1 Corinthians 15:54–57

1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 15

Of the Resurrection of the Dead. 1 Corinthians 15, 1–58

The transformation of the last day and the victory over death: 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.

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 Is. 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.