17. ἔπειταἡμεῖςκτλ.] ‘ then we who are alive, who survive’— the qualifying clauses being repeated from v. 15 for the sake of emphasis. Περιλείπομαι is found only in these two vv. in the N.T., but occurs several times in the apocr. books of the LXX. (e.g. 2Ma 1:31, 4Ma 13:18), and in the later Gk. verss. (e.g. Sm. Psalms 20. (21.) 13). The word is class. (Hom. Il. 19:230 ὅσσοιδʼ ἂνπολέμοιοπερὶστυγεροῖολίπωνται), and survives in the Κοινή e.g. P.Par. 63, 168 f. (2./b.c.) ἀγεώργητοςπεριλειφθήσεται. The thought of the present passage finds a striking parallel in 4 Ezra 7:28 ‘ reuelabitur enim filius meus Iesus cum his qui cum eo, et iocundabit qui relicti sunt annis quadringentis’ : cf. also 13:24 cited above (v. 15 note). For ἔπειτα (ἐπʼ εἶτα Hartung Partik. 1. p. 302) denoting the speedy following of the event specified upon what has gone before, cf. 1 Corinthians 15:6 (with Ellicott’ s note). ἅμα] to be closely connected with σὺναὐτοῖς ‘ together with them,’ ‘ all together,’ in a local rather than in a temporal (Vg. simul) sense: cf. 5:10, and for the studied force of the expression see Deissmann BS. p. 64 n.2. ἁρπαγησόμεθα] ‘ shall be caught up’ ‘ snatched up’ (Vg. rapiemur), the verb in accordance with its usage both in class. Gk. and the LXX. suggesting forcible or sudden seizure, which, as the context proves, is here due to Divine agency (cf. Acts 8:39, 2 Corinthians 12:2; 2 Corinthians 12:4, Revelation 12:5), the effect being still further heightened by the mysterious and awe-inspiring accompaniment ἐννεφἐλαις as the vehicle by which the quick and dead are wafted to meet their Lord . According to Thackeray Relation of St Paul to Contemporary Jewish Thought (1900) p. 109 f. no adequate illustration of this use of the ‘ clouds’ has yet been produced from contemporary Jewish or Christian literature, but for partial parallels cf. Matthew 24:30; Matthew 26:64 (ἐπὶτ. νεφελῶν), Revelation 1:7 (μετὰτ. νεφελῶν), passages which point back ultimately to Daniel 7:13 ἰδοὺἐπὶ (μετὰ Th.) τῶννεφελῶντοῦοὐρανοῦὡςυἱὸςἀνθρώπουἤρχετο, where the connexion with the present passage is all the closer owing to its primary reference to the glorified people of Israel. Cf. also the description of the taking up of Enoch: ‘ It came to pass when I had spoken to my sons these men (the angels A) summoned me and took me on their wings and placed me on the clouds’ (Secrets of Enoch 3:1). εἰςἀπάντησινκτλ.] lit. ‘ for a meeting of the Lord into (the) air’ (Vg. obviam Christo in aλra, Beza in occursum Domini in aλra). The thought is that the ‘ raptured’ saints will be carried up into ‘ air,’ as the interspace between heaven and earth, where they will meet the descending Lord, and then either escort Him down to the earth in accordance with O.T. prophecy, or more probably in keeping with the general context accompany Him back to heaven. In any case, in view of the general Jewish tendency to people the ‘ air’ with evil spirits (cf. Ephesians 2:2, and see Asc. Isai. 7:9, Test. xii. patr. Benj. 3:4 τοῦἀερίουπνεύματοςτοῦβελίαρ), it can hardly be regarded here as the abode of final bliss: cf. Aug. de civ. Dei 20:20. 2 ‘ non sic accipiendum est, tanquam in aλre nos dixerit semper cum Domino esse mansuros; quia nec ipse utique ibi manebit, quia veniens transiturus est. Venienti quippe ibitur obviam, non manenti.’ It will be noted that nothing is said here of the physical transformation with which according to St Paul’ s teaching elsewhere (1 Corinthians 15:35-53, 2 Corinthians 5:1-4, Philippians 3:20 f.) this ‘ rapture’ will be accompanied. The phrase εἰςἀπάντησιν (frequent in LXX. for Heb. μχΐψΗΰϊ) is found c. gen. in Matthew 27:32 (WH. mg.), c. dat. in Acts 28:15, and is used absolutely in Matthew 25:6 : cf. also Matthew 25:1 εἰςὑπάντησιντοῦνυμφίου where the closely-related ὑπάντησιν lays stress on ‘ waiting for’ rather than on actual ‘ meeting.’ An interesting instance of the phrase is furnished by Polyb. 5:26. 8 εἰςτὴνἀπάντησιν ‘ at his reception,’ with reference to the preparations made for the welcome of Apelles in Corinth, with which may be compared P.Tebt. 43, 7 (2./b.c.) παρεγενήθημενεἰςἀπάντησιν of the formal reception of a newly-arriving magistrate. B.G.U. 362. 7:17 (3./a.d.) πρὸς [ἀ]πάτη[σιντοῦ]ἡγεμόνος and the Pelagia-Legenden p.19 (ed. Usener) εἰςἀπάντησιντοῦὁσίουἀνδρός illustrate the genitive-construction of the passage before us. See further Moulton Prolegg. p. 14 n.3.καὶοὕτωςκτλ.] It was towards this goal, a life of uninterrupted (πάντοτε) communion with his risen and glorified Lord that St Paul’ s longings in thinking of the future always turned: cf. 5:10, 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2 Corinthians 5:8, Colossians 3:4, Philippians 1:23 σὺνχριστῷεἶναι.Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning,Christ the beginning, for the end is Christ.The contrast with the generally materialistic expectations of the time hardly needs mention (see Intr. p. 70), but, as showing the height to which even Pharisaic belief occasionally rose, cf. Pss. Sol. 3:16 οἱδὲφοβούμενοι [τὸν, Gebhardt] κύριονἀναστήσονταιεἰςζωὴναἰώνιον, καὶἡζωὴαὐτῶνἐνφωτὶκυρίουκαὶοὐκἐκλείψειἔτι, and 4 Ezra 8:39, ‘ sed iocundabor super iustorurn figmentum, peregrinationis quoque et saluationis et mercedis receptionis.’