Victory For All
“The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:56-57)
What does that mean?
“The sting of death” simply means that the cause of death is sin. Paul puts it this way in his letter to Rome…
“For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23a)
“…the strength of sin is the law” simply means that the law of God is the reason we all sin.
What does that mean?
“The sting of death” simply means that the cause of death is sin. Paul puts it this way in his letter to Rome…
“For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23a)
“…the strength of sin is the law” simply means that the law of God is the reason we all sin.
If God had not given any laws to obey, there would be no sin. And if no sin, there would not have been any death. Paul is saying that the responsibility for sin lies squarely on God. For he created us the way we are and He created the law which we could not keep. Paul puts it this way in his letter to Rome…
“I would not have come to know sin except through the Law…for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me… Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? THANKS be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:7-24)
The word “THANKS” above is the Greek word “charis” which is usually translated GRACE!
So what Paul is saying is that we are all sinners and we cannot help it. God made us this way. However, God has a remedy for sin and death. We are to be delivered from sin and death, in His GRACE, by our resurrection to eternal life.
“I would not have come to know sin except through the Law…for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me… Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? THANKS be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:7-24)
The word “THANKS” above is the Greek word “charis” which is usually translated GRACE!
So what Paul is saying is that we are all sinners and we cannot help it. God made us this way. However, God has a remedy for sin and death. We are to be delivered from sin and death, in His GRACE, by our resurrection to eternal life.
That is what we are to have faith in, what we are to believe. God has promised to deliver sinners from this fleshly sinful dying mortal body and make us alive again, a new creation, finished in an immortal, spiritual, glorious body liken unto that glorious resurrected body of Jesus.
“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive…Our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself...the free gift of God is eternal life...” (1 Corinthians 15:22; Philippians 3:20-21; Romans 6:23b)
“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive…Our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself...the free gift of God is eternal life...” (1 Corinthians 15:22; Philippians 3:20-21; Romans 6:23b)