The Voice That Raises the Dead
…and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). “And the dead will be raised incorruptible” (1 Corinthians 15:52).
So he likens to a trumpet the voice of the archangel and that divine and most awe-inspiring command. And even if it is the archangel who cries out and gives the signal of resurrection to those who lie in the earth, still the voice will be Christ’s. For it is He who raises the dead by His own power, and certainly not the archangel’s voice; for every rational creature is yoked under the Master’s commands.
What true resurrection will there be at all, then, unless we say that the very thing held fast by death will come back to life? Or how shall we say, all but dancing in triumph over corruption, “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54; Isaiah 25:8), and what follows? “O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).
It should be known that the blessed Paul cited the passage before us according to the Hebrew text. The Septuagint does not read this way, for it is written in the Prophets, “Where is your penalty, O death? Where is your sting, O Hades?” (Hosea 13:14).
Greek
καὶ ἐν σάλπιγγι Θεοῦ καταβήσεται ἀπ' οὐ"ρανοῦ·" καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐγερθήσονται ἄφθαρτοι. οὐκοῦν παρεικάζει σάλπιγγι τὴν τοῦ ἀρχαγγέλου φωνὴν, καὶ τὸ θεῖον ἐκεῖνο καὶ φρικωδέστατον κέλευσμα. εἰ δὲ καὶ ὁ ἀρχάγγελός ἐστιν ὁ κεκραγὼς καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως σύνθημα διδοὺς τοῖς ἐν γῇ κειμένοις, ἀλλ' οὖν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἔσται φωνή· καὶ γάρ ἐστιν αὐτὸς ἰδίᾳ δυνάμει διανιστὰς τοὺς νεκροὺς, καὶ οὐχί που πάντως ἡ τοῦ ἀρχαγγέλου φωνή· δεσποτικοῖς γὰρ προστάγμασι πᾶσα κτίσις ὑπέζευκται λογική· ποία τοίνυν ὅλως ἀνάστασις ἔσται κατὰ ἀλήθειαν, εἰ μὴ αὐτό φαμεν ἀναβιώσεσθαι τὸ τῷ θανάτῳ κατησχημένον; ἢ τίνα τρόπον ἐροῦμεν, μονονουχὶ κατορχούμενοι τῆς φθορᾶς Κατεπόθη ὁ θάνατος εἰς νῖκος, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς; Ποῦ σου θάνατε τὸ κέντρον; ποῦ σου ᾅδη τὸ νῖκος; Ἰστέον δὲ ὅτι τὴν τοῦ προκειμένου ῥητοῦ παράθεσιν ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος κατὰ τὴν ἑβραίων ἔκδοσιν ἐποιήσατο· ἔχει δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἡ τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα· γέγραπται γὰρ ἐν προφήταις "Ποῦ ἡ δίκη σου θάνατε; ποῦ τὸ κέντρον σου ᾅδη;"