1 Corinthians 15 · Verse 56

1 Corinthians 15:56

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1 Corinthians 15:56, King James Version

1 Corinthians 15:56 in other translations

BSBThe sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
WEBThe sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
ASVThe sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law:
YLTand the sting of the death is the sin, and the power of the sin the law;
DARBYNow the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin the law;
BBEThe pain of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law:
WebsterThe sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

What does 1 Corinthians 15:56 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
56. 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).

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

Barnes' Notes
Verse 56. The 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 introduced it; it makes it certain; it is the cause of the pain, distress, agony, and horror which attends it. Had there been no sin, men would not have died. If there were no sin, death would not be attended with horror or alarm. For why should innocence be afraid to die? What has innocence to fear anywhere in the universe of a just God? The fact, therefore, that men die, is proof that they are sinners; the fact that they feel horror and alarm, is proof that they feel themselves to be guilty, and that they are afraid to go into the presence of a holy God. If this be taken away, if sin be removed, of course the horror, and remorse, and alarm which it is fitted to produce will be removed also.

Is sin. Sin is the cause of it. Rom 5:12.

The strength of sin. Its power over the mind; its terrific and dreadful energy; and especially its power to produce alarm in the hour of death.

Is the law. The pure and holy law of God. This idea Paul has illustrated at length in Rom 7:9-13. Rom 7:9, and Rom 7:10-13, he probably made the statement here in order to meet the Jews, and to show that the law of God had no power to take away the fear of death; and that, therefore, there was need of the gospel, and that this alone could do it. The Jews maintained that a man might be justified and saved by obedience to the law. Paul here shows that it is the law which gives its chief rigour to sin, and that it does not tend to subdue or destroy it; and that power is seen most strikingly in the pangs and horrors of a guilty conscience on the bed of death. There was need, therefore, of the gospel, which alone could remove the cause of these horrors, by taking away sin, and thus leaving the pardoned man to die in peace. Rom 4:15.

(b) "sting" Rom 6:23 (c) "strength" Rom 4:15

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 56 The 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 has its controlling and binding power from the law. The law curses the transgressor, and provides no help for him; and if nothing else intervene, he must, through it, continue ever under the empire of death.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:51-58

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…

Read the full comment on 1 Corinthians 15:51-58 →

1 Corinthians 15:56 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.

τὸto<the>G3588
δὲdeAndG1161
κέντρονkentronthe stingG2759
τοῦtou<the>G3588
θανάτουthanatouof death [is]G2288
ἡhē<the>G3588
ἁμαρτία,hamartiasin,G266
ἡhē<the>G3588
δὲdeandG1161
δύναμιςdunamisthe powerG1411
τῆςtēs<the>G3588
ἁμαρτίαςhamartiasof sinG266
ὁhotheG3588
νόμος.¶nomoslaw.G3551

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

Cross references for 1 Corinthians 15:56

  • Romans 4:15

    Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.

  • Galatians 3:10-13

    For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

  • Romans 6:23

    For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

  • Romans 7:5-13

    For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. …

  • John 8:24

    I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

  • Romans 5:12-13

    Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

  • John 8:21

    Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.

  • Romans 5:20

    Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

  • Romans 3:19-20

    Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

  • Hebrews 9:27

    And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

  • Romans 5:17

    For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

  • Romans 5:15

    But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
sting.
Ge 3:17-19; Ps 90:3-11; Pr 14:32; Joh 8:21,24; Ro 5:15,17; 6:23
Heb 9:27
the strength.
Ro 3:19,20; 4:15; 5:13,20; 7:5-13; Ga 3:10-13

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

Context

  • 1 Corinthians 15:55

    O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

  • 1 Corinthians 15:56

    The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

  • 1 Corinthians 15:57

    But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Read all of 1 Corinthians 15

1 Corinthians 15:56 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Ya que el aguijón de la muerte es el pecado, y la potencia del pecado, la ley.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Or l’aiguillon de la mort, c’est le péché; et la puissance du péché, c’est la loi.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Der Stachel des Todes aber ist die Sünde, die Kraft der Sünde aber das Gesetz.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Stimulus autem mortis peccatum est: virtus vero peccati lex.