victions of what is true and right. It is a system that is withering and blighting to the best hopes of men. Can it be believed that God will destroy those who are living to his honour; who are pure in heart, and lovely in life, and who have been made such by the Christian religion? If it cannot, then every man knows that Christianity is not false, and that infidelity is not true.

VER. 19. If in this life only we have hope in

Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

t John xvi. 2. Chap. iv. 13. 2 Tim. iii. 12.

If in this life only we have hope in Christ. -If our hope in Christ shall not be followed by the resurrection of the dead and future glory, and if all our hopes shall be disappointed. We are, &c.-Doddridge, Macknight, Grotius, and some others, suppose that this refers to the apostles only, and that the sense is, that if there was no resurrection, they, of all men, would be most to be pitied, since they had exposed themselves to such a variety of dangers and trials, in which nothing could sustain them but the hope of immortality. If they failed in that, they failed in every thing. They were regarded as the most vile of the human family; they suffered more from persecution, poverty, and perils, than other men; and if, after all, they were to be deprived of all their hopes, and disappointed in their expectation of the resurrection, their condition would be more deplorable than that of any other men. But there is no good reason for supposing that the word "we," here, is to be limited to the apostles. For, (1.) Paul had not mentioned the apostles particularly in the previous verses; and, (2.) The argument demands that it should be understood of all Christians, and the declaration is as true, substantially, of all Christians as it was of the apostles. Öf all men most miserable.-More to be pitied or commiserated than any other class of men. The word here used (λɛɛivórɛ001) means, properly, more deserving of pity, more pitiable. It may mean sometimes, more wretched, or unhappy ; but this is not necessarily its meaning, nor is it its meaning here. It refers rather to their condition and hopes than to their personal feeling; and does not mean that Christians are unhappy, or that their religion does not produce comfort, but that their condition would be most deplorable; they would be more deserving of pity than any other class of men. This would be, (1.) Because no other men had so elevated hopes, and, of course, no others could experience so great disappointment. (2.) They were subjected to more trials than any other class of men. They were persecuted and reviled, and subjected to toil, and privation, and want, on account of their religion; and if, after all, they were to be disappointed, their condition was truly deplorable. (3.) They do not indulge in the pleasures of this life; they do not give themselves as others do, to the enjoyments of this world. They voluntarily subject themselves to trial and self-denial; and if they are not admitted to eternal life, they are not only disappointed in this, but they are cut off from the sources of happiness which their fellow-men enjoy in this world.-Calvin. (4.) On the whole, therefore, there would be dis

appointed hopes, and trials, and poverty, and want, and all for nought; and no condition could be conceived to be more deplorable than where a man was looking for eternal life, and for it subjecting himself to a life of want, and poverty, and persecution, and tears, and should be finally disappointed. This passage, therefore, does not mean that virtue and piety are not attended with

happiness; it does not mean that, even if there

were no future state, a man would not be more happy if he walked in the paths of virtue than if he lived a life of sin; it does not mean that the Christian has no happiness in religion itself-in the love of God, and in prayer, and praise, and in purity of life. In all this he has enjoyment; and even if there were no heaven, a life of virtue and piety would be more happy than a life of sin. But it means that the condition of the Christian would be more deplorable than that of other men; he would be more to be pitied. All his high hopes would be disappointed. Other men have no such hopes to be dashed to the ground; and, of course, no other men would be such objects of pity and compassion. The argument in this verse is derived from the high hopes of the Christian. "Could they believe that all their hopes were | to be frustrated? Could they subject themselves to all these trials and privations, without believing that they would rise from the dead? Were they prepared, by the denial of the doctrine of the resurrection, to put themselves in the condition of the most miserable and wretched of the hu man family to admit that they were in a condition most to be deplored?"

VER. 20. But now is "Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits * of them that slept.

u 1 Pet. i. 3.

P

v Acts xxvi. 23. Col. i. 18. Rev. 1 5. But now is Christ risen, &c.—This language is the bursting forth of a full heart and of overpowering conviction. It would seem as if Paul were impatient of the slow process of argument; weary of meeting objections, and of stating the consequences of a denial of the doctrine; and longing to give utterance to what he knew, that Christ was risen from the dead. That was a point on which he was certain. He had seen him after he was risen; and he could no more doubt this fact than he could any other which he had witnessed with his own eyes. He makes, therefore, this strong affirmation; and, in doing it, he at the same time affirms that the dead will also rise, since he had shown (ver. 12-18) that all the objection to the doctrine of the resurrection was removed by the fact that Christ had risen, and had shown that his resurrection involved the certainty that his people also would rise. There is peculiar force in the word "now" in this verse. The meaning may be thus expressed: “I have showed the consequences which would follow from the supposition that Christ was not raised up. I have shown how it would destroy all our hopes, plunge us into grief, annihilate our faith. make our preaching vain, and involve us in the belief that our pious friends have perished, and that we are yet in our sins. I have shown how it would produce the deepest disappointment and

misery. But all this was mere supposition. There is no reason to apprehend any such consequences, or to be thus alarmed. Christ is risen. Of that there is no doubt. That is not to be called in question. It is established by irrefragable testimony; and consequently our hopes are not vain, our faith is not useless, our pious friends have not perished, and we shall not be disappointed." And become the first-fruits.-The word rendered first-fruits (arapyn) occurs in the New Testament in the following places: Rom. viii. 23, (see Note on this place;) xi. 16; xvi. 5. 1 Cor. xv. 20, 23; xvi. 15. James i. 18. Rev. xiv. 4. It occurs often in the LXX, as the translation of , fat, or fatness, (Num. xviii. 12, 29, 30, 32 ;) as the translation of w, the tenth, or tithe, (Deut. xii. 6;) of p, iniquity, (Num. xviii. 1 ;) of, the beginning, the commencement, the first, (Ex. xxiii. 19. Lev. xxiii. 10. xv. 18, 19, &c.;) of, oblation, offering; lifting up of that which is lifted up or waved as the first sheaf of the harvest, &c. Ex. XXV. 2,3;

Num.

XXXV. 5. Num. v. 9; xviii. 8, &c. The firstfruits, or the first sheaf of ripe grain, was required to be offered to the Lord, and was waved before him by the priest, as expressing the sense of gratitude by the husbandman, and his recognition of the fact that God had a right to all that he had. (Lev. xxiii. 10-14.) The word, therefore, comes to have two senses, or to involve two ideas: (1.) That which is first, the beginning, or that which has the priority of time; and (2.) That which is a part and portion of the whole which is to follow, and which is the earnest or pledge of that; as the first sheaf of ripe grain was not only the first in order of time, but was the earnest or pledge of the entire harvest which was soon to succeed. In allusion to this Paul uses the word here. It was not merely or mainly that Christ was the first in order of time that rose from the dead, for Lazarus and the widow's son had been raised before him; but it was that he was chief in regard to the dignity, value, and importance of his rising; he was connected with all that should rise, as the first sheaf of the harvest was with the crop; he was a part of the mighty harvest of the resurrection, and his rising was a portion of that great rising, as the sheaf was a portion of the harvest itself; and he was so connected with them all, and their rising so depended on his, that his resurrection was a demonstration that they would rise. It may also be implied here, as Grotius and Schoettgen have remarked, that he is the first of those who were raised so as not to die again; and that, therefore, those raised by Elisha and by the Saviour himself do not come into the account. They all died again; but the Saviour will not die, nor will those whom he will raise up in the resurrection die any more. He is, therefore, the first of those that thus rise, and a portion of that great host which shall be raised to die no more. May there not be another idea? The first sheaf of the harvest was consecrated to God, and then all the harvest was regarded as consecrated to him. May it not be implied that, by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, all those of whom he speaks are regarded as sacred to God, and as consecrated and accepted by the resurrection and acceptance of him who

For since by man came death.-By Adam, or See ver. 22. The by means of his transgression. sense is, evidently, that in consequence of the sin of Adam, all men die, or are subjected to temporal death. Or, in other words, man would not have died had it not been for the crime of the first man. See Note on Rom. v. 12. This passage may be regarded as proof that death would not have entered the world had it not been for transgression; or, in other words, if man had not sinned, he would have remained immortal on the earth, or would have been translated to headeath. The apostle here, by "man," undoubtven, as Enoch and Elijah were, without seeing edly refers to Adam; but the particular and specific idea which he intends to insist on is, that as death came by human nature, or by a human being, by a man, so it was important and proper that immortality, or freedom from death, should Man introduced death; man also would recover come in the same way, by one who was a man. from death. The evil was introduced by one man; the recovery would be by another. By man came also.-By the Lord Jesus, the Son of The resurrection came God, in human nature. by him, because he first rose-first of those who should not again die; because he proclaimed the and because by his power the dead will be raised doctrine, and placed it on a firm foundation; up. Thus he came to counteract the evils of the fall, and to restore man to more than his primeval dignity and honour. The resurrection through Christ will be with the assurance that all who are raised up by him shall never die again.

VER. 22. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

For as in Adam, (iv 7 'Aêàμ.)—By Adam; by the act, or by means of Adam; as a consequence of his act. His deed was the procuring cause, or the reason why all are subjected to temporal death. See Gen. iii. 19. It does not mean that all men became actually dead when he sinned, for they had not then an existence; but it must mean that the death of all can be traced to him as the procuring cause, and that his act made it certain that all that came into the world would be mortal. The sentence which went forth against him, (Gen. iii. 19,) went forth against all; affected all; involved all in the certainty of death; as the sentence that was passed on the serpent, (Gen. iii. 14,) made it certain that all serpents would be "cursed above all cattle," and be prone upon the earth; the sentence that was passed upon the woman, (Gen. iii. 16,) made it certain that all women would be subjected to the same condition of suffering to which Eve was subjected; and the sentence that was passed on man, (Gen. iii. 17,) that he should cultivate the ground in sorrow all the days of bis life, that it should bring forth thistles and

sense.

thorns to him, (ver. 18,) that he should eat bread in the sweat of his brow, (ver. 19,) made it certain that this would be the condition of all men as well as of Adam. It was a blow at the head of the human family, and they were subjected to the same train of evils as he was himself. In like manner they were subjected to death. It was done in Adam, or by Adam, in the same way as it was in him or by him, that they were subjected to toil, and to the necessity of procuring food by sweat of the brow. See Notes, Rom. v. 12-19. See ver. 47, 48. All die. All mankind are subjected to temporal death, or are mortal. This passage has been often adduced to prove that all mankind became sinful in Adam, or in virtue of a covenant transaction with him; and that they are subjected to spiritual death as a punishment for his sins. But whatever may be the truth on that subject, it is clear that this passage does not relate to it, and should not be adduced as a proof text. For, (1.) The words "die" and "dieth" obviously and usually refer to temporal death; and they should be so understood, unless there is something in the connexion which requires us to understand them in a figurative and metaphorical But there is evidently no such necessity here. (2.) The context requires us to understand this as relating to temporal death. There is not here, as there is in Rom. v., any intimation that men became sinners in consequence of the transgression of Adam; nor does the course of the apostle's argument require him to make any statement on that subject. His argument has reference to the subject of temporal death, and the resurrection of the dead, and not to the question in what way men became sinners. (3.) The whole of this argument relates to the resurrection of the dead. That is the main, the leading, the exclusive point. He is demonstrating that the dead would rise. He is showing how this would be done. It became, therefore, important for him to show in what way men were subjected to temporal death. His argument, therefore, requires him to make a statement on that point, and that only; and to show that the resurrection by Christ was adapted to meet and overcome the evils of the death to which men were subjected by the sin of the first man. In Rom. v., the design of Paul is to prove that the effects of the work of Christ were more than sufficient to meet all the evils introduced by the sin of Adam. This leads him to an examination there of the question in what way men became sinners. Here the design is to show that the work of Christ is adapted to overcome the evils of the sin of Adam in one specific matter-the matter under discussion, i. e. on the point of the resurrection; and his argument, therefore, requires him to show only that temporal death, or mortality, was introduced by the first man, and that this has been counteracted by the second; and to this specific point the interpretation of this passage should be confined. Nothing is more important in interpreting the Bible than to ascertain the specific point in the argument of a writer to be defended or illustrated, and then to confine the interpretation to that. The argument of the apostle here is ample to prove that all men are subjected to temporal death by the

sin of Adam; and that this evil is counteracted fully by the resurrection of Christ, and the resurrection through him. And to this point the passage should be limited. (4.) If this passage means, that in Adam, or by him, all men became sinners, then the correspondent declaration, “all shall be made alive," must mean that all men shall become righteous, or that all shall be saved. This would be the natural and obvious interpretation; since the words "be made alive" mast have reference to the words "all die," and must affirm the correlative and opposite fact. If the phrase" all die" there means all become sinners, then the phrase "all be made alive," must mean all shall be made holy, or be recovered from their spiritual death; and thus an obvious argument is furnished for the doctrine of universal salvation, which it is difficult, if not impossible, to meet. It is not a sufficient answer to this to say, that the word "alt," in the latter part of the sentence, means all the elect, or all the righteous; for its most natural and obvious meaning is, that it is co-extensive with the word "all" in the former part of the verse. And although it has been held by many who suppose that the passage refers only to the resurrection of the dead, that it means that all the righteous shall be raised up, or all who are given to Christ, yet that interpretation is not the obvious one, nor is it yet sufficiently clear to make it the basis of an argument, or to meet the strong argument which the advocate of universal salvation will derive from the former interpretation of the passage. It is true, literally, that all the dead will rise; it is not true, literally, that all who became mortal, or became sinners by means of Adam, will be saved. And it must be held as a great principle, that this passage is not to be so interpreted as to teach the doctrine of the salvation of all men. At least, this may be adopted as a principle in the argument with those who adduce it to prove that all men became sinners by the transgression of Adam. This passage, therefore, should not be adduced in proof of the doctrine of imputation, or as relating to the question how men became sinners, but should be limited to the subject that was imme diately put under discussion in the argument of the apostle. That object was, to show that the doctrine of the resurrection by Christ was such as to meet the obvious doctrine, that men became mortal by Adam; or that the one was adapted to counteract the other. Even so, (ouro.)-In this manner; referring not merely to the certainty of the event, but to the mode or manner. As the death of all was occasioned by the sin of one, even so, in like manner, the resurrection of all shall be produced by one. His resurrection shall meet and counteract the evils introduced by the other, so far as the subject under discussion is concerned; that is, so far as relates to temporal death. In Christ.-By Christ; in virtue of him; or as the result of his death and resurrection. Many commentators have supposed that the word "all" here | refers only to believers, meaning all who were i united to Christ, or all who were his friends; all included in the covenant with him; as the word "all" in the former member of the sentence means all who were included in the covenant with Adam; that is, all mankind. But to

this view there are manifest objections. (1.) It is not the obvious sense; it is not that which will occur to the great mass of men who interpret the Scriptures on the principles of common sense; it is an interpretation which is to be made out by reasoning and by theology—always a suspicious circumstance in interpreting the Bible. (2.) It is not necessary. All the wicked will be raised up from the dead, as well as all the righteous. (Dan. xii. 2. John v. 28, 29.) (3.) The form of the passage requires us to understand the word "all" in the same sense in both members, unless there be some indispensable necessity for limiting the one or the other. (4.) The argument of the apostle requires this. For his object is to show that the effect of the sin of Adam, by introducing temporal death, will be counteracted by Christ in raising up all who die; which would not be shown, if the apostle meant to say that only a part of those who had died in consequence of the sin of Adam would be raised up. The argument would then be inconclusive. But now it is complete, if it be shown that "all" shall be raised up, whatever may become of them afterwards. The sceptre of death shall be broken. and his dominion destroyed, by the fact that all shall be raised up from the dead. Be made alive. -Be raised from the dead; be made alive, in a sense contradistinguished from that in which he here says they were subjected to death by Adam. If it should be held that that means that all were made sinners by him, then this means, as has been observed, that all shall be made righteous, and the doctrine of universal salvation has an unanswerable argument; if it means, as it obviously does, that all were subjected to temporal death by him, then it means that all shall be raised from the dead by Christ.

VER. 23. But every man in his own order; Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ's, at his coming.

y 1 Thess. iv. 15-17.

But every man.-Every one, including Christ as well as others. In his own order.-In his proper order, rank, place, time. The word rayua usually relates to military order or array; to the arrangement of a cohort, or band of troops; to their being properly marshalled with the officers at the head, and every man in his proper place in the ranks. Here it means that there was a proper order to be observed in the resurrection of the dead. And the design of the apostle is, probably, to counteract the idea that the resurrection was passed already, or that there was no future resurrection to be expected. The order which is here referred to is, doubtless, mainly that of time; meaning that Christ would be first, and then that the others would follow. But it also means that Christ would be first, because it was proper that he should be first. He was first in rank, in dignity, and in honour; he was the leader of all others, and their resurrection depended on his. And as it was proper that a leader or commander should have the first place on a march, or in an enterprise involving peril or glory; so it was proper that Christ should be first in the resurrection, and that the others

should follow on in due order and time. Christ the first-fruits.-Christ first in time, and the pledge that they should rise. See Note on ver. 20. Afterward.-After he has risen. Not before, because their resurrection depended on him. They that are Christ's.-They who are Christians. The apostle, though in ver. 22 he had stated the truth that all the dead would rise, yet here only mentions Christians, because to them only would the doctrine be of any consolation, and because it was to them particularly that this whole argument was directed. At his coming.-When he shall come to judge the world, and to receive his people to himself. This proves that the dead will not be raised until Christ shall reappear. He shall come for that purpose: and he shall assemble all the dead, and shall take his people to himself. See Matt. xxv. And this declaration fully met the opinion of those who held that the resurrection was past already. See 2 Tim. ii. 18.

Then cometh the end.-Then is the end; or then is the consummation. It does not mean that the end, or consummation, is to follow that event, but that this will be the ending, the winding up, the consummation of the affairs under the mediatorial reign of Christ. The word "end" (TEλoc) denotes properly a limit, termination, completion of any thing. The proper and obvious meaning of the word here is, that then shall be the end or completion of the work of redemption. That shall have been done which was intended to be done by the incarnation and the work of the atonement. The race shall be redeemed; the friends of God shall be completely recovered; and the administration of the affairs of the universe shall be conducted as they were before the incarnation of the Redeemer. Some understand the word "end" here, however, as a metaphor, meaning "the last, or the rest of the dead;" but this is a forced and improbable interpretation. The word "end" here may refer to the end of human affairs, or the end of the kingdoms of this world; or it may refer to the end of the mediatorial kingdom of the Redeemer; the consummation of his peculiar reign and work resulting in the surrender of the kingdom to the Father. The connexion demands the last interpretation, though this involves also the former. When he shall have delivered up, (Tapacy.)—This word means properly to give near, with, or to any one; to give over, to deliver up.-Robinson. It is applied to the act of delivering up persons to the power or authority of others, as, e. g. to magistrates for trial and condemnation. (Matt. v. 25. Mark xv. 1. Luke xx. 20;) to lictors, or soldiers, for punishment, (Matt. xviii. 24 ;) or to one's enemies, (Matt. xxvi. 15.) It is applied also to persons or things delivered over or surrendered, to do or suffer any thing. (Acts xv. 26. 1 Cor. xiii. 3. Eph. iv. 19.) It is also applied

to persons or things delivered over to the care, charge, or supervision of any one, in the sense of giving up, intrusting, committing. (Matt. xi. 27; XXV. 14. Luke iv. 6, 10, 22.) Here the obvious sense is that of surrendering, giving back, delivering up, rendering up that which had been received, implying that an important trust had been received, which was now to be rendered back. And according to this interpretation, it means, (1.) That the Lord Jesus had received or been intrusted with an important power or office as Mediator. Comp. Note, Matt. xviii. 18. (2.) That he had executed the purpose implied in that trust or commission; and, (3.) That he was now rendering back to God that office or authority which he had received at his hands. As the work had been accomplished which had been contemplated in his design; as there would be no further necessity for mediation when redemption should have been made, and his church recovered from sin and brought to glory, there would be no further need of that peculiar arrangement which had been implied in the work of redemption, and of course all the intrustment of power involved in that would be again restored to the hands of God. The idea, says Grotius, is, that he would deliver up the kingdom as the governors of provinces render again or deliver up their commission and authority to the Cæsars who appointed them. There is no absurdity in this view; for if the world was to be redeemed, it was necessary that the Redeemer should be intrusted with power sufficient for his work. When that work was done, and there was no further need of that peculiar exercise of power, then it would be proper that it should be restored, or that the government of God should be administered as it was before the work of redemption was undertaken; that the Divinity, or the Godhead, as such, should preside over the destinies of the universe. Of course, it will not follow that the Second Person of the Trinity will surrender all power, or cease to exercise government: it will be that power only which he had as Mediator; and whatever part in the administration of the government of the universe he shared as Divine before the incarnation, he will still share, with the additional glory and honour of having redeemed a world by his death. The kingdom. This word means properly dominion, reign, the exercise of kingly power. In the New Testament, it means commonly the reign of the Messiah, or the dominion which God would exercise through the Messiah; the reign of God over men by the laws and institutions of the Messiah. See Note, Matt. iii. 2. Here it means, I think, evidently, dominion in general. It cannot denote the peculiar administration over the world involved in the work of mediation, for that will be ended; but it means that the empire, the sovereignty, shall have been delivered up to God. His enemies shall have been subdued. His power shall have been asserted. The authority of God shall have been established, and the kingdom, or the dominion, shall be in the hands of God himself; and he shall reign, not in the peculiar form which existed in the work of mediation, but absolutely, and as he did over obedient minds before the incarnation. To

God.-To God as God; to the Divinity. The Mediator shall have given up the peculiar power and rule as Mediator, and it shall be exercised by God as God. Even the Father. And (cai)' the Father. The word "Father," as applied to God in the Scriptures, is used in two senses to designate the Father, the First Person of the Trinity, as distinguished from the Son; and in a broader, wider sense, to denote God as sustaining the relation of a Father to his creatures, as the Father of all. Instances of this use are too numerous to be here particularly referred to. I is in this latter sense, perhaps, that the word is used here-not to denote that the Second Person', of the Trinity is to surrender all power into the hands of the First, or that he is to cease to exercise dominion and control; but that the power is to be yielded into the hands of God as God, ie as the universal Father, as the Divinity, without being exercised in any peculiar and special manner by the different persons of the Godhead, as had been done in the work of redemption. At l the close of the work of redemption this peculiar arrangement would cease; and God, as the uriversal Father and Ruler of all, would exercise the government of the world. See, however, Note on ver. 28. When he shall have put down. -When he shall have "abolished," or brought to nought, all that opposed the reign of God. All rule, &c.—All those mighty powers that opposed God and resisted his reign. The words here used do not seem intended to denote the several departments or forms of opposition, but to be general terms, meaning that whatever opposed God should be subdued. They include, of course. the kingdoms of this world; the sins, pride, and corruption of the human heart; the powers of darkness-the spiritual dominions that oppose God on earth and in hell; and death and the grave. All shall be completely subdued, and cease to interpose any obstacles to the advancement of his kingdom and to his universal reign. A monarch reigns when all his enemies are subdued or destroyed; or when they are prevented from opposing his will, even though all should not voluntarily submit to his will. The following remarks of Professor Bush present a plansible and ingenious view of this difficult passage, and they are therefore subjoined here. "If the opinion of the eminent critic, Storr, may be admitted, that the kingdom here said to be delivered up to the Father is not the kingdom of ; Christ, but the rule and dominion of all adverse powers-an opinion rendered very probable by the following words: when he shall have pat down (Gr. done away, abolished) all rule, and all authority and power,-and ver. 25, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet,'-then is the passage of identical import with Rev. ix. 15, referring to precisely the same period: And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. It is, therefore, we conceive, but a pe culiar mode of denoting the transfer, the making over of the kingdoms of this world from their former despotic and antichristian rulers to the sovereignty of Jesus Christ, the appointed heir