc. answers well the censure passed on the Ap., as though he made the worth of goodness depend on its future reward: (z) P. does not say ‘“‘ we are more worth- less’”—a good man may be very “ piti- able,” and all the more because of his worth; (2) on Paul’s hypothesis (17), moral character is undermined, while future happiness is destroyed, by denial of the Resurrection.
§ 52. THE FIRSTFRUIT OF THE RE- SURRECTION AND THE HARVEST, xv. 20- 28. Paul has proved the actuality of Christ’s personal resurrection by the abundant and truthful testimony to the fact (5-15), and by the experimental
reality of its effects (17). In ver. 20a he therefore affirms it unconditionally, hav. ing overthrown the contrary assertion that ‘‘there is no resurrection of the dead.” But Christ never stands alone; He forms ‘‘a body” with ‘‘ many mem- bers” (xii. 12); He is “‘ firstborn among many brothers’’ (Rom. viii. 29, Col. i. 18, John xv. 5, etc.). His rising shows that bodily resurrection is possible; nay, it is inevitable for those who are in Him (18, 206, 23). In truth, the universal redemption of Christ’s people from the grave is indispensable for the realisation of human destiny and for the assured triumph of God’s kingdom (24-28). The Ap. thus advances from the experimental (§ 51) to the theological proof of his theorem, much as in Rom. v. 1-11, 12-21. Ver. 20. Nuvi δέ (cf. xii. 18) marks the logical point P. has reached by the reductio ad impossibile of the negative proposition attacked in ver. 12. Christ has been raised; therefore there is a resurrection of the dead (12-18): “που the ground is cleared and the foundation laid for the declaration that the Christian dead shall rise in Him—“ Christ has been raised from the dead, a firstfruit of them that have fallen asleep’’; He has risen in this character and purpose, “not to remain alone in His estate of \ glory ” (4.).---ἀπαρχἡὴ τών κεκοιµηµένων ‘(pf. of abiding state: cf. John xi. ττ f., Matt. xxvii. 52) = ἀρχή, πρωτότοκος ἐκ τών νεκρῶν and πρωτότοκος τών νεκρῶν (Col. i. 18, Rev. i. 5).—Cm. and Bg. are surely right in seeing here an allusion to the first harvest-sheaf (ἀπαρχὴν τον θερισμοῦ ὑμῶν, Lev. xxiii. το: cf. in this connexion Matt. xiii. 39 ff. with John v. 28 f. and Rev. xiv. 14 ff.) of the Passover, which was presented in the Sanctuary on the 16th Nisan, probably the day of the resurrection of Jesus; this allusion is in the Easter strain of v. 6 ff. (see notes). The first ripe sheaf is an earnest and sample of the harvest, con- secrated to God and laid up with Him (cf- Rom, vi. ro f.) in anticipation of the rest. The Resurrection has begun. Vv. 21, 22 explain the identification of