English Standard Version
1 Corinthians 15:56
56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
1 Corinthians 15:56 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
- New International Version (NIV)The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
- New King James Version (NKJV)The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
- New Living Translation (NLT)For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.
Context of 1 Corinthians 15:56
54When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 55"O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Read all of 1 Corinthians 151 Corinthians 15:56 word by word
τὸ δὲ κέντρον τοῦ θανάτου ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἡ δὲ δύναμις τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ νόμος.¶Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for 1 Corinthians 15:56
- Genesis 3:17And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
- Psalms 90:3You return man to dust and say, "Return, O children of man!"
- Proverbs 14:32The wicked is overthrown through his evildoing, but the righteous finds refuge in his death.
- John 8:21So he said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come."
- Romans 5:15But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.
- Romans 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Hebrews 9:27And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
- Romans 3:19Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
- Romans 4:15For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
- Romans 5:13for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.
- Romans 7:5For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
- Galatians 3:10For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them."
Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 15:56
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 56The 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…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 56The 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…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 51-58Verses 51-58 All the saints should not die, but all would be changed. In the gospel, many truths, before hidden in mystery, are made known. Death never shall appear in the regions to which our Lord will bear his risen saints. Therefore let us seek the full assurance of faith and hope, that in the midst of pain, and in the prospect of death, we may think calmly on the horrors of the tomb; assured that our bodies will there sleep, and in the mean time our…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 35-58Paul talks about what resurrection bodies are like, possibly answering doubts. In the Greco-Roman world, people often believed the soul was immortal, but not that the body could rise again.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 5656. 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 (Ro 3:20; 4:15; 5:13). The law makes sin the more grievous by making God's will the clearer (Ro 7:8-10). Christ's people are no longer "under the law" (Ro 6:14).Read the comment
Topics related to 1 Corinthians 15:56
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries