New International 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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)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 has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord 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 3:17To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
- Psalms 90:3You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
- Proverbs 14:32When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous seek refuge in God.
- John 8:21Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
- Romans 5:15But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
- Romans 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Hebrews 9:27Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
- Romans 3:19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
- Romans 4:15because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
- Romans 5:13To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.
- Romans 7:5For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.
- Galatians 3:10For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
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
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