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Behold! I tell you a divine mystery1 – we shall not all lay down in sleep,2 but we all shall be changed3
| 1 | I tell you a divine mystery: Or, sacred secret, secret truth. Compare Paul’s introduction to 1 Thessalonians 4:15. Jesus uses the word MYSTERION. Paul has already used it 1 Corinthians 2:1, 7. Compare also Romans 11:25; 16:25; Ephesians 1:9; 3:3, 4, 9; 5:32; 6:19; Colossians 1:26, 27; 2:2; 4:3; 1 Timothy 3:9, 16. |
| 2 | We shall not all lay down in sleep: Or, die. [GDS, MOF] Some of “those of Christ” [1 Corinthians 15:23] will not die as the vast majority of the Church. [Revelation 6:9-11] “Sleep” is the state of the dead – unconscious. [Psalm 146:3, 4; Ecclesiastes 3:19-21; 9:5, 10; John 11:11-14] |
| 3 | But we all shall be changed: Or, transformed. Compare Philippians 3:21. There are two views here: a] the “we” includes all those who are raised spirit-like to heaven; and, b] the “we” is similar to that of 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and includes only those “who do not die.” These will experience some instantaneous change. The latter seems very harmonious with 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17. |
Dear Friends of the Nazarene,
We choose 1 Corinthians 15:51 as the theme verse of the chapter – Doctrinal Unity Regarding the Resurrection. Christians must be unified in doctrinal matters, particularly the subject of the after-life and the resurrection. The Gospel message is centered on the resurrection of Christ. [1-8] Christ was surely resurrected as many disciples were witnesses of this fact. Now the Greeks did not believe in a resurrection for – like the Egyptians – they thought the soul immortal and that it continued living in a new life after death. The Jews themselves had in part succumbed to this “teaching of demons.”
Some members of the Corinthian congregation – likely former disciples of Plato – questioned the subject of the resurrection. [12-19] Paul addresses this major subject head on. [20-28] He teaches that “all” will be raised, just as all die. However, this resurrection follows a certain order: first, Christ as the very first person truly resurrected; second, the Christian Church at the Return of Christ; and, finally all others of humanity at “the end.” Someone would ask: “But, how are the dead raised?” Paul addresses this as a senseless question. To Paul there are two kinds of bodies: a] the soul-like or physical body; and, b] the spirit-like heavenly body. He describes the differences between these two bodies. [42-49]
Paul reaches a transcendent crescendo with an atomic mystery. [50-57] Those previously described as Christians raised at the Return of Christ would experience a divine mystery. Dead Christians would be aroused from their sleep at the parousia-judgment, while those still living would be “changed.” This change of living Christians would occur “in an atomic moment, in a blink of the eye.” Paul has already written to the Thessalonians on this same subject. [1 Thessalonians 4:13-17] Despite all this happy hope Christians are to stay busy, “abounding in the work of the Master.” [58]
May Heaven bless those who hope in the resurrection.
[10 June 2002]
