1 Corinthians 15 · Verse 31

1 Corinthians 15:31

I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
1 Corinthians 15:31, King James Version

1 Corinthians 15:31 in other translations

BSBI face death every day, brothers, as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
WEBI affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
ASVI protest by that glorying in you, brethren, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
YLTEvery day do I die, by the glorying of you that I have in Christ Jesus our Lord:
DARBYDaily I die, by your boasting which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.
BBEYes, truly, by your pride in me, my brothers in Christ Jesus our Lord, my life is one long death.
WebsterI protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

What does 1 Corinthians 15:31 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
31. by your rejoicing--by the glorying which I have concerning you, as the fruit of my labors in the Lord. Some of the earliest manuscripts and fathers read "our," with the same sense. Bengel understands "your rejoicing," to be the enjoyable state of the Corinthians, as contrasted with his dying daily to give his converts rejoicing or glorying (1Co 4:8; 2Co 4:12, 15; Ep 3:13; Php 1:26). But the words, "which I have," favor the explanation--"the rejoicing which I have over you." Many of the oldest manuscripts and Vulgate insert "brethren" here. I die daily--This ought to stand first in the sentence, as it is so put prominently forward in the Greek. I am day by day in sight of death, exposed to it, and expecting it (2Co 4:11, 12; 1:8, 9; 11:23).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes
Verse 31. I protest, νη. This is a particle of swearing, and denotes a strong asseveration. The subject was important; it deeply interested his feelings; and he makes in regard to it a strong protestation. Compare Jn 3:5. "I solemnly affirm, or declare."

By your rejoicing. Many Mss. here read "by our rejoicing," but the correct reading is, doubtless, that which is in the present Greek text, "by your rejoicing." The meaning of the phrase, which is admitted by all to be obscure, is probably, "I protest, or solemnly declare by the glorying or exultation which I have on your account; by all my ground of glorying in you; by all the confident boasting and expectation which I have of your salvation." He hoped for their salvation. He had laboured for that. He had boasted of it, and confidently believed that they would be saved. Regarding that as safe and certain, he says it was just as certain that he died daily on account of the hope and belief of the resurrection. "By our hopes and joys as Christians; by our dearest expectations and grounds of confidence, I swear, or solemnly declare, that I die daily." Men swear or affirm by their objects of dearest affection and desire; and the meaning here is, "So certainly as I confidently expect your salvation, and so certainly as we look to eternal life, so certain is it that I am constantly exposed to die, and suffer that which may be called a daily death?"

Which I have in Christ Jesus. The rejoicing, boasting, glorying in regard to you which I am permitted to cherish through the grace and favour of the Saviour. His boasting, or confident expectation in regard to the Corinthians, he enjoyed only by the mercy of the Lord Jesus, and he delighted to trace it to him.

I die daily. Comp. Rom 8:36. I endure so many sufferings and persecutions, that it may be said to be a daily dying. I am constantly in danger of my life; and my sufferings each day are equal to the pains of death. Probably Paul here referred particularly to the perils and trials which he then endured at Ephesus; and his object was to impress their minds with the firmness of his belief in the certainty of the resurrection, on account of which he suffered so much, and to show them that all their hopes rested also on this doctrine.

(1) "your" "Some read our" (+) "rejoicing" "My glorying on your account" (b) "rejoicing" Php 3:3 (c) "die daily" Rom 8:36

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 31 I protest by your rejoicing - Νη την ὑμετεραν καυχησιν· By your exaltation or boasting. Dr. Lightfoot understands this of "the boasting of the Corinthians against the apostle; that he considered himself continually trampled on by them; rejected and exposed to infamy and contempt; but that he took this as a part of the reproach of Christ; and was happy in the prospect of death and a glorious resurrection, when all those troubles and wrongs would terminate for ever." Instead of ὑμετεραν, Your exultation or boasting, ἡμετεραν, Our exultation, is the reading of the Codex Alexandrinus, and several others, with the Ethiopic, Origen, and Theophylact. This will lead to an easier sense: I declare by the exultation which I have in Christ Jesus, as having died for my offenses, and risen again for my justification, that I neither fear sufferings nor death; and am daily ready to be offered up, and feel myself continually exposed to death. But the common reading is probably to be preferred; for your glorying is the same as glorying on your account: I profess by the glorying or exultation which I have on account of your salvation, that I anticipate with pleasure the end of my earthly race. I die daily - A form of speech for, I am continually exposed to death. The following passages will illustrate this. So Philo, p. 990. Flaccus, who was in continual fear of death, says: καθ' ἑκαστην ἡμεραν, μαλλον δε ὡραν, προαποθνησκω, πολλους θανατους ὑπομενων ανθ' ἑνος του τελευταιου· "Every day, rather every hour, I anticipate death; enduring many deaths before that last one comes." So Libanius, speaking of his own miseries and those of the people of Antioch, Epist. 1320, page 615, says: ετι ζωντες τεθνηκαμεν· "Though living, we are dead." Livy has a similar form of expression to signify continual danger, xxix. 17: Quotidie capitur urbs nostra, quotidie diripitur. "Daily is our city taken, daily is it pillaged."

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:20-34

All that are by faith united to Christ, are by his resurrection assured of their own. As through the sin of the first Adam, all men became mortal, because all had from him the same sinful nature, so, through the resurrection of Christ, shall all who are made to partake of the Spirit, and the spiritual nature, revive, and live for ever. There will be an order in the resurrection. Christ himself has been the…

Read the full comment on 1 Corinthians 15:20-34 →

1 Corinthians 15:31 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

καθ᾽kath᾽EveryG2596
ἡμέρανhēmerandayG2250
ἀποθνῄσκω,apothnēskōI die,G599
νὴnēas surely asG3513
τὴνtēn<the>G3588
ὑμετέρανhumeteranin youG4771
καύχησιν,kauchēsinboasting,G2746
ἀδελφοί,adelphoibrothersG80
ἣνhēnwhichG3739
ἔχωechōI haveG2192
ἐνeninG1722
ΧριστῷChristōChristG5547
ἸησοῦIēsouJesusG2424
τῷtōtheG3588
κυρίῳkuriōLordG2962
ἡμῶν.hēmōnof us.G3165

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 1 Corinthians 15:31

  • 2 Corinthians 4:10-11

    Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

  • Romans 8:36

    As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

  • 1 Corinthians 4:9-13

    For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: …

  • Philippians 3:3

    For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

  • 1 Thessalonians 3:9

    For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God;

  • Jeremiah 11:7

    For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.

  • 2 Corinthians 11:23

    Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

  • Acts 20:23

    Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.

  • 2 Corinthians 1:12

    For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.

  • 1 Samuel 8:9

    Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.

  • 2 Corinthians 2:14

    Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

  • 1 Thessalonians 2:19

    For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
protest.
Ge 43:3; 1Sa 8:9; Jer 11:7; Zec 3:6; Php 3:3
your."Some read, our."
2Co 1:12; 2:14; 1Th 2:19; 3:9
die.
4:9-13; Ac 20:23; Ro 8:36; 2Co 4:10,11; 11:23

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • 1 Corinthians 15:30

    And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?

  • 1 Corinthians 15:31

    I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

  • 1 Corinthians 15:32

    If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.

Read all of 1 Corinthians 15

1 Corinthians 15:31 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Sí, por la gloria que en orden á vosotros tengo en Cristo Jesús Señor nuestro, cada día muero.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Par votre confiance que j’ai dans le christ Jésus notre Seigneur, je meurs chaque jour.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Täglich sterbe ich, bei eurem Rühmen, das ich habe in Christo Jesu, unserem Herrn.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Quotidie morior per vestram gloriam, fratres, quam habeo in Christo Jesu Domino nostro.