1 Corinthians 15:56

1Co 15:56-58. The sting of death is sin — Which arms it with its greatest terrors, and is attended with a foreboding of future misery, as the effect of the divine displeasure. And the strength of sin — Which constitutes its malignity, and gives it those killing weapons; is the law — As is largely declared Rom 7:7, &c.; or, that it is a transgression of the divine law. But thanks be to God, who giveth us — Who believe on the Lord Jesus with our hearts unto righteousness; the victory — Over sin, death, and hades; through our Lord Jesus Christ — Through his sacrifice and intercession, and the supplies of his grace; through his dying to atone for sin; his rising again to show us that his atonement was accepted, and that he had obtained justification for believers, the Holy Spirit to raise them to newness of life, and a state of immortal glory. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast — In faith, hope, and love, and in an uninterrupted course of well-doing; Col 1:23; Rom 2:7; Gal 6:9; unmoveable — By any temptations from within or without; from persons or things; from visible or invisible enemies; always abounding in the work of the Lord — In every service you are capable of performing for the glory of God, the good of your fellow-creatures, or your own salvation; the work of faith, or the labour of love to God and man. Forasmuch as ye know — On the surest evidence; that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord — But that you shall receive a full reward in that day of final recompense for whatever ye do for his sake. Let us endeavour, therefore, by cultivating holiness in all its branches, to maintain a lively hope of this felicity in all its spirit and energy, longing for that glorious day when, in the utmost extent of the expression, death shall be swallowed up for ever: and millions of voices, after the long silence of the grave, shall burst out at once into that triumphant song, O death, where is thy sting? O hades, where is thy victory? And when we shall join in everlasting thanksgivings to God for giving us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 15:56. Ἡ ἁμαρτία, sin) If there were no sin, there could be no death; comp. Hos 13:12. Against this prick no one could have kicked by his own strength; no one could have sung that song of triumph, where, etc. The particle but indicates this fact.—ὁ νόμος, the law) threatening death for sin; without the law sin is not perceived; under the law sin has dominion; Rom 6:14.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_15:56 f., still retaining the conception of the κέντρον and the νῖκος, points, by way of happy conclusion (not as introduction to the admonition which follows, as Hofmann would have it), to the firm dogmatic ground upon which this certainty of future victory rests in a connected view of the gospel. Seeing that death slays through sin (Rom_5:12), and sin, again, is powerful through the law (Rom_7:7 ff.), it is thus certain that God gives us the victory over death through Jesus Christ. Christ, that is to say, has indeed blotted out sin through His ἱλαστήριον, has risen for our righteousness sake; and has thus withdrawn us from the curse of the law, and withdrawn us by His Spirit from its power to stir up and promote sin (Rom_8:1 ff.). In this proof set forth by the apostle, the summary of his whole gospel is contained. The form, however, is not argumentative, but, in correspondence with the elevated and emotional tone of the passage, such that shadow and light are placed beside each other, but with the light breaking forth after the darkness, as in Rom_7:25, in the shape of a cry of thanksgiving.

τῷ διδόντι] present; for this future victory of life over death is for us sure and certain.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 15:56 is set aside by Sm [2585] , and Clemen ( Die Einheitlichkeit d. paul. Br., ad loc [2586] ), after Straatmann and Völter, as a “marginal note” of some early Paulinist, on the ground that it is out of keeping with the lyrical strain of the passage, and with the absence of the anti-legal polemic from this Ep. But the ideas of this ver. fill the contemporary Rom. and Gal. Epp., and are uppermost there in Paul’s highest moods (see Rom 8:31 ff., 2Co 5:13-21 ); they are expressed with an originality and pregnant force unmistakably Pauline, and in a rhythmical, imaginative turn of expression harmonising with the context. In this Ep., which “knows nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified,” the Ap. was bound to link his theology of the Resurrection to the doctrine of salvation by the Cross: see 1Co 15:17 f., in proof that the λόγος τῆς ἀναστάσεως is one, in Paul’s mind, with the λόγος τοῦ σταυροῦ .

[2585] P. Schmiedel, in Handcommentar zum N.T. (1893).

[2586] ad locum , on this passage.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_15:56

The sting of death (is) sin; and the strength of sin (is) the law.

The sting of death is sin; that is, death would have no power to injure us if it were not for sin. This is true for two reasons.

1. Because if there were no sin there would be no death. Death is by sin, Rom_5:12.

2. Because sin gives death, when it has been introduced, all its terrors.

If sin be pardoned, death is harmless. It can inflict no evil. It becomes a mere transition from a lower to a higher state. The strength of sin is the law. This must be the law of God in its widest sense; not the Mosaic law, which would make the declaration amount to nothing. The law is the strength of sin for two reasons.

1. Because without law there would be no sin, Rom_4:15. The very idea of sin is want of conformity on the part of moral creatures to the law of God. If there be no standard to which we are bound to be conformed, there can be no such thing as want of conformity. Sin is the correlative, that of reason, nor of expediency, but of law. If you take away law, men may act unreasonably, or in a way injurious to themselves or others, but they cannot sin.

2. Because if there be no law there can be no condemnation. Sin is not imputed where there is no law, Rom_5:13.

There is still another reason, which, though presented elsewhere by the apostle, is foreign to this connection, and that is, that the law not only reveals and condemns sin, but it exasperates and excites it, and thus gives it strength, Rom_7:8-12.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If there were no sin, there would be no death. Man's transgression of the law gives death its lawful power.

strength of sin is the law--Without the law sin is not perceived or imputed (Rom 3:20; Rom 4:15; Rom 5:13). The law makes sin the more grievous by making God's will the clearer (Rom 7:8-10). Christ's people are no longer "under the law" (Rom 6:14).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 56. The sting of death is sin] The apostle explains himself particularly here: death could not have entered into the world if sin had not entered first; it was sin that not only introduced death, but has armed him with all his destroying force; the goad or dagger of death is sin; by this both body and soul are slain.

The strength of sin is the law.] The law of God forbids all transgression, and sentences those who commit it to temporal and eternal death. Sin has its controlling and binding power from the law. The law curses the transgressor, and provides no help for him; and if nothing else intervene, he must, through it, continue ever under the empire of death.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(56) The sting of death is sin.—Death is pictured as a monster, and it is armed with a sting. Its sting is sin. If there were no sin, death would not be capable of inflicting pain, and the strength of sin springs from the fact that it is the violation of God’s law. (See this thought fully brought out, Rom_5:12; Rom_7:7.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

56. the strength of sin is the law] That the sting of death should be sin is very easy to understand. It is not so easy at first sight to account for the introduction here of St Paul’s favourite doctrine (see Romans 7) that ‘the strength of sin is the law.’ Yet the sequence of thought may be discovered. What gives sin its power at that supreme moment is the fact that it is the transgression of the righteous Law of an all-wise and all-holy being. (Rom_7:12; Rom_7:14; 1Ti_1:8.)

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

Ver. 56. The sting of death is sin] Christ having unstinged death, and as it were disarmed it, we may safely now put it into our bosoms, as we may a snake whose sting is pulled out. If it shoot forth now a sting at us, it is but an enchanted sting, as was that of the sorcerers’ serpents. Buzz it may about our ears, as a drone bee; but sting us it cannot. Christ, as he hath taken away not sin itself, but the guilt of sin; so not death itself, but the sting of death.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sting of death - The sting which death bears; that with which he effects his purpose; that which is made use of to inflict death; or that which is the cause of death. There would be no death without sin. The apostle here personifies death, as if it were a living being, and as making use of sin to inflict death, or as being the sting, or envenomed instrument, with which he inflicts the mortal agony. The idea is, that sin is the cause of death. It introduced it; it makes it certain; it is the cause of the pain, distress, agony, and horror which attends it. If there had been no sin, people would not have died. If there were no sin, death would not be attended with horror or alarm. For why should innocence be afraid to die? What has innocence to fear anywhere in the universe of a just God? The fact, therefore, that people die, is proof that they are sinners; the fact that they feel horror and alarm, is proof that they feel themselves to be guilty, and that they are afraid to go into the presence of a holy God. If this be taken away, if sin be removed, of course the horror, and remorse, and alarm which it is suited to produce will be removed also.

Is sin - Sin is the cause of it; see the note at Rom 5:12.

The strength of sin - Its power over the mind; its terrific and dreadful energy; and especially its power to produce alarm in the hour of death.

Is the law - The pure and holy law of God. This idea Paul has illustrated at length in Rom 7:9-13; see the notes on that passage. He probably made the statement here in order to meet the Jews, and to show that the law of God had no power to take away the fear of death; and that, therefore, there was need of the gospel, and that this alone could do it. The Jews maintained that a man might be justified and saved by obedience to the law. Paul here shows that it is the law which gives its chief vigor to sin, and that it does not tend to subdue or destroy it; and that power is seen most strikingly in the pangs and horrors of a guilty conscience on the bed of death. There was need, therefore, of the gospel, which alone could remove the cause of these horrors, by taking away sin, and thus leaving the pardoned man to die in peace; compare the note on Rom 4:15.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The sting of death is sin; if it were not for sin, death could have no power over man; sin is that which giveth death a power to hurt the children of men: The wages of sin is death, Rom 6:23.

And the strength of sin is the law; and without the law there could be no transgression. The law is so far from taking away the guilt of sin, that, through the corruption of our natures, strongly inclining us to what is forbidden, it addeth strength to sin; sin (as the apostle saith, Rom 7:8) taking occasion by the commandment, and working in us all manner of concupiscence.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

56. Sting of death is sin—Before Adam’s sin the destroyer slew the lower orders of creation, but had no sting for man; man would attain the resurrection state without death or hades. Note, 1Co_15:51.

Strength… the law—The law over Adam, with its “Thou shalt not,” made the act (otherwise irresponsible like those of animals) to be sin, and worthy of death. Thence death, which in the lower orders is simply natural, in man is also judicial and penal.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sting of death is sin. Because death is the wages of sin. (Rom_6:23) Death is represented as a venomous serpent. The strength of sin is the Law. The best comment on this expression is to be found in the Epistle to the Romans; see especially Rom_4:15 Rom_7:10-12. It must be admitted that this passing allusion to a distinct doctrine doesnot seem, at first sight, to harmonize with the glorious unity of the subject. No one can read it without a slight sense of jar, because it seems to introduce the element of dogmatic controversy. But this sense of incongruity is removed when we remember how intensely St. Paul felt that man is confronted with the horror of a broken Law, which at once reminds him of a Being infinitely holy, and of his own self condemnation. (Ro 7 2Co 3) It is the sense that the Law in its deathful aspect is annulled, and the sinful soul delivered, which prompts the outburst of the next verse.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sting of death is sin - Without which it could have no power. But this sting none can resist by his own strength. And the strength of sin is the law - As is largely declared, Rom. vii, 7, &c.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

sin

(See Scofield "Rom 3:23").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, 1. Death has its sting. A sting has a threefold property, to pierce, to pain, and to poison: all which were applicable unto death.

Observe, 2. Death’s sting is sin, or death has its sting upon the account of sin. Sin, like a sting, pierces; it pierces us in its guilt, it pierced Christ in its punishment. The soul which no weapon can reach, sin can wound. As a sting, it paineth as well as pierceth. Judas was so pained with it, that in the height of horror he hanged himself in hopes of ease. And as a sting it poisoneth; sin is a deadly poison, pleasant in the mouth, bitter in the belly, baneful in the end. So strong a poison is sin, that nothing could expel it but the blood of Christ.

Observe, 3. Death comes to a believer without a sting; behold, Christ became obedient unto death, that he might unsting death. Death shot its sting into our Saviour’s side, there left it, and there lost it: it is not now unto any of his members a hurting, but a healing serpent; there is now no venom, no malignity in it.

Observe, 4. That as sin is the sting of death, so the strength of sin is the law. Not as if the law did encourage a man to sin, or strengthen him in sinning: for it prohibits sin under the severest penalties, and condemns the sinner to the pit of hell: but the law gives life, or adds strength, to sin.

1. By the curse and obligation of it, binding the sinner under the guilt of sin to the judgment of the great day. Thus the law strengthens sin, by putting into it a condemning power.

2. By the irritation of the law: sin takes occasion by the law, and by the commandment becomes exceeding sinful; when lust finds itself restrained, then like a river that is stopt, it rises and foams and rebels against the law of the mind, and fetches in all its force to rescue itself from that sword which heweth it in pieces.

3. By the conviction and manifestation of the law, laying open sin to the conscience of the sinner, and showing him that God is all eye to see, and all fire to consume, every unclean thing. Thus the law gives sin its strength, and death its warrant, to arrest and execute us. Ah, wretched and miserable sinner! upon whom, together with death, the weight of sin, and the curse of the law fall together! which woundeth deep, and presseth low, even to the lowest hell, unless thou canst say truly, what the apostle doth triumphantly, in the next verse.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

56. “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” This arises from the fact that the law says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Hence when the sting of death is extracted it becomes harmless. If the sting of a hornet were extracted it would do the baby for a toy just as well as the butterfly, as it would be perfectly harmless. Hence the wonderful victory of Christ! He lays hold on the grim monster, extracts his sting, then turns him loose and makes him a blessing to His true people. It is the glorious work of entire sanctification to destroy sin, which is the sting of death, thus saving us not only from the power, but even from, the terror of the grim monster, thus utterly disarming and divesting him of all his terrors and transforming him into an angel of mercy, carrying the golden key to unlock the pearly gates and let us sweep in with a shout.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sting of death is sin [ Rom_6:23 ]; and the power of sin is the law [ Rom_4:15 ; Rom_7:10-12 ]:

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

56. The sting of death is sin. It is sin that gives death his power to sting and destroy. See Rom. 6:23. The power of sin is the law. The law, broken, is sin, and when this law is consciously broken the conscience is wounded. When a moral law is broken, moral death follows. If there was no law of any kind, there would be no sin, no wounded consciences, no moral death.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

The sting of death is sin

It is through sin that we are destined to face death, that is to die.

the power of sin is the law

God's law that was passed down by Moses defines sin and shows us how we sin before God.

gives us the victory

"has defeated death for us"

translationWords

die

sin

power

law

Jesus

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

56. ἡ δὲ δύναμις τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ νόμος. That the sting of death is sin is very easy to understand. It is not so easy at first sight to understand the introduction here of St Paul’s favourite doctrine that the strength of sin is the law. But a reference to the strict meaning of δύναμις (which is often explained as if it were equivalent to ἰσχύς) and a due consideration of the connection of this and the following verse, may help to indicate the Apostle’s meaning. δύναμις means (see note on 1Co 1:18) the capacity or faculty which enables us to do things. Thus the δύναμις τῆς ἁμαρτίας, that which gives sin its power to afflict or condemn, is the perfect law of an all-holy God. Every sinner has transgressed that law, and knows that he has done so, and is liable to the consequent penalties. That which takes away this sentence of condemnation, which robs sin of its power to disquiet us, is the fact that sin has been vanquished and the law fulfilled by Jesus Christ, in Whom we have learned to live by faith, and whose victory over all evil has been worked out in us also, by His condescending to dwell in us by His Spirit. See next note.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

56.] See above: and compare Rom 5:12, and 7.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

56. The thought of death deprived of its sting suggests the thoughts of sin and of the law; for it was by sin that death acquired power over man, and it is because there is a law to be transgressed that sin is possible (Rom 5:13; Rom 7:7). Where there is no law, there may be faults, but there can be no rebellion, no conscious defiance of what authority has prescribed. But against law there may be rebellion, and rebellion merits death. Christ by His obedience had law on His side and conquered death, because death was not His due. When the Christian is clothed with immortality, and all that is mortal is dissolved or absorbed, then sin will be abolished and the restrictions of law will be meaningless. The verse harmonizes with the context, and there is no need to suspect that it is a gloss. On the relation of sin to death see Hort on Jas 1:15.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.