Ambrosiaster — Commentary on Scripture

This is not recorded in the Gospels, but Paul knew it independently of them.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

By “untimely” Paul means that he was born again outside time, because he received his apostleship from Christ after the latter had ascended into heaven.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:9

Paul is least because he was the last in time, not because he was inferior in any way to the others.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:10

Paul says all this in order to show that despite his great sins and unworthiness, the grace of God was not given to him for nothing.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:18

Paul says this because the Corinthians will not want to listen to the false prophets once they realize that if they do so their dead, whom they love, will be taken from them.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:19

It is clear that we hope in Christ both for this life and for the next one. Christ does not abandon his servants but gives them grace, and in the future they will dwell in eternal glory.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:20

Paul says this in order to get at the false prophets who claimed that Christ was never born and thus cannot have died. The resurrection from the dead proves that Christ was a man and therefore able to merit by his righteousness the resurrection of the dead.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:22

Adam died because he sinned, and so Christ, who was without sin, overcame death, in that death comes from sin. Everyone, the righteous and the unrighteous alike, dies in Adam, and everyone, believers and unbelievers alike, will also be raised in Christ. But the unbelievers will be handed over for punishment, even though they appear to have been raised from the dead, because they will receive their bodies back again in order to suffer eternal punishment for their unbelief.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:28

The subjection of Christ to the Father means that every creature will learn that he is subject to Christ, who in turn is subject to the Father, and will thus confess that there is only one God. But Christ’s subjection to the Father is not the same thing as our subjection to the Son, because our subjection is one of dependence and not the union of equals.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:29

It seems that some people were at that time being baptized for the dead because they were afraid that someone who was not baptized would either not rise at all or else rise merely in order to be condemned.

Commentary on Paul's Epistles, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 81.175

1 Corinthians 15:30

The theme here is that unless there is such a fact as the resurrection of the dead, all this is pointless.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:37

If a seed dies and comes back again with so much additional benefit to the human race, why is it incredible that a human body should rise again, by the power of God, with an equally improved substance?

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:39

Let the Sophists explain this if they can! All the philosophers of this world are unwilling to submit their minds to the law of God in order to believe in him. Instead they confound one another with diverse and mutually contradictory theories, none of which can be proved. God, on the other hand, does not argue. Instead, he demonstrates his power by raising Christ from the dead.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:43

The body is sown in dishonor because it is placed in a coffin where it rots and is eaten by worms. But when it rises again, it will do so in glory, and all trace of this dishonor will vanish.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:49

This means that just as we have borne the corruptible body of the earthly Adam, so we shall in the future bear an incorruptible body, like that of the resurrected Christ.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:50

By “flesh” Paul means disobedience, and by “blood” he means an evil and wicked life. Not only will neither of these things inherit eternal life; both must be put under control in this life.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:52

The last trumpet is the one which is sounded when the battle is over. After a thousand years, when the antichrist has been destroyed and the Savior has reigned, Satan will be released from his prison in order to lead astray the nations of Gog and Magog, who are demons, in order that they might attack the fortresses of the saints. They will fail, and when they are defeated they will suffer the same fate as the antichrist and the false prophet. It is then that the last trumpet will sound the final victory.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:55

“Death” here refers to the devil, who is being insulted.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:57

Christ did not win the victory for himself but for our benefit. For when he became a man, he remained God, and by overcoming the devil, he who never sinned gained the victory for us, who were bound in death because of sin. The death of Christ defeated the devil, who was forced to surrender all those who had died because of sin.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 15:58

Those who persevere in a life of faith and good works have the assurance that they will be accepted by God and receive their reward and that they will not be led astray by wicked arguments.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES