15:24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every dominion and every authority and power.
He says that the kingdom will be handed over to God the Father by the Son when every dominion of the unclean spirits has been destroyed and when death itself is utterly neutralized.
15:28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.
Some try to disparage the Son, to the extent that they can, by saying that he hands the kingdom over to the Father and is subjected to him since the Father is greater. We must reply that the Son submitted to a voluntary emptying when he became like us. He came from the heights, as it were, and humbled himself. When he was in the same form as and equal to the Father, he was hidden in God, but he will be revealed in glory at the end of the present age. He now sits at the right hand of the Father. But if he is dragged down from the honor that he now has, is he therefore subjected to a second emptying? And if he hands over the kingdom, how will he come “with the holy angels in the glory of his Father?”222 [228] If he reigns with the Father now but loses the kingdom then, it would not be desirable for the Son “to put all his enemies under his feet.”223 Though the Son is subjected to the Father, he is not for that reason less than the Father. The concept of subjection is not a definition of nature or substance, but it indicates a manner of action. Even when it occurs among us, it does not indicate that people are of different substances from each other. How could it? The son is subject to the father, the slave to the master, the student to the teacher, the subordinates under a yoke to the leader. But in none of these cases is the principle of consubstantiality compromised. They are still the same species as each other. And even though they have this manner of action, the subjects and the leaders are similar to each other, and they do not dishonor the lesser condition since it is beneficial. Furthermore, how can these people let our weak condition hold sway for God? If the Son’s subjection is an attribute or a capacity of his nature, as they claim, then freedom from subjection is an attribute of his other nature.224 And I suppose the latter nature is in a better condition than the former, if indeed subjection is worse. In the oikonomia, he is subjected for us, after all. This is how: When humanity sinned, it became subject to decay and the devil and the demons, and it was separated from him who is God by nature. The Only Begotten became human for us and neutralized the power of death. He also took away the root of death, which is sin. He cast out the ruler of this world.225 After he has accomplished all these things and the entire oikonomia has been fulfilled, he will hand over (that is, present) the kingdom to the Father—the kingdom that was once stolen and taken over by others—and restore the Father’s rule over everything on earth. Once death has been destroyed along with the tyrant Satan, the Son will once again have superiority in the coming age over all authority. [230]
15:35-38 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
(Cod. Vat. Gr. 762) |
(Cod. Pantokrator. 28) |
The prophet Isaiah announces ahead of time the mystery of the resurrection of the dead, saying that it will take place at the proper time when God gives the nod and by his ineffable power restores to life those who have been overcome by death. Isaiah says, “The dead will be raised and those in the tombs will be awakened and those in the earth will rejoice. For your dew is their medicine.”226 I think dew refers figuratively to the life-giving energy of God by which he ascribes being to those who do not exist and he grants well-being to those who have already been called into existence. All things hold together in him just as surely as they were brought into being through him. The divinely inspired David also sings somewhere to God the Savior of all regarding those on earth: “When you open your hand, all creatures will be filled with good things. When you hide your face, they will be dismayed; when you take away their breath, they will die and return to their dust. When you send forth your spirit, they will be created and you will renew the face [232] of the ground.”227 Human nature has experienced a turning away from God’s face in Adam because of his transgression. Therefore, it has all but been thrown into confusion and disorder. It has reverted to its own dust and has been dragged down into death and decay. But since the Only Begotten Word of God has become like us and we have been enriched by participation in the Holy Spirit,228 we are transformed to our original condition and we have been re-created, as it were. For we have been called to newness of life,229 and so we escape the power of death. The most-wise Paul will be our witness of this when he says, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.”230 Now since Christ has returned to life, trampling the power of death, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep—which means that they will surely follow in his footsteps—would you not have to be completely out of your mind to have any more doubt about the mystery of the resurrection? [234]
But perhaps you will say the following: Yes, you are correct. I will now drop my insistence on asking how the dead are raised. But I must still know with what kind of bodies they come. Will this earthly body that is subject to decay come to life? Or will it be a different body, though one that comes from it? I, at least, would give this direct answer: the orthodox faith teaches that we will be resurrected with the same flesh. After all, that is how Christ returned to life as “the firstborn [236] from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”231 But since this teaching intensely displeases some people, come let us bring up the position they think is correct and then say what is actually right. (Then he presents the myths of those who say that souls preexist their bodies. He then continues:) In that case how can God be glorified for fashioning humanity? He says somewhere to the blessed Job, “Did you take clay from the ground, form a living creature, and set it with the power of speech on the earth?”232 I think that fashioning a rational being from the earth would surpass all wonder. Furthermore, how did the Creator bless the newly created man who was formed from the earth, saying, “Increase and multiply and fill the earth”?233 (And he brings up many other arguments against them and then adds:) the divinely inspired Paul uses the most excellent example when he says that the body falls into the ground like a seed. A seed does not rise bare, as it was sown, but with the clothing and adornment that its nature ordinarily provides for it. I mean a stalk and leaves. “For God gives,” he says, “to each kind of seed its own body.” He is saying that not all who sleep will return to life in glory, though they will all have imperishability. After all, it would not be fitting for God to crown the violent and the evildoers with glory. [238] Thus he profitably reminds us of the different seeds to which God distributes however he wills, giving one form to one and another to another. For he says, “As for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be.” |
If any should decide out of too much curiosity to apply the eye of their mind to the works of the divine nature and to try to examine the manner in which each thing [234] was brought into being and the origin of its existence, they would never stop asking the insane question, “How?” How was the sky made? Out of what kind of matter and where did it come from? What kind of foundation does it have? How, where, and when was the earth fixed firm? How was the course of the sun brought into being? How about the moon and the stars and the rest of creation? How did the Creator of the universe take dust from the earth and fashion the man? How was earth transformed into bones and sinews and flesh? If we are not in a position to give an explanation for everything that is created and for that reason we deny that they have come into being at all, where would that line of reasoning (or rather, that attempt at mischief) ultimately lead us?
In the wake of Christ’s resurrection, it is foolish, ignorant, and pretentious to cast doubt on the resurrection and ask “how?” regarding the works of God. It is just as silly to ask with what kind of bodies the dead are raised. Clearly, the bodies are the same. Indeed, the Lord raised his own flesh just as it was before. [236]
The most-wise Paul skillfully says that the body falls into the ground like a seed. But it will not rise this way. Rather, it will rise with clothing and adornment that its nature ordinarily provides for it. In this way he teaches that in the resurrection, the body is clothed with the glory of God and it is enriched with imperishability.
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15:40 There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another.
Each body, insofar as it is a body, has and is named by the same definition. But they are distinguished from one another by some other principle. The bodies of all people will be raised to life in incorruption, but there will be a difference regarding their glory and adornment. God will bring this about when he distributes to each one what that person deserves.
15:41-42a There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. So it is with the resurrection of the dead.
Paul just introduced two examples for us: that of the seed and that showing the difference in glory of the heavenly bodies. We must understand that he makes the first into an image of the resurrection of the dead. He says the following:
15:42b-43 What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
(Cod. Vat. Gr. 762) |
(Cod. Pantokrator. 28) |
Just as the grain of wheat elicits wonder since it is thrown bare and dead into the dirt but grows up clothed with a body and outfitted with beauty, so also the human body is sown perishable, [240] weak, and dishonored but it is brought back to life in honor and imperishability and it is clothed with power. The sobriety of the divinely inspired author is worthy of our admiration. He is firm in the faith and believes without a doubt that he will rise again. So he likens the perishing of the body with sowing, drawing a very skillful and exceedingly apt comparison between the nature of the matter and the illustration. Like a seed, the body will come to life not bare, he says, but clothed with imperishability, glory, and strength as well. Indeed, grace from above and the incomparable power of the Creator of the universe will transform it to the opposite of its present condition by enriching it with a spiritual mind. Within the body that is fallen and sown into the earth, as it were, in perishability and weakness, there is a natural mind lacking in beauty. We say that this is the same thing as a fleshly and earthly mind. When it was brought into being in the beginning, however, it was not like this by nature. Rather, this condition slipped in because of the transgression and the judgment of death. Nature, however, calls us back to what we were in the beginning. [242] The removal of this interposed condition must be accomplished by the power and working of God. Then the participation in the original good that we had in the beginning will be restored. We have been renewed in Christ according to the Scriptures. As the holy prophet said, “Take heart, Zion! Do not let your hands grow weak. The Lord, your God, is in your midst. He is mighty to save you, and he will renew you in his love.”234 When God the Father loved us, then—then!—he also renewed us in Christ. Indeed, it is true that in him everything is a “new creation. Everything old has passed away and has become new.”235 What does he mean by “old”? That which is past. And what is “new”? That which has been introduced. Perishability and weakness are old, as are shame and the accusations against the natural mind. But through Christ, glory and imperishability and power and a spiritual mind are new. They will be our “spiritual body.” [244] |
Like a seed, the body will come to life not bare, but clothed with imperishability, glory, and strength. Indeed it will be enriched by having a spiritual mind.
Within the body that is sown into the earth in perishability and weakness, there is a lack of beauty. [242]
By the power of God, the participation in the original good that we had in the beginning is brought about once again: imperishability, glory, and power. After all, that which is renewed does not somehow return to the beginning of its existence, but it returns to the condition it had in the beginning. [244] |
15:44-45 It is sown a soul body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a soul body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.236
(Cod. Vat. Gr. 762) |
(Cod. Pantokrator. 28) |
I, however, would say that a spiritual body is not a body that is in the form of a shadow or an incorporeal spirit, but rather a body that is completely freed from a carnal earthly mind.
If some should choose to refer to our earthly body as a soul body, it would be unreasonable to think they are giving it the form of a soul. Rather, they are using the term to refer to the “soul” kind of mind, or more specifically, the mind of the flesh, just as of course [246] we also consider our human wisdom to be related to the soul and earthly.237 Thus, even though the body may be called “soul,” I do not think anyone who gives it the form of the soul would escape the charge of error, since depending on how people live even while they are still in these earthly bodies, some are called “soul” people and some are called “spiritual.” It is written, “Those who are soul people do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them. Those who are spiritual people discern all things, and they themselves are subject to no one else’s scrutiny.”238 And since it was fitting for him to confirm this statement with facts, he adds, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” Now he called Adam a soul person (since that is what I think it means that he was created a living soul) because Adam was not completely free of carnal desires. Now if you examine the nature of the matter, the yearnings that are directed and turned to the passions of the flesh, even when they have the approval of the law, are nevertheless actually failings of carnal weakness. Let me give you an example. “Let marriage be held in honor, and [248] let the marriage bed be kept undefiled.”239 The motion of the sexual appetite was implanted in the nature of the body by the Creator of the universe to give the living being a desire for procreation. It was said to the man, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.”240 And the Creator, it says, in the beginning “made them male and female.”241 Therefore, the desire that is aimed only at procreation is blameless. Yet as far as the nature of the act is concerned, the passion is carnal or related to the soul. It is the same with the other innocent passions. Therefore, the first man, Adam, became a living soul, while the second man from heaven, that is, Christ, became not so much a soul, but a life-giving spirit. God the Word, who came from God the Father by nature, united what was human to himself and lived not a human life like ours, but a divine, God-befitting, and completely blameless life. He “committed no sin”242 since his mind was untouched by inordinate pleasures and was not overcome by the desire for food. Even though we see him partaking in food and drink (since we believe he was truly human like we are), [250] he partook of them in freedom. Though he was in the flesh for us in the oikonomia, he was still superior to the flesh. As God, he was a life-giving spirit. Our forefather Adam did not handle his desire for food in a completely blameless fashion. He was created as a “living soul” and as such was weaker than the desire for food. He ate from the tree of life even though God’s law forbade him from doing it. Now the term soul243 does not refer to distinctions in our nature, but rather to the quality of the morals and behavior in our life. One person is held down by a mind that is more earthly and carnal, while another is glorious in the freedom of the spirit. He makes this clear from his comparison of the first and second Adam. Both of them came to have earthly bodies, but the quality of their minds and the fact that they chose different ways of life showed that one was “soul” and the other was incomparably better, that is, “spiritual.” |
What would a “spiritual body” be, O mystagogue? Will it no longer be flesh? Will it no longer consist of bones and tendons, as it does now, by which the nature of our body is completed? Is he saying that it will be subtle and airy and less than shadows? Not at all! If any think this is the case, then what will return to life is surely not what fell into the ground, but something else that does not resemble it at all. I, however, would say that a spiritual body is not a body that is in the form of a shadow or an incorporeal spirit, but rather a body that is completely freed from a carnal earthly mind. If there is, he says, a soul body, there is also a spiritual one. If some should choose to refer to our earthly body as a soul body, it would be unreasonable to think they are giving it the form of a soul. Rather, they are using the term to refer to the “soul” kind of mind, or more specifically, the mind of the flesh. [246] Thus, even though the body may be called “soul,” I do not think anyone who gives it the form of the soul would escape the charge of error. It would be reasonable to understand carnal thinking as related to the soul and spiritual thinking as spiritual. [248]
A “spiritual” body is not one that is shadowy and airy. No, it too is composed of bones and sinews. But it is completely free of a carnal earthly mind. Furthermore, we say that this “soul” body does not have the form of a soul. Rather, it has a “soul” kind of mind, that is, a carnal mind. In the same way, we understand our human wisdom to be a “soul” kind of wisdom.244 |
15:46 But it is not the spiritual that is first, but that which is related to the soul, and then the spiritual.
Next he takes up the topic of the time in which they came to be. He says, “But it is not the spiritual that is first, but that which is related to the soul, and then the spiritual.” Since he said that the “soul” kind of body is sown into the earth and the “spiritual” body comes back to life, he shows clearly that it is not contrary to human nature to transform from a “soul” kind of mind to a “spiritual” one. How could what is related to “soul” be older than the “spiritual”? What could be the proof of this?245 [252]
15:47-49 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.
He says that the first man (that is, Adam) was created a living soul (that is, earthly and carnal), while the second man is from heaven. That is because even though the Word of God became flesh according to the Scriptures,246 he was nevertheless “from above” and “from heaven” and “above all,”247 as John says. So they were both in earthly bodies, as I said, but they were not the same when it came to their thinking and way of life. The first man had a carnal mind, while the second was a life-giving spirit from heaven. “We have borne the image of the man of dust” (that is, the likeness of Adam), and so we are subject to passions and we sin in our weakness and we bear the yoke of perishability. In the same way, “we will also bear the image of the man of heaven” (that is, Christ), and so we have become superior to carnal desires and the will to sin and we have now conquered death itself, that terrible ancient foreboding tyrant that ruled so fiercely over us.
15:50 What I am saying, brothers, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
With these words he introduces the mystery of the resurrection. As long as the human body is flesh and blood (that is, mortal and perishable), it could not inherit the kingdom of God (that is, continuous existence). Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that perishability be swallowed up and the withering body be taken away. It must be transformed to imperishability and gleam with a kind of divine and ineffable glory. Then it will inherit the kingdom of God. [254]
15:51-52 Behold, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
Great and truly heavenly is the mystery! It was surely revealed to him through Christ, who is speaking in him248 “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”249 He himself is the distributor of the coming good gifts that we wait for. He himself will transform creation and renew the whole of it and free it from slavery and bring it “into the glory of the children of God.”250 And if that is true, then how could it not be altogether necessary that the one for whom creation exists be renewed along with creation? I mean humanity. Humanity must be new, not tyrannized by the original perishability, not forced into sin by carnal lusts, but rather raised in imperishability and strength and clothed in honor and a kind of divine glory. The divinely inspired Isaiah has said, “Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of God will be your garment.”251 Indeed, our Lord Jesus Christ himself explicitly stated that the dead would be raised at the close of this age: “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the sky.”252 However, the grace of such honor and glory will not be given to everyone indiscriminately. That grace is fitting for those who have been chosen before others, who are conformed “to the image of his Son.”253 To be sure, the bodies of all will be raised, clothed with the grace of imperishability, but not all will be changed.254 Rather, the wicked will remain in their dishonorable form simply because they must be punished, while only the righteous will be changed so that they have the good attribute of imperishability and are enriched by the adornment of divine glory. And so he, by his own power and God-befitting activity, “will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory.”255 What is the body of our humiliation? It is this body from the earth that is held by death because of that ancient curse that Christ dissolved “by becoming a curse for us.”256 The transformation will not change us into some other nature.257 We will remain what we are, that is, human beings, but incomparably better. We will be imperishable and indestructible and glorified as well. Now what the last trumpet that wakes the dead refers to, the divinely inspired Paul himself explains to us [256] when he says, “For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”258 He likens the voice of the archangel and that divine and terrifying command to a trumpet. And even though the archangel is the one who cries out and gives the signal of resurrection to those lying in the earth, it will nevertheless be the voice of Christ. He is in fact the one who wakes the dead by his own power. It is surely not the voice of the archangel that does it. After all, all rational creatures are subject to the Lord’s commands.
15:53 For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
As far as its own nature is concerned, the human body is subject to death and decay. But it is covered with immortality when God completes it as he knows how.259 We say that this is how the first human was created in the beginning. But when the curse came, when he ignored the command that had been given to him, he was stripped of imperishability and the robe of divine glory. That is the sense in which “they knew that they were naked.”260 At the time of the resurrection, however, there will be a restoration of the good attributes they had in the beginning. The flesh will rise clothed with immortality and enriched by the robe of divine glory.261
15:54b-57 Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your sting? Where, O Hades, is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Cod. Vat. Gr. 762) |
(Cod. Pantokrator. 28) |
What kind of resurrection will it actually be if we say that what will rise is not the same thing as what was held prisoner by death? Or how will we practically prance on top of decay and say, [258] “Death has been swallowed up in victory,” and so on? Now we must realize that the blessed Paul employed the arrangement of words in the present passage in accordance with the Hebrew version.262 The Septuagint version does not read this way. There it is written in the prophets, “Where is your penalty, O death? Where is your sting, O Hades?”263 However, he adds, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” After all, the one who has the power of death (that is, Satan) strikes like a scorpion. And he strikes in no other way than through sin. But the Savior has given us the power to “tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.”264 The sting of death was destroyed when sin was removed so that it no longer has the law as its power, since the law condemns sinners. That is why the divinely inspired Paul says that the law is the power of sin. This too has been dissolved in Christ, since sin will not rule over us because we are not under law but under grace.265 “Apart from the law, sin lies dead.”266 Who then supplies us with all these things? Who is the prince of righteousness? Who is the giver of freedom? Who is the fount and cause of every good thing? We can learn this from the blessed Paul, who says, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” |
If what fell into the earth is not raised, but remains in the ground, how has death been conquered? How will we practically prance on top of decay and say, “Death has been swallowed up in [258] victory,” that is, complete victory? The apostle then cited the verse in accordance with the Hebrew version,267 not the Septuagint, which reads, “Where is your penalty, O death? Where is your sting, O Hades?”268
Satan, who has the sting of death, strikes like a scorpion in no other way than through sin. Christ, however, destroyed the sting of death when sin was removed so that it no longer has the law as its power. The law is the power of sin because it condemns sinners. This too has been dissolved in Christ. Therefore, death has been destroyed as well. |