English Standard Version
1 Corinthians 15:36
36You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
1 Corinthians 15:36 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
- New International Version (NIV)How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.
- New Living Translation (NLT)What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first.
Context of 1 Corinthians 15:36
34Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. 35But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
Read all of 1 Corinthians 151 Corinthians 15:36 word by word
ἄφρων, σὺ ὃ σπείρεις, οὐ ζῳοποιεῖται ἐὰν μὴ ἀποθάνῃ·Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for 1 Corinthians 15:36
- Luke 12:20But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'
- Luke 24:25And he said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
- Romans 1:22Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
- Ephesians 5:15Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
- John 12:24Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 15:36
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 36Thou fool - . If this be addressed, as it probably is, to the false apostle, there is a peculiar propriety in it; as this man seems to have magnified his own wisdom, and set it up against both God and man; and none but a fool could act so. At the same time, it is folly in any to assert the impossibility of a thing because he cannot comprehend it. That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die - I have shown the propriety of this simile of the…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 36Thou fool - Foolish, inconsiderate man! The meaning is, that it was foolish to make this objection, when the same difficulty existed in an undeniable fact which fell under daily observation. A man was a fool to urge that as an objection to religion which must exist in the undeniable and everyday facts which they witnessed. The idea is, “The same difficulty may be started about the growth of grain. Suppose a man who had never seen it, were to be told that…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 35-50Verses 35-50 1. How are the dead raised up? that is, by what means? How can they be raised? 2. As to the bodies which shall rise. Will it be with the like shape, and form, and stature, and members, and qualities? The former objection is that of those who opposed the doctrine, the latter of curious doubters. To the first the answer is, This was to be brought about by Divine power; that power which all may see does somewhat like it, year after year, in the…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 36You fool!: Paul’s strong response suggests skepticism. It might also imply that the answer cannot be known.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3636. fool--with all thy boasted philosophy (Psa 14:1). that which thou--"thou," emphatical: appeal to the objector's own experience: "The seed which thou thyself sowest." Paul, in this verse and in 1Co 15:42, answers the question of 1Co 15:35, "How?" and in 1Co 15:37-41, 43, the question, "With what kind of body?" He converts the very objection (the death of the natural body) into an argument. Death, so far from preventing quickening, is the necessary…Read the comment
Topics related to 1 Corinthians 15:36
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 15
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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Commentaries