The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Corinthians — Section 512

great facts alone, but has 11uperadded imS{!es, analogies, illustrations; and the grandc1 the truth, the more clear and copious its kindred associations. 'l'hat sense of corre, spondence which exists in us all, and is a mainstay of our convictions, is continually addressed by him, and by thousands of ties be binds too-ether his Word and his works. Inspired teachers exhibit their wisdom in the way they read and interpret nature. Scripture is not written for minds shut up in themselves, the order and a-race of the universe hidden from them. Sensational consciousness is just as much a part of religion as spiritual consciousness, and, accordingly, an eminent teacher like St. Paul honours his office by appealing to nature. He wrote for the senses no less than for the spirit, and hence we find him (ver. 39) widening the scope of analoo-y, And· whither shall be tend? What is the objective point aimed at? The identity ;'r the resurrection- body with the dust and ashes of the graYe-is that the goal of his thought? Nay and yea. Look on the p:ross side of identification, on the interminable disputes about bones and material rarticlcs, and the answer is nay. Look on the hi"her and far truer side of identification, and the answer is yea. As to the first, had th~ advocates of the dust and ashes theory existed in bis day, he would perhaps have saiil, "Fuol ! " Happily for u~, we know that identity as applied to the body means the persistent adhesion to the same idea in the plan and J,urpose of organization, so that while the particles of matter m the corporeal structure are ever coming and going, anil are as short-lived as the ephemera of a summer day, such i~ the law of constancy beneath this variation that identity is no wise disturbed. St. Paul first takes up diversity of animal arganisms. To show that the question is not about the retention and revivification of former con- stituents of tbe body, but a questiun solely of body and its capacity to assume such a form as God mig,ht be pleased to give, he states," All flesh is not the same flesh." Men, beasts, fishes, Lirds, differ in flesh. It is all flesh, but very unlike. What then? If body be caµable of such variety in bodies, if you have such an interval as appears between man and bird, what limit will you put on body as to organization? Creative power is manifested in matter as matter; creative power makes its most wonderful manifestation in the countless shapes and adaptations of matter. And, accordingly, St. Paul's meaning is that you cannot argue from the structure and particles of the b,,dy here to the organization of a spiritual corporeity. But you can believe in new and ·higher forms, since "all flesh is not the same flesh." How far, then, has the argument pro- gressed? To this landing-place: body here, body hereafter, body capable of a nobler type of existence. But he proceeds to use another illustration. Hitherto he has been mundane io bis view ; now he enters on the upper realm. Celestial bodies, bodie~ terrestial, exist in the universe, and do they present contrasts on a far broader scale than thofe we ~ee in the flesh of men and other animals? Ay; the diversi1y now is one of glory. Celestial and terrestrial bodies share different degrees of glory. 'l'be sun is a sun in its glory, and its splendour is its own. Moon and stars have their glory, and by this unequal distribution of radiance they impress us when we gaze on the firma- ment. Just here, then, the movement of the apostle's mind takes a sudden spring. It bounds afar, and it is no longer form, no longer seed and barv~st, nor animal organisms, but it is the splendoui· of form that absorb~ bis contemplat10n. Long ago the royal psalmist had poured forth his wonder and adoration in the nineteenth psalm, that sublime hymn which chants "the glory of God" in the firmament and keeps the tbrobbin" pulse, of the human heart in the rhythm of the universe. And now-the eye dila~ and the resplendency full upon it-hearken to the instant utterance: "So also is the resurrection of the d~ad." "Sown in corruption ''-earth and its eo.rtbliness; "it is raised in i!!corruption "-rarth and its earthlinrss left in the gro.ve. "Sown in dishonour "-its humiliations all upon it, and demanding speedy removal from sight aud commitment to darkness lest it be luathsome; "it is raised in glory," and bears a likeness to him whose" countenance was as the sun sbineth in his strength." "Sown in weakness ''-ah,ays in a state of infirmity and as a corpse, "pom·rless and unable to resist corruption " (Dloomfidd); "it is raised in power," and made capable of receiving plenitude of enerl!Y from tl1c will of the spirit and answering all possible uses of mind. "Sown a naturnl body "-as in life so in death, a po.rt of the rno.terial order, and subjccttd to its condi1ions, and never able to ei;capc its limitations, so" natural" 11,at this very apostle, "cauµ:1,t up to the third heaven,'' bad lo suffer" a thorn in the 1le£h" that be might nut l,e "exalted above measure,"-" it is raised a spiritual body," 011. xv. 1-58.J THE l<'lllS'r EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 521