What is the meaning of 1 Corinthians 15:56? The sting of death • Death hurts because it separates body and soul and severs earthly relationships. Yet Scripture traces the pain back beyond the grave itself. Genesis 2:17 warns that death entered the human story the moment Adam disobeyed. Romans 5:12 confirms, “death came to all men, because all sinned.” • Hebrews 2:14-15 adds that the devil wields the fear of death as a lifelong bondage. In other words, death’s “sting” is not merely the event of dying but the sorrow, fear, and judgment it signals. is sin • Sin is the lethal toxin in death’s sting. Romans 6:23 plainly states, “For the wages of sin is death.” James 1:15 pictures sin giving birth to death when it runs its course. • Because every person has sinned (Romans 3:23), every person shares the same mortal wound. The verse does not allow for any neutral ground; sin produces death every time. • The bright side of Paul’s logic is that if sin can be removed, the sting evaporates. That anticipation sets up the triumphant cry only a few verses later: “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). and the power of sin • Sin dominates because it holds people captive (John 8:34). Ephesians 2:1-3 describes the unredeemed as “dead in your trespasses and sins,” walking under the sway of the world, the flesh, and the devil. • Romans 7:8-11 illustrates how sin takes advantage of God’s commands to stir up more rebellion. The stronger the grip of sin, the sharper death’s sting. is the law • The law is holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12), yet it fuels sin’s power by exposing and defining it. Romans 3:19-20 explains that through the law “every mouth may be silenced” because “through the law we become conscious of sin.” • Romans 5:20 says, “The law was added so that the trespass might increase,” not by causing people to sin, but by revealing just how far short we fall. • Galatians 3:10 warns that relying on law-keeping places a person under a curse, while Galatians 3:24 shows the law’s higher purpose: it serves as a guardian leading us to Christ, who fulfills the very standard we cannot meet. summary Paul’s compact statement in 1 Corinthians 15:56 unpacks like this: death hurts because sin injects its fatal poison; sin gains its dominating leverage from the divine law that spotlights every failure; therefore, only Christ—who conquers sin and satisfies the law—can remove death’s sting. In Him, the law’s sentence is met, sin’s power is broken, and death is rendered toothless for all who believe. |
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