Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 15:52
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
52. in a moment ] The literal meaning of the word here used is, that which is so small as to be actually indivisible.
in the twinkling of an eye ] Some MSS. read for , i.e. the downward motion of the eyelid (literally, the inclination of the scale), for the rapid movement suggested by the word twinkling. The latter suits the context best.
at the last trump ] Some have referred this to the last of the seven trumpets in Revelation 8-11. See especially Rev 10:7. But this cannot be, since the visions recorded in that book had not yet been seen. It must therefore mean the trumpet which will sound on the last day. Cf. St Mat 24:31 and 1Th 4:16.
and we shall be changed ] The we is emphatic; therefore the Apostle here expresses once more his belief that he will be alive at the coming of Christ; for, “since the last times were already come, the saints expected that day from hour to hour.” Calvin.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In a moment – ( en atomo). In an atom, scil. of time; a point of time which cannot be cut or divided ( a, the alpha privative (not) and tome, from temno, to cut). A single instant; immediately. It will be done instantaneously.
In the twinkling of an eye – This is an expression also denoting the least conceivable duration of time. The suddenness of the coming of the Lord Jesus is elsewhere compared to the coming of a thief in the night; 2Pe 3:10. The word rendered twinkling ( ripe, from rhipto, to throw, cast) means a throw, cast, jerk, as of a stone; and then a jerk of the eye, that is, a wink – Robinson.
At the last trump – When the trumpet shall sound to raise the dead. The word last here does not imply that any trumpet shall have been before sounded at the resurrection, but is a word denoting that this is the consummation or close of things; it will end the economy of this world; it will be connected with the last state of things.
For the trumpet shall sound – See the note at Mat 24:31.
And the dead shall be raised – See the note at Joh 5:25.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 52. In a moment] . In an atom; that is, an indivisible point of time. In the twinkling of an eye; as soon as a man can wink; which expressions show that this mighty work is to be done by the almighty power of God, as he does all his works, He calls, and it is done. The resurrection of all the dead, from the foundation of the world to that time, and the change of all the living then upon earth, shall be the work of a single moment.
At the last trump] This, as well as all the rest of the peculiar phraseology of this chapter, is merely Jewish, and we must go to the Jewish writers to know what is intended. On this subject, the rabbins use the very same expression. Thus Rabbi Akiba: “How shall the holy blessed God raise the dead? We are taught that God has a trumpet a thousand ells long, according to the ell of God: this trumpet he shall blow, so that the sound of it shall extend from one extremity of the earth to the other. At the first blast the earth shall be shaken; at the second, the dust shall be separated; at the third, the bones shall be gathered together; at the fourth, the members shall wax warm; at the fifth, the heads shall be covered with skin; at the sixth, the souls shall be rejoined to their bodies; at the seventh, all shall revive and stand clothed.” See Wetstein. This tradition shows us what we are to understand by the last trump of the apostle; it is the seventh of Rab. Akiba, when the dead shall be all raised, and, being clothed upon with their eternal vehicles, they shall be ready to appear before the judgment seat of God.
For the trumpet shall sound] By this the apostle confirms the substance of the tradition, there shall be the sound of a trumpet on this great day; and this other scriptures teach: see Zec 9:14; Mt 24:31; Joh 5:25; 1Th 4:16, in which latter place, the apostle treats this subject among the Thessalonians, as he does here among the Corinthians. See the notes there.
Shall be raised incorruptible] Fully clothed with a new body, to die no more.
We shall be changed.] That is, those who shall then be found alive.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This change will be on the sudden, in a moment; either upon the will and command of Christ, which shall be as effectual to call persons out of their graves, as a trumpet is to call persons together; or rather, upon a sound made like to the sound of a trumpet, as it was at the giving of the law upon Sinai, Exo 19:16. We read of this last trump, Mat 24:31; 1Th 4:16. There shall (saith the apostle) be such a sound made; and upon the making of it, the saints, that are dead, shall be raised out of their graves; not with such bodies as they carried thither, (which were corruptible), but with such bodies as shall be no more subject to corruption; and those who at that time shall be alive, shall one way or another be
changed, and be also put into an incorruptible state.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
52. the last trumpat thesounding of the trumpet on the last day [VATABLUS](Mat 24:31; 1Th 4:16).Or the Spirit by Paul hints that the other trumpets mentionedsubsequently in the Apocalypse shall precede, and that this shall bethe last of all (compare Isa 27:13;Zec 9:14). As the law was givenwith the sound of a trumpet, so the final judgment according to it(Heb 12:19; compare Ex19:16). As the Lord ascended “with the sound of a trumpet”(Ps 47:5), so He shall descend(Re 11:15). The trumpet wassounded to convoke the people on solemn feasts, especially on thefirst day of the seventh month (the type of the completion oftime; seven being the number for perfection; on thetenth of the same month was the atonement, and on the fifteenth thefeast of tabernacles, commemorative of completed salvation out of thespiritual Egypt, compare Zec 14:18;Zec 14:19); compare Ps50:1-7. Compare His calling forth of Lazarus from the grave “witha loud voice,” Joh 11:43;Joh 5:25; Joh 5:28.
andimmediately, inconsequence.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
In a moment,…. Or point of time, which is very short indeed; what a moment is, according to the Jewish doctors,
[See comments on Mt 4:8].
In the twinkling of an eye; these two the Jews not only put together as here, but make one to be as the other; so they say k,
, “a moment is as the twinkling of an eye”. This phrase, as the twinkling of an eye, is frequently used in Jewish writings l, to signify how speedily ard suddenly anything is done, and which is the design of it here; and the apostle’s meaning is, that the change upon the bodies of living saints will be so quick, that it will be done in a trice, before a man can shut his eyes and open them again; so that it will be as it were imperceptible, and without the least sensation of pain; this may also be referred to the resurrection, which will be quick, and done at once; though it seems rather, and chiefly, to respect the change of the living; what follows, indeed, favours the other sense also; for all will be quick and sudden, the coming of Christ, the raising of the dead, and the change of the living:
at the last trumpet, for the trumpet shall sound; or “by the last trumpet”, as the Syriac and Arabic versions render it; that is, by means of it, through the sounding of that:
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible; free from all frailty, mortality, and corruption, when the trumpet shall sound:
and at the same time also,
we shall be changed; the saints that will be found alive; the apostle speaks in the first person, because of the uncertainty of Christ’s coming, and of the blowing of the last trumpet, he not knowing but it might be in his time; what this last trumpet will be, is not easy to say; it can hardly be thought to be a material one: the Jews m have a notion, that a trumpet will be blown at the time of the resurrection of the dead, as at the giving of the law on Mount Sinai; which will quicken the dead, as they say it then did; and that this will be blown by Michael the archangel n: it seems very likely to be the same with the shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God, 1Th 4:16 all which may be no other than the voice of Christ; at the hearing of which, the dead will rise; but whether this will be an articulate one, as at the raising of Lazarus, or is only expressive of his power, which will then be put forth, is not material, nor a point to be determined: and what if by all this should be meant some violent claps of thunder, as at Mount Sinai, which will shake the whole earth; and when almighty power will be put forth to raise the dead: since such are by the Jews o called the voices of the son of David, and are expected by them, a little before his coming? This is called the “last” trumpet, not so much with respect to those that go before, much less to the seven trumpets in the Revelations, of which as yet there was no revelation made, but because there will be none after it; see:
“And the trumpet shall give a sound, which when every man heareth, they shall be suddenly afraid.” (2 Esdras 6:23)
i Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 11. fol. 202. 3. k T. Hieros. Beracot, fol. 2. 4. Eeha Rabbati, fol. 54. 4. l T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 2. 2. Sabbat, fol. 34. 2. Zohar in Gen, fol. 38. 4. & 39. 1. & 65. 4. Caphtor, fol. 75. 2. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 77. fol. 67. 4. m Targum. Jon. in Exod. xx. 18. & Kettoreth Hassammim in ib. Abarbinel. Mashmia Jeshua, fol. 11. 4. n Abkath Rochel, p. 138. o T. Bab. Sanhedrim, fol. 97. 1. & Gloss. in ib. Vid. Megilla, fol. 17. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In a moment ( ). Old word, from privative and , to cut, indivisible: Scientific word for atom which was considered indivisible, but that was before the day of electrons and protons. Only here in N.T.
In the twinkling of an eye ( ). Old word from , to throw. Only here in N.T. Used by the Greeks for the flapping of a wing, the buzz of a gnat, the quivering of a harp, the twinkling of a star.
At the last trump ( ). Symbolical, of course. See on 1Thess 4:16; Matt 24:31.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Moment [] . Only here in the New Testament. Atomos, from aj not and temnw to cut, whence our atom. An undivided point of time. The same idea of indivisibility appears in ajkarhv (not in the New Testament), from aj not and keirw to shear; primarily of hair too short to be cut, and often used in classical Greek of time, as in the phrase ejn ajkarei cronou in a moment of time.
Twinkling [] . Only here in the New Testament. Originally the swing or force with which a thing is thrown; a stroke or beat. Used in the classics of the rush of a storm, the flapping of wings; the buzz of a gnat; the quivering of a harpstring; the twinkling of the stars. Generally of any rapid movement, as of the feet in running, or the quick darting of a fish.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” (en atoma, en kripe ophthalmou) “The bodily change is to be in an instant,” not evolutionary, when God’s time for the change in each comes. “In an atom of time, the rip of the eye,” or “the batting of an eye.” But let it be noted that the body changes of all the redeemed are not said to occur at the “same moment” See 1Co 15:23-24.
2) “At the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound,” (en te eschate salpiggi; salpisei gar) “At the last trump; for a trumpet will sound.” This is the trumpet call or signal for closing ranks for the Gentile age, as the end of the age signally comes to a close; the righteous dead remaining are raised, first in order or rank at that period, second those who live and remain, shall be changed, and caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Thereafter, before the millennium begins another order who were beheaded for Christ, appears, 1Th 4:14-18; Rev 20:4.
3) “And the dead shall be raised incorruptible,” (kai ho nekroi egerthesontai aphtartoi) “And the dead bodies of men shall be raised up, in an incorruptible state.” Both the nature and deeds of corruption of the first man shall I be no more, Isa 1:4-5; Isa 1:18.
4) “And we shall be changed,” (kai hemeis allagesometha) “We shall even be changed or exist in another state or condition of being,” apart from and without corruption. Rev 1:4 asserts that “the former things (of corrupt nature) are passed away.” Rev 21:27.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
52. In a moment This is still of a general nature; that is, it includes all. For in all the change will be sudden and instantaneous, because Christ’s advent will be sudden. And to convey the idea of a moment, he afterwards makes use of the phrase twinkling (or jerk) of the eye, for in the Greek manuscripts there is a twofold, reading — ῥοπὣ (jerk,) or ῥιπὣ (twinkling.) (131) It matters nothing, however, as to the sense. Paul has selected a movement of the body, that surpasses all others in quickness; for nothing is more rapid than a movement of the eye, though at the same time he has made an allusion to sleep, with which twinkling of the eye is contrasted. (132)
With the last trump. Though the repetition of the term might seem to place it beyond a doubt, that the word trumpet is here taken in its proper acceptation, yet I prefer to understand the expression as metaphorical. In 1Th 4:16, he connects together the voice of the archangel and the trump of God: As therefore a commander, with the sound of a trumpet, summons his army to battle, so Christ, by his far sounding proclamation, which will be heard throughout the whole world, will summon all the dead. Moses tells us, (Exo 19:16,) what loud and terrible sounds were uttered on occasion of the promulgation of the law. Far different will be the commotion then, when not one people merely, but the whole world will be summoned to the tribunal of God. Nor will the living only be convoked, but even the dead will be called forth from their graves. (133) Nay more, a commandment must be given to dry bones and dust that, resuming their former appearance and reunited to the spirit, they come forth straightway as living men into the presence of Christ.
The dead shall rise What he had declared generally as to all, he now explains particularly as to the living and the dead. This distinction, therefore, is simply an exposition of the foregoing statement — that all will not die, but all will be changed “Those who have already died,” says he, “will rise again incorruptible.” See what a change there will be upon the dead! “Those,” says he, “who will be still alive will themselves also be changed.” You see then as to both. (134) You now then perceive how it is, that change will be common to all, but not sleep. (135)
When he says, We shall be changed, he includes himself in the number of those, who are to live till the advent of Christ. As it was now the last times, (1Jo 2:18,) that day (2Ti 1:18) was to be looked for by the saints every hour. At the same time, in writing to the Thessalonians, he utters that memorable prediction respecting the scattering (136) that would take place in the Church before Christ’s coming. (2Th 2:3.) This, however, does not hinder that he might, by bringing the Corinthians, as it were, into immediate contact with the event, associate himself and them with those who would at that time be alive.
(131) It is stated by Semlr, that some in the times of Jerome preferred ῥοπὟ, but Jerome himself preferred ῥιπὟ is derived from ῥέπω, to tend or incline to. It means force or impetus. It is used by Thucydides (v. 103) to mean the preponderance of a scale. In connection with ὀφθαλμοῦ, (the eye,) it would probably mean, a cast or inclination of the eye. ̔ΡιπὟ, (the common reading,) is derived from ῥίπτω, to throw. ̔ριπὟ ὀφθαλμοῦ is explained by Nyssenus, (as stated by Parkhurst,) to mean — επιμύσις — the shutting or twinkling of the eyelids.
(132) “ Pour ce que quand on se resueille, on cleigne ainsi des yeux;” — “Because, when persons awake, they twinkle in this way with their eyes.”
(133) “ The trumpet shall sound, (1Co 15:52,) says the prophetic teacher. And how startling, how stupendous the summons! Nothing equal to it, nothing like it, was ever heard through all the regions of the universe, or all the revolutions of time. When conflicting armies have discharged the bellowing artillery of war, or when victorious armies have shouted for joy of the conquest, the seas and shores have rung, the mountains and plains have echoed. But the shout of the archangel, and the trump of God, will resound from pole to poles — will pierce the center and shake the pillars of heaven. Stronger — stronger still — it will penetrate even the deepest recesses of the tomb! It will pour its amazing thunder into all those abodes of silence. The dead, the very dead, shall hear.” — Hervey’s Theron and Aspasio, volume 2 page 66. — Ed.
(134) “ Voyla donc ques les viuans et les morts;” — “Mark then how it will be as to the living and the dead.”
(135) “ Non pus le dormir, c’est a dire la mort;” — “Not sleep, that is to say, death.”
(136) “ La dissipation horrible;” — “The dreadful scattering.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(52) The last trump.The trumpet was used to summon an assembly (Exo. 20:18; Psa. 81:3; Isa. 18:3; Isa. 27:13) or to sound a warning. The last trumpet is the one which concludes a series which have already been sounding at intervals in notes of warning to the nations (Psa. 47:5; Isa. 27:13; Jer. 51:27). This verse states with reiterated emphasis that this change shall not be a protracted process, but a sudden and momentary alteration in the condition of our bodies.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
52. In a moment . In an atom of time; in an indivisible instant. In the twinkling (literally, stroke) of the eye. Quick as a jerk of the eyelash.
The last trump See note, 1Th 4:6.
We changed St. Paul’s present we conceptually includes not quite the same as the first we of 1Co 15:51, but all the living in the body at the parousia.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Co 15:52 . , .] A double, because a thoroughly designed and extremely exact description of the suddenness of the ., which is meant wholly to exclude even the possibility of those still alive having first, perhaps, to die at the Parousia, in order to come into the resurrection-lif.
, what is indivisible , an atom (Plato, Soph . p. 229 D), is here a little indivisible point of time . , Hesychius. Comp. the phrase, current in Greek writers, (Lucian, As . 37; Alciphron. iii. 25).
. ] at the last trumpet , while it is sounded (by an archangel). See Winer, p. 361 [E. T. 482]. Comp. , Pindar, Ol. v. 45. Paul might also have written: , Polyb. iv. 13. 1. Regarding the subject-matter, comp. 1Th 4:16 , and Lnemann and Ewald on that passage. The last trumpet is that sounding at the final moment of this age of the world . It does not conflict with this statement, if we suppose that Paul conceived the second resurrection also (1Co 15:24 ) to take place with trumpet-sound, for . has its temporal reference in . De Wette (so, too, in the form of a suggestion, Vatablus; and comp. previously, Theodoret of Mopsuestia) thinks of the last among several trumpet- signals , against which, however, is the simple, not more precisely defined which follows. This, too, in opposition to Osiander, van Hengel, Maier, and Hofmann. To understand, with Olshausen, who follows older expositors ( even already in Theophylact), the seventh trumpet, Rev 8:9 , with which, along with the trumpets of Jericho, Hofmann also compares it, is to place it on the same level with the visions of the Revelation, for doing which we have no ground, since in 1 Thess. too, l.c. , only one trumpet is mentioned, and that one taken for granted as well known. It is true that the Rabbins also taught that God will sound the trumpet seven times , and that in such a way that the resurrection will develope itself in seven acts; [94] but this conception, too, was foreign to the apostle, seeing that he represents the rising as an instantaneous event without breaks of development. It may be added, that the trumpet of the Parousia (see, already, Mat 24:31 ) is not to be explained away, either with Wolf and others: “cum signa apparebunt judicii jam celebrandi,” or, with Olshausen (comp. Maier), of a startling work of the Spirit , arousing mankind for a great end. Comp., too, Theophylact, who understands by the the and of God ; as in substance also Usteri, p. 356, Billroth, Neander, Hofmann. [95] As regards the phrase in itself, we might compare the Homeric , Il. xxi. 388, where the thunder (as signal for the onset) is meant. But the connection gives us no right whatever to assume a non-literal, imaginative representation. On the contrary, Paul has in fact carried with him the conception of the resurrection- trumpet (resting upon Exo 19:16 ) from the popular sphere of conception, attested also in Matt. l.c. (comp. 4 Esdr. 6:24), into his Christian sphere, [96] as he then himself adds forthwith by way of confirmation and with solemn emphasis: . . .] for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead (the Christians who have already died up to that time) shall be raised incorruptible, and we (who are still alive then) shall be changed . The paratactic expression (instead of , or some other such form of subordination) should of itself have been sufficient to prevent the divesting the . . of its emphasis by regarding it simply as an introduction to what follows in connection with . . . (Hofmann); comp. Khner, 720, 4; Winer, p. 585 [E. T. 785]. A special attention is to be given to the . Instead of . , Paul might have written ; but from his persuasion that he should live to see the Parousia, he includes himself with the rest. [97] Comp. on 1Co 15:51 . Van Hengel is wrong in referring to those now (when Paul wrote) already dead, and to those now still alive, of whom a part will then be also dead; . can apply only to the change of the living .
( sc. ) has become in its use just as impersonal as , , al. See Elmsl. ad Heracl . 830; Khner, II. p. 36, and ad Xen. Anab. i. 2. 17. The form instead of is later Greek. See Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 191.
[94] “Primo sono totus mundus commovebitur; secundo pulvis separabitur; tertio ossa colligentur tuba septima vivi stabunt pedibus suis.” See Eisenmenger, entdeckt. Judenth . II. p. 929.
[95] Lenge in the Stud. u. Krit . 1836, p. 708, thinks of a revolution of the earth . which will be the signal of the advent of Christ. Osiander holds that the victory over the last enemy (vv. 25, 27) is pointed at. According to de Wette, it is generally the apocalyptic figure for solemn, divinely-effected catastrophes.
[96] The recognition of this form of conception by no means implies that a dogma is to be made out of it.
[97] As in 1Th 4:15 ff., to which passage, however, this one does not stand in the relation of a further advance of development, or more thorough liberation from Rabbinical reminiscences (Krauss, p. 172); for the two passages agree in substance, and they supplement each other. The incapacity, too, of the flesh for inheriting the kingdom forms the necessary presupposition for 1Th 4:17 . And the restoration of all is not taught even in our passage, ver. 54 f., where the final shout of triumph of the redeemed (ver. 26 f.) is heard.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Ver. 52. The trumpet shall sound ] As at the giving of the law it did, Exo 19:16 . If the law were thus given (saith a divine), how shall it be required? If such were the proclamation of God’s statutes, what shall the sessions be? I see and tremble at the resemblance; the trumpet of the angel called to the one; the trumpet of the archangel shall summon us to the other. In the one the mount only was on a flame; all the world shall be so in the other. To the one Moses says, God came with ten thousands of his saints; in the other thousand thousands shall minister to him, and ten thousand thousands shall stand before him.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
52. ] , in a point of time absolutely indivisible , , Hesych [76] [76] Hesychius of Jerusalem, cent y . vi.
. . at (in, as part of the events of) the last trumpet-blowing . The word . must obviously not be refined upon as some ( in Theophyl. and Olsh.) have done, identifying it with the seventh trumpet of the Apocalypse; nor pressed too closely as if there were necessarily no trump after it, but is the trump at the time of the end , the last trump , in a wide and popular sense. See ref. 1 Thess.
] impersonal, , scil. So Od. . 142, (scil. ): Herod. ii. 47, : Xen. Anab. i. 2. 17, : iii. 4. 36, : vi. 5. 25, Khner, 414. 2.
for is reprobated by the grammarians: see Wetst.
, see above [on 1Co 15:51 ].
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 15:52-53 . The necessity for change, negatively declared in 1Co 15:50 , is now reaffirmed positively, as a necessity lying in the nature and relations of the changed: “For this corruptible (perishable) is bound ( : cf. 1Co 11:19 ) to put on incorruption (imperishableness), and this mortal to put on immortality”. The double speaks, as in 2Co 5:2 , Rom 7:24 , out of P.’s painful self-consciousness: cf. 2Co 4:10 , Gal 6:17 . and ( concrete , of felt necessity: , 50, abstract , of general principle) relate, as in 1Co 15:42 ff., to the present, living body of the , not to the dead body deposited in the grave. The aforesaid “change” is now represented as an investiture ( ) with incorruption and immortality; the two ideas are adjusted in 2Co 5:4 , where it is conceived that the living Christian will “put on” the new, spiritual body “over” ( – ) his earthly frame, which will then be “absorbed” ( ) by it.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
moment. Greek. atomos, literally that which cannot be out or divided. Hence “atom”. Only here.
twinkling. Greek. ripe. Only here.
incorruptible. Greek. aphthartos. See Rom 1:23.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
52.] , in a point of time absolutely indivisible, , Hesych[76] [76] Hesychius of Jerusalem, centy. vi.
. . at (in, as part of the events of) the last trumpet-blowing. The word . must obviously not be refined upon as some ( in Theophyl.-and Olsh.) have done, identifying it with the seventh trumpet of the Apocalypse;-nor pressed too closely as if there were necessarily no trump after it,-but is the trump at the time of the end, the last trump, in a wide and popular sense. See ref. 1 Thess.
] impersonal,- , scil. So Od. . 142, (scil. ): Herod. ii. 47, : Xen. Anab. i. 2. 17, : iii. 4. 36, :-vi. 5. 25, Khner, 414. 2.
for is reprobated by the grammarians: see Wetst.
, see above [on 1Co 15:51].
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 15:52. , in a moment) Lest it should be considered hyperbolical, he adds a more popular phrase, in the twinkling of an eye. An extraordinary work of divine omnipotence! Who then can doubt, but that man even at death may be suddenly freed from sin?-, at the trumpet) The full description of the trumpets is reserved for the Apocalypse; yet some things may be gathered from Mat 24:31; 1Th 4:16, concerning the last trumpet; and this epithet is expressed here, as one that takes for granted the trumpets, that have preceded it; either because the Spirit has inspired Paul with an allusion, which anticipates the Apocalypse, or because Scripture long before teaches, that some trumpets, though not definitely enumerated, are before the last. Isa 27:13; Jer 51:27; Zec 9:14; Heb 12:19; 2Es 5:4 : or especially in relation to the trumpet at the ascension, Psa 47:6, comp. Act 1:11 : for one may be called the last, where two only are referred to, 1Co 15:45; not to say, where there is only one [sounding of a trumpet], without another following, Rev 10:7.- ) for the Lord [Engl. V. the trumpet] shall sound by His archangel, 1Th 4:16. The trumpet was formerly used on feast days for the purpose of assembling the people.-) and immediately.-, incorruptible) Strictly speaking, one would think, that they should have been called immortal; for incorruptibility will be put on by means of the change, 1Co 15:53; but incorruptibility includes immortality.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 15:52
1Co 15:52
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump:-This change will be instantaneous and at that solemn final moment when the last trump shall sound and the dead Christians shall be raised incorruptible and those who are alive shall be changed.
for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.-[These words were likely added to give the order in which the three great acts of the last day will follow one another. The first will be the sudden signal of the Lords presence. Then the dead in Christ will rise in immortal bodies. Last of all, the living will be changed. He declares: For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1Th 4:15-17).]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
raised
Resurrection, Summary:
(1) The resurrection of the dead was believed by the patriarchs Gen 22:5; Heb 11:19; Job 19:25-27 and revealed through the prophets; Isa 26:19; Dan 12:2; Dan 12:13; Hos 13:14 and miracles of the dead restored to life are recorded in the O.T.; 2Ki 4:32-35; 2Ki 13:21.
(2) Jesus Christ restored life to the dead Mat 9:25; Luk 7:12-15; Joh 11:43; Joh 11:44 and predicted His own resurrection; Joh 10:18; Luk 24:1-8.
(3) A resurrection of bodies followed the resurrection of Christ Mat 27:52; Mat 27:53 and the apostles raised the dead; Act 9:36-41; Act 20:9; Act 20:10.
(4) Two resurrections are yet future, which are inclusive of “all that are in the graves” Joh 5:28. These are distinguished as “of life”; 1Co 15:22; 1Co 15:23; 1Th 4:14-17; Rev 20:4 and “of judgment”; Joh 5:28; Joh 5:29; Rev 20:11-13. They are separated by a period of one thousand years Rev 20:5. The “first resurrection,” that “unto life,” will occur at the second coming of Christ 1Co 15:23 the saints of the O.T. and church ages meeting Him in the air 1Th 4:16; 1Th 4:17 while the martyrs of the tribulation, who also have part in the resurrection Rev 20:4 are raised at the end of the great tribulation.
(5) The mortal body will be related to the resurrection body as grain sown is related to the harvest 1Co 15:37; 1Co 15:38 that body will be incorruptible, glorious, powerful, and spiritual 1Co 15:42-44; 1Co 15:49.
(6) The bodies of living believers will, at the same time, be instantaneously changed 1Co 15:50-53; Php 3:20; Php 3:21. This “change” of the living, and resurrection of the dead in Christ, is called the “redemption of the body”; Rom 8:23; Eph 1:13; Eph 1:14.
(7) After the thousand years the “resurrection unto judgment” Joh 5:29 occurs. The resurrection-body of the wicked dead is not described. They are judged according to their works, and cast into the lake of fire. Rev 20:7-15.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
a moment: Exo 33:5, Num 16:21, Num 16:45, Psa 73:19, 2Pe 3:10
last: Exo 19:16, Exo 20:18, Num 10:4, Isa 18:3, Isa 27:13, Eze 33:3, Eze 33:6, Zec 9:14, Rev 8:2, Rev 8:13, Rev 9:13, Rev 9:14
for: Mat 24:31, Joh 5:25, 1Th 4:16
the dead: 1Co 15:42, 1Co 15:50
Reciprocal: Exo 19:13 – when the trumpet Lev 23:24 – In the seventh Lev 25:28 – he shall Num 10:10 – in the day Jdg 7:8 – trumpets Jdg 7:20 – blew Job 14:14 – will I wait Psa 47:5 – sound Psa 88:10 – shall Hos 8:1 – the trumpet Hos 13:14 – O death Luk 4:5 – in Luk 20:36 – they are Act 2:27 – to see 1Th 4:17 – we which Heb 12:19 – the sound 1Pe 1:4 – incorruptible 1Pe 4:5 – that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE CHANGE
We shall be changed.
1Co 15:52
These few but momentous words place before us a mystery, a profound mystery.
I. What saith the Scriptures?Three passages there certainly are, all of them in the writings of St. Paul, in which the fact, and to some extent the circumstances, of the final change are more particularly specified.
(a) The first of these is that portion of the 1 Corinthians 15, from which the text has been taken. From this portion we derive the following great spiritual truth that the nature of the future body will be essentially different from that of the present earthly body, both in appearance and in substance.
(b) In 1 Thessalonians 4 the Apostle desired first to reassure his converts that those who had become Christians, and were now dead, would in no degree be in a worse position than those who might be alive at that coming of the Lord which these Thessalonian Christians thought to be very nigh at hand.
(c) In 2 Corinthians 5 the present earthly body is contrasted with the heavenly body; and the burdened Christian is represented as longing to be clothed upon (the expression is alike remarkable and suggestive) with the body which is from heaven.
These three passages seem to complete all that Scripture has directly revealed of the final change and its attendant circumstances; and they appear to justify us in believingfirstly, that all believers will rise with bodies utterly different as regards appearance and substance from the bodies they wore upon earth, and that, for the great mass of mankind, the time when this mighty change will be consummated will be at the Second Coming of our Lord; secondly, we seem warranted in believing that they who will then be alive on earth will pass through the mighty change in a moment of time, and will be caught up, in company with the risen dead, to meet the Lord in the air; thirdly, we seem justified in drawing this momentous conclusion, that existence in a bodily or unclothed state would appear to be repugnant to Christian feeling, as indicated by the Apostle St. Paul, and that thus we are permitted humbly to believe that in the waiting and intermediate world the soul will not exist in a state wholly unclothed or bodiless.
II. Two questions remain.
(a) The first relates to the time when the great change of the mortal putting on immortality will actually take place. Is it in every case to be restricted to the time of the Second Coming of the Lord? At that coming, Holy Scripture tells us that there will be mighty and cosmical changes in this earth, purifying fires and glorifying restorations, new heavens and a new earth, and in the forefront of all those changes the bodily resurrection of mankind. This is the general answer; but it must not be forgotten that we find in Scripture distinct allusion to a first resurrection, and the mention of an interval of time between it and the later and general resurrection. We thus have scriptural warrant for the belief that, prior to the Advent and all its momentous issues, the elect and specially chosen will be clothed with the resurrection body, and form a part of the blessed and holy company that will be with their Lord and reign with Him till the end come. Such a belief will be found to throw a sidelight on many a passage of Scripture which to the general reader may seem dark and difficult fully to understand.
(b) The second question is, What is the relation between the changing and mortal body of the present and the changeless and glorified body of the future? Is there any connection at all, and, if so, what is it? All that we really know is thisthat this earthly body and the spiritual or heavenly body with which we shall hereafter be clothed will be garments of the same soul at two different periods of our existence; but when we think of the one that we know, and of the other that, in the case of believers, is to be fashioned like unto Christs glorious body, all idea of any real connection between the two seems beyond our powers to grasp.
Union with Christ is that which seals and certifies to us the resurrection of the body, and all the circumstances and truths on which we have been dwelling this morning.
Bishop Ellicott.
Illustration
When writers as early and as famous as Justin Martyr could assert that cripples would rise as cripples, though after their rising they would be restoredor when teachers as conspicuous as Jerome, and even (though less strongly) as Augustine contended for the reappearance of the very hairs on the head, we see plainly enough how the instructive analogy of the Apostle was completely ignored and forgotten in the anxious desire to maintain an absolute identity in appearance and substance between the body that now is and the body which shall be hereafter.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1Co 15:52. This verse is virtually the same as the preceding one, except that it adds the information that the resurrection of these saints and the changing of the living ones, will all take place at one instant.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 15:52. in a moment, in the twinkling of an eyea sublime expression of all but instantaneousness. There will, indeed, be an interval between the resurrection of the dead and the changing of the living saintsfor the dead in Christ shall rise first (1Th 4:16), but so brief as to be but as the twinkling of an eye,at the last trump (the trump of God, 1Th 4:16), for the trumpet shall soundaudibly, it would seem, as the signal for the winding up of all present things,and we (the living) shall be changed.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
52. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed. The case is very clear here that Paul is speaking of the rapture of the saints, as there is no allusion whatever to the wicked. In the final resurrection the wicked as well as all the righteous not identified with the Bridehood will rise about the same time, perhaps even then a short interval between the righteous and the wicked. Hence we see from this Scripture that the living saints at the sound of the trumpet will all be translated instantaneously. This is beautifully corroborated in 1Th 4:13-18; 1Th 5:1-11, including a large paragraph devoted to this subject. There we learn that, when the Lord descends with a shout and with the trump of the archangel, the buried saints will first leap out of their graves all round the world. Then, we who are alive, having been left, shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall be forever with the Lord. Hence we see that the interval between the resurrection of the saints and the translation of the living will be very brief; because the latter will fly right up, and along with the former meet the Lord in the air. The most inspiring privilege of the Lords people, is to be living on the earth when He returns, and thus honored with the translation. Hence we have here the two distinct methods by which the Lords saints will enter the glorified state, i. e., translation and resurrection. In either case we pass into the transfiguration glory of our risen and ascended Lord.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 52
We; we, who shall then be alive.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
15:52 In {e} a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
(e) He shows that the time will be very short.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
This transformation will not be a gradual process but instantaneous. The Greek word translated "moment" or "flash" (atomos) refers to an indivisible fragment of time. The blinking of an eye takes only a fraction of a second.
This trumpet blast will summon Christians home to heaven (cf. 1Th 4:16). It is the last trumpet that connects with our destiny, the one that signals the end of our present existence and the beginning of our future existence. [Note: See Barnabas Lindars, "The Sound of the Trumpet: Paul and Eschatology," Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 67:2 (Spring 1985):766-82.]
"We need not suppose that St Paul believed that an actual trumpet would awaken and summon the dead. The language is symbolical in accordance with the apocalyptic ideas of the time. The point is that the resurrection of the dead and the transformation of the living will be simultaneous, as of two companies obeying the same signal." [Note: Robertson and Plummer, p. 377.]
Some posttribulationists equate this trumpet with the seventh or last trumpet of Rev 11:15-18. [Note: E.g., Alexander Reese, The Approaching Advent of Christ, p. 73.] This does not seem to me to be valid. Other trumpets will sound announcing various other events in the future (cf. Mat 24:31; Rev 8:2; Rev 8:6; Rev 8:13; Rev 9:14; et al.). However, Christians, believers living in the church age, will not be on the earth then, and those trumpets will not affect us. This last trumpet is not the very last one that the Bible speaks of. [Note: Renald E. Showers, Maranatha: Our Lord, Come! A Definitive Study of the Rapture of the Church, pp. 259-69.] The fact that Paul included himself in the group living at the time of the Rapture shows that he expected that event to take place imminently (i.e., at any moment; cf. 1Th 4:15; 1Th 4:17). If he had believed the Tribulation precedes the Rapture, it would have been natural for him to mention that here. [Note: For more evidence that the Rapture takes place before the Tribulation, see J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come, pp. 193-218; John F. Walvoord, The Rapture Question; idem, The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation; and Ryrie, Basic Theology, pp. 482-87.]
"Christ’s return is always imminent; we must never cease to watch for it. The first Christians thought it so near that they faced the possibility of Jesus’ return in their lifetime. Paul thinks he too may perhaps be alive when it happens." [Note: Gaston Deluz, A Companion to I Corinthians, p. 248. See also Gerald B. Stanton, Kept from the Hour, ch. 6: "The Imminency of the Coming of Christ for the Church," pp. 108-37.]
"The simple fact is that Paul did not know when Christ would return. He was in the exact position in which we are. All that he knew, and all that we know, is that Christ may come at any time." [Note: Lenski, p. 737.]
Paul did not answer the interesting questions of who will blow or who will hear this trumpet probably because the trumpet appears to be a metaphor for God’s summons. Throughout Israel’s history God announced His working for the nation and He summoned His people to Himself with the blowing of literal trumpets (Exo 19:16; Exo 19:19; Exo 20:18; Lev 25:9; Num 10:2; Num 10:8-10; et al.). So He may use a literal trumpet for this purpose at the Rapture as well.