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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 1 Corinthians 15:50 - 15:58
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The transformation of the last day and the victory over death:
v. 50. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
v. 51. Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed
v. 52. in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
v. 53. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
v. 54. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
v. 55. O death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory?
v. 56. The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law.
v. 57. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
v. 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
The apostle here sets forth a final argument for the resurrection of the body. For the burial of the dead, with its picture of decay and corruption, far from shaking our faith in the reality of the resurrection, rather teaches us that the body in its present state must perish and be changed before it can inherit the glories of heaven. With great emphasis Paul writes: But this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood, the natural body as such, cannot inherit God's kingdom; nor, indeed, does perishableness inherit imperishableness. If human beings want to become possessors of the heavenly glory, with all the bliss that is included in its enjoyment, then it is absolutely necessary that they pass through the change by which this earthly dress and this bondage of corruption is removed.
This indispensable change in the case of people still living is the object of a wonderful revelation, which Paul proceeds to communicate, calling attention, incidentally, to its importance: Lo, a mystery I tell you! He opens before their eyes one of the secrets which the Lord had made known to him. Not all shall we sleep, not all believers would be lying in the sleep of death on the last day, but we shall all be changed. Our perishable body, whether through death or not, must undergo the change by which it becomes spiritual. The change will be universal and extend to all those that are living when Judgment Day dawns. In a moment, literally, in an atom of time, in the length of time required for a wink of the eyelids, during the sounding of the last trumpet, this would take place. That will be one of the certain signs of the Lord's advent: The final trumpet will sound, and the dead, all of them, will arise, will be raised with their bodies incorruptible. At that point of time the peculiar change in the living will also take place by which their mortal, corruptible bodies become immortal, incorruptible. This change must take place, it is a necessity according to the will of God: This perishable is bound to put on imperishableness, and this mortal is to put on immortality. Note that Paul, throughout the passage, assumes that the believers feel the certainty of the coming immortality.
What glories then shall open up before our eyes the apostle pictures in a triumphant burst of victorious shouting: When this has been accomplished, as it is certain to come about, when this perishable body has been invested with incorruption, and when this mortal body has been invested with immortality, then the word will find its fulfillment which is written Isa_25:8; Hos_13:14, which Paul quotes from the Greek text, but in the corrected form. Death has been swallowed up unto victory; the greedy, insatiable enemy has been forced to succumb, and has, in turn, been devoured; the last bulwark of the enemy has been destroyed, v. 26. In triumphant exultation the challenge rings out:
Where, O Death, is thy victory?
Where, O Death, is thy sting?
Now the sting of Death is Sin, and the strength of Sin is the Law;
But to God be thanks, who gives to us the victory
Through our Lord Jesus Christ!
Death, who, like a poisonous serpent, has used his sting to put people to death, has lost this sting. He that was accustomed to having the victory at all times, has himself been definitely conquered. For the sting of death is sin, through which it came into the world, Rom_5:12, and Jesus has borne all sin, paid all guilt, submerged all trespasses in the depths of the sea. And the strength of sin is the Law, Rom_8:2, because it promises salvation to men upon terms which they cannot fulfill, and thus makes sin abound; but Jesus has fulfilled the Law and thus removed the strength of sin. To God, therefore, the Triune God, the Author of our salvation, be thanks, who gives to us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! A full and complete victory was gained by Christ, and its entire fullness and completeness belongs to us by virtue of our Savior's work, which we accept by faith. As Christians we possess eternal life even now; to us, as Christians, death no longer has the bitter taste of God's wrath. At the very graves of those that have fallen asleep in Christ we chant this great hymn of victory, knowing that death and the grave have lost their power over them that are in Christ Jesus, and that death is to believers the entrance to eternal joys.
Paul concludes the chapter by applying the wonderful teaching to the state of the Corinthian congregation, whose members may have become lax in their Christian work, due to the doubts that were afloat in their midst. Pleadingly and urgently he writes: Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be firm, show yourselves steadfast, do not let the foundation of your faith be removed; be immovable, do not let yourselves be led away by others. That is the one side of their work. But the other will follow: Abounding in the work of the Lord always, in that work which God does through you and you perform to His glory; knowing that your toil, your strenuous labor, is not empty in the Lord; it cannot remain without fruit and effect if begun in His name, carried out in His strength, and intended for His glory.
Summary.The apostle brings the historical and logical proof for the resurrection of the body, describes the nature of this resurrection, reveals the fact of the transformation of the last day, and closes with a triumphant hymn of victory.