Cornelius a Lapide

Behold 9 I show you a mystery . Theophylact says that by these words the Apostle wishes to arouse the attention of his readers, and to point to some great, dreadful, and hidden fact about the resurrection. We shall all indeed rise again , but we shall not all be changed. There are three variant readings here, the first that of the Greek Fathers and of Ephrem, “ We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” This is adopted by Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Origen {contra Celsum } lib. ii.), Theodoras, Heracleotes, Apollinarius (quoted by S. Jerome, Ep. ad Minerium et Alexandrum ), Tertullian {de Resurr. Camis 9 c. 41 and 62), Augustine (qu. 3, ad Dulcitium), who think that all will not die, i.e. y that some who are alive at the end of the world will be caught up with Christ the Lord, and so will be glorified. For this change, Theophylact says, following Chrysostom, will be to them death ; for corruption will die in theitr by being changed into incorruption, 398 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE The second reading is, “ We shall all sleep, but we shall not all be changed. This appears in S. Augustine (de Civ . Dei y lib. xx. c. 20), and is approved by S. Jerome in the passage above quoted. The third reading is that of the text. S. Augustine prefers this to the others given above, and it is undoubtedly plainer, truer, and more certain, and more consistent with the context and with the other passages of S. Paul’s, in which he lays down that it is appointed unto all men once to die. C£ also ver. 22 : “As in Adam all die.” Though the first rendering does not appear to be true, yet, because of the authorities in favour of it, it is not to be condemned as rash or certainly false. Hence Franciscus Suarez and others say that the opinion that all men, without a single exception, will die and rise again is only more probable than its opposite