Vv. 51, 52. This bodily change, in- dispensable in view of the incompatibility just affirmed, is the object of amomentous revelation communicated to P., to which he calls our earnest attention: “Το, I tell you a mystery!” On µνστήριον, see note to ii. 1. P. by demon- strating the historical fact of Christ’s resurrection (1-11); he then reasoned upon it, in its bearings on religion and nature (12-49) ; now he adds a new specific
Ji —53*
941
Bibl. i./.
“ping? ὀφθαλμοῦ, ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ " σάλπιγγι: "σαλπίσει γάρ, Kai" PIP Iph.
οἱ *vexpot * ἐγερθήσονται 2 7 ἄφθαρτοι, καὶ ἡμεῖς 53. "δεῖ γὰρ τὸ "Φθαρτὸν τοῦτο Ὁ ἐνδύσασθαι ” ἀφθαρσίαν καὶ τὸ
Rev. ten times. x See ver. 15.
y See ix. 25.
Σἀλλαγησόμεθα. 17. 885 ;
3; Rom, xiii. 12, 14; Eph. iv. 24, vi. 11; Col. iii. 10; Ps. cxxxi. 9.
and some others, read ροπῃ
τιζειν,]α5. i. 6. ν See xiv. 8 w Mt. vi. 2; z See viii. 2. a See ix. 25. b 2 Cor. v Hier.: "εν ριπῃ sive εν ροπῃ
Φφθαλμον, utrumque enim legitur, et nostri interpretati sunt in momento et in ictu
oculi”’. 2 avaotygovrat, ADGP.
revelation to crown his teaching. In doing so, P. challenges his opponents in the right of his inspiration and authority, hitherto in the background in this chap. Ver. 15 only vindicated his honesty.
In ver. 516 ἀλλαγησόμεθα (required by 50 and repeated in 52) bears the stress; to it the first πάντες (reiterated with emphasis) looks forward; οὐ κοιµη-
θησόµεθα is parenthetical: ‘‘ We shall”
all—not sleep, but—we shall all be changed”. ἀλλάσσω is interpreted by ἐνδύομαι of ver. 53 and µετασχηματίζω of Phil. 11. 21. As much as to say: ‘Our perishable flesh and blood, whether through death or not, must undergo a change”. That such a change is im- pending for the dead in Christ is evident from the foregoing argument (see esp. 22 f., 36, 42 f.); P. adds to this the de- claration that the change will be uni- versal, that {24 will extend to those living when the Last Trumpet sounds (52), amongst whom he then hoped that many of the present generation would be found: cf. i. 7; also 1 Thess. iv. 15 ff., where the like is affirmed ἐν λόγῳ Κυρίον. This hope dictates the interjected οὐ κοιµη- θησόµεθα, which disturbs the grammar of the sentence and necessitates the con- trastive δὲ attached to the repeated πάντες (see txtl. note; Wr., p. 695; also ΕΙ. ad loc.). There is no need to sup- pose a trajection of ov (as if for ov πάντες, Or οὐ μὲν πάντες κοιµηθησ.), nor any diff. between the sense of 4\Aayno. in vw. 51 and 52: the certainty of change in all who shall ‘inherit incorruption” is de- clared (51), and the assurance is given that while this change takes place in “the dead” who are ‘‘raised incor- ruptible,” at the same time “νε” (the assumed living) shall undergo a cor- responding change (52; ¢f. 2 Cor. v. 2 ff.). Thus in ‘‘all” believers, whether sleep- ing or waking when Christ’s trumpet sounds, the necessary development will be effected (53 f.).—The critical moment is defined*by three vivid phrases: ἐν
ἀτόμφ (cl. Gr., ἐν ἀκαρεῖ), ἐν ῥιπῇ ὀφ- θαλμοῦ (in ictu oculi, Vg.;in α twinkling), ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ σάλπιγγι--ἵἩε first two describing the instantaneousness, and the last (with allusion perhaps to the saying of Matt. xxiv. 31: cf. 1 Thess. iv. 16) the solemn finality of the transformation. The former idea is emphasized, possibly, to preclude the fear of a slow painful process. The σαλπιγξ was the war- trumpet, used for signals and commands (cf. ἐν κελεύσματι, 1 Thess. iv. 16); and σαλπίσει (sc. 6 σαλπιγκτής) is indef. in. subject, according to military idiom (cf. Xen-; Anas Τοπ το or Thess, av. identifies the ‘‘ trumpet ”’ with the “‘ arch- angel’s voice”’: any such description is of course figurative.