I Corinthians 15:56 · Bible study
1 Corinthians 15:56 Commentary: Sting of Death, Power of Sin
Greek · 10 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Explore Paul's explanation of how sin gives death its sting and the law gives sin its power, and how Christ wins the victory.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Sin is the cause of death's sting; the law gives sin its condemning power.
- Key words: Sting (κέντρον, kentron: a goad or venomous weapon); power (δύναμις, dunamis: inherent strength); law (νόμος, nomos: the Mosaic law, and by extension, God's moral standard).
- Main debate: Whether the law gives sin its power by provoking it (due to human depravity) or only by exposing and condemning it.
- Theological theme: The intertwining of sin, law, and death, and how Christ's victory breaks all three.
- Best use: Doctrinal explanation of sin and grace; pastoral comfort at funerals or in times of fear; teaching on the purpose of the law.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
WEB World English Bible 2000
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
KJV King James Version 1769
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law:
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
and the sting of the death is the sin, and the power of the sin the law;
Darby Darby Bible 1890
Now the sting of death [is] sin, and the power of sin the law;
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
Now the sting of death is sin: and the power of sin is the law.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Ya que el aguijón de la muerte es el pecado, y la potencia del pecado, la ley.
O aguilhão da morte é o pecado, e a força do pecado é a Lei.
L’ aiguillon de la mort, c’ est le péché; et la puissance du péché, c’ est la loi.
Aber der Stachel des Todes ist die Sünde; die Kraft aber der Sünde ist das Gesetz.
De prikkel nu des doods is de zonde; en de kracht der zonde is de wet.
Or il dardo della morte è il peccato, e la forza del peccato è la legge;
Lecz bodziec śmierci jest grzech, a moc grzechu jest zakon.
Жало же смерти — грех; а сила греха — закон.
死 的毒鉤 就是罪， 罪 的權勢 就是律法。
The pain of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law:
Verse in Context
Original Language (Koine Greek)
New Testament · Koine Greek · I Corinthians 15:56
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
The commentators agree: sin gives death its sting, and the law gives sin its power. Without sin, death would have no weapon. As Calvin puts it, 'Death has no dart with which to wound us except sin.' The law, far from overcoming sin, strengthens it. Barnes explains that the law makes sin known and imputed, and provokes it through human rebellion. Yet the law itself is holy; the fault lies in our corrupt nature. Gill adds that the law binds sin upon the conscience, accuses and condemns. The victory comes only through Christ, who removes sin and thus disarms death. This brief verse crystallizes Paul's teaching on the tragic partnership of sin, law, and death, and the triumph of grace.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: Christians across traditions agree that sin is the cause of death's sting and that the law gives sin its power of condemnation, but that Christ's victory removes both.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Relationship between sin and death | Sin is the cause of death; death entered the world through sin. | Whether death is solely physical or includes spiritual and eternal death, and how the imputation of Adam's sin is understood. |
| Role of the law in giving sin its power | The law makes sin known, imputed, and gives it condemnation. | Whether the law actively provokes sin by stirring up desire (due to human corruption) or only exposes sin that was already present. |
| Continuing relevance of the law for Christians | Believers are not under the law as a means of justification. | Whether the law continues to guide Christian conduct (third use of the law) or is entirely set aside. |
| Meaning of 'law' in this verse | Primarily refers to the Mosaic law, but also to God's moral law in general. | Some traditions emphasize the ceremonial aspects while others focus on the moral law as the standard that condemns. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 15 builds to a climax of triumph. Having argued for the certainty of the resurrection, he taunts death with a quote from Hosea 13:14: 'Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?' But then he explains the source of death's power. The image of a sting (κέντρον) would have been vivid: the sting of a scorpion or bee is its weapon; remove it, the creature is harmless. So sin is the venom that gives death its lethal force.
The second half of the verse addresses a harder question: if sin is the venom, what gives sin its power? Paul answers: the law. This echoes his argument in Romans 7, where he shows that the law, though holy, stirs up sin because of our fallen nature. The law defines what sin is, making it imputed and conscious. Without law, sin is less apparent; with law, it becomes deliberate transgression and incurs condemnation. The Corinthians, living in a Greek city, might not have shared Paul's Jewish background of law, but they would have understood the concept of a moral standard. Paul here links the universal problem of sin with the specific role of the Mosaic law in God's plan.
The verse serves as the dark backdrop for the explosion of gratitude in verse 57: 'But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.' The victory is not by fulfilling the law but by Christ's work that removes sin and defeats death.
Textual Notes
The consulted commentaries and sources note no significant textual variants for 1 Corinthians 15:56. The Greek text is stable across major manuscripts. The key terms, κέντρον (sting), δυνάμις (power), νόμος (law), are uncontested.
Reception History
This verse has been a touchstone for Christian reflection on the relationship between the law and sin. Reformed commentators such as Calvin and the Geneva Bible Notes emphasized that the law condemns and provokes sin, yet remains holy. Wesleyan interpreters like Adam Clarke and John Wesley saw it as underscoring the need for both forgiveness and deliverance from sin's power. Anglican scholarship, as represented in the Cambridge Bible, connected it to Paul's teaching in Romans 7. In various Christian traditions, this verse has been used to teach that while the law is good, it cannot save; only the gospel of Christ can remove sin and disarm death. It is often cited in funerals and meditations on death's defeat.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The sting of death is sin. Sin is the venom that makes death deadly. Without sin, death would have no power to terrify or destroy. As Adam Clarke notes, sin both introduced death and arms it with all its force.
- The power of sin is the law. The law gives sin its controlling and binding power. It defines sin, imputes it, and provokes it. The law is not sinful, but it exposes and condemns sin. As Calvin says, the law 'imparts to that sting its deadly power' by summoning us to God's judgment.
- Victory comes through Christ. Christ takes away sin, and with it the sting of death and the law's condemning power. The resurrection guarantees that this victory is final.
Five-point outline
- Context: The resurrection chapter reaches its triumphant conclusion. Death is taunted as a defeated enemy.
- The taunt: 'Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?'
- Explanation: Paul unpacks the reasons for death's former power: sin provided the sting, and the law gave sin its strength.
- Thanksgiving: 'But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ', the turning point of the passage.
- Exhortation: Therefore, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
Illustration hooks
- A bee's sting is only dangerous because of the venom. If the venom is removed, the bee is harmless. Christ removes the venom of sin, so death has no sting.
- A courtroom with a just law condemns a guilty person. The law itself is good, but it sentences the guilty. Christ takes the penalty, so the law has no power to condemn us.
- A vaccine uses a weakened form of a virus to build immunity. Christ takes the sting of death and turns it into victory, so believers no longer fear death.
Questions your congregation is asking
- If the law gives strength to sin, why should we still obey God's commands?
- How can I know that the sting of death has been removed from me personally?
- Does this verse mean the law is bad or that God's commands are harmful?
Leading a Discussion
This verse comes in the middle of Paul's great resurrection chapter. He has been explaining that through Christ, death is defeated. But he stops to diagnose why death was so powerful in the first place. Take a few minutes to consider the chain: death's sting is sin; sin's power is the law. How does that make you feel about the law? About your own sin? About Christ's victory?
Discussion questions
- What does Paul call 'the sting of death'? What does he call 'the strength of sin'? (Observation)
- Why do you think the law gives power to sin? How does this relate to Romans 7:9-13? (Interpretation)
- How does knowing that Christ has removed the sting of death change the way you face death? (Application)
- What practical difference does this make in your daily struggle with sin? (Application)
- How would you explain to a non-Christian why the law cannot save them? (Application)
- In what ways do we sometimes look to the law (or rules) for security instead of to Christ? (Reflection)
- How does the promise of resurrection ('the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ') give you hope in difficult circumstances? (Hope)
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Genesis 3:17 | To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and have eaten from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life. |
| Genesis 3:19 | You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground, for you were taken out of it. For you are dust, and you shall return to dust.” |
| Psalms 90:3 | You turn man to destruction, saying, “Return, you children of men.” |
| Psalms 90:11 | Who knows the power of your anger, your wrath according to the fear that is due to you? |
| Proverbs 14:32 | The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge. |
| John 8:21 | Jesus said therefore again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.” |
| John 8:24 | I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.” |
| Romans 3:19 | Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
9 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke highlights a chain of dependence: death would have no sting without sin, and sin would have no binding power without the law. The law gives sin its condemning force by pronouncing judgment on the transgressor without offering any remedy, leaving the sinner helpless under death's dominion.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes personifies death as a living being that carries a poisoned sting, and that sting is sin. The law gives sin its terrifying power by exposing it as rebellion against a holy God, producing horror in the conscience at death. Only the gospel, by removing sin through forgiveness, can take away death's sting and allow a person to die in peace.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin explains that sin is the sting that makes death deadly, but the law gives that sting its power by awakening our guilt and intensifying our awareness of God's judgment. He insists the law itself is holy; the fault lies entirely in our corrupt nature. Sin kills even those without the law, but less violently.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator explains why Paul adds that the law gives sin its strength. At death, sin's power comes from being a direct violation of God's righteous and holy law. This transgression is what makes sin so devastating in that final moment.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva Notes draw a tight chain: sin gives death its sting, and the Law gives sin its power. Without the Law, sin would have no hold; without sin, death would have no terror. The two are inseparably linked.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill explains that sin is what gives death its sting, making it painful and deadly. But sin itself draws its condemning power from the law, which exposes transgression, stirs up rebellion, and pronounces guilt and judgment. Without the law, sin would have no such hold.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange's distinctive point is that the mystery Paul reveals concerns only those alive when Christ returns: they will not die but will be instantly transformed into a glorified body. He insists the change happens without any intervening death, in a single indivisible moment at the last trumpet.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Matthew Henry highlights a point many miss: even believers alive at Christ's return must be changed, not just the dead. Their living bodies need transformation just as much, because flesh and blood cannot inherit God's kingdom. This instant, sudden change is the mystery Paul now reveals.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley observes that sin gives death its sting; without sin, death would have no power. Yet no one can resist sin by their own strength. The law itself, far from helping, actually gives sin its strength, as Paul explains in Romans 7.