1Cor 15:25

“As the presbyters say, then those who are deemed worthy of an abode in heaven shall go there, others shall enjoy the delights of Paradise, and others shall possess the splendour of the city; for everywhere the Saviour will be seen, according as they shall be worthy who see Him. But that there is this distinction between the habitation of those who produce an hundred-fold, and that of those who produce sixty-fold, and that of those who produce thirty-fold; for the first will be taken up into the heavens, the second class will dwell in Paradise, and the last will inhabit the city; and that on this account the Lord said, "In my Father's house are many mansions:" for all things belong to God, who supplies all with a suitable dwelling-place, even as His word says, that a share is given to all by the Father, according as each one is or shall be worthy. And this is the couch in which they shall recline who feast, being invited to the wedding. The presbyters, the disciples of the apostles, say that this is the gradation and arrangement of those who are saved, and that they advance through steps of this nature; and that, moreover, they ascend through the Spirit to the Son, and through the Son to the Father; and that in due time the Son will yield up His work to the Father, even as it is said by the apostle, "For He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." For in the times of the kingdom the just man who is on the earth shall forget to die. "But when He saith all things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted which did put all things under Him. And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all."”

“And that God the Father of all would bring Christ to heaven after He had raised Him from the dead, and would keep Him there until He has subdued His enemies the devils, and until the number of those who are foreknown by Him as good and virtuous is complete, on whose account He has still delayed the consummation-hear what was said by the prophet David. These are his words: "The Lord said unto My Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. The Lord shall send to Thee the rod of power out of Jerusalem; and rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies. With Thee is the government in the day of Thy power, in the beauties of Thy saints: from the womb of morning have I begotten Thee." That which he says, "He shall send to Thee the rod of power out of Jerusalem," is predictive of the mighty word, which His apostles, going forth from Jerusalem, preached everywhere; and though death is decreed against those who teach or at all confess the name of Christ, we everywhere both embrace and teach it. And if you also read these words in a hostile spirit, ye can do no more, as I said before, than kill us; which indeed does no harm to us, but to you and all who unjustly hate us, and do not repent, brings eternal punishment by fire.”

“For the resurrection of the body will receive all the better proof, in proportion as I shall succeed in showing that Christ belongs to that God who is believed to have provided this resurrection of the flesh in His dispensation. When he says, "For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet," we can see at once from this statement that he speaks of a God of vengeance, and therefore of Him who made the following promise to Christ: "Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.”

“And thus, the statement which occurs in about the middle of this Psalm, "His enemies shall lick the dust" (of course, as having been, (to use the apostle's phrase, ) "put under His feet" ), will bear upon the very object which I had in view, when I both introduced the Psalm, and insisted on my opinion of its sense,-namely, that I might demonstrate both the glory of His kingdom and the subjection of His enemies in pursuance of the Creator's own plans, with the view of laying down this conclusion, that none but He can be believed to be the Christ of the Creator.”

“This body shall be raised but not in its present weakness. It shall be raised the very same body, but by putting aside corruption it shall be transformed, just as iron becomes fire when combined with fire, as the Lord who raises us knows. This body therefore shall rise, but it will not abide in its present condition, but as an eternal body. No longer will it, as now, need nourishment for life nor stairs for its ascent. It will become spiritual, a marvelous thing, beggaring description.”

“"He must reign" till such and such a time … and "be received by heaven until the time of restitution" and have the seat at the right hand until the overthrow of his enemies. But after this? Must he cease to be king or be removed from heaven? Why, who shall make him cease, or for what cause? What a bold and very anarchical interpreter you are, and yet you have heard that of his kingdom there shall be no end. Your mistake arises from not understanding that "until" is not always exclusive of what comes after but asserts up to that time, without denying what comes after it. To take a single instance, how else would you understand "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world"? Does it mean that he will no longer be so afterward?”

“"For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet." Again from hence also another absurdity is produced, unless we take this also in a way becoming Deity. For the expression "until," is one of end and limitation: but in reference to God, this does not exist. And this manner of speech one might find also in the Old Testament; as when it is said, "But the word of the Lord abideth for ever;" and, "Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail." Now these and such-like things the Prophet saith, when he is telling of things which a long space of time must achieve and which must by all means come to pass; casting out the fearfulness of the duller sort of hearers. But that the expression, "until," spoken of God, and "unto," do not signify an end, hear what one saith: "From everlasting unto everlasting Thou art God:" and again, "I am, I am," and "Even to your old age I am He." Since then he referred all to Him, the "abolishing rule and authority," the perfecting of His kingdom, (I mean the salvation of the faithful, the peace of the world, the taking away of evils, for this is to perfect His kingdom,) the putting an end to death; and he said not, "the Father by Him," but, "Himself shall put down, and Himself shall put under His feet," and he no where mentioned Him that begat Him; he was afraid afterward, lest on this account among some of the more irrational persons, either the Son might seem to be greater than the Father, or to be a certain distinct principle, unbegotten. And therefore, gently guarding himself, he qualifies the magnitude of his expressions, saying, "for He put all things in subjection under His feet," again referring to the Father these high achievements; not as though the Son were without power. For how could He be, of whom he testified so great things before, and referred to Him all that was said? But it was for the reason which I mentioned, and that he might show all things to be common to Father and Son which were done in our behalf. For that Himself alone was sufficient to "put all things in subjection under Him," hear again Paul saying, "Who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Himself." For "do not," saith he, "because thou hast heard that He will abolish all rule, and authority and power," to wit, the devil, and the bands of demons, (many as there are,) and the multitudes of unbelievers, and the tyranny of death, and all evils: do not thou fear as though His strength was exhausted. For until He shall have done all these things, "He must reign;" not saying this, that after He hath brought it to pass He doth not reign; but establishing this other, that even if it be not now, undoubtedly it will be. For His kingdom is not cut off: yea, He rules and prevails and abides until He shall have set to right all things.”

“Since he said that He will abolish the opposing powers and set up trophies, and someone might doubt and say, "perhaps He will grow weak while He does all this, and will not be able to accomplish it," he says that He will not grow weak, but He must reign, that is, conduct Himself as King and as the Mighty One, until He subdues His enemies, and the last of them — death. For He who subdued the devil will obviously also subdue his work — death. And from what would it be seen that it has been subdued, if it does not give up the bodies it has seized? For then properly will it be defeated, when its spoil too has been plundered. So, having heard that He will abolish all rule and authority, do not fear that He will grow weak and not do this: He will do all things, reigning and directing the war, until He subdues all. Do you see that the word "until" is placed not to negate what comes "after" this, but for the reason that has been stated? For, he says, His kingdom abides and will not weaken until He sets all things in order. All the more will it abide after He has set all things in order, for of His Kingdom there will be no end (Luke 1:33). Gregory the Theologian says that here "kingdom" refers to the fact that He brings about submission and places us under His dominion; therefore, when we submit to Him, such a kingdom of His — that is, the effort and activity of bringing us into submission to Him — will cease. For just as a builder is occupied with building until he has put on the roof, and afterward ceases the work of construction, so also the Son reigns, that is, establishes His kingdom in us, until we become His subjects.”

“940. – For he must reign. Here the Apostle shows the end of the resurrection as to the removal of the wicked. This he shows by the destruction of all enemies of Christ: first, he mentions their destruction; secondly, the perfection of subjection (v. 26); thirdly, the end of the destruction (v. 28). 941. – First, therefore, he says: I have said that the end will be when He has delivered the kingdom to God the Father. But will Christ have a kingdom in which He should reign: "All power is given to me in heaven and on earth" (Matt 28:18); "and he will reign in the house of Jacob forever" (Lk 1:32)? He must reign, I say, until he has put all enemies under his feet. But aren't they under His feet now, i.e., under Christ's power? The answer is that the enemies of Christ are now under His power, but in two ways: either because they are converted by Him, as Paul, whom he caused to fall on the ground" (Ac 9:3); or inasmuch as Christ does His own will, even in regard to those who act here against Christ's will. So He puts His enemies under his feet by punishing them; but in the future He will put them under His feet, i.e., under Christ's humanity. For just as by the head is understood Christ's godhead, because "the head of Christ is God" (1 Cor 11:3), so by the feet, His humanity. "We will adore in the place where his feet stood" (Ps 132:5). Thus, therefore, the enemies will not only be under the godhead, but also under the humanity of Christ: "At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow" (Phil 2:10). 942. – But why does he say, until he has put all his enemies under his feet? Will he not reign until He does that? The answer is that this can be taken in two ways: for "until" sometimes determines time, as if I should say: I will not see God, until I die; because until them I will not see, but after that I shall see. Sometimes it is taken for the infinite, as when it says in (Matt 1:25): "He did not know her until she brought forth her son." Not that he wanted to say that he did not know her only up to the birth of her Son, but neither did he afterwards ever know her, as Jerome says. This manner is observed, when one intends to exclude only those about which there is doubt. Hence, the Gospel excluded only that which seems to be in doubt, namely, that Joseph knew the Blessed Virgin before she gave birth. But the fact that he did not know her after giving birth is doubted by no one, since he saw so many mysteries concerning the child, and he was so often warned by angels, and Jesus had been adored by the Magi; hence he could already have known that she was the mother of God and, therefore, he did not wish to preclude this. This is the way the Apostle speaks here. For the fact that anyone should reign with his enemies not yet subdued, seems to be doubtful, but that He should reign after His enemies have been subjugated, no one doubts. Therefore, he excludes the first, saying: Until he puts his enemies. As if to say: it is true that Christ has a kingdom and although there are some enemies, while they do not do His will, nevertheless He rules and puts his enemies under his feet. 943. – The phrase, until he puts his enemies can be understood in another way, so that "until" determines a time and is put for the future. As if to say: He should reign. But when? Until he puts his enemies under his feet. As if to say: until then He will reign, until He puts his enemies under his feet, but after that He will not reign. But according to this explanation "to reign" does not imply having a kingdom, but in making progress in reigning and increasing the kingdom, and this as to a perfect manifestation of a kingdom of Christ. As if to say: Christ's kingdom grows gradually, namely, inasmuch as it is manifested and becomes known, until he puts his enemies under his feet, i.e., until all enemies admit that He is reigning, i.e., my kingdom does not grow and it is not further manifested, because it will already be fully manifest.”