New Living Translation
1 Corinthians 15:56
56For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.
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.
- 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.
Context of 1 Corinthians 15:56
54Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
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 the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.
- Psalms 90:3You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals!”
- Proverbs 14:32The wicked are crushed by disaster, but the godly have a refuge when they die.
- John 8:21Later Jesus said to them again, “I am going away. You will search for me but will die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going.”
- Romans 5:15But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.
- Romans 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Hebrews 9:27And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment,
- Romans 3:19Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God.
- Romans 4:15For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)
- Romans 5:13Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break.
- Romans 7:5When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.
- Galatians 3:10But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s 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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