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§ 98. THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST AND THE JUDGMENT. 67

of salvation, has been attained in the individual or not. In the view of this judgment the Christian is to strive after fulfilling the will of God entirely and on all sides, as every failure in such striving would show that he had mistaken the object of the divine institution of grace, and had not used the means given him for the attainment of righteousness. But this by no means hinders that such defects in his moral completeness, which are not incompatible with perseverance in faith, as they spring but from remaining weakness of the flesh, and so bring about such mistakes and misuse, may be so covered at the judgment just as in justification on the ground of faith.*

(d) It seems to be specially difficult, if even the judgment on the Christian is presented under the aspect of an exact retribution, as we found it presented in the Epistles to the Thessalonians (§ 64, b), in exact correspondence with the method of teaching of the first apostles, and yet this aspect of it is plainly involved in this, that each receive what he has done (2 Cor. v. 10). But this equivalent is not to be regarded in the rigid judicial sense as an external balancing of wages and service, but as the natural correspondence of harvest and seed-time (Gal. vi. 7, 8). Because the whole activity of the Christian was determined by the Spirit, so also every result of this activity must be determined by the same Spirit, on whom depends even the completed salvation hoped

From this point of view the judgment according to works, as Peter also and James (§ 51, d; 57, b) teach, seems irreconcilable with the premises of the Pauline doctrine of grace, although it must be confessed that the apostle had no need of an explicit reconciling of them. One must concede to Ritschl (ii. p. 363), that Paul nowhere reflects directly on the imperfection of the moral conduct of Christians, which created the need to seek the complement in justification through Christ. But when he correctly refuses (p. 364) the interpretation of 1 Cor. iv. 4 adopted by Meyer, by which Paul will owe his justification in the judgment only to faith, yet with this refusal of any certainty of standing in the judgment resting upon the simple absence of the upbraidings of his own conscience, there is necessarily given him also the possibility that the defects concealed from him, and unfaithfulness in the discharge of his office, will have to be covered by a merciful judgment (comp. Jas. ii. 13).

"Future retribution, to be sure (2 Cor. xi. 15: ŵv rò tíλos forai xarà rà ïpya aurav), is the natural result of this, that the man, if he has the means to reach the end, and has not used the means (note c), is responsible for that; and if the fundamental principle of an equivalent is employed on this, 1 Cor. iii. 17 (£7 Tus φθείρει, φθερεῖ τοῦτον ὁ Θεός), there is offered no ground to suppose, with Ritschl, ii. p. 315, footnote, that this is meant rather apparently than really. Even the

for, according to § 96, c; 97, a. And if the fundamental principle of the equivalent of wages and service seems to be applied in the stricter sense to the divine blessing, which rewards the gift (2 Cor. ix. 6; comp. Phil. iv. 19 with ver. 18), the image here shows that the wages are not here to be regarded as legally due, but as the result of the same correspondence of seed-time and harvest resulting from a natural necessity, and it is clear from the context that the harvest of this sowing of love consists in the capacity and the desire for a higher service of love (vv. 8-11). The figure of the racer who runs for a perishable crown, forms even a smaller difficulty (1 Cor. ix. 24, 25; comp. Phil. iii. 14). God has set before men the goal of a perfect salvation, and laid down the conditions with which the attainment of it is reached, and the Christian by obedience to these may strive after it, as the racer after the reward of victory, although it is grace which presents it and enables him to attain it (comp. § 32, a). But this does not by any means hinder that the acknowledgment of the reward of victory in the latter case, or the harvest in the former, should follow in the final judgment, a matter which Pfleiderer, p. 263 [E. T. i. 266], overlooks. Even every deed, directed to the fulfilment of the conditions for it, may be put into the point of view of one which brings gain or advantage (1 Cor. xiii. 3, xv. 32). The eudaemonism which is apparently implied in this (comp. xv. 19) is not at all objectionable, because the perfect salvation aimed at by such deeds is at once the highest good and the highest realization of the divine will in man (comp. § 32, c).

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thought of an earthly retribution is so little strange to the apostle, that, just as in the teaching of Jesus, and with James (§ 32, d, footnote 4; 57, c), disease and early death do occasionally occur as punishments for special sins (1 Cor. xi. 30). But as grace forms the direct contrast to the relation of merit (Rom. iv. 4), and, according to xi. 35 (taken from Job xli. 2), even the original relation to God itself excludes every claim to reward, there seems to be presented here a contradiction, which Reuss (ii. p. 236 [E. T. ii. 214]) thinks he can remove only on the supposition, that Paul for the practical purpose of his exhortation adopted a mode of speech which strictly contradicted his system.

6 It is somewhat different with those who, as fellow-workers with God (1 Cor. iii. 9), have entered, as it were, into a relation of free contract with Him. In this relation each receives actually his special wages according to his special work (ver. 8), it being assumed that this work will be found approved (vv. 14, 15). In this sense every Christian work in Christ, inasmuch as He, as the

§ 99. The Final Consummation.

As the last of all enemies, death is overcome, in that the dead are raised, and those who are alive are changed, at Christ's second coming (a). The resurrection and the change prepare a body destined for a heavenly life in the new world, while the unbelieving abide in death (b). The end of the final consummation is the future kingdom of God, in which the immediate rule of God will be perfectly realized (c). Along with that, the end of the world's development and the supreme glory of God are attained, which the apostle makes it his task to advance by his own example and his invitation to thanksgiving (d).

(a) The last of all enemies, which, according to § 98, a, are conquered before the coming of the final consummation, and robbed of all power, is death (1 Cor. xv. 26). If this final consummation, therefore, is to come at the Parousia, then must those Christians who are asleep, over whom death yet rules, although they have been already redeemed in principle from sin and its consequences (§ 97, a), be raised at the Parousia (ver. 23), and this resurrection takes place in a moment on the signal given by the last trumpet (ver. 52), which, according to 1 Thess. iv. 16, announces at the same time the second coming of Christ. But even those yet living bear in themselves a body which has not yet been delivered (Rom. viii. 23) from the bondage of peopá (ver. 21), and is therefore mortal (ver. 11: тà Ovητà σwμaтa). This body is not fitted for participation in the perfected kingdom of God (1 Cor.

Risen One, secures to them eternal life, in which the wages are paid, is not in vain (xv. 58). But, according to iv. 5, these wages consist only of the praise which God, according to ver. 2, will distribute to the steward found to be faithful. The apostle's fruitful work thus issues to him in praise on the day of Christ (2 Cor. i. 14), because such fruit shows that God has found his work approved (1 Thess. ii. 19, 20: ríqavos xavxhosws; comp. Phil. ii. 16, iv. 1). Moreover, Paul for his part looks on his preaching of the gospel not as a spontaneous ministry, but as a service lying on him, as a duty, for which he can look for no wages (1 Cor. ix. 16, 17), and he hence seeks his xaúxnμa, which even here from the context appears evidently as his pros, in this, that he renounces his claim on the Church for support, and works gratuitously (vv. 15, 18). But Ritschl, ii. p. 366, rightly mentions, that according to ver. 23 he strives after no other wages than those saving results common to all, results which for him are attached to special conditions (note b).

xv. 50); but as death now has no more power, those who survive shall not die, to be immediately raised again, but at the same moment in which the dead are raised, they shall be changed (ver. 52; comp. ver. 51), so that their body immediately for corruption and mortality puts on incorruption and immortality (ver. 53), so that they are immediately clothed upon with the house from heaven, i.e. with the glorified body, which is in reserve for the Christian as hope's possession in heaven (2 Cor. v. 1, 2; comp. § 96, d, footnote 4). As they in that way are completely delivered from the unclothing of the body, as it takes place in death, while the mortal is immediately swallowed up of life, the apostle earnestly longs to live on till the Parousia (ver. 4). The Epistles to the Thessalonians say nothing of this act of change; but the taking up of the living to eternal fellowship with the glorified Lord promised there (§ 64, c) necessarily presupposes it. The bodies of the survivors are thereby for ever delivered from death, and thus complete victory over death is secured (1 Cor. xv. 54, 55).

(b) As after the conquering of all enemies, the last of which, according to ver. 26, is death, the kingdom is immediately to be delivered up to the Father (1 Cor. xv. 24), there is thus no room, with Paul at least, for an earthly kingdom of Christ in a Christian sense.1 Rather, with the resurrection and change on believers, there begins directly the

1 When Pfleiderer, p. 265 [E. T. i. 268], asserts that, according to the general view of the New Testament, Christ only enters on the Bar at the Parousia (comp. on the other hand, Gess, p. 114), our whole foregoing representation shows that this rather took place at His exaltation, by which, therefore, His elevation to full Messianic dignity was realized, to which undeniably the Bariú belongs. As, now, the conversion of Jew and Gentile hoped for, Rom. xi. 25 ff., takes place undoubtedly, according to ver. 15, before the resurrection of the dead, and therefore before the Parousia, and as along with this the greatest possible extension of the dominion of Christ, therefore the conquering of all enemies is the result, then one absolutely does not see what enemies are to be overcome between the Parousia and the end, or who are, according to Gess, p. 116, to be made ready for a blessed quickening. As, now, the judgment is everywhere else connected with the Parousia (§ 98), there is no ground for ascribing to the apostle a chiliastic idea contradictory to all his views (Pfleiderer, p. 266 f. [E. T. i. 268 ff.]; comp. also Immer, p. 355), even if one will, with Biedermann, p. 299, so far spiritualize this idea as to see in it only the successive overcoming of the world by the Spirit of Christ, put in a Jewish form.

perfected kingdom of God, in which, if it is not explicitly designated as the heavenly kingdom, as is the case with Peter (§ 50, c), at any rate the contrast between heaven and earth is removed, as it is in the teaching of Jesus (§ 34, a, b).2 Then is the perfect (tò téλelov) come (1 Cor. xiii. 10), when the gifts (ver. 8), and all the knowledge that is in part (ver. 9), come to an end. The seeing face to face then begins in immediate fellowship with God (ver. 12; comp. § 34, 6). It is connected with this, that Paul knew nothing of a twofold resurrection. If he says, 1 Cor. xv. 23, that each of those who are quickened with Christ will be quickened in the company to which he belongs, and this is then explained that the oi Toû Xpioтoû rise in common at His Parousia, then the question is only thereby obviated, Wherefore, then, do none of those that sleep rise as Christ? The first-fruit has already risen, and according to the foregoing representation our resurrection is entirely connected with His. Paul speaks

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2 This is inevitably clear from this, that just because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, the change on the living comes simultaneous with the resurrection, according to 1 Cor. xv. 50 ff.; that, according to vv. 48, 49 (comp. 2 Cor. v. 1, 2), those raised receive a heavenly body; and that the whole (irrational) creation waits for the time of the complete manifestation of the sons of God (comp. § 97, c), introduced therewith, as their deliverance from the dovλsía Tas popas comes along with it (Rom. viii. 19). For this dovλsía rūs plopãs is apparently in consequence of the curse which God after the fall uttered on the earth (Gen. iii. 17, 18), subjecting it to vanity and transitoriness, and that unwillingly, to be sure, without its co-operation or its own fault, but only on account of God, who subjected it to transitoriness in consequence of Adam's sin (ver. 20). But on that account, also, is the hope permitted it, that it shall be delivered from this bondage of transitoriness, and attain to the glory of the freedom corresponding to the children of God (ver. 21), after which even now it altogether sighs, and which it strives, as it were, to bring forth in the painful throes which shoot through it (ver. 22). Then a new glorious world appears in place of the present, which, according to 1 Cor. vii. 31, is already passing away. Indeed, in the Epistles to the Thessalonians we saw the believers were taken from the earth, and taken home by the exalted Lord to heavenly fellowship with Him (comp. § 64, d).

3 R. Schmidt, p. 137, also acknowledges this tendency; but then there is certainly no difficulty, by the fact that by the ixarros ir idi rayarı the Távris of ver. 22 are separated from Christ, in whom they rise, and there is no need of a violent separation of this sentence froin what follows (p. 135), which ever leads back again to the unproveable idea, irreconcilable with note a, of a resurrection in different parts (ráyμara). If Paul adds that on the resurrection of Christians the end follows (ver. 24: ura rò ríλo;), it is arbitrary to understand this otherwise than 1 Cor. i. 1, 8, 2 Cor. i. 13, where it designates the final consummation (comp. § 98, a) that comes with the Parousia; and the tire is by no means

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