Chapter LXV.

And why do I say “to all?”  For even with His own apostles and disciples He was not perpetually present, nor did He constantly show Himself to them, because they were not able without intermission303    διηνεκῶς. to receive His divinity.  For His deity was more resplendent after He had finished the economy304    τὴν οικονομίαν τελεσαντος. (of salvation):  and this Peter, surnamed Cephas, the first-fruits as it were of the apostles, was enabled to behold, and along with him the twelve (Matthias having been substituted in room of Judas); and after them He appeared to the five hundred brethren at once, and then to James, and subsequently to all the others besides the twelve apostles, perhaps to the seventy also, and lastly to Paul, as to one born out of due time, and who knew well how to say, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given;” and probably the expression “least of all” has the same meaning with “one born out of due time.”  For as no one could reasonably blame Jesus for not having admitted all His apostles to the high mountain, but only the three already mentioned, on the occasion of His transfiguration, when He was about to manifest the splendour which appeared in His garments, and the glory of Moses and Elias talking with Him, so none could reasonably object to the statements of the apostles, who introduce the appearance of Jesus after His resurrection as having been made not to all, but to those only whom He knew to have received eyes capable of seeing His resurrection.  I think, moreover, that the following statement regarding Him has an apologetic value305    χρήσιμον δ᾽ οἶμαι πρὸς ἀπολογίαν τῶν προκειμένων. in reference to our subject, viz.:  “For to this end Christ died, and rose again, that He might be Lord both of the ‘dead and living.’”306    Cf. Rom. xiv. 9.  For observe, it is conveyed in these words, that Jesus died that He might be Lord of the dead; and that He rose again to be Lord not only of the dead, but also of the living.  And the apostle understands, undoubtedly, by the dead over whom Christ is to be Lord, those who are so called in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, “For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible;”307    1 Cor. xv. 52. and by the living, those who are to be changed, and who are different from the dead who are to be raised.  And respecting the living the words are these, “And we shall be changed;” an expression which follows immediately after the statement, “The dead shall be raised first.”308    Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 52 with 1 Thess. iv. 16.  Moreover, in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians, describing the same change in different words, he says, that they who sleep are not the same as those who are alive; his language being, “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them who are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them that are asleep.”309    Cf. 1 Thess. iv. 13–15.  The explanation which appeared to us to be appropriate to this passage, we gave in the exegetical remarks which we have made on the first Epistle to the Thessalonians.

Καὶ τί λέγω πᾶσιν; Οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἀποστόλοις καὶ τοῖς μαθηταῖς ἀεὶ συνῆν ἢ ἀεὶ ἐφαίνετο, μὴ δυναμένοις αὐτοῦ χωρῆσαι τὴν θεωρίαν διηνεκῶς. Λαμπροτέρα γὰρ τὴν οἰκονομίαν τελέσαντος ἡ θειότης ἦν αὐτοῦ, ἥντινα Κηφᾶς ὁ Πέτρος ὡσπερεὶ "ἀπαρχὴ" τῶν ἀποστόλων τυγχάνων δεδύνηται ἰδεῖν, καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν οἱ δώδεκα, τοῦ Ματθίου ἀντὶ τοῦ Ἰούδα καταταχθέντος, καὶ μετ' ἐκείνους "πεντακοσίοις ἀδελφοῖς ἐφάπαξ", "ἔπειτα ὤφθη Ἰακώβῳ, ἔπειτα τοῖς" ἑτέροις παρὰ τοὺς δώδεκα "ἀποστόλοις πᾶσι", τάχα τοῖς ἑβδομήκοντα, "ἔσχατον δὲ πάντων" Παύλῳ τῷ ὡσπερεὶ "ἐκτρώματι" καὶ ἐπισταμένῳ, πῶς ἔλεγεν· "Ἐμοὶ τῷ ἐλαχιστοτέρῳ πάντων ἁγίων ἐδόθη ἡ χάρις αὕτη." Καὶ τάχα τὸ "ἐλαχιστοτέρῳ" ἴσον ἐστὶ τῷ "ἐκτρώματι". Ὥσπερ οὖν οὐκ ἄν τις εὐκόλως ἐγκαλέσαι τῷ Ἰησοῦ μὴ παραλαμβάνοντι πάντας τοὺς ἀποστόλους εἰς τὸ ὑψηλὸν ὄρος ἀλλὰ μόνους τοὺς προειρημένους τρεῖς, ἡνίκα ἔμελλε μεταμορφοῦσθαι καὶ τὴν λαμπρότητα δεικνύναι τῶν ἱματίων ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τὴν δόξαν Μωϋσέως καὶ Ἠλίου συλλαλούντων αὐτῷ, οὕτως οὖν οὐκ ἂν τοῖς ἀποστολικοῖς λόγοις μέμφοιτ' ἄν τις εὐλόγως εἰσάγουσιν ὦφθαι τὸν Ἰησοῦν μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν οὐ πᾶσιν, ἀλλ' οἷς οἶδεν ἀνειληφόσιν ὀφθαλμοὺς χωροῦντας ἰδεῖν τὴν ἀνάστασιν αὐτοῦ. Χρήσιμον δ' οἶμαι πρὸς ἀπολογίαν τῶν προκειμένων ἐστὶ καὶ τὸ οὕτως εἰρημένον περὶ αὐτοῦ· "Εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ Χριστὸς ἀπέθανε καὶ ἀνέστη, ἵνα καὶ νεκρῶν καὶ ζώντων κυριεύσῃ." Ὅρα γὰρ ἐν τούτοις ὅτι "ἀπέθανεν" Ἰησοῦς, "ἵνα νεκρῶν κυριεύσῃ", "καὶ ἀνέστη, ἵνα" μὴ μόνον "νεκρῶν" ἀλλὰ "καὶ ζώντων κυριεύσῃ". Καὶ οἶδέ γε ὁ ἀπόστολος νεκροὺς μέν, ὧν κυριεύει ὁ Χριστός, τοὺς οὕτως κατειλεγμένους ἐν τῇ πρὸς Κορινθίους προτέρᾳ· "Σαλπίσει γάρ, καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐγερθήσονται ἄφθαρτοι", ζῶντας δὲ αὐτοὺς καὶ τοὺς ἀλλαγησομένους, ἑτέρους ὄντας τῶν ἐγερθη σομένων νεκρῶν. Ἔχει δὲ καὶ περὶ τούτων ἡ λέξις οὕτως· "Καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀλλαγησόμεθα", ἑξῆς εἰρημένη τῷ "Οἱ νεκροὶ ἐγερθήσονται πρῶτον". Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Θεσσαλονικεῖς προτέρᾳ ἐν ἑτέραις λέξεσι τὴν αὐτὴν διαφορὰν παριστάς, φησὶν ἄλλους μὲν εἶναι τοὺς κοιμωμένους ἄλλους δὲ τοὺς ζῶντας λέγων· "Οὐ θέλομεν δὲ ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν, ἀδελφοί, περὶ τῶν κοιμωμένων, ἵνα μὴ λυπῆσθε ὡς καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ οἱ μὴ ἔχοντες ἐλπίδα. Εἰ γὰρ πιστεύομεν ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἀπέθανε καὶ ἀνέστη, οὕτως ὁ θεὸς καὶ τοὺς κοιμηθέντας διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἄξει σὺν αὐτῷ. Τοῦτο γὰρ ὑμῖν λέγομεν ἐν λόγῳ κυρίου, ὅτι ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι εἰς τὴν παρου σίαν τοῦ κυρίου οὐ μὴ φθάσωμεν τοὺς κοιμηθέντας." Τὴν δὲ φανεῖσαν ἡμῖν εἰς τοὺς τόπους διήγησιν ἐξεθέμεθα ἐν οἷς ὑπηγορεύσαμεν ἐξηγητικοῖς τῆς πρὸς Θεσσαλονικεῖς προτέρας ἐπιστολῆς.