The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Corinthians — Section 482

iudirectl:v and by annlogy, implies that tho him Hamlet," hut the spiritual life which is rcrnrrcct10n-body is the same body, not so linl,ed on earth to that perpetual flux of much by way of material identity as of glori- material particles which we call the body,. fied individuality. but is independent of those particles. As it. Ver. 36.-Thou fool. The expression is hath pleased him; literally, as he willed. too strong, and it is unfortunate that in And in the word "as" lies the scope for all English it seems to run eontrary to the theories nbout the part played by what are- distinct censure of such language by our called " natural laws." Their action is a Lord. But here the Greek word is aphron, part of God's will. To every seed his own "0 unreasonable!" (the nominative is used body. Each of the seeds sown is provided for the vocative) ; Vulgate, insipiens; with a body of its own, which is not identical ·Wickliffe, "unwise man." It is merely a with the seed, but results from the germ of reproach for neglecting to exercise the un- life in the seed. derstanding. The word" fool ! " (more) for- Ver. 39.-All :flesh is not the same :flesh. bidden by our Lord (Matt. v. 22) has quite In other words, animal organisms differ from a different meaning, and implies quite a each other,just as do the vegetable. Another different tone. It involves moral depravity ... of beasts. "The germinal power of or obstinacy (1\'J:att. vii. 26; xxiii. 17, etc.). the plant transmutes the fixed air and the The milder aphron is used in 2 Cor. xi. 16, elementary base of water into grass or leaves, 19; xii. II; Eph. v. 17; and by our Lord and on these the organic principle in the himself. That which thou sowest. The ox or the elephant exercises an alchemy still " thou" is emphatic. It merely means more stupentlous. As the unseen agency " Even the analogy of human sowing ought weaves its magic eddies, the foliage becomes to remove thy difficulty." The growth of the indifferently the bone :md its marrow, the seed shows that there may be _personal pulpy bro.in and the solid ivory. That which identity under a complete change of material you see is blood, is flesh, is itself the work, conditions. Is not quickened, except it die. or shall I say the translucence of the invisible TI.Jc mataphor is used by our Lord (John xii. energy which soon surrenders or abandons 24, "Except a grain of wheat fall into the them to inferior powers (for there is uo earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; pause nor chasm in the activities of nature) but if it die, it beareth much fruit"). It is which repeat a similar metamorphosis ac- also found in the Talmud. cording to their kind: these are not fancies. Ver. 37.-Not tha.t body that shall be. conjectures, or even hypotheses, but facts" This deep remark should have checked the (Coleridge, 'Aids to Reflection '). idly and offensively materialistic form in Yer. 40.-There are also oelestial bodies. which the doctrine of the resurrection is and bodies terrestrial. The words are often often taught. But bare grain. Wickliffe, misunderstood. The "celestial bodies" are- "a naked corne." In this passage, almost not the sun, moon, and stars of the next alone in all his Epistles, St. Paul, who does verse-for that would be a false antithesis to, not seem to have been at all a close obser\'er "bodies terrestrial "-but bodies (or organ- of external phenomena, uses metaphors drawn isms) which belong to heavenly beiugs, such from nature.I life. His usual metaphors are as the resurrection-body of our Lord and of chiefly architectural and e.gonistic--derived, glorified saints, or even in some sense of that is, from buildings and games. That angels (Matt. xxii. 30). he was not a student of nature arose, no Ver. 41.-There is one glory of the sun. doubt, partly from his Semitic cast of mind, " Then shall the righteous shine forth as the but chiefly from his being short-sighted, and sun" (Matt. xiii. 43). The point of the from his having spent most of his early life illustration is the difference between the in large cities. It may chance; if it so earthly anrl the resurrection body ; not happen (see note on eh. xiv. 10). The the supposed differences between the saints English word "chance" occurs but four themselves in glory. This is not a question times in tile whole Bible (1 Sam. vi. 9; under consideration, and St. Paul, as we Eccles. ix. 11). In Luke x. 31 the words have seen, is not in the he.bit of mixing up- rendered " by chance" mean rather " hy co- half e. dozen different questions in the same incidence." immediate argument. St. Augustine says of Ver. 38.-llut God giveth it a body. The the saints, "Their splendour is unequal; their material body of each living organism heaven is one." This may be very true, but results from those laws of assimilatiou which to deduce it from this verse is to press into- God he.a me.de e. part of His secret of life. the argument an illustration used for another They are not the life, only the instrument purpose. 'fertulliun's comment is very un- and expression and manifestation of the happy. Ho makes "men" mean servants. life. The "life" i8 the indivitlual identity. of God ; " beasts," Gentiles ; " birds," The life of Hamlet is not in its essence the martyrs; " fiHhcs," those who have been bap• physical life of "the machine which is to tized; the "sun," Christ; the "moon," the- en. xv. 1-58.] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIA~S. 4Dl