1 Corinthians Chapter 15
1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.
2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.
6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.
25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
27 For he “has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ.
28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
29 Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?
30 And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour?
31 I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
33 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
34 Come back to a sober and upright life and stop sinning. There are some who know nothing of God—I say this to your shame.
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”
36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.
39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another.
40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.
41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;
43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.
47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.
48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.
49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
50 I declare to you, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—
52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53 For the corruptible must clothe itself with the incorruptible, and the mortal with immortality.
54 When the corruptible has been clothed with the incorruption, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Commentary
It is utterly incredible to find out that Clement of Alexandria cites material from the previous thirteen chapters over and then suddenly ignores chapters 14 and 15. There are only four explicit references to what amounts to just under one hundred lines of text. We can't just brush this under the carpet. I think traditionally scholars interested in Marcion's canon were just happy to go along with the idea that Tertullian's citation 'prove' that Marcion 'must have' had this section of text. Yet why doesn't Clement know anything about it? Indeed when you really think about it, there is nothing radical about any of the contents. As it stands the orthodox have to explain why Paul speaks about two Adams - one fleshly and one spiritual. Yet this is hardly controversial sounding. I am more intrigued by Clement's interest in the spiritual body as a result of a 'wedding' or spiritual union with Jesus:
He who in this way is joined to the harlot, that is, to conduct contrary to the Covenant becomes another body, not holy, and one flesh, and has a heathenish life and another hope. But he that is joined to the Lord in spirit becomes a spiritual body by a different kind of conjunction. Such an one is wholly a son, an holy man, passionless, gnostic, perfect, formed by the teaching of the Lord; in order that in deed, in word, and in spirit itself, being brought close to the Lord, he may receive the mansion that is due to him who has reached manhood thus. [Stromata 7.88]
This plainly has a connection with the material from the 'secret gospel' cited in the Letter to Theodore. Could it be that the original text here continued on to something else preserved in another Pauline letter? This must be the case otherwise the letter would have been placed near the beginning of the Apostolikon - it would just be too short!
Are there any references to readings from Marcion's chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians? In other words, not that Tertullian or another Church Father talk about this section while rejecting Marcion but actually tell us that Marcion has this section? I must find out ....
Relevant Patristic References
1 Cor 15:1 Adamantius Dialogue (p.186, l.7 - <) BP2
1 Cor 15.1 Tertullian Resurrection 48 § 2 (p.987, l.7) BP1
1cor 15:1, 3 17, 11, 3 - 4- On resurrection of the dead: "Brethren, I make known unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you." Also, "If Christ be not raised, it is vain," and so on. "So we preach, and so ye believed... that Christ died, and was buried, ...and rose again on the third day... When this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory' [Epiphanius Panarion 42 11 § 8 (p.123, l.4 - *<) BP4 42 12 § 3 (p.171, l.14 - *<) BP4 42 12 § 3 (p.171, l.21 - <) BP4 42 12 § 3 (p.172, l.5 - <) BP4 42 12 § 3 (p.172, l.7 - <) BP4 ]
1 Cor 15.2 Epiphanius Panarion 42 12 § 3 (p.172, l.7 - <) BP4 42 12 § 3 (p.172, l.9 - <) BP4 61 6 § 5 (p.386, l.20 - <) BP4
1 cor 15:3 - But who is it that has had fellowship with us in the matter of food? Whether is it he who is conceived of by them as the Christ above, who extended himself through Horos, and imparted a formto their mother; or is it He who is from the Virgin, Emmanuel, who ate butter and honey, Isaiah 8:14 of whom the prophet declared, He is also a man, and who shall know him? Jeremiah 17:9 He was likewise preached by Paul: For I delivered, he says, unto you first of all, that Christ died for oursins, according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 It is plain, then, that Paul knew no other Christ besides Him alone, who both suffered, and was buried, and rose gain, who was also born, and whom he speaks of as man. For after remarking, But if Christ be preached, that He rose from the dead, 1 Corinthians 15:12he continues, rendering the reason of His incarnation, For since by man came death, by man [came] also the resurrection of the dead. And everywhere, when [referring to] the passion of our Lord, and to His human nature, and His subjection to death, he employs the name of Christ, as in that passage:Destroy not him with your meat for whom Christ died. Romans 14:15 And again: But now, in Christ, you who sometimes were far off are made near by the blood of Christ. [Irenaeus 3.18.3]
1 Cor 15.3 Acts of Paul C (p.34, l.8) BP1
1 Cor 15.3 Tertullian Against Marcion 3 8 § 5 (p.519, l.27) BP1
1 Cor 15.3 Adamantius Dialogues (p.186, l.16 - <) BP2 (p.196, l.1 - <) BP2
1 Cor 15.3 Tertullian Resurrection 48 § 7 (p.988, l.26) BP1
1 Cor 15.3 Methodius Resurrection 3 13 § 9 (p.410, l.18 - <) BP2
1 cor 15:3 - testifies that "He died according to the Scriptures," [Tertullian Against Praxeas]
1 cor 15:3 - For even the apostle, to his declaration-which he makes not without feeling the weight of it-that "Christ died," immediately adds, "according to the Scriptures," [Tertullian Against Praxeas]
1 cor 15:3 - For the Son, therefore, to die, amounted to His being forsaken by the Father. The Son, then, both dies and rises again, according to the Scriptures.[Tertullian Against Praxeas]
1 Cor 15.3 - Again, that it was the Paraclete Himself who was in Paul, is indicated by our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel, when He says: “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray my Father, and He shall give you another Comforter.”1792 In these words He points to the Paraclete Himself, for He speaks of “another” Comforter. And hence we have given credit to Paul, and have hearkened to him when he says, “Or1793 seek ye a proof of Christ speaking in me?”1794
1794 2 Cor. xiii. 3.
and when he expresses himself in similar terms, of which we have already spoken above. Thus, too, he seals his like a father he addresses us in these words in his Epistle to the Corinthians: “I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures; and that He was seen of Cephas, then of the eleven apostles:1795 after that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that He was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the last of the apostles.”1796 “Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.”1797
1797 1 Cor. xv. 11.And again, in delivering over to his heirs that inheritance which he gained first himself, he says: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Christ,1798 whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another Spirit, which we have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. For I suppose that I did nothing less for you than the other apostles.” [Acts Archelaus 34]
1 Cor 15.4 Adamantius Dialogue (p.186, l.7 - <) BP2 (p.186, l.16 - <) BP2 (p.196, l.1 - <) BP2
1 Cor 15.4 Sybilline oracles (p.2, l.20) BP1
1 Cor 15.4 Tertullian Against Marcion 3 8 § 5 (p.519, l.27) BP1
1 Cor 15.4 Tertullian Soul 55 § 2 (p.862, l.8) BP1
1 Cor 15.4 Tertullian Flesh of Christ 5 § 3 (p.880, l.16) BP1
1 Cor 15.4 Epiphanius Panarion 2 § 8 (p.230, l.5) BP4 ; 42 11 § 8 (p.123, l.7 - *< /) BP4 42 12 § 3 (p.171, l.17 - *< /) BP4 42 12 § 3 (p.172, l.9 - <) BP4 42 12 § 3 (p.172, l.16 - < /) BP4
1 Cor 15.5 only Origen
1 cor 15.5 - But concerning the apostles and prophets, according to the decree of the Gospel, thus do. 4. Let every apostle that cometh to you be received as the Lord [Didache]
1 cor 15.6 only Origen and Methodius
1 Cor 15.7 only Origen
1 cor 15.8 - But as for me, I am ashamed to be counted one of them; for indeed I am not worthy, as being the very last of them, and one born out of due time [Ignatius to the Romans]
1 cor 15.8 - And that the Saviour appeared to her when she lay outside of the Pleroma as a kind of abortion, they affirm Paul to have declared in his Epistle to the Corinthians [in these words], "And last of all, He appeared to me also, as to one born out of due time." Again, the coming of the Saviour with His attendants to Achamoth is declared in like manner by him in the same Epistle, when he says, “A woman ought to have a veil upon her head, because of the angels.” 2753 Now, that Achamoth, when the Saviour came to her, drew a veil over herself through modesty, Moses rendered manifest when he put a veil upon his face. Then, also, they say that the passions which she endured were indicated by the Lord upon the cross. Thus, when He said, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” 2754 He simply showed that Sophia was deserted by the light, and was restrained by Horos from making any advance forward. Her anguish, again, was indicated when He said, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death;” 2755 her fear by the words, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me;” 2756 and her perplexity, too, when He said, “And what I shall say, I know not.” 2757 [Irenaes AH 1.8.2]
1 Cor 15.8 Excerpta e Theodoto 68 (p.192, l.10 - *) BP1
1 Cor 15.8 Clement Virginity 17 14 § 1 (p.236, l.26 - /) BP2 17 19 § 4 (p.240, l.3 - >) BP2
1 Cor 15.8 Tertullian Resurrection 48 § 2 (p.987, l.7) BP1
1 cor 15.9 - "And it, is his wish to have to deal with1789 those who sought the proof of that Christ who spake in him, for this reason, that the Paraclete was in him: and as having obtained His gift of grace, and as being enriched with magnificent, honour,1790 he says: “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for strength is made perfect in weakness.”I am the last of all the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle. But by the grace of God I am what I am." [Acts of Archelaus 34]
1 Cor 15:9 Epistula Apostolorum § 31 (p.144, l.18) BP1
1 Cor 15.9 Adamantius Dialogues (p.16, l.9 - P) BP2
1 Cor 15.9 Clementine Homilies 17 19 § 4 (p.240, l.3 - >) BP2
1 Cor 15.10 Excerpta e Theodoto 31 § 3 (p.126, l.8 - *) BP1
1 Cor 15.10 Pseduo-Cyptian de Singularitate Clericorum 22 (p.198, l.24 - <) BP2
1 Cor 15.10 Acts of Thomas § 160 (p.272, l.2) BP2
1 cor 15.10 - Wherefore also Paul, since he was the apostle of the Gentiles, says, "I laboured more than they all." [Irenaeus 4.24.1]
1 cor 15.`10 - And again, in the Epistle to the Corinthians, when he had recounted all those who had seen God 3529 after the resurrection, he p. 437 says in continuation, “But whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed,” 3530acknowledging as one and the same, the preaching of all those who saw God 3531 after the resurrection from the dead. [Irenaeus 3.13.1]
1 cor 15.10 - if Marcion be an apostle, still as Paul says, "Whether it be I or they, so we preach; " [Tertullian Against Marcion 4]
1 cor 15.10 - I am content with the fact that, between apostles, there is a common agreement in rules of faith and of discipline. For, "Whether (it be) I," says (Paul), "or they, thus we preach." [Tertullian on Modestty]
1 Cor 15.11 Tertullian Against Marcion 1 20 § 4 (p.461, l.3) BP1 4 4 § 5 (p.550, l.2) BP1
1 Cor 15.11 Epiphanius Panarion 42 11 § 8 (p.123, l.6 - *< >) BP4 42 12 § 3 (p.171, l.16 - *< >) BP4 42 12 § 3 (p.172, l.16 - < >) BP4
1 cor 15.12 - He was likewise preached by Paul: For I delivered, he says, unto you first of all, that Christ died for oursins, according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 It is plain, then, that Paul knew no other Christ besides Him alone, who both suffered, and was buried, and rose gain, who was also born, and whom he speaks of as man. For after remarking, But if Christ be preached, that He rose from the dead, 1 Corinthians 15:12 [Irenaeus 3.18.3]
1 cor 15.12- Excerpta e Theodoto 23 § 2 (p.106, l.3 - *) BP1
1 cor 15.11 - Besides all this, I add a review of the doctrines themselves, which, existing as they did in the days of the apostles, were both exposed and denounced by the said apostles. For by this method they will be more easily reprobated,2191 when they are detected to have been even then in existence, or at any rate to have been seedlings2192 of the (tares) which then were. Paul, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, sets his mark on certain who denied and doubted the resurrection.2193 This opinion was the especial property of the Sadducees.2194 A part of it, however, is maintained by Marcion and Apelles and Valentinus, and all other impugners of the resurrection. [Tertullian, Prescription 33 § 3 (p.213, l.6) BP1]
1 cor 15.12 - I am content to illustrate this imperfection by the fact that even those whom he saves are found to possess but an imperfect salvation-that is, they are saved only so far as the soul is concerned, [Tertullian Against Marcion 1]
1 Cor 15.12 Tertullian Against Marcion 3 8 § 7 (p.519, l.8) BP1 5 9
1 cor 15.12 - Ours is a better faith, which believes in a future Christ, than the heretic's, which has none at all to believe in. Touching the resurrection of the dead, [Tertullian Marcion 5.9 § 2 (p.688, l.9) BP1 ]
1 cor 15.12 - Accordingly he subjoins this statement: “Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, because ye are yet in your sins, and they which have fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” 7623 Now, what is the point which he evidently labours hard to make us believe throughout this passage? The resurrection of the dead, you say, which was denied: he certainly wished it to be believed on the strength of the example which he adduced—the Lord’s resurrection. Certainly, you say. Well now, is an example borrowed from different circumstances, or from like ones? From like ones, by all means, is your answer. How then did Christ rise again? In the flesh, or not? No doubt, since you are told that He “died according to the Scriptures,” 7624 and “that He was buried according to the Scriptures,” 7625 no otherwise than in the flesh, you will also allow that it was in the flesh that He was raised from the dead. For the very same body which fell in death, and which lay in the sepulchre, did also rise again; (and it was) not so much Christ in the flesh, as the flesh in Christ. " [Tertullian Resurrection of the Flesh 48 § 3 (p.987, l.11) BP1]
1 cor 15.12 - 16 - For who does not know that most holy word of the apostle also, who, when he was preaching and proclaiming the resurrection of our Saviour, and confidently affirming the truth, said with great fear, "If any say that Christ is not risen, and we assert and have believed this, and both hope for and preach that very thing, we are false witnesses of God, in alleging that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up? " [Julius Africanus to Aristides REICHARDT W., TU 34,3 (1909), 53-62. (p.56, l.12 - <) BP2 ]
1 Cor 15.12 Acta Pauli B 7 (p.247, l.6) BP1
1 Cor 15.12 Acta Pauli C 39 (p.93, l.16) BP1
1 Cor 15.12 Clementine Recognitions 3 73 § 2 (p.144, l.11) BP2
1 Cor 15.12 Methodius 2 14 § 9 (p.360, l.21) BP2 2 17 § 3 (p.366, l.8 - <) BP2
1 cor 15:12 - 20 And there are many other passages of a similar import; as, for example, this which follows: How say some among you, that there is no resurrection of the dead? For if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is not Christ risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain. Yea, and we shall be found false witnesses of God; who have testified against Godthat He raised up Christ: whom He raised not up. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ risen: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins: Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are more miserable than all men. But now is Christ risen from the dead, the beginning of them that sleep; [Acts of Archelaus 49]
1 cor 15:13 - If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." [Ignatius to the Tarsians]
1 cor 15.13 - But now Christ has risen from the dead, the first-fruits of those that sleep; for as by man [came] death, by man also [came] the resurrection of the dead." [Irenaeus AH 5]
1 Cor 15.13 Acts of Paul C (p.38, l.19) BP1
1 Cor 15.13 Adamantius Dialogues (p.188, l.4 - <) BP2
1 cor 15.13 - God’s entire work, therefore, is subverted. Christ’s death, wherein lies the whole weight and fruit of the Christian name, is denied although the apostle asserts3214 it so expressly3215 as undoubtedly real, making it the very foundation of the gospel, of our salvation and of his own preaching.3216 “I have delivered unto you before all things,” says he, “how that Christ died for our sins, and that he was buried, and that He rose again the third day.” Besides, if His flesh is denied, how is His death to be asserted; for death is the proper suffering of the flesh, which returns through death back to the earth out of which it was taken, according to the law of its Maker? Now, if His death be denied, because of the denial of His flesh, there will be no certainty of His resurrection. For He rose not, for the very same reason that He died not, even because He possessed not the reality of the flesh, to which as death accrues, so does resurrection likewise. Similarly, if Christ’s resurrection be nullified, ours also is destroyed. If Christ’s resurrection be not realized,3217 neither shall that be for which Christ came. For just as they, who said that there is no resurrection of the dead, are refuted by the apostle from the resurrection of Christ, so, if the resurrection of Christ falls to the ground, the resurrection of the dead is also swept away.3218 And so our faith is vain, and vain also is the preaching of the apostles. Moreover, they even show themselves to be false witnesses of God, because they testified that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise. And we remain in our sins still.3219 And those who have slept in Christ have perished; destined, forsooth,3220 to rise again, but peradventure in a phantom state,3221 just like Christ. [Tertullian Against MArcion 3.8]
1 Cor 15.13 Tertullian Against Macion 3 8 § 5 (p.519, l.25) BP1 3 8 § 7 (p.519, l.12) BP1
1 Cor 15.13 Epiphanius Panarion 28 6 § 3 (p.318, l.10 - <), 42 12 § 3 (p.172, l.19 - < /) BP4 64 63 § 9 (p.502, l.5)
1 Cor 15.14 Epiphanius Panarion 28 6 § 3 (p.318, l.10 - <) BP4
1 Cor 15.16 no Ante-Nicene witnesses
1 Cor 15.17 Irenaeus Demonstratio 39 (p.93, l.16) BP1
1 Cor 15.17 Tertullian Against Marcion 3 8 § 7 (p.519, l.14) BP1
1 Cor 15.17 Tertullian De Carne Christi 5 § 3 (p.880, l.17) BP1
1 Cor 15.17 Methodius de Cibis 12 § 7 (p.444, l.13 - <) BP2
1 Cor 15.17 Epiphanius Panarion 42 11 § 8 (p.123, l.5 - *<) BP4 42 12 § 3 (p.171, l.15 - *<) BP4 42 12 § 3 (p.172, l.18 - < >) BP4
1 Cor 15.18 Tertullian Against Marcion 3 8 § 7 (p.519, l.14) BP1 1 Cor
1 Cor 15.18, 19 Tertullian Resurrection 48 § 3 (p.987, l.11) BP1
1 cor 15.19 - For, allowing that the word of the gospel may be called “the trump of God,” since it was still calling men, yet they must at that time either be dead as to the body, that they may be able to rise again; and then how are they alive? Or else caught up into the clouds; and how then are they here? “Most miserable,” no doubt, as the apostle declared them, are they “who in this life only” shall be found to have hope: 7450 they will have to be excluded while they are with premature haste seizing that which is promised after this life; erring concerning the truth, no less than Phygellus and Hermogenes [Tertullian On the Resurrection of the Flesh 24]
1 Cor 14.19, 20 Commodian Carmen apologeticum uel Carmen de duobus populis(p.84, l.310) BP2
1 cor 15:20 - Let us consider, beloved, how the Lord continually proves to us that there shall be a future resurrection, of which He has rendered the Lord Jesus Christ the first-fruits [1 Clement]
1 cor 15:20 For this reason did the Lord declare that the first should in truth be last, and the last first. Matthew 19:30, Matthew 20:16 And the prophet, too, indicates the same, saying, instead of fathers, children have been born unto you. For the Lord, having been born the First-begotten of the dead, Revelation 1:5 and receiving into His bosom the ancient fathers, has regenerated them into the life of God, He having been made Himself the beginning of those that live, as Adam became the beginning of those who die.1 Corinthians 15:20-22 Wherefore also Luke, commencing the genealogy with the Lord, carried it back to Adam, indicating that it was He who regenerated them into the Gospel of life, and not they Him. And thus also it was that the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Maryset free through faith. [Irenaeus AH 3.22.4]
1 cor 15.20 - Now that falls down which returns to the ground; and that rises again which falls down. "Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection." [Tertullian Against Marcion 5.9]
1 Cor 15.20 Adamantius Dialogues (p.188, l.9 - <) BP2 (p.188, l.29 - <) BP2 (p.192, l.15 - <) BP2 (p.194, l.2 - <) BP2 (p.196, l.2 - <) BP2
1 Cor 15.20 Hippolytus De resurrectione ad Mammaeam imperatricem (p.253, l.6) BP2 (p.253, l.10 - <) BP2 (p.253, l.17 - >) BP2
1 Cor 15.20 Methodius Resurrectin 1 26 § 1 (p.253, l.6 - <) BP2
1 Cor 15.20 Peter of Alexandria Resurrection (p.427, l.8 - <) BP2
1 Cor 15.20 Epiphanius Panarion 28 6 § 8 (p.319, l.6 - <) BP4
1 Cor 15.21,22 Tertullian Against Marcion 5 9 § 5 (p.689, l.10) BP1
1 Cor 15.22 Irenaeus Demonstratio 31 (p.81, l.1) BP1 Adamantius Dialogues (p.194, l.8 - <) BP2
1 Cor 15.22 Methodius Conuiuium 3 6 (p.102, l.31) BP2 Methodius Resurrection 2 18 § 7 (p.370, l.1 - <) BP2 69 31 § 2 (p.180, l.6 - <) BP4
1 cor 15.21, 22, 23, 29, 30, 31, 32, 35 - “For,” he says, “since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.” 7626(This he says) in order, on the one hand, to distinguish the two authors—Adam of death, Christ of resurrection; and, on the other hand, to make the resurrection operate on the same substance as the death, by comparing the authors themselves under the designation man. For if “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive,” 7627 their vivification in Christ must be in the flesh, since it is in the flesh that arises their death in Adam. “But every man in his own order,” 7628 because of course it will be also every man in his own body. For the order will be arranged severally, on account of the individual merits. Now, as the merits must be ascribed to the body, it must needs follow that the order also should be arranged in respect of the bodies, that it may be in relation to their merits. But inasmuch as “some are also baptized for the dead,” 7629 we will see whether there be a good reason for this. Now it is certain that they adopted this (practice) with such a presumption as made them suppose that the vicarious baptism (in question) would be beneficial to the flesh of another in anticipation of the resurrection; for unless it were a bodily resurp. 582 rection, there would be no pledge secured by this process of a corporeal baptism. “Why are they then baptized for the dead,” 7630 he asks, unless the bodies rise again which are thus baptized? For it is not the soul which is sanctified by the baptismal bath: 7631 its sanctification comes from the “answer.” 7632 “And why,” he inquires, “stand we in jeopardy every hour?” 7633 —meaning, of course, through the flesh. “I die daily,” 7634 (says he); that is, undoubtedly, in the perils of the body, in which “he even fought with beasts at Ephesus,” 7635 —even with those beasts which caused him such peril and trouble in Asia, to which he alludes in his second epistle to the same church of Corinth: “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed above measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.” 7636 Now, if I mistake not, he enumerates all these particulars in order that in his unwillingness to have his conflicts in the flesh supposed to be useless, he may induce an unfaltering belief in the resurrection of the flesh. For useless must that conflict be deemed (which is sustained in a body) for which no resurrection is in prospect. “But some man will say, How are the dead to be raised? And with what body will they come?” 7637 Now here he discusses the qualities of bodies, whether it be the very same, or different ones, which men are to resume. Since, however, such a question as this must be regarded as a subsequent one, it will in passing be enough for us that the resurrection is determined to be a bodily one even from this, that it is about the quality of bodies that the inquiry arises. [Tertullian Resurrection of the Flesh 48 § 8 (p.988, l.33) BP1
1 Cor 15.22 Tertullian Resurrection 48 § 9 (p.988, l.38) BP1]
1 cor 15:22 - All therefore speak falsely who disallow his (Adam's) salvation, shutting themselves out from life for ever, in that they do not believe that the sheep which had perished has been found.Luke 15:4 For if it has not been found, the whole human race is still held in a state of perdition. False, therefore, is that, man who first started this idea, or rather, this ignorance andblindness— Tatian. As I have already indicated, this man entangled himself with all the heretics. This dogma, however, has been invented by himself, in order that, by introducing something new, independently of the rest, and by speaking vanity, he might acquire for himself hearers void of faith, affecting to be esteemed a teacher, and endeavouring from time to time to employ sayings of this kind often [made use of] by Paul: In Adam we all die; 1 Corinthians 15:22 ignorant, however, that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Romans 5:20Since this, then, has been clearly shown, let all his disciples be put to shame, and let them wrangle about Adam, as if some great gain were to accrue to them if he be not saved; when they profit nothing more [by that], even as the serpent also did not profit when persuading man [to sin], except to this effect, that he proved him a transgressor, obtaining man as thefirst-fruits of his own apostasy. But he did not know God's power. Thus also do those who disallow Adam's salvation gain nothing, except this, that they render themselves heretics andapostates from the truth, and show themselves patrons of the serpent and of death. [Irenaeus 3.23.8]
1 cor 15:22 - Adam, that breath of life which proceeded from God, having been united to what had been fashioned, animated the man, and manifested him as a being endowed with reason; so also, in [the times of] the end, the Word of the Father and the Spirit of God, having become united with the ancient substance of Adam's formation, rendered man living and perfect, receptive of the perfect Father, in order that as in the natural [Adam] we all were dead, so in the spiritual we may all be made alive. [Irenaeus Book 5]
1 cor 15.22 - Blush, O flesh, who hast put on Christ! Suffice it you once for all to marry, whereto from the beginning you were created, whereto by the end you are being recalled! Return at least to the former Adam, if to the last you can not! Once for all did he taste of the tree; once for all felt concupiscence; once for all veiled his shame; once for all blushed in the presence of God; once for all concealed his guilty hue; once for all was exiled from the paradise of holiness; once for all thenceforwardmarried. If you were in him, you have your norm; if you have passed over into Christ, you will be bound to be (yet) better. Exhibit (to us) a third Adam, and him a digamist; and then you will be able to be what, between the two, you cannot. [Tertullian On Monogamy 17]
1 Cor 15.23 Adamantius Dialogue (p.188, l.9 - <) BP2 (p.188, l.29 - <) BP2 (p.194, l.8 - <) BP2
1 Cor 15.23 Tertullian Resurrection 48 § 10 (p.988, l.40) BP1
1 cor 15.23 - in heaven; then the sign of the sound of the trumpet; and the third, the resurrection of the dead; 7. yet not of all, but as it is said: The Lord shall come and all His saints with Him [Didache]
1 Cor 15.24 only Origen
1 cor 15:24, 25, 27, 28 - But as for me, who derive the Son from no other source but from the substance of the Father, and (represent Him) as doing nothing without the Father’s will, and as having received all power from the Father, how can I be possibly destroying the Monarchy from the faith, when I preserve it in the Son just as it was committed to Him by the Father? The same remark (I wish also to be formally) made by me with respect to the third degree in the Godhead, because I believe the Spirit to proceed from no other source than from the Father through the Son. 7798 Look to it then, that it be not you rather who are destroying the Monarchy, when you overthrow the arrangement and dispensap. 600 tion of it, which has been constituted in just as many names as it has pleased God to employ. But it remains so firm and stable in its own state, notwithstanding the introduction into it of the Trinity, that the Son actually has to restore it entire to the Father; even as the apostle says in his epistle, concerning the very end of all: “When He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; for He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet;” 7799 following of course the words of the Psalm: “Sit Thou on my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.” 7800 “When, however, all things shall be subdued to Him, (with the exception of Him who did put all things under Him,) then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” 7801 We thus see that the Son is no obstacle to the Monarchy, although it is now administered by 7802 the Son; because with the Son it is still in its own state, and with its own state will be restored to the Father by the Son. No one, therefore, will impair it, on account of admitting the Son (to it), since it is certain that it has been committed to Him by the Father, and by and by has to be again delivered up by Him to the Father. Now, from this one passage of the epistle of the inspired apostle, we have been already able to show that the Father and the Son are two separate Persons, not only by the mention of their separate names as Father and the Son, but also by the fact that He who delivered up the kingdom, and He to whom it is delivered up—and in like manner, He who subjected (all things), and He to whom they were subjected—must necessarily be two different Beings. [Tertullian Against Praxeas 4]
1 Cor 15.25 Papyri Argentinensis (coptici 5 et 6) (p.156, l.16) BP1
1 cor 15.25 - 28 [They say, moreover], that there is this distinction between the habitation of those who produce an hundred-fold, and that of those who produce sixty-fold, and that of those who produce thirty-fold: for the first will be taken up into the heavens, the second will dwell in paradise, the last will inhabit the city; and that was on this account the Lord declared, In My Father's house are many mansions. John 14:2 For all things belong to God, who supplies all with a suitable dwelling-place; even as His Word says, that a share is allotted to all by theFather, according as each person is or shall be worthy. And this is the couch on which the guests shall recline, having been invited to the wedding. Matthew 22:10 The presbyters, thedisciples of the apostles, affirm that this is the gradation and arrangement of those who are saved, and that they advance through steps of this nature; also that they ascend through theSpirit to the Son, and through the Son to the Father, and that in due time the Son will yield up His work to the Father, even as it is said by the apostle, For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 1 Corinthians 15:25-26 For in the times of the kingdom, the righteous man who is upon the earth shall then forget to die. But when He says, All things shall be subdued unto Him, it is manifest that He is excepted who did put all things under Him. And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all. 1 Corinthians 15:27-28 [Irenaeus 5.36.2]
1 cor 15,25 -
For the resurrection of the body will receive all the better proof, in proportion as I shall succeed in showing that Christ belongs to that God who is believed to have provided this resurrection of the flesh in His dispensation. When he says, “For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet,”5595
5595 1 Cor. xv. 25, 27. we can see at once5596 from this statement that he speaks of a God of vengeance, and therefore of Him who made the following promise to Christ: “Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. The rod of Thy strength shall the Lord send forth from Sion, and He shall rule along with Thee in the midst of Thine enemies." [Tertullian AM 5.9]
1 cor 15.25 - “Blessed also is His glorious name, and with His glory shall all the earth be filled.”5622 On the contrary, Solomon (as I make bold to affirm) lost even the glory which he had from God, seduced by his love of women even into idolatry. And thus, the statement which occurs in about the middle of this Psalm, “His enemies shall lick the dust”5623 (of course, as having been, (to use the apostle’s phrase,) “put under His feet”5624), will bear upon the very object which I had in view, when I both introduced the Psalm, and insisted on my opinion of its sense,—namely, that I might demonstrate both the glory of His kingdom and the subjection of His enemies in pursuance of the Creator’s own plans, with the view of laying down5625 this conclusion, that none but He can be believed to be the Christ of the Creator. [Tertullian Against Marcion 5 9 § 6 (p.690, l.21) BP1 5 9 § 13 (p.691, l.7) BP1 ]
1 cor 15,26 - and that He should bind the dragon, that old serpent Revelation 20:2 and subject him to the power of man, who had been conquered Luke 10:19 so that all his might should be trodden down. Now Adam had been conquered, all life having been taken away from him: wherefore, when the foe was conquered in his turn, Adam received new life; and the last enemy, death, is destroyed, 1 Corinthians 15:26 which at the first had taken possession of man. Therefore, when man has been liberated, what is written shall come to pass, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 This could not be said with justice, if that man, over whom death did first obtain dominion, were not set free. For his salvation is death's destruction. When therefore the Lord vivifies man, that is, Adam, death is at the same time destroyed. [Irenaeus Against Heresies 3.23.7] against tatian
1 Cor 15.26 Epistle of Barnabas 5 § 6 (p.15, l.9) BP1
1 Cor 15.26 Fragments of Irenaeus (p.456, l.5) BP1
1 Cor 15.26 Tertullian Against Marcion 4 20 § 5 (p.595, l.10) BP1
1 cor 15.26 - That, however, which we have reserved for a concluding argument, will now stand as a plea for all, and for the apostle himself, who in very deed would have to be charged with extreme indiscretion, if he had so abruptly, as some will have it, and as they say, blindfold, and so indiscriminately, and so unconditionally, excluded from the kingdom of God, and indeed from the court of heaven itself, all flesh and blood whatsoever; since Jesus is still sitting there at the right hand of the Father, 7660 man, yet God—the last Adam, 7661 yet the primary Word—flesh and blood, yet purer than ours—who “shall descend in like manner as He ascended into heaven” 7662 the same both in substance and form, as the angels affirmed, 7663 so as even to be recognised by those who pierced Him. 7664 Designated, as He is, “the Mediator 7665 between God and man,” He keeps in His own self the deposit of the flesh which has been committed to Him by both parties—the pledge and security of its entire perfection. For as “He has given to us the earnest of the Spirit,” 7666 so has He received from us the earnest of the flesh, and has carried it with Him into heaven as a pledge of that complete entirety which is one day to be restored to it. Be not disquieted, O flesh and blood, with any care; in Christ you have acquired both heaven and the kingdom of God. Otherwise, if they say that you are not in Christ, let them also say that Christ is not in heaven, since they have denied you heaven. Likewise “neither shall corruption,” says he, “inherit incorruption.” 7667 This he says, not that you may take flesh and blood to be corruption, for they are themselves rather the subjects of corruption,—I mean through death, since death does not so much corrupt, as actually consume, our flesh and blood. But inasmuch as he had plainly said that the works of the flesh and blood could not obtain the kingdom of God, with the view of stating this with accumulated stress, he deprived corruption itself—that is, death, which profits so largely by the works of the flesh and blood—from all inheritance of incorruption. For a little afterwards, he has described what is, as it were, the death of death itself: “Death,” says he, “is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin”—here is the corruption; “and the strength of sin is the law” 7668 —that other law, no doubt, which he has described “in his members as warring against the law of his mind,” 7669 —meaning, of course, the actual power of sinning against his will. Now he says in a previous passage (of our Epistle to the Corinthians), that “the last enemy to be destroyed is death.” 7670 In this way, then, it is that corruption shall not inherit incorruption; in other words, death shall not continue. When and how shall it cease? In that “moment, that twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, when the dead shall rise incorruptible.” 7671 But what are these, if not they who were corruptible before—that is, our bodies; in other words, our flesh and blood? And we undergo the change. But in what condition, if not in that wherein we shall be found? “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” 7672 What mortal is this but the flesh? what corruptible but the blood. Moreover, that you may not suppose the apostle to have any other meaning, in his care to teach you, and that you may understand him seriously to apply his statement to the flesh, when he says “this corruptible” and “this mortal,” he utters the words p. 585 while touching the surface of his own body. 7673 He certainly could not have pronounced these phrases except in reference to an object which was palpable and apparent. The expression indicates a bodily exhibition. Moreover, a corruptible body is one thing, and corruption is another; so a mortal body is one thing, and mortality is another. For that which suffers is one thing, and that which causes it to suffer is another. Consequently, those things which are subject to corruption and mortality, even the flesh and blood, must needs also be susceptible of incorruption and immortality. [Tertullian Resurrection 51]
1 cor 15.28 - And again, "When all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall He also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all." [Ignatius Tarsians]
1 Cor 15.29 Theodotus (p.100, l.4) BP1 22 § 1 (p.100, l.4 - *) BP1 22 § 3 (p.100, l.10 - *) BP1 22 § 4 (p.102, l.1 - *) BP1
Let us now return to the resurrection, to the defence of which against heretics of all sorts we have given indeed sufficient attention in another work of ours.5626 But we will not be wanting (in some defence of the doctrine) even here, in consideration of such persons as are ignorant of that little treatise. “What,” asks he, “shall they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not?”5627 Now, never mind5628 that practice, (whatever it may have been.) The Februarian lustrations5629 will perhaps5630 answer him (quite as well), by praying for the dead.5631 Do not then suppose that the apostle here indicates some new god as the author and advocate of this (baptism for the dead. His only aim in alluding to it was) that he might all the more firmly insist upon the resurrection of the body, in proportion as they who were vainly baptized for the dead resorted to the practice from their belief of such a resurrection. We have the apostle in another passage defining “but one baptism.”5632 To be “baptized for the dead” therefore means, in fact, to be baptized for the body;5633 for, as we have shown, it is the bodywhich becomes dead. What, then, shall they do who are baptized for the body,5634 if the body5635 rises not again? We stand, then, on firm ground (when we say) that5636 the next question which the apostle has discussed equally relates to the body. But “some man will say, ‘How are the dead raised up? With what body do they come?’”5637 Having established the doctrine of the resurrection which was denied, it was natural5638 to discuss what would be the sort of body (in the resurrection), of which no one had an idea. On this point we have other opponents with whom to engage. For Marcion does not in any wise admit the resurrection of the flesh, and it is only the salvation of the soul which he promises; consequently the question which he raises is not concerning the sort of body, but the very substance thereof. Notwithstanding,5639 he is most plainly refuted even from what the apostle advances respecting the quality of the body, in answer to those who ask, “How are the dead raised up? with what body do they come?” For as he treated of the sort of body, he of course ipso facto proclaimed in the argument that it was a body which would rise again. Indeed, since he proposes as his examples “wheat grain, or some other grain, to which God giveth a body, such as it hath pleased Him;”5640 since also he says, that “to every seed is its own body;”5641 that, consequently,5642 “there is one kind of flesh of men, whilst there is another of beasts, and (another) of birds; that there are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial; and that there is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars”5643—does he not therefore intimate that there is to be5644 a resurrection of the flesh or body, which he illustrates by fleshly and corporeal samples? Does he not also guarantee that the resurrection shall be accomplished by that God from whom proceed all the (creatures which have served him for) examples? “So also,” says he, “is the resurrection of the dead.”5645 How? Just as the grain, which is sown a body, springs up a body. This sowing of the body he called the dissolving thereof in the ground, “because it is sown in corruption,” (but “is raised) to honour and power.”5646 Now, just as in the case of the grain, so here: to Him will belong the work in the revival of the body, who ordered the process in the dissolution thereof. If, however, you remove the body from the resurrection which you submitted to the dissolution, what becomes of the diversity in the issue? Likewise, “although it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.”5647 Now, although the natural principle of life5648 and the spirit have each a body proper to itself, so that the “natural body” may fairly be taken5649 to signify the soul,5650 and “the spiritual body” the spirit, yet that is no reason for supposing5651 the apostle to say that the soul is to become spirit in the resurrection, but that the body(which, as being born along with the soul, and as retaining its life by means of the soul,5652 admits of being called animal (or natural5653) will become spiritual, since it rises through the Spirit to an eternal life. In short, since it is not the soul, but the flesh which is “sown in corruption,” when it turns to decay in the ground, it follows that (after such dissolution) the soul is no longer the natural body, but the flesh, which was the natural body, (is the subject of the future change), forasmuch as of a natural body it is made a spiritual body, as he says further down, “That was not first which is spiritual.”5654 For to this effect he just before remarked of Christ Himself: “The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”5655 Our heretic, however, in the excess of his folly, being unwilling that the statement should remain in this shape, altered “last Adam” into “last Lord;”5656 because he feared, of course, that if he allowed the Lord to be the last (or second) Adam, we should contend that Christ, being the second Adam, must needs belong to that God who owned also the first Adam. But the falsification is transparent. For why is there a first Adam, unless it be that there is also a second Adam? For things are not classed together unless they be severally alike, and have an identity of either name, or substance, or origin.5657 Now, although among things which are even individually diverse, one must be first and another last, yet they must have one author. If, however, the author be a different one, he himself indeed may be called the last. But the thing which he introduces is the first, and that only can be the last, which is like this first in nature.5658 It is, however, not like the first in nature, when it is not the work of the same author. In like manner (the heretic) will be refuted also with the word “man: ” “The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.”5659 Now, since the first was a man, how can there be a second, unless he is a man also? Or, else, if the second is “Lord,” was the first “Lord” also?5660 It is, however, quite enough for me, that in his Gospel he admits the Son of man to be both Christ and Man; so that he will not be able to deny Him (in this passage), in the “Adam”and the “man” (of the apostle). What follows will also be too much for him. For when the apostle says, “As is the earthy,” that is, man, “such also are they that are earthy”—men again, of course; “therefore as is the heavenly,” meaning the Man, from heaven, “such are the men also that are heavenly.”5661 For he could not possibly have opposed to earthly men any heavenly beings that were not men also; his object being the more accurately to distinguish their state and expectation by using this name in common for them both. For in respect of their present state and their future expectation he calls men earthly and heavenly, still reserving their parity of name, according as they are reckoned (as to their ultimate condition5662) in Adam or in Christ. Therefore, when exhorting them to cherish the hope of heaven, he says: “As we have borne the image of the earthy, so let us also bear the image of the heavenly,”5663—language which relates not to any condition of resurrection life, but to the rule of the present time. He says, Let us bear, as a precept; not We shall bear, in the sense of a promise—wishing us to walk even as he himself was walking, and to put off the likeness of the earthly, that is, of the old man, in the works of the flesh. For what are this next words? “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.”5664 He means the works of the flesh and blood, which, in his Epistle to the Galatians, deprive men of the kingdom of God.5665 In other passages also he is accustomed to put the natural condition instead of the works that are done therein, as when he says, that “they who are in the flesh cannot please God.”5666 Now, when shall we be able to please God except whilst we are in this flesh? There is, I imagine, no other time wherein a man can work. If, however, whilst we are even naturally living in the flesh, we yet eschew the deeds of the flesh, then we shall not be in the flesh; since, although we are not absent from the substance of the flesh, we are notwithstanding strangers to the sin thereof. Now, since in the word flesh we are enjoined to put off, not the substance, but the works of the flesh, therefore in the use of the same word the kingdom of God is denied to the works of the flesh, not to the substance thereof. For not that is condemned in which evil is done, but only the evil which is done in it. To administer poison is a crime, but the cup in which it is given is not guilty. So the body is the vessel of the works of the flesh, whilst the soul which is within it mixes the poison of a wicked act. How then is it, that the soul, which is the real author of the works of the flesh, shall attain to5667 the kingdom of God, after the deeds done in the body have been atoned for, whilst the body, which was nothing but (the soul’s) ministering agent, must remain in condemnation? Is the cup to be punished, but the poisoner to escape? Not that we indeed claim the kingdom of God for the flesh: all we do is, to assert a resurrection for the substance thereof, as the gate of the kingdom through which it is entered. But the resurrection is one thing, and the kingdom is another. The resurrection is first, and afterwards the kingdom. We say, therefore, that the flesh rises again, but that when changed it obtains the kingdom. “For the dead shall be raised incorruptible,” even those who had been corruptible when their bodies fell into decay; “and we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.5668 For this corruptible”—and as he spake, the apostle seemingly pointed to his own flesh—“must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality,”5669 in order, indeed, that it may be rendered a fit substance for the kingdom of God. “For we shall be like the angels.”5670 This will be the perfect change of our flesh—only after its resurrection.5671 Now if, on the contrary,5672there is to be no flesh, how then shall it put on incorruption and immortality? Having then become something else by its change, it will obtain the kingdom of God, no longer the (old) flesh and blood, but the body which God shall have given it. Rightly then does the apostle declare, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;”5673 for this (honour) does he ascribe to the changed condition5674 which ensues on the resurrection. Since, therefore, shall then be accomplished the word which was written by the Creator, “O death, where is thy victory”—or thy struggle?5675 “O death, where is thy sting?”5676—written, I say, by the Creator, for He wrote them by His prophet5677—to Him will belong the gift, that is, the kingdom, who proclaimed the word which is to be accomplished in the kingdom. And to none other God does he tell us that “thanks” are due, for having enabled us to achieve “the victory” even over death, than to Him from whom he received the very expression5678 of the exulting and triumphant challenge to the mortal foe. [Tertullian Against Marcion 5.10]
1 Cor 15.32 Clement Stromata 3 81 § 1 (p.280, l.31) BP1
1 cor 15.32 - Accordingly to the Corinthians (for this is not the only instance), while discoursing on the resurrection of the dead, he makes use of a tragic Iambic line, when he said, “What advantageth it me if the dead are not raised? Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. Be not deceived; evil communications corrupt good manners.” [Clement Stromata 1.14]
, for to-morrow we shall die; "[109]
1 Cor. 15:32 - NIV, NAB - in Tertullian On Modesty
th the lion already let loose; suppose him on the axle, with the fire already heaped; in the very certainty, I say, and possession of martyrdom: who permits man to condone (offences) which are to be reserved for God, by whom those (offences) have been condemned without discharge, which not even apostles (so far as I know)-martyrs withal themselves-have judged condonable? In short, Paul had already "fought with beasts at Ephesus," when he decreed "destruction" to the incestuous person.[288]
1 Cor. 15:32 - NIV, NAB - in Tertullian On Fasting
, my (prophets) they were not. Why, then, do not you constantly preach, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die? "
1 cor 15:32 - But if there is to be no judgment, then the keeping of God's commandments will be to no purpose, and there will be no occasion for abstinence: nay, we may say, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die." [Acts Archelaus]
1 cor 15.41 - Thus it says: "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory." [Acts of Archelaus]
1 cor 15.34 - He is calling the first impulses after birth, which do not help us to knowledge of God, "impiety." (3) If anyone uses this as a basis for saying that that birth is evil, he should also use it as a basis for saying that it is good, in that in it 418 we come to know the truth. "Come back to a sober and upright life and stop sinning. There are some who know nothing of God" – plainly the sinners. [Clement Stromata 3.16 101 § 3 (p.242, l.28) BP1 ]
1 Cor 15.35 Tatian To the Greeks § 6 (p.6, l.15) BP1
1 cor 15.36 - We must therefore conclude that it is in reference to the flesh that death is mentioned; which [flesh], after the soul's departure, becomes breathless and inanimate, and is decomposed gradually into the earth from which it was taken. This, then, is what is mortal. And it is this of which he also says," He shall also quicken your mortal bodies." And therefore in reference to it he says, in the first [Epistle] to the Corinthians: "So also is the resurrection of the dead: it is sown in corruption, it rises in incorruption."(39) For he declares, "That which thou sowest cannot be quickened, unless first it die."(40)
2. But what is that which, like a grain of wheat, is sown in the earth and decays, unless it be the bodies which are laid in the earth, into which seeds are also cast? And for this reason he said, "It is sown in dishonour, it rises in glory."(41) For what is more ignoble than dead flesh? Or, on the other hand, what is more glorious than the same when it arises and partakes of incorruption? "It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: "(42) in its own weakness certainly, because since it is earth it goes to earth; but [it is quickened] by the power of God, who raises it from the dead. "It is sown an animal body, it rises a spiritual body."(43) He has taught, beyond all doubt, that such language was not used by him, either with reference to the soul or to the spirit, but to bodies that have become corpses. For these are animal bodies, that is, [bodies] which partake of life, which when they have lost, they succumb to death; then, rising through the Spirit's instrumentality, they become spiritual bodies, so that by the Spirit they possess a perpetual life. "For now," he says, "we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but then face to face."(44) And this it is which has been said also by Peter: "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom now also, not seeing, ye believe; and believing, ye shall rejoice with joy unspeakable."(45) For our face shall see the face of the Lord(46) and shall rejoice with joy unspeakable,-that is to say, when it shall behold its own Delight. [Irenaeus AH 5.7.1,2]
1 Cor 15.40 Excerpta e Theodoto 11 § 2 (p.80, l.19) BP1 11 § 2 (p.82, l.1) BP1
1 Cor 15.41 - the defect, therefore, of that passion which has regard to ignorance, will either attach alike to their whole Pleroma, since [all its members] are of the same substance; and the Propator will share in this defect of ignorance--that is, will be ignorant of Himself; or, on the other hand, all those lights which are within the Pleroma will alike remain for ever impassible. Whence, then, comes the passion of the youngest AEon, if the light of the Father is that from which all other lights have been formed, and which is by nature impassible? And how can one AEon be spoken of as either younger or older among themselves, since there is but one light in the entire Pleroma? And if any one calls them stars, they will all nevertheless appear to participate in the same nature. For if "one star differs from another star in glory,"(3) but not in qualities, nor substance, nor in the fact of being passible or impassible; so all these, since they are alike derived from the light of the Father, must either be naturally impossible and immutable, or they must all, in common with the light of the Father, be passible, and are capable of the varying phases of corruption. [Irenaeus Ah 2.17.5]
1 cor 15.41
Since, according to my opinion, the grades(193) here in the Church, of bishops, presbyters, deacons, are imitations of the angelic glory, and of that economy which, the Scriptures say, awaits those who, following the footsteps of the apostles, have lived in perfection of righteousness according to the Gospel. For these taken up in the clouds, the apostle(194) writes, will first minister [as deacons], then be classed in the presbyterate, by promotion in glory (for glory differs(195) from glory) till they grow into "a perfect man."(196)
Chapter XIV.-Degrees of Glory in Heaven.
Such, according to David, "rest in the holy hill of God,"(197) in the Church far on high, in which are gathered the philosophers of God, "who are Israelites indeed, who are pure in heart, in whom there is no guile; "(198) who do not remain in the seventh seat, the place of rest, but are promoted, through the active beneficence of the divine likeness, to the heritage of beneficence which is the eighth grade; devoting themselves to the pure vision(199) of insatiable contemplation. [Stromata 6.13]
1 cor 15.41 But such a good conscience preserves sanctity towards God and justice towards men; keeping the soul pure with grave thoughts, and pure words, and just deeds. By thus receiving the Lord’s power, the soul studies to be God; regarding nothing bad but ignorance, and action contrary to right reason. And giving thanks always for all things to God, by righteous hearing and divine reading, by true investigation, by holy oblation, by blessed prayer; lauding, hymning, blessing, praising, such a soul is never at any time separated from God. 3406 Rightly then is it said, “And they who trust in Him shall understand the truth, and those faithful in love shall abide by Him.” 3407 You see what statements Wisdom makes about the Gnostics.
Conformably, therefore, there are various abodes, according to the worth of those who have believed. 3408 To the point Solomon says, “For there shall be given to him the choice grace of faith, and a more pleasant lot in the temple of the Lord.” 3409 For the comparative shows that there are lower parts [Clement Stromata 6.14]
1 cor 15:44 - Excerpta e Theodoto 14 § 2 (p.86, l.8) BP1
1 Cor 15.44 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats, which God shall destroy, 1 Corinthians 6:13 — that is, such as think and live as if they were made for eating, and do not eat that they may live as a consequence, and apply to knowledge as the primary end. And does he not say that these are, as it were, the fleshy parts of the holy body? As a body, the Church of the Lord, the spiritual and holy choir, is symbolized. Whence those, who are merely called, but do not live in accordance with the word, are the fleshy parts. Now this spiritual body, the holy Church, is not for fornication. Nor are those things which belong to heathen life to be adopted by apostasy from the Gospel. For he who conducts himself heathenishly in the Church, whether in deed, or word, or even in thought, commits fornication with reference to the Church and his own body. He who in this way is joined to the harlot, that is, to conduct contrary to the Covenant becomes another body, not holy, and one flesh, and has a heathenish life and another hope. But he that is joined to the Lord in spirit becomes a spiritual body by a different kind of conjunction. Such an one is wholly a son, an holy man, passionless, gnostic, perfect, formed by the teaching of the Lord; in order that in deed, in word, and in spirit itself, being brought close to the Lord, he may receive the mansion that is due to him who has reached manhood thus. πορνεύει γὰρ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ τὸ αὑτοῦ σῶμα ὁ ἐθνικῶς ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ πολιτευόμενος, εἴτ' οὖν ἐν ἔργῳ, εἴτε καὶ ἐν 7.14.88.2 λόγῳ, εἴτε καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἐννοίᾳ. ὁ ταύτῃ κολλώμενος τῇ πόρνῃ, τῇ παρὰ τὴν διαθήκην ἐνεργείᾳ, ἄλλο σῶμα γίνεται οὐχ ἅγιον, εἰς 7.14.88.3 σάρκα μίαν καὶ βίον ἐθνικὸν καὶ ἄλλην ἐλπίδα· ὁ δὲ κολλώμενος τῷ κυρίῳ ἓν πνεῦμά <ἐσ>τι πνευματικὸν σῶμα, τὸ διάφορον τῆς συνόδου γένος. υἱὸς οὗτος ἅπας, ἄνθρωπος ἅγιος, ἀπαθής, γνωστικός, τέλειος, μορφούμενος τῇ τοῦ κυρίου διδασκαλίᾳ, ἵνα δὴ καὶ ἔργῳ καὶ λόγῳ καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ πνεύματι προσεχὴς γενόμενος τῷ κυρίῳ τὴν μονὴν ἐκείνην τὴν ὀφειλομένην τῷ οὕτως ἀπηνδρωμένῳ ἀπολάβῃ. Clement Stromata 7 88 § 3 (p.62, l.29) BP1
Why was it, too, that, beholding the angels along with the Saviour, she did indeed conceive their images, but not that of the Saviour, who is far more beautiful than they? Did He not please her; and did she not, on that account, conceive after His likeness?(3) How was it, too, that the Demiurge, whom they can call an animal being, having, as they maintain, his own special magnitude and figure, was produced perfect as respects his substance; while that which is spiritual, which also ought to be more effective than that which is animal, was sent forth imperfect, and he required to descend into a soul, that in it he might obtain form, and thus becoming perfect, might be rendered fit for the reception of perfect reason? If, then, he obtains form in mere earthly and animal men, he can no longer be said to be after the likeness of angels whom they call lights, but [after the likeness] of those men who are here below. For he will not possess in that case the likeness and appearance of angels, but of those souls in whom also he receives shape; just as water when poured into a vessel takes the form of that vessel, and if on any occasion it happens to congeal in it, it will acquire the form of the vessel in which it has thus been frozen, since souls themselves possess the figure(4) of the body [in which they dwell]; for they themselves have been adapted to the vessel [in which they exist], as I have said before. If, then, that seed [referred to] is here solidified and formed into a definite shape, it will possess the figure of a man. and not the form of the angels. How is it possible, therefore, that that seed should be after images of the angels, seeing it has obtained a form after the likeness of men? Why, again, since it was of a spiritual nature, had it any need of descending into flesh? For what is carnal stands in need of that which is spiritual, if indeed it is to be saved, that in it it may be sanctified and cleared from all impurity, and that what is mortal may be swallowed up by immortality;(1) but that which is spiritual has no need whatever of those things which are here below. For it is not we who benefit it, but it that improves us. [Irenaeus AH 2.19.6]
1 cor 15.44 - For if we believed that we should live only the present life, then we might be suspected of sinning, through being enslaved to flesh and blood, or overmastered by gain or carnal desire; but since we know that God is witness to what we think and what we say both by night and by day, and that He, being Himself light, sees all things in our heart, we are persuaded that when we are removed from the present life we shall live another life, better than the present one, and heavenly, not earthly (since we shall abide near God, and with God, free from all change or suffering in the soul, not as flesh, even though we shall have flesh, 819 but as heavenly spirit), or, falling with the rest, a worse one and in fire; for God has not made us as sheep or beasts of burden, a mere by-work, and that we should perish and be annihilated. On these grounds it is not likely that we should wish to do evil, or deliver ourselves over to the great Judge to be punished. [Athenagoras 31]
1 cor 15.44 - ut whereas he that was formed of the earth returned to the earth, He that became the second man returned to heaven. And so we read of the "first Adam and the last Adam." [Pseduo-Gregory Sectional]
1 Cor 15.45 Excerpta e Theodoto 50 § 3 (p.164, l.5 - *) BP1
1 cor 15:47 - These passages alone, in which Apelles and Marcion seem to place their chief reliance when interpreted according to the truth of the entire uncorrupted gospel, ought to have been sufficient for proving the human flesh of Christ by a defence of His birth. But since Apelles' precious set lay a very great stress on the shameful condition of the flesh, which they will have to have been furnished with souls tampered with by the fiery author of evil, and so unworthy of Christ; and because they on that account suppose that a sidereal substance is suitable for Him, I am bound to refute them on their own ground. They mention a certain angel of great renown as having created this world of ours, and as having, after the creation, repented of his work. This indeed we have treated of in a passage by itself; for we have written a little work in opposition to them, on the question whether one who had the spirit, and will, and power ofChrist for such operations, could have done anything which required repentance, since they describe the said angel by the figure of the lost sheep. The world, then, must be a wrong thing, according to the evidence of its Creator's repentance; for all repentance is the admission of fault, nor has it indeed any existence except through fault. Now, if the world is a fault, as is the body, such must be its parts— faulty too; so in like manner must be the heaven and its celestial (contents), and everything which is conceived and produced out of it. And a corrupt tree must needs bring forth evil fruit. Matthew 7:17 The flesh of Christ, therefore, if composed of celestial elements, consists of faulty materials, sinful by reason of its sinful origin;so that it must be a part of that substance which they disdain to clothe Christ with, because of its sinfulness,— in other words, our own. Then, as there is no difference in the point of ignominy, let them either devise for Christ some substance of a purer stamp, since they are displeased with our own, or else let them recognise this too, than which even a heavenlysubstance could not have been better. We read in so many words: The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. 1 Corinthians 15:47 This passage, however, has nothing to do with any difference of substance; it only contrasts with the once earthy substance of the flesh of the first man, Adam, the heavenly substance of the spiritof the second man, Christ. And so entirely does the passage refer the celestial man to the spirit and not to the flesh, that those whom it compares to Him evidently become celestial— by the Spirit, of course— even in this earthy flesh. Now, since Christ is heavenly even in regard to the flesh, they could not be compared to Him, who are not heavenly in reference to their flesh. If, then, they who become heavenly, as Christ also was, carry about an earthy substance of flesh, the conclusion which is affirmed by this fact is, that Christ Himself also washeavenly, but in an earthy flesh, even as they are who are put on a level with Him. [Tertullian Onthe flesh of Christ 8]
1 cor 15.45 - The breath, too, increases [in strength] for a short period, and continues for a certain time; after that it takes its departure, leaving its former abode destitute of breath. But when the Spirit pervades the man within and without, inasmuch as it continues there, it never leaves him. But that is not first which is spiritual, says the apostle, speaking this as if with reference to us human beings; but that is first which is animal, afterwards that which is spiritual, 1 Corinthians 15:46 in accordance with reason. For there had been a necessity that, in the first place, a human being should be fashioned, and that what was fashioned should receive the soul; afterwards that it should thus receive the communion of the Spirit. Wherefore also the first Adam was made by the Lord a living soul, the second Adam a quickening spirit. 1 Corinthians 15:45 As, then, he who was made a living soul forfeited life when he turned aside to what was evil, so, on the other hand, the sameindividual, when he reverts to what is good, and receives the quickening Spirit, shall find life. [Irenaeus 5.12.2]
1 cor 15.45 First of all there comes the (natural) soul, that is to say, the breath, to the people that are on the earth,-in other words, to those who act carnally in the flesh; then afterwards comes the Spirit to those who walk thereon,-that is, who subdue the works of the flesh; because the apostle also says, that "that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, (or in possession of the natural soul, ) and afterward that which is spiritual. [Tertullian Treatise on the Soul ]
last two 46 instead of 45
1 cor 15.46 - If it seems a novelty for anangel to be present in waters, an example of what was to come to pass has forerun. An angel, by his intervention, was wont to stir the pool at Bethsaida. They who were complaining of ill-health used to watch for him; for whoever had been the first to descend into them, after his washing, ceased to complain. This figure of corporeal healing sang of a spiritual healing, according to the rule by which things carnal are always antecedent as figurative of things spiritual. And thus, when the grace of Godadvanced to higher degrees among men, John 1:16-17 an accession of efficacy was granted to the waters and to the angel. They who were wont to remedy bodily defects, now heal the spirit; they who used to work temporal salvation now renew eternal; they who did set free but once in the year, now save peoples in a body daily, death being done away through ablution of sins. The guilt being removed, of course the penalty is removed too. Thus man will be restored for God to His likeness,who in days bygone had been conformed to the image of God; (the image is counted (to be) in his form: the likeness in his eternity:) for he receives again that Spirit of God which he had then first received from His afflatus, but had afterward lost through sin. [Tertullian On Baptism 5]
1 cor 15.46 -
But again: if the beginning passes on to the end (as Alpha to Omega), as the end passes back to the beginning (as Omega to Alpha), and thus our origin is transferred to Christ, the animal to the spiritual—inasmuch as “(that was) not first which is spiritual, but (that) which (is) animal; then what (is) spiritual,”605—let us, in like manner (as before), see whether you owe this very (same) thing to this second origin also: whether the last Adam also meet you in the selfsame form as the first; since the last Adam (that is, Christ) was entirely unwedded, as was even the first Adam before his exile. But, presenting to your weakness the gift of the example of His own flesh, the more perfect Adam—that is, Christ, more perfect on this account as well (as on others), that He was more entirely pure—stands before you, if you are willing (to copy Him), as a voluntary celibate in the flesh. If, however, you are unequal (to that perfection), He stands before you a monogamist in spirit, having one Church as His spouse, according to the figure of Adam and of Eve, which (figure) the apostle interprets of that great sacrament of Christ and the Church, (teaching that), through the spiritual, it was analogous to the carnal monogamy. You see, therefore, after what manner, renewing your origin even in Christ, you cannot trace down that (origin) without the profession of monogamy; unless, (that is), you be in flesh what He is in spirit; albeit withal, what He was in flesh, you equally ought to have been. [Tertullian On Monogamy]
1 cor 15.46 - Besides, he added to this another passage out of the first epistle, on which he based his affirmation that the disciples of the Old Testament were earthly and natural; and in accordance with this, that flesh and blood could not possess the kingdom of God.1884 He also maintained that Paul himself spoke in his own proper person when he said: “If I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.”1885 Further, he averred that the same apostle made this statement most obviously on the subject of the resurrection of the flesh, when he also said that “he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh,”1886 and that according to the letter the law has in it no advantage. [Acts Archelaus 40]
1 cor 15.47 - As it has been clearly demonstrated that the Word, who existed in the beginning with God, by whom all things were made, who was also always present with mankind, was in these last days, according to the time appointed by the Father, united to His own workmanship, inasmuch as He became a man liable to suffering, [it follows] that every objection is set aside of those who say, If our Lord was born at that time, Christ had therefore no previous existence. For I have shown that the Son of God did not then begin to exist, being with the Father from the beginning; but when He became incarnate, and was made man, He commenced afresh the long line of human beings, and furnished us, in a brief, comprehensive manner, with salvation; so that what we had lost in Adam— namely, to be according to the image and likeness of God— that we might recover in Christ Jesus. [Irenaeus AH 3.18.1]
1 Cor 15.47 Excerpta e Theodoto 56 § 1 (p.172, l.6 - *) BP1
1 Cor. 15:47 - NIV, NAB - in Tertullian On the Flesh of Christ
"The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven."[126]
1 Cor. 15:47 - NIV, NAB - in Tertullian On the Resurrection of the Flesh
He says: "The first man is of the earth, earthy"-that is, made of dust, that is, Adam; "the second man is from heaven"[356]
1 cor 15.48 - Also the parable of the leaven which the woman is described as having hid in three measures of meal, they declare to make manifest the three classes. For, according to their teaching, the woman represented Sophia; the three measures of meal, the three kinds of men— spiritual, animal, and material; while the leaven denoted the Saviour Himself. Paul, too, very plainly set forth the material, animal, and spiritual, saying in one place, As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; 1 Corinthians 15:48 and in another place, But the animal man receives not the things of the Spirit; 1 Corinthians 2:14 and again: He that is spiritual judges all things. 1 Corinthians 2:15 And this, The animal man receives not the things of the Spirit, they affirm to have been spoken concerning the Demiurge, who, as being animal, knewneither his mother who was spiritual, nor her seed, nor the Æons in the Pleroma. And that the Saviourreceived first-fruits of those whom He was to save, Paul declared when he said, And if the first-fruitsbe holy, the lump is also holy, Romans 11:16 teaching that the expression first-fruits denoted that which is spiritual, but that the lump meant us, that is, the animal Church, the lump of which they say He assumed, and blended it with Himself, inasmuch as He is the leaven. [Irenarus 1.8.3]
1 cor 15.48 - The flesh, therefore, when destitute of the Spirit of God, is dead, not having life, and cannot possess the kingdom of God: [it is as] irrational blood, like water poured out upon the ground. And therefore he says, "As is the earthy, such are they that are earthy." [Irenaeus 5]
1 cor 15.48 - "As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly." [Tertullian Resurrection]
1cor 15.49 -
And on this account he (the apostle) declares, "As we have borne the image of him who is of the earth, we shall also bear the image of Him who is from heaven."[62]
1 Cor. 15:49 - NIV, NAB - in Irenaeus Against Heresies Book V
Since, therefore, in that passage he recounts those works of the flesh which are without the Spirit, which bring death [upon their doers], he exclaimed at the end of his Epistle, in accordance with what he had already declared, "And as we have borne the image of him who is of the earth, we shall also bear the image of Him who is from heaven. For this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God."
1 cor 15.49 -
-for the soul is not corruptible or mortal; but this which is mortal and corrupting is of flesh,-in order that, "as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly? "[39]
1 Cor. 15:49 - NIV, NAB - in Methodius From the Discourse on the Resurrection
For, "as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."
1 cor 15.49 - For we are of the earth. . . . Caesar is the prince, for the thee being, whose earthly image is the old man, to which he has returned. To him, then, we are to render the earthly things, which we bore in the image of the earthly, and the things of God to God. For each one of the passions is on us as a letter, and stamp, and sign. Now the Lord marks us with another stamp, and with other names and letters, faith instead of unbelief, and so forth. Thus we are translated from what is material to what is spiritual, "having borne the image of the heavenly." [Ex Theodoto 34]
1 Cor 15.49 - Excerpta e Theodoto 15 § 1 (p.88, l.1) BP1 80 § 3 (p.204, l.3 - *) BP1
1 cor 15.50 - They affirm that many of his disciples were not aware of the descent of Christ into him; but that, when Christ did descend on Jesus, he then began to work miracles, and heal, and announce the unknown Father, and openly to confess himself the son of the first man. The powers and the father ofJesus were angry at these proceedings, and laboured to destroy him; and when he was being led away for this purpose, they say that Christ himself, along with Sophia, departed from him into the state of an incorruptible Æon, while Jesus was crucified. Christ, however, was not forgetful of hisJesus, but sent down a certain energy into him from above, which raised him up again in the body, which they call both animal and spiritual; for he sent the mundane parts back again into the world. When his disciples saw that he had risen, they did not recognise him— no, not even Jesus himself, by whom he rose again from the dead. And they assert that this very great error prevailed among hisdisciples, that they imagined he had risen in a mundane body, not knowing that flesh and blood do not attain to the kingdom of God.
14. They strove to establish the descent and ascent of Christ, by the fact that neither before hisbaptism, nor after his resurrection from the dead, do his disciples state that he did any mighty works, not being aware that Jesus was united to Christ, and the incorruptible Æon to the Hebdomad; and they declare his mundane body to be of the same nature as that of animals. But after his resurrectionhe tarried [on earth] eighteen months; and knowledge descending into him from above, he taught what was clear. He instructed a few of his disciples, whom he knew to be capable of understanding so great mysteries, in these things, and was then received up into heaven, Christ sitting down at the right hand of his father Ialdabaoth, that he may receive to himself the souls of those who have knownthem, after they have laid aside their mundane flesh, thus enriching himself without the knowledge or perception of his father; so that, in proportion as Jesus enriches himself with holy souls, to such an extent does his father suffer loss and is diminished, being emptied of his own power by these souls. For he will not now possess holy souls to send them down again into the world, except those only which are of his substance, that is, those into which he has breathed. But the consummation [of all things] will take place, when the whole besprinkling of the spirit of light is gathered together, and is carried off to form an incorruptible Æon. [Irenaeus 1.30.13.14]
1 cor 15.50 - Among the other [truths] proclaimed by the apostle, there is also this one, "That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God."[Irenaeus AH 5]
1 Cor. 15:50 - NIV, NAB - in Irenaeus Against Heresies Book V
But if they cast out the Spirit, and remain in their former condition, desirous of being of the flesh rather than of the Spirit, then it is very justly said with regard to men of this stamp, "That flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God; "[66]
1 Cor. 15:50 - NIV, NAB - in Irenaeus Against Heresies Book V
Then, again, as the wild olive, if it be not grafted in, remains useless to its lord because of its woody quality, and is cut down as a tree bearing no fruit, and cast into the fire; so also man, if he does not receive through faith the engrafting of the Spirit, remains in his old condition, and being [mere] flesh and blood, he cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Rightly therefore does the apostle declare, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; "[
1 cor 15.50 - All these the fear inspired by the law,--leading as a paedagogue to Christ, trained so as to manifest their piety by their blood. "God stood in the congregation of the gods; He judgeth in the midst of the gods." [2403] Who are they? Those that are superior to Pleasure, who rise above the passions, who know what they do--the Gnostics, who are greater than the world. "I said, Ye are Gods; and all sons of the Highest." [2404] To whom speaks the Lord? To those who reject as far as possible all that is of man. And the apostle says, "For ye are not any longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit." [2405] And again he says, "Though in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh." [2406] "For flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." [2407] "Lo, ye shall die like men," the Spirit has said, confuting us. [Clement Stromata 2.20]
1 cor 15.50 - So it is possible for responsible marriage to take from that tree. (3) We have previously said that it is possible to use marriage for good or evil, and this, if we do not transgress the commandment, is the tree of knowledge. (4) Well? Does not the Savior heal body and soul alike from passions? It could not be, if the flesh were at enmity with the soul, that he would have put up fortifications against the soul in the soul’s own territory by strengthening 434 flesh, the enemy, with health. (5) "Brothers, I tell you that flesh and blood are not able to inherit the kingdom of God; the perishable will never inherit imperishability." 435 For sin, being perishable, cannot enjoy fellowship with imperishability (that is righteousness). "Are you such fools?" he asks. "You have made a start with the Spirit. Are you now going to reach perfection through the flesh? [Clement Stromata 3.17 3 104 § 5 (p.244, l.16) BP1 ]
1 cor 15.50 - The apostle, however, himself here comes to our aid; for, while explaining in what sense he would not have us “live in the flesh,” although in the flesh—even by not living in the works of the flesh5851—he shows that when he wrote the words, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,”5852 it was not with the view of condemning the substance (of the flesh), but the works thereof; and because it is possible for these not to be committed by us whilst we are still in the flesh, they will therefore be properly chargeable,5853 not on the substance of the flesh, but on its conduct. Likewise, if “the body indeed is dead because of sin” (from which statement we see that not the death of the soul is meant, but that of the body), “but the spirit is life because of righteousness,”5854it follows that this life accrues to that which incurred death because of sin, that is, as we have just seen, the body. Now the body5855is only restored to him who had lost it; so that the resurrection of the dead implies the resurrection of their bodies. He accordingly subjoins: “He that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies." [Tertulian Against Marcion 5.14]
1 cor 15.50 -
But "flesh and blood," you say, "cannot inherit the kingdom of God."[339]
1 Cor. 15:50 - NIV, NAB - in Tertullian On the Resurrection of the Flesh
" connects what follows with the preceding words) "that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,"[363]
1 Cor. 15:50 - NIV, NAB - in Tertullian On the Resurrection of the Flesh
they will rise again for the judgment, because they rise not for the kingdom. Again, I will say, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; "[371]
1 Cor. 15:50 - NIV, NAB - in Tertullian On the Resurrection of the Flesh
Otherwise, if they say that you are not in Christ, let them also say that Christ is not in heaven, since they have denied you heaven. Likewise "neither shall corruption," says he, "inherit incorruption.[384]
1 cor 15.50 -
For He truly was made man, and died, and not in mere appearance, but that He might truly be shown to be the first begotten from the dead, changing the earthy into the heavenly, and the mortal into the immortal. When, then, Paul says that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,"[43]
1 Cor. 15:50 - NIV, NAB - in Methodius From the Discourse on the Resurrection
"Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."[97]
1 Cor. 15:50 - NIV, NAB - in Methodius From the Discourse on the Resurrection
a man not far removed either from the times or from the virtues of the apostles, says that that which is mortal is inherited, but that life inherits; and that flesh dies, but that the kingdom of heaven lives. When then, Paul says that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven,"
1 cor 15.51 - It is the transformation these shall undergo which he explains to the Corinthians, when he writes: “We shall all indeed rise again (though we shall not all undergo the transformation) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump”—for none shall experience this change but those only who shall be found in the flesh. “And the dead,” he says, “shall be raised,and we shall be changed.” Now, after a careful consideration of this appointed order, you will be able to adjust what follows to the preceding sense. For when he adds, “This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality,”7558 this will assuredly be that house from heaven, with which we so earnestly desire to be clothed upon, whilst groaning in this our present body,—meaning, of course, over this flesh in which we shall be surprised at last; because he says that we are burdened whilst in this tabernacle, which we do not wish indeed to be stripped of, but rather to be in itclothed over, in such a way that mortality may be swallowed up of life, that is, by putting on over us whilst we are transformed that vestiture which is from heaven. For who is there that will not desire, while he is in the flesh, to put on immortality, and to continue his life by a happy escape from death, through the transformation which must be experienced instead of it, without encountering too that Hades which will exact the very last farthing?7559 Notwithstanding, he who has already traversedHades is destined also to obtain the change after the resurrection. For from this circumstance it is that we definitively declare that the flesh will by all means rise again, and, from the change that is to come over it, will assume the condition of angels. Now, if it were merely in the case of those who shall be found in the flesh that the change must be undergone, in order that mortality may be swallowed up of life—in other words, that the flesh (be covered) with the heavenly and eternal raiment—it would either follow that those who shall be found in death would not obtain life, deprived as they would then be of the material and so to say the aliment of life, that is, the flesh; or else, these also must needs undergo the change, that in them too mortality may be swallowed up of life, since it is appointed that they too should obtain life. But, you say, in the case of the dead, mortality is already swallowed up of life. No, not in all cases, certainly. For how many will most probably be found of men who had just died—so recently put into their graves, that nothing in them would seem to be decayed? For you do not of course deem a thing to be decayed unless it be cut off, abolished, and withdrawn from our perception, as having in every possible way ceased to be apparent. There are the carcases of the giants of old time; it will be obvious enough that they are not absolutely decayed, for their bony frames are still extant. We have already spoken of this elsewhere.7560 For instance,7561 even lately in this very city,7562 when they were sacrilegiously laying the foundations of the Odeum on a good many ancient graves, people were horror-stricken to discover, after some five hundred years, bones, which still retained their moisture, and hair which had not lost its perfume. It is certain not only that bones remain indurated, but also that teeth continue undecayed for ages—both of them the lasting germs of that body which is to sprout into life again in the resurrection. Lastly, even if everything that is mortal in all the dead shall then be found decayed—at any rate consumed by death, by time, and through age,—is there nothing which will be “swallowed up of life,”7563 nor by being covered over and arrayed in the vesture of immortality? Now, he who says that mortality is going to be swallowed up of life has already admitted that what is dead is not destroyed by those other before-mentioned devourers. And verily it will be extremely fit that all shall be consummated and brought about by the operations of God, and not by the laws of nature. Therefore, inasmuch as what is mortal has to be swallowed up of life, it must needs be brought out to view in order to be so swallowed up; (needful) also to be swallowed up, in order to undergo the ultimate transformation. If you were to say that a fire is to be lighted, you could not possibly allege that what is to kindle it is sometimes necessary and sometimes not. In like manner, when he inserts the words “If so be that being unclothed7564 we be not found naked,”7565—referring, of course, to those who shall not be found in the day of the Lord alive and in the flesh—he did not say that they whom he had just described as unclothed or stripped, were naked in any other sense than meaning that they should be understood to be reinvested with the very same substance they had been divested of. For although they shall be found naked when their flesh has been laid aside, or to some extent sundered or worn away (and this condition may well be called nakedness,) they shall afterwards recover it again, in order that, being reinvested with the flesh, they may be able also to have put over that the supervestment of immortality; for it will be impossible for the outside garment to fit except over one who is already dressed. [Tertullian Onthe Resurrection 52]
1 Cor 15.52 Clement Quis Dives Salvetur 3 § 6 (p.162, l.5) BP1
1 cor 15.52 -ed were made whole in those members which had in times past been afflicted; and the dead rose in the identical bodies, their limbs and bodies receiving health, and that life which was granted by the Lord, who prefigures eternal things by temporal, and shows that it is He who is Himself able to extend both healing and life to His handiwork, that His words concerning its [future] resurrection may also be believed; so also at the end, when the Lord utters His voice "by the last trumpet," [Irenaeus 5]
1 cor 15.52 - Well, then, what difference is there between heathens and Christians, if the same prison awaits them all when dead? How, indeed, shall the soul mount up to heaven, where Christ is already sitting at the Father's right hand, when as yet the archangel's trumpet has not been heard by the command of God, [Tertullian on the Soul]
1 cor 15.52 -We now come to the most usual cavil of unbelief. If, they say, it be actually the selfsame substance which is recalled to life with all its form, and lineaments, and quality, then why not with all its other characteristics? Then the blind, and the lame, and the palsied, and whoever else may have passed away with any conspicuous mark, will return again with the same. What now is the fact, although you in the greatness of your conceit 7720 thus disdain to accept from God so vast a grace? Does it not happen that, when you now admit the salvation of only the soul, you ascribe it to men at the cost of half their nature? What is the good of believing in the resurrection, unless your faith embraces the whole of it? If the flesh is to be repaired after its dissolution, much more will it be restored after some violent injury. Greater cases prescribe rules for lesser ones. Is not the amputation or the crushing of a limb the death of that limb? Now, if the death of the whole person is rescinded by its resurrection, what must we say of the death of a part of him? If we are changed for glory, how much more for integrity! 7721 Any loss sustained by our bodies is an accident to them, but their entirety is their natural property. In this condition we are born. Even if we become injured in the womb, this is loss suffered by what is already a human being. Natural condition 7722 is prior to injury. As life is bestowed by God, so is p. 590 it restored by Him. As we are when we receive it, so are we when we recover it. To nature, not to injury, are we restored; to our state by birth, not to our condition by accident, do we rise again. If God raises not men entire, He raises not the dead. For what dead man is entire, although he dies entire? Who is without hurt, that is without life? What body is uninjured, when it is dead, when it is cold, when it is ghastly, when it is stiff, when it is a corpse? When is a man more infirm, than when he is entirely infirm? When more palsied, than when quite motionless? Thus, for a dead man to be raised again, amounts to nothing short of his being restored to his entire condition,—lest he, forsooth, be still dead in that part in which he has not risen again. God is quite able to re-make what He once made. This power and this unstinted grace of His He has already sufficiently guaranteed in Christ; and has displayed Himself to us (in Him) not only as the restorer of the flesh, but as the repairer of its breaches. And so the apostle says: “The dead shall be raised incorruptible” (or unimpaired). 7723 But how so, unless they become entire, who have wasted away either in the loss of their health, or in the long decrepitude of the grave? For when he propounds the two clauses, that “this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality,” 7724 he does not repeat the same statement, but sets forth a distinction. For, by assigning immortality to the repeating of death, and incorruption to the repairing of the wasted body, he has fitted one to the raising and the other to the retrieval of the body. I suppose, moreover, that he promises to the Thessalonians the integrity of the whole substance of man. 7725 So that for the great future there need be no fear of blemished or defective bodies. Integrity, whether the result of preservation or restoration, will be able to lose nothing more, after the time that it has given back to it whatever it had lost. Now, when you contend that the flesh will still have to undergo the same sufferings, if the same flesh be said to have to rise again, you rashly set up nature against her Lord, and impiously contrast her law against His grace; as if it were not permitted the Lord God both to change nature, and to preserve her, without subjection to a law. How is it, then, that we read, “With men these things are impossible, but with God all things are possible;” 7726 and again, “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise?” 7727 Let me ask you, if you were to manumit your slave (seeing that the same flesh and soul will remain to him, which once were exposed to the whip, and the fetter, and the stripes), will it therefore be fit for him to undergo the same old sufferings? I trow not. He is instead thereof honoured with the grace of the white robe, and the favour of the gold ring, and the name and tribe as well as table of his patron. Give, then, the same prerogative to God, by virtue of such a change, of reforming our condition, not our nature, by taking away from it all sufferings, and surrounding it with safeguards of protection. Thus our flesh shall remain even after the resurrection—so far indeed susceptible of suffering, as it is the flesh, and the same flesh too; but at the same time impassible, inasmuch as it has been liberated by the Lord for the very end and purpose of being no longer capable of enduring suffering. [Tertullian On the Resurrection 57]
1 Cor. 15:52 - NIV, NAB - in Tertullian On Prayer
Under the arms of prayer guard we the standard of our General; await we in prayer the angel's trump.
1 cor 15.53 - And [says] the apostle, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."[Ignatius Tarsians]
1 Cor. 15:53 - NIV, NAB - in Irenaeus Against Heresies Book V
contains all things, and then, through the wisdom of God, serves for the use of men, and having received the Word of God, becomes the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ; so also our bodies, being nourished by it, and deposited in the earth, and suffering decomposition there, shall rise at their appointed time, the Word of God granting them resurrection to the glory of God, even the Father, who freely gives to this mortal immortality, and to this corruptible incorruption,[17]
1 Cor. 15:53 - NIV, NAB - in Irenaeus Against Heresies Book V
And for this reason, he says, "This mortal must put on immortality, and this corruptible must put on incorruption."[74]
1 Cor. 15:53 - NIV, NAB - in Irenaeus Against Heresies Book V
So, when this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying which is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O death, where is thy victory? "[101]
1 Cor. 15:53 - NIV, NAB - in Irenaeus Against Heresies Book V
For what sensible thing can they say, if they endeavour to interpret otherwise this which he writes: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality; "
1 cor 15.53 - But behold how persistently they still accumulate their cavils against the flesh, especially against its identity, deriving their arguments even from the functions of our limbs; on the one hand saying that these ought to continue permanently pursuing their labours and enjoyments, as appendages to the same corporeal frame; and on the other hand contending that, inasmuch as the functions of the limbs shall one day come to an end, the bodily frame itself must be destroyed, its permanence without its limbs being deemed to be as inconceivable, as that of the limbs themselves without their functions! What, they ask, will then be the use of the cavity of our mouth, and its rows of teeth, and the passage of the throat, and the branch-way of the stomach, and the gulf of the belly, and the entangled tissue of the bowels, when there shall no longer be room for eating and drinking? What morewill there be for these members to take in, masticate, swallow, secrete, digest, eject? Of what avail will be our very hands, and feet, and all our labouring limbs, when even all care about food shall cease? What purpose can be served by loins, conscious of seminal secretions, and all the other organs of generation, in the two sexes, and the laboratories of embryos, and the fountains of the breast, when concubinage, and pregnancy, and infant nurture shall cease? In short, what will be the use of the entire body, when the entire body shall become useless? In reply to all this, we have then already settled the principle that the dispensation of the future state ought not to be compared with that of the present world, and that in the interval between them a change will take place; and we now add the remark, that these functions of our bodily limbs will continue to supply the needs of this life up to the moment when life itself shall pass away from time to eternity, as the natural body gives place to the spiritual, until this mortal puts on immorality, and this corruptible puts on incorruption:1 Corinthians 15:53 so that when life shall itself become freed from all wants, our limbs shall then be freed also from their services, and therefore will be no longer wanted. Still, although liberated from their offices, they will be yet preserved for judgment, that every one may receive the things done in his body. 2 Corinthians 5:10 For the judgment-seat of God requires that man be kept entire. Entire, however, he cannot be without his limbs, of the substance of which, not the functions, he consists; unless, forsooth, you will be bold enough to maintain that a ship is perfect without her keel, or her bow, or her stern, and without the solidity of her entire frame. And yet how often have we seen the same ship, after being shattered with the storm and broken by decay, with all her timbers repaired and restored, gallantly riding on the wave in all the beauty of a renewed fabric! Do we then disquiet ourselves with doubt about God's skill, and will, and rights? Besides, if a wealthy shipowner, who does not grudge money merely for his amusement or show, thoroughly repairs his ship, and then chooses that she should make no further voyages, will you contend that the old form and finish is still notnecessary to the vessel, although she is no longer meant for actual service, when the mere safety of a ship requires such completeness irrespective of service? The sole question, therefore, which is enough for us to consider here, is whether the Lord, when He ordains salvation for man, intends it for his flesh; whether it is His will that the selfsame flesh shall be renewed. If so, it will be improper for you to rule, from the inutility of its limbs in the future state, that the flesh will be incapable of renovation. For a thing may be renewed, and yet be useless from having nothing to do; but it cannot be said to be useless if it has no existence. If, indeed, it has existence, it will be quite possible for it also not to be useless; it may possibly have something to do; for in the presence of God there will be no idleness. [Tertullian On Ressurrection 60]
1 cor 15.53 - Therefore the apostle answers thus, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."[37]
1 Cor. 15:53 - NIV, NAB - in Methodius From the Discourse on the Resurrection
And therefore the apostle answers, "This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal immortality."[
1 cor 15.54 -and relate why the advent of the Son of God took place in these last times, that is, in the end, rather than in the beginning [of the world]; and unfold what is contained in the Scriptures concerning the end [itself], and things to come; and not be silent as to how it is that God has made the Gentiles, whosesalvation was despaired of, fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers with the saints; and discourse how it is that this mortal body shall put on immortality, and this corruptible shall put on incorruption; 1 Corinthians 15:54 and proclaim in what sense [God] says, That is a people who was not a people; and she is beloved who was not beloved; [Irenaes 1.10.3]
1 cor 15.54,55 -Now Adam had been conquered, all life having been taken away from him: wherefore, when the foe was conquered in his turn, Adam received new life; and the last enemy, death, is destroyed, 1 Corinthians 15:26 which at the first had taken possession of man. Therefore, when man has been liberated, what is written shall come to pass, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? 1 Corinthians 15:54-55This could not be said with justice, if that man, over whom death did first obtain dominion, were not set free. For his salvation is death's destruction. When therefore the Lord vivifies man, that is, Adam, death is at the same time destroyed.
8. All therefore speak falsely who disallow his (Adam's) salvation, shutting themselves out from life for ever, in that they do not believe that the sheep which had perished has been found. Luke 15:4 For if it has not been found, the whole human race is still held in a state of perdition. False, therefore, is that, man who first started this idea, or rather, this ignorance and blindness— Tatian. As I have already indicated, this man entangled himself with all the heretics. This dogma, however, has been invented by himself, in order that, by introducing something new, independently of the rest, and by speaking vanity, he might acquire for himself hearers void of faith, affecting to be esteemed a teacher, and endeavouring from time to time to employ sayings of this kind often [made use of] by Paul: In Adamwe all die; 1 Corinthians 15:22 ignorant, however, that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Romans 5:20 Since this, then, has been clearly shown, let all his disciples be put to shame, and let them wrangle about Adam, as if some great gain were to accrue to them if he be not saved; when they profit nothing more [by that], even as the serpent also did not profit when persuading man [to sin], except to this effect, that he proved him a transgressor, obtaining man as the first-fruits of his own apostasy. But he did not know God's power. Thus also do those who disallow Adam's salvationgain nothing, except this, that they render themselves heretics and apostates from the truth, and show themselves patrons of the serpent and of death. [Irenaeus 3.23.6,7]
1 Cor 15.54 Clement Instructor 2 109 § 3 (p.222, l.30) BP1
1 cor 15.54 and outrage, and suffering of all kinds) or after death (for both together no longer exist, the soul being separated from the body, and the body itself being resolved again into the materials out of which it was composed, and no longer retaining anything of its former structure or form, much less the remembrance of its actions): the result of all this is very plain to every one,-namely, that, in the language of the apostle, "this corruptible (and dissoluble) must put on incorruption," [Athenagoras]
1 cor 15.54 -Archelaus said: Tell me this then,—how can an unbegotten death take a beginning at a certain time? For “from Adam” is the word of Scripture, and not “before Adam.” Manes said: But tell me, I ask you in turn, how it obtained its kingdom over both the righteous and the sinful. Archelaus said: When you have first admitted that it has had that kingdom from a determinate time and not from eternity, I shall tell you that. Manes said: It is written, that “death reigned from Adam to Moses.” Archelaus said: And consequently it has an end, because it has had a beginning in time.1713And this saying is also true, that “death is swallowed up in victory.”1714 It is apparent, then, that death cannot be unbegotten, seeing that it is shown to have both a beginning and an end. Manes said: But in that way it would also follow that God was its maker. Archelaus said: By no means; away with such a supposition! “For God made not death; neither hath He pleasure in the destruction of the living.”1715Manes said: God made it not; nevertheless it was made, as you admit. Tell us, therefore, from whom it received its empire, or by whom it was created. Archelaus said: If I give the most ample proof of the fact that death cannot have the substance of an unbegotten nature, will you not confess that there is but one God, and that an unbegotten God? Manes said: Continue your discourse, for your aim is to speak1716 with subtlety. Archelaus said: Nay, but you have put forward those allegations in such a manner, as if they were to serve you for a demonstration of an unbegotten root. Nevertheless the positions which we have discussed above may suffice us, for by these we have shown most fully that it is impossible for the substances of two unbegotten natures to exist together. [Act Archelaus 29]
1 cor 15.46 -The judges said: Speak to those points, Archelaus, which he has just now propounded. Archelaus said: By the prince of the world, and the wicked one, and darkness, and death, he means one and the same thing, and alleges that the law has been given by that being, on the ground of the scriptural statement that it is “the ministration of death,” as well as on the ground of other things which he has urged against it. Well, then, I say1717 that since, as we have explained above, the law which was written naturally on men’s hearts did not keep carefully by the memory of evil things, and since there was not a sufficiently established tradition among the elders, inasmuch as hostile oblivion always attached itself to the memory,1718and one man was instructed in the knowledge of that law by master, and another by himself, it easily came about that transgressions of the law engraved by nature did take place, and that through the violation of the commandments death obtained its kingship among men. For the race of men is of such a nature, that it needs to be ruled by God with a rod of iron. And so death triumphed and reigned with all its power on to Moses, even over those who had not sinned, in the way which we have explained: over sinners indeed, as these were its proper objects, and under subjection to it,—men after the type of Cain and Judas;1719 but also over the righteous, because they refused to consent to it, and rather withstood it, by putting away from themselves the vices and concupiscence of lusts,—men like those who have arisen at times from Abel on to Zacharias;1720—death thus always passing, up to the time of Moses, upon those after that similitude.1721
But after Moses had made his appearance, and had given the law to the children of Israel, and had brought into their memory all the requirements of the law, and all that it behoved men to observe and do under it, and when he delivered over to death only those who should transgress the law, then death was cut off from reigning over all men; for it reigned then over sinners alone, as the law said to it, “Touch not those that keep my precepts.”1722 Moses therefore served the ministration of this word upon death, while he delivered up to destruction1723 all others who were transgressors of the law; for it was not with the intent that death might not reign in any territory at all that Moses came, inasmuch as multitudes were assuredly held under the power of death even after Moses. And the law was called a “ministration of death” from the fact that then only transgressors of the law were punished, and not those who kept it, and who obeyed and observed the things which are in the law, as Abel did, whom Cain, who was made a vessel of the wicked one, slew. However, even after these things death wished to break the covenant which had been made by the instrumentality of Moses, and to reign again over the righteous; and with this object it did indeed assail the prophets, killing and stoning those who had been sent by God, on to Zacharias. But my Lord Jesus, as maintaining the righteousness of the law of Moses, was wroth with death for its transgression of the covenant1724 and of that whole ministration, and condescended to appear in the body of man, with the view of avenging not Himself, but Moses, and those who in a continuous succession after him had been oppressed by the violence of death. That wicked one, however, in ignorance of the meaning of a dispensation of this kind, entered into Judas, thinking to slay Him by that man’s means, as before he had put righteous Abel to death. But when he had entered into Judas, he was overcome with penitence, and hanged himself; for which reason also the divine word says: “O death, where is thy victory? O death,1725 where is thy sting?” And again: “Death is swallowed up of victory.”1726 It is for this reason, therefore, that the law is called a “ministration of death” because it delivered sinners and transgressors over to death; but those who observed it, it defended from death; and these it also established in glory, by the help and aid of our Lord Jesus Christ. [Acts of Archelaus 30]
1 cor 15.55 - Wherefore the Man on whom they believed not, they shall p. 257 know to be the loving God the Lord, the Just. Whom they provoked to show Himself to be the Lord, to Him when lifted up they bore witness, by encircling Him, who is exalted above every name, with the diadem of righteousness by the ever-blooming thorn. This diadem, being hostile to those who plot against Him, coerces them; and friendly to those who form the Church, defends them. This crown is the flower of those who have believed on the glorified One, but covers with blood and chastises those who have not believed. It is a symbol, too, of the Lord’s successful work, He having borne on His head, the princely part of His body, all our iniquities by which we were pierced. For He by His own passion rescued us from offences, and sins, and such like thorns; and having destroyed the devil, deservedly said in triumph, “O Death, where is thy sting?” 1472 And we eat grapes from thorns, and figs from thistles; while those to whom He stretched forth His hands—the disobedient and unfruitful people—He lacerates into wounds. I can also show you another mystic meaning in it. 1473 For when the Almighty Lord of the universe began to legislate by the Word, and wished His power to be manifested to Moses, a godlike vision of light that had assumed a shape was shown him in the burning bush (the bush is a thorny plant); but when the Word ended the giving of the law and His stay with men, the Lord was again mystically crowned with thorn. On His departure from this world to the place whence He came, He repeated the beginning of His old descent, in order that the Word beheld at first in the bush, and afterwards taken up crowned by the thorn, might show the whole to be the work of one power, He Himself being one, the Son of the Father, who is truly one, the beginning and the end of time. [Clement Instructor 2,8]
1 cor 15.55 - O the marvel! Since the hour when Christ despoiled Hades, men have danced in triumph over death. "O death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory? " [PseudoGregory all the saints]
1 cor 15.56 -
For none of these either obtained any knowledge of the Paraclete, or received instruction in the doctrine of Jesus. But only this latest generation of men, which has run its course from Tiberius onward, as you make it out, is to be saved: for it is Christ Himself that has re-deemed them from the curse of the law; as Paul, too, has given these further testimonies, thatthe letter kills, and quickens no man, and that the law is the ministration of death, and the strength of sin. Archelaus said: You err, not knowing the Scriptures, neither the power of God. For many have also perished after the period of Christ's advent on to this present period, and many are still perishing—those, to wit, who have not chosen to devote themselves to works of righteousness; whereas only those who have received Him, and yet receive Him, have obtained power to become the sons of God. For the evangelist has not said all have obtained that power; neither, on the other hand, however, has he put any limit on the time. But this is his expression: As many as received Him. Moreover, from the creation of the world He has ever been with righteous men, and has never ceased to require their blood at the hands of the wicked, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias. And whence, then, did righteous Abel and all those succeeding worthies, who are enrolled among the righteous, derive their righteousness when as yet there was no law of Moses, and when as vet the prophets had not arisen and discharged the functions of prophecy? Were they not constituted righteous in virtue of their fulfilling the law, every one of them showing the work of thelaw written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing them witness? For when a man who has not the law does naturally the things contained in the law, he, not having the law, is a law unto himself. And consider now the multitude of laws thus existing among the several righteous men who lived a life of uprightness, at one time discovering for themselves the law of God implanted in their hearts, at another learning of it from their parents, and yet again being instructed in it further by the ancients and the elders. But inasmuch as dull, few were able to rise by this medium to the height of righteousness, that is to say, by means of the traditions of parents, when as yet there was no lawembodied in writing, God had compassion on the race of man. and was pleased to give through Mosesa written law to men, since verily the equity of the natural law filled to be retained in all its perfectionin their hearts. In consonance, therefore, with man's first creation, a written legislation was prepared which was given through Moses in behoof of the salvation of very many. For if we reckon that man isjustified without the works of the law, and if Abraham was counted righteous, how much more shall those obtain righteousness who have fulfilled the law which contains the things that are expedient formen? And seeing that you have made mention only of three several scriptures, in terms of which theapostle has declared that the law is a ministration of death, and that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, and that the law is the strength of sin, you may now advance others of like tenor, and bring forward any passages which may seem to you to be written against the law, to any extent you please. [Acts of Archelaus 28]
1 Cor 15.57 Excerpta e Theodoto 23 § 2 (p.106, l.3 - *) BP1
