52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
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 -- rhopho (jerk,) or rhipho (twinkling.) [1] 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. [2] 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 1-Thessalonians 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, (Exodus 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. [3] 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. [4] You now then perceive how it is, that change will be common to all, but not sleep. [5] 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, (1 John 2:18,) that day (2-Timothy 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 [6] that would take place in the Church before Christ's coming. (2-Thessalonians 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.
1 - It is stated by Semlr, that some in the times of Jerome preferred rhopHu, but Jerome himself preferred rhipHu is derived from rhe'po, 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 ophthalmou, (the eye,) it would probably mean, a cast or inclination of the eye. RipHu, (the common reading,) is derived from rhi'pto, to throw. ripHu ophthalmou is explained by Nyssenus, (as stated by Parkhurst,) to mean -- epimusis-- the shutting or twinkling of the eyelids.
2 - "Pour ce que quand on se resueille, on cleigne ainsi des yeux;" -- "Because, when persons awake, they twinkle in this way with their eyes."
3 - "The trumpet shall sound, (1-Corinthians 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.
4 - "Voyla donc ques les viuans et les morts;" -- "Mark then how it will be as to the living and the dead."
5 - "Non pus le dormir, c'est a dire la mort;" -- "Not sleep, that is to say, death."
6 - "La dissipation horrible;" -- "The dreadful scattering."
In a moment - (ἐν ἀτόμῳ en atomō). In an "atom," scil. of time; a point of time which cannot be cut or divided (α a, the alpha privative ("not") and τομη tomē, from τέμνω temnō, "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; 2-Peter 3:10. The word rendered "twinkling" (ῥιπῆ ripē, from ῥίπτω rhiptō, "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 Matthew 24:31.
And the dead shall be raised - See the note at John 5:25.
In a moment - Εν ατομῳ· 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 Zac 9:14; Matthew 24:31; John 5:25; 1-Thessalonians 4:16, in which latter place, the apostle treats this subject among the Thessalonians, as he does here among the Corinthians. See the notes at 1-Thessalonians 4:16.
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.
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.
In a moment,.... Or point of time, which is very short indeed; what a moment is, according to the Jewish doctors, See Gill on Matthew 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, 1-Thessalonians 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 Genesis, fol. 38. 4. & 39. 1. & 65. 4. Caphtor, fol. 75. 2. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 77. fol. 67. 4. (m) Targum. Jonah. 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.
the last trump--at the sounding of the trumpet on the last day [VATABLUS] (Matthew 24:31; 1-Thessalonians 4:16). Or the Spirit by Paul hints that the other trumpets mentioned subsequently in the Apocalypse shall precede, and that this shall be the last of all (compare Isaiah 27:13; Zac 9:14). As the law was given with the sound of a trumpet, so the final judgment according to it (Hebrews 12:19; compare Exodus 19:16). As the Lord ascended "with the sound of a trumpet" (Psalm 47:5), so He shall descend (Revelation 11:15). The trumpet was sounded to convoke the people on solemn feasts, especially on the first day of the seventh month (the type of the completion of time; seven being the number for perfection; on the tenth of the same month was the atonement, and on the fifteenth the feast of tabernacles, commemorative of completed salvation out of the spiritual Egypt, compare Zac 14:18-19); compare Psalm 50:1-7. Compare His calling forth of Lazarus from the grave "with a loud voice," John 11:43, with John 5:25, John 5:28.
and--immediately, in consequence.
In a moment - Amazing work of omnipotence! And cannot the same power now change us into saints in a moment? The trumpet shall sound - To awaken all that sleep in the dust of the earth.
*More commentary available at chapter level.