Vv. 52, 53. The necessity for change, negatively declared in ver. 50, is now re- affirmed positively, as a necessity lying in the nature and relations of the changed: ‘‘ For this corruptible (perishable) is bound (Set: cf. xi. 19) to put on incorruption (imperishableness), and this mortal to put on immortality”. The double τοῦτο speaks, as in 2 Cor. v. 2, Rom. vii. 24, out of P.’s painful self-consciousness : cf. 2 Cor. iv. το, Gal. vi. 17.---τὸ θνητὸν and τὸ Φθαρτόν (concrete, of felt neces- sity: 7 φθορά, 50, abstract, of general principle) relate, as in vv. 42 ff., to the present, living body of the ἡμεῖς, not to the dead body deposited in the grave. The aforesaid “‘change”’ is now repre- sented as an investiture (ἐνδύσασθαι) with incorruption and immortality; the two ideas are adjusted in 2 Cor. v. 4, where it is conceived that the living Christian will ‘‘ put on ’’ the new, spiritual body '' over” (ἐπ-ενδύσασθαι) his earthly frame, which will then be “ absorbed,’ (καταποθῇ) by it.
Ver. 54. This clothing of the saints with immortality fulfils a notable O.T. word respecting the Day of the Lord: “Then will be brought to pass the word that is written, Death has been swallowed up (κατεπόθη, the vb. adopted in 2 Cor.
942
c2 Cor. iv. *Q@yyrdév τοῦτο " ἐνδύσασθαι *dbavaciav: 54. "ὅταν δὲ 1 τὸ * φθαρτὲψ
απ ν 4”
Rom. vi. τοῦτο " ἐνδύσηται Ρ ἀφθαρσίαν καὶ] τὸ "θνητὸν τοῦτο
’ 11. 4 ἀθανασίαν,” °
di Tim. vi. ; δν ae a 16; Wisd.6 θάνατος " εἰς "vixos’. viil. 13, 9
1D 4 A etc. σου, a0y,° TO e Ver. 28, bi
χνι. 23; 2
Cor. xii. 10; Col. iii. 4; 1 Th. v. 3; Lk. v. 35; Jo. viii. 28.
55+ ποῦ σου, θάνατε, τὸ
» ἐνδύσηται
τότε ‘ γενήσεται ὁ λόγος ὁ yeypappevos, “* Κατεπόθη
Σκέντρον ἓᾳ ποῦ
νῖκος ὃ; 56. τὸ δὲ ' κέντρον τοῦ θανάτου ἡ ἁμαρτία,
f Mt. v.18; Mk. xi. 23. g Isa.
xxv. 8 (see note below); in this sense, 2 Cor. v. 4, also ii. 7; Mt. xxiii. 24; Heb. xi. 29; 1 Pet. v.
8; Rev xii. 16. ix. 1Ο.
h Mt. xii. 20; 2 Ki. ii. 26; Job xxxvi. 7.
i Hos. xiii. 14; Acts xxvi. 14; Rev.
1 S8*C*IM, cop. vg., and several Ff., om. το Φθαρτον . . . και, reducing the two
οταν clauses to one
οταν δε το θνητον τουτο κ.τ.λ.
G om. the entire double
οταν Clause, skipping from αθανασιαν in ver. 53 to αθανασιαν in ver. 54. 2 env αθανασιαν: SAI, 17; 5ο I in ver. 53. ἂγικος... κεντρον (in this order): SBCIM, 17, cop. vg. (BD*I: νεικος, vv.
54 1.).
4θανατε twice: S*BCDGI, 67**, cop. vg., and many Ff.; q8m in Hosea.
ν. 4 as above) unto victory!" ὅταν, with its double clause, recalls the double ὅταν of νετ. 24 and of vv. 27 f. (see notes), which are parl. to each other and to this, alike marking the great ‘‘ when,” the epoch of the consummation. The de- struction of the ‘‘last enemy’”’ secures absolute ‘‘ victory”? for Christ and His own. Paul corrects the LXX txt. of Isa. xxv. 8, which makes Death the victor,<=- κατέπιεν 6 θάνατος ἰσχύσας; he appears to have read the Heb. passively bulla‘, for Massoretic Obilla‘: Theodotion’s translation is identical with Paul’s. lanetsach (for ever) is often rendered εἰς νῖκος (later Gr. form of νίκη) by the LXX, according to the Aramaic sense of the noun; its Heb. sense implies a final and unqualified overthrow of the King of Terrors, and therefore admits of P.’s application. ‘ This is the farthest reach- ing of all O.T. prophecies ; it bears allu- sion to Gen. iii.’’ (Dillmann; see also Delitzsch, on the Isaianic txt.), and re- verses the doom there pronounced.
Vv. 55-57. At this climax P. breaks into a song of triumph over Death, in the strain of Hosea’s rapturous anticipation of Israel’s resurrection from national death. [Many interpreters, however, put the opp. sense on Hos. xiii. 14, as though