Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 15:34
Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak [this] to your shame.
34. Awake to righteousness ] The word here translated ‘Awake’ signifies to arise from the stupefaction of a slumber produced by overindulgence (cf. ch. 1Co 6:11, 1Co 12:2). The word translated ‘to righteousness,’ literally righteously, may either mean (1) as is just and proper, or (2) to what is just and proper, or (3) as in our version, so as to become righteous. The Vulgate renders by justi, Wiclif by juste men. Tyndale truely, Luther recht (i.e. rightly, properly), Calvin juste. Diodati has giustamente. De Sacy follows the Vulgate.
for some have not the knowledge of God ] The original is remarkable; some have ignorance of God. So Wiclif. Cf. ch. 1Co 14:38. As there were some among them who denied the resurrection, so there were some who were ready to pervert such denial to every form of fleshly indulgence. See Php 3:18-19; 2Pe 2:10; 2Pe 2:18-22; Judges 4, 7, 8, 10.
I speak this to your shame ] The original is even stronger, to shame you. To reuerence, Wiclif, following the Vulgate. To youre rebuke, Tyndale. Ad pudorem incutiendum, Calvin. St Paul was usually very anxious to spare the feelings of his converts (2Co 1:23; 2Co 2:3). But when the question was of making shipwreck of Christian purity, he had no such scruples. See 2Co 7:9; 2Co 12:20; 2Co 13:2 ; 2Co 13:10.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Awake to righteousness – See the note on Rom 13:11. The word here translated awake denotes, properly, to awake up from a deep sleep or torpor; and is usually applied to those who awake, or become sober after drunkenness. The phrase to righteousness ( dikaios) may mean either rouse to the ways of righteousness; to a holy life; to sound doctrine, etc.; or it may mean as it is right and just that you should do. Probably the latter is the correct idea, and then the sense will be, Arouse from stupidity on this subject; awake from your conscious security; be alarmed, as it is right and proper that you should do, for you are surrounded by dangers, and by those who would lead you into error and vice; rouse from such wild and delusive opinions as these persons have, and exercise a constant vigilance as becomes those who are the friends of God and the expectants of a blessed resurrection.
And sin not – Do not err; do not depart from the truth and from holiness; do not embrace a doctrine which is not only erroneous, but the tendency of which is to lead into sin. It is implied here, that if they suffered themselves to embrace a doctrine which was a denial of the resurrection, the effect would be that they would fall into sin or that a denial of that doctrine led to a life of self-indulgence and transgression. This truth is everywhere seen and against this effect Paul sought to, guard them. He did not regard the denial of the doctrine of the resurrection as a harmless speculation, but as leading to most dangerous consequences in regard to their manner of life or their conduct.
For some have not – Some among you. You are surrounded by strangers to God; you have those among you who would lead you into error and sin.
I speak this to your shame – To your shame as a church; because you have had abundant opportunities to know the truth, and because it is a subject of deep disgrace that there are any in your bosom who deny the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and who are strangers to the grace of God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Co 15:34
Awake to righteousness.
Moral resurrection
This chapter generally deals with the resurrection of the body; but the text refers to the resurrection of the soul. And this is a greater and more glorious work than the other, because–
I. The soul is greater than the body. What is the casket to the jewel, the house to the tenant, the barque to the crew? Heap worlds on worlds; one soul outweighs them all.
2. It can only be accomplished with the full concurrence of the man. In the material resurrection the man has no choice, but the soul will not rise without its own consent.
3. It requires a higher agency. Mere volition and force will effect the material resurrection. Christ had only to say to Lazarus, Come forth; but thousands of souls dead in sin He appealed to, yet but few came out of their spiritual graves. Mere volition will not do it; it requires argument, suasion, love, example.
4. It is an invaluable blessing in itself. The material resurrection will be an intolerable curse to the wicked; but the resurrection of the soul is evermore a blessing.
5. It is necessary to qualify us to understand the resurrection of the body. This is suggested by the text when viewed in connection with the apostles object. Rectitude of soul is a better interpreter than any hermeneutic skill. Note–
I. The condition from which man is summoned. What is moral sleep?
1. It is not the sleep of–
(1) The animal faculties; they are often more active in consequence of the sleep of the soul.
(2) The intellectual powers; the imagination may be as active as Byrons, the reason as Voltaires, and yet the soul may be asleep.
(3) The social sympathies; they are active when the soul is asleep.
2. When is the soul asleep? When it is not inspired in all its powers by supreme love to God. This is not like sleep–
(1) In being the ordination of God, as is natural sleep; it is contrary to His desire and command.
(2) In being the means of refreshment. Moral sleep is a corroding and an exhausting state.
3. There are certain points of resemblance which warrant the figure.
(1) Insensibility. There is a world of grand and solemn realities around the sinner; voices deep and loud speak to him; and visions of awful majesty pass before him. Yet he is dead to all. He is dead to himself and to God.
(2) Fictitiousness. Objects flit before the natural sleeper that have no real existence; to the moral sleeper, heaven, hell, God, eternity, are but as dreams. Sometimes they may startle the man, but like the dream, the impression soon departs. The life of a sinner is fiction–a great lie.
(3) Transitoriness. Sleep is not a permanent state. They that sleep, sleep in the night. There is a dark spiritual night brooding over the moral sleeper, and one of two very different mornings must break the slumbers of all.
(a) There is the morning of spiritual reformation–the morning when God commands the light, etc. Then the soul awakes, and finds itself in a new world–a world full of God, and exclaims, Surely God is in this place, etc.
(b) The other morning is the morning of retribution. The awful manifestations of that morning will startle the most sleepy into active consciousness.
II. The state into which we are summoned. Men are not required to awake to business, pleasure, or fashion; they are all alive in relation to these things. But concerning righteousness they are asleep.
1. The state of righteousness includes–
(1)Living righteously towards God and His universe.
(a) Be just to yourself; that is virtue.
(b) Be just to others; that is morality.
(c) Be just to God; this is piety.
(2) Being treated as righteous.
2. The getting of man into this righteous state is ascribed to Christ. He furbishes–
(1) The moral force by which it is done.
(2) The moral reasons by which the past wrongs may be overlooked. He is made unto us, etc.
3. This righteous state includes–
(1) Harmonious action.
(2) Social usefulness.
(3) Spiritual progress.
(4) Heavenly fellowships.
III. The voice by which we are summoned. Awake. Paul is but the organ of the Divine voice. This Divine voice sounds through–
1. All history. Turn over the sin-stained annals of the world, and you will find every chapter pealing with the word, Awake. All the miseries of the awful past sprang from the want of righteousness.
2. The moral constitution of our nature. Conscience, with more or less emphasis, calls upon every man to awake.
3. The memories of sainted friends.
4. The whole Bible of God. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
A call to the unconverted
I. A lamentable condition. Some have not the knowledge of God.
II. A merited reproof. This is shameful with all the means of enlightenment around you, and implies the love of darkness.
III. An earnest call to a better life.
1. Awake. Seek forgiveness.
2. Put away sin and follow after holiness. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
I. Observe that a state of sin is here represented by sleep.
1. Unconcerned.
2. Unapprehensive of danger.
II. Observe that man, being careless and secure in the midst of the greatest dangers, he is called upon to awake. This is an instance of the care and compassion of God. He calls us by His providences, His Holy Spirit, His Word, His ministers, etc.
III. Observe that we are called to awake to righteousness, and to renounce sin.
1. Awake to righteousness.
(1) To a sense of the necessity of righteousness.
(2) To the practice and pursuit of righteousness.
2. And sin not.
(1) Sin not, in hope that there is no resurrection.
(2) Sin not, in hope that there is no judgment.
(3) Sin not, in hope that there is no state of future punishment.
(4) Sin not, in hope of future repentance.
(5) Sin no more. Why shouldst thou destroy thyself, and stand in jeopardy every hour? The soul that sinneth shall die. The wages of sin is death.
IV. Observe the charge alleged against some of the Corinthians. Some have not the knowledge of God. May not the same thing be charged upon some of us? Do we know God, so as to fear Him, so as to be reconciled unto Him by Christ, so as to love Him, so as to serve Him with a perfect heart and willing mind? If not, then in the apostles sense we do not know Him. I speak this to your shame. It is our shame. Because we have so many means of knowing Him, so many reasons to know Him drawn from our wants, etc. (J. Walker, D.D.)
Sin not.—
Sin not
I. The condition implied.
1. Ignorance.
2. Insensibility.
3. Peril.
II. The earnest call.
1. To serious reflection.
2. To righteousness, both the knowledge and practise of it.
3. To vigilance. (J. Walker, D.D.)
The sins Easter Day condemns
This warning, in the midst of an elaborate argument about the resurrection, reminds us that Christianity is intended to be a regulative rather than a speculative system, that it is a law for our life, not merely a theme for our thought. Paul brings to bear the resurrection as an argument against sinning. It is an argument against–
I. Degrading the body. It is the body that is to rise as well as the spirit. Avoid, then, both the extreme of pampering it in animalism, and of despising it in asceticism.
II. Absorption in this world. Beyond the time-world there is another; beneath the sense-world there is another. Live for the unseen and the eternal.
III. Wronging Christ, For us He was the Conqueror, which implies that for us He went through the battle. The resurrection is–
1. The seal of His Divinity. Shall we slight His Divinity?
2. The sign of His power. Shall we defy His power?
3. The token of His love. Shall we neglect His love? (U. R. Thomas.)
For some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.—
The knowledge of God
1. Knowledge lies at the foundation of religion; for, if we are to serve and worship God we ought to know who and why we are to worship; and it is this which renders religion a reasonable service.
2. Ignorance is the fruitful source of wickedness. The heathen were devoted to the grossest abominations–because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, the Corinthians were erroneous in doctrine and licentious in practice, because they had not the knowledge of God.
I. What is this knowledge? It cannot be a knowledge of the Divine essence; for of the essence of anything we know just nothing at all. Canst thou, by searching, find out God? etc. This knowledge must be considered as–
1. Theoretical to begin with. From the visible things of creation may be clearly inferred the existence and perfections of a great First Cause; but we can learn nothing of His justice or His mercy, or of the method of reconciliation with Him through Christ from nature. The Bible is the only book whence we can acquire a satisfactory knowledge of God; because there God has been pleased to give a revelation of Himself. Here He is seen as the just God and the compassionate Saviour, giving His Son to death that He may make the sinner alive.
2. Experimental. A person may study navigation at school and acquire a theoretical knowledge of it, but he must reduce that knowledge to practice, then, becoming a skilful pilot, his knowledge is experimental. We may study medicine by books, or at a university; but until we walk the hospitals our knowledge is not experimental. Now, we may believe that God knows all things, and our belief may be merely theory; but when He has removed the veil from our understandings, and shown us all that is in our hearts, then we have experience of the infinite knowledge of God. We may believe that God is pure, and this may be all theory; but when we have been given to see sin as exceeding sinful, Then we have an experience of the purity of God. We believe that God is almighty–but that, too, may be all theory. When, however, He has effected a change in our moral nature, which is nothing less than a new creation, then have we experimental proof of the power of God. We may believe that Christ is a Saviour; but this may be nothing more than a mere general apprehension; but when we have seen ourselves guilty and undone, and when He has said, Thy sins be forgiven thee, we experimentally know the power of the grace of the Lord Jesus.
3. Practical. There is no perfection of God but which, if experimentally known, will have a practical influence upon us. If we know His greatness and codescension, this will humble us; if we know His holiness, we shall abhor whatever is offensive to His purity; if we know His justice, we shall tremble at His power and be driven for a refuge to the great atonement; ii we know the whole Divine character, we shall love Him with all our heart, and serve Him with all our powers. That knowledge which does not improve the life is very little worth. Hence the character of a wicked man is included in this, that he knows the God.
II. Some have not this knowledge.
1. They do not admit the truth of God.
2. They do not fear Him. They who know God, know that He is awful in power, glorious in holiness, and that it is a fearful thing to fall into His hands. As such, they fear to offend Him, and reverence His law.
3. They do not trust in Him. Every instance of doubt or of unbelief are just a total or partial ignorance of the Divine character; for They that know Thy Name will put their trust in Thee.
4. They do not love Him.
III. The want of the knowledge of God is a great shame.
1. Nothing can be more important than that ignorant creatures should know their safety; that weak and perishing creatures should know where their strength lies; that the miserable should know where happiness is to be found; and that an immortal spirit should know its portion.
2. This knowledge will have considerable influence upon our duties. We are called to serve God, and we cannot, serve an unknown God.
3. We have adequate means put into our hands to acquire this knowledge, if we have inclination to avail ourselves of them in nature, the Scriptures, through the Holy Spirit, etc.
4. For this knowledge, too, we have also adequate faculties. Can it be said that our faculties are adequate to the attainment of every other kind of knowledge but that which most concerns us to be acquainted with?
5. We have the most important and positive motives to urge us on to secure this knowledge. Godliness is profitable unto all things, etc. In this knowledge standeth our eternal life.
Conclusion: This is interesting to us all; and every man ought to inquire of his own conscience, Do I know God?
1. Alas! of some it may be said–by your fruits your ignorance of God is too clearly manifested.
2. There are some who profess to know God–but is that knowledge real? is it experimental? (W. Atherton.)
The shame of living without the knowledge of God
I. The knowledge of God.
1. There is a knowledge of God obtained by reflecting on His works.
2. There is a knowledge of God obtained by perusing His Word.
3. There is a knowledge of God by a revelation of Himself to the mind. This knowledge has been usually termed experimental.
II. Some have not this knowledge.
1. Avowed infidels have not the knowledge of God.
2. Profligate sinners have not the knowledge of God.
3. Nominal Christians have not the knowledge of God.
III. This was spoken to their shame.
1. Consider the object of this knowledge. A Being who unites in Himself all possible perfections. How disgraceful to live in ignorance of God!
2. Consider the congeniality of this knowledge with the nature of man. Our first parents were invested with a large share of it; and the human soul was formed for its possession.
3. Consider the means afforded us for obtaining this knowledge.
4. Consider the ease with which this knowledge may be secured. Human knowledge is often obtained with difficulty.
5. Consider the happiness which you will forego, and the misery you will share, by living without this knowledge.
We conclude by observing–
1. How important is the knowledge of God! How insignificant is human science when put into competition with this!
2. How solicitous should we be to ascertain whether we are in the possession of this knowledge.
3. How shameful to live without the knowledge of God! (Sketches of Sermons.)
The immediate knowledge of God
Who, then, are these Corinthian disciples, that they have not so much as the knowledge of God? Plainly enough our apostle is not charging them here with ignorance, but with some lack of the Divine illumination which ought, if they are true disciples, to be in them. They certainly know God in the traditional and merely cognitive way. Indeed, the apostle is discoursing to them here of the resurrection of the dead, which is itself a matter based in Christian ideas. We shall best understand the point assumed in this impeachment, I think, if we raise the distinction between knowing God, and knowing about God. Doubtless it is much to know about God, about His operations, His works, His plans, His laws, His truth, His perfect attributes, His saving mercies. But true faith itself discovers another and more absolute kind of knowledge, a knowledge of God Himself; immediate, personal knowledge, coming out of no report, or statement, or anything called truth, as being taught in language. It is knowing God within, even as we know ourselves. The other is only a knowing about God, as from a distance. It may be well to say that we have two denials set against this doctrine. One is the denial of the philosophers outside of Christianity, speculating there about the cognitive functions, and making what they conceive to be their specially profound discovery, that knowledges are possible only of things relative. Therefore, God being infinite, cannot be known–God is unknowable. They say nothing of faith, they have no conception of any such super-eminent, almost Divine talent in our humanity. Could they simply trust themselves over to God, to live by His tender guidance and true inward revelation, they would never again call Him the Unknowable. The other and second form of denial as regards the immediate knowledge of God, sets up its flag inside of the Christian Church and among the muniments of doctrine. Here the possibility of faith is admitted, and the necessity of it abundantly magnified. But the faith power is used up, it is conceived, on propositions; that is propositions which affirm something about God. It does not go through, and over, and beyond, such propositions, to meet the inward revelation or discovery of God Himself. They do not even conceive it as a possibility, that we should know God Himself as a presence operative in us; even as we know the summer heat by its pervasive action in our bodies. We do not know the heat by report, or debate, or inference, or scientific truth interpreting medially between us and it; we do not see it, or hear it, or handle it, and yet we have it and know that we have, by the inward sense it creates. What then is the truth of this matter? Why it is that human souls or minds are just as truly made to be filled with Gods internal actuating presence, as human bodies are to be tempered internally by heat, or as matter is made to be swayed by gravity, or the sky-space to be irradiated by the day. God is to them heat, gravity, day, immediately felt as such, and known by the self-revelation of His person. So at least it was originally to be, and so it would be now, had not this presence of God internally and personally to souls, this quickening, life-giving God-sense, been shut off by sin. Is it, then, to be said or imagined that, in the new birth, or new-begun life of faith, the subject really knows God by an immediate knowledge? He may not so conceive it, I answer, but it is none the less true. He will speak, it may be, only of his peace, but it will seem to him to be a kind of Divine peace. Thus you have every one two kinds of knowledge relating to yourself. One is what you know mediately about yourself, through language, and one that which you have immediately as being conscious of yourself. Under the first you learn who your parents were, what others think of you, what effects the world has on you, what power you have over it, and what is thought to be the science, it may be, of your nature, as an intelligent being. Under the second you have a knowledge of yourself so immediate, that there is no language in it, no thought, no act of judgment or opinion, you simply have a self-feeling that is intuitive and direct. Now you were made to have just such an immediate knowledge of God as of yourself; to be conscious of God; only this consciousness of God has been closed up by your sin and is now set open by your faith; and this exactly is what distinguishes every soul enlightened by the Spirit, and born of God. Observe now in what manner the Scriptures speak on this subject. And the time would fail me to merely recount the ways in which it is given as the distinction of faith or holy experience, that it carries, in some way, the knowledge of God, and differs the subject in that manner from all that are under the blindness of mere nature. The Holy Spirit, in like manner, is spoken of in a great many ways, as the intercoursing life and immediate inward manifestation of God. But there is an objection to this mode of conceiving holy experience, as implying an immediate discovery of God, which I am properly required to notice. What is the use, in this view, some will ask, of a Bible, or external revelation? what use of the incarnation itself? Does it follow that because we have an immediate knowledge of heat we have therefore no use at all for the scientific doctrine of heat, or the laws by which it is expounded? There is also another objection to be noticed here, which moves in the exactly opposite direction, where those who know not God complain that revelation, as they look upon it, does not reveal Him, and that God is dark to them still, as they could not expect Him to be. If there be a God, they ask, why does He not stand forth and be known as a Father to His children? Why allow us to grope and stumble after Him, or finally miss Him altogether? They are not satisfied with the Bible, and if we call it a revelation of God, they do not see it. We must not make Him responsible for the blear and self-blinding of our sin. And if it were not for this I think we should all see Him plainly enough, and always, and everywhere. For it is the whole endeavour of His management to be known. Now this exposition of Gods truth converges practically, as I conceive, on a single point of broadest consequence; correcting a mistake almost universally prevalent in some greater or less degree; the mistake I mean of being overmuch occupied in religion with matters of the head. The true evidence of discipleship is knowing God. Other men know something about Him. The Christian knows Him, has Him as a friend. And there is no substitute for this. Observances, beliefs, opinions, self-testing severities–all these are idle and prove nothing. If a man knows God, it is a fact so grand, so full of meaning, that he wants no evidence beside. Now as these keep off the light of their day by the ever-busy meddling of their understanding, there is another class who have never found the day by reason of their over-busy, over-curious endeavours to make ready for it. They are waiting, and reading, and reasoning, as they think, to get light for conversion. They are going to be converted rationally, nursing all the while a subtle pride of this, which only makes them darker and puts them farther off. After all you have reasoned, faith is still to come. The roads of the natural understanding are in a lower plane, you must rise, you must go up into trust and know God–God Himself–by the inward discovery of His infinite spirit and person. What is wanted, therefore, for us all, is summed up in this Christian word faith–faith in Christ, or faith in God; for it makes no difference. Thinking and questioning stir the mind about God, faith discerns Him, and by it, as the souls open window, he enters to be discerned. Would that all of you could know how much this means. (H. B Bushnell, D.D.)
On the knowledge of God
How deplorable would be our condition if universal knowledge were necessary in order to our happiness! For, alas! how very little do the wisest know! There is, however, a certain kind of knowledge essentially necessary to our happiness, viz., the knowledge of God. If we would enjoy peace, and secure future good, we must be acquainted with Him (Job 22:21). This knowledge infallibly leads to eternal life, and is, in fact, an anticipation of it (Joh 17:3), whereas they who are destitute of it remain in spiritual death (2Th 1:7-8). And quite agreeable to Scripture is the testimony of reason. As creatures who are dependent continually upon God for all we have or hope for, we owe to Him our worship and service. But to worship and serve Him in an acceptable manner is impossible if we do not know Him. Consider–
I. The nature and origin of the knowledge of God. He is infinite and incomprehensible to our limited faculties. He is a Spirit, and invisible to our bodily eyes. If therefore He do not reveal Himself to us, we can never know Him. But He does reveal Himself in the works of creation and providence, in the Bible, in His Son, and by the illumination of His Spirit.
II. The fruits of this knowledge.
1. Humility.
2. Confidence attended with inward peace (Psa 9:10; Isa 26:3).
3. Love (1Jn 4:8). (J. Benson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 34. Awake to righteousness] Shake off your slumber; awake fully, thoroughly, , as ye ought to do: so the word should be rendered; not awake to righteousness. Be in earnest; do not trifle with God, your souls, and eternity.
Sin not] For this will lead to the destruction both of body and soul. Life is but a moment; improve it. Heaven has blessings without end.
Some have not the knowledge of God] The original is very emphatic: , some have an ignorance of God; they do not acknowledge God. They have what is their bane; and they have not what would be their happiness and glory. To have an ignorance of God-a sort of substantial darkness, that prevents the light of God from penetrating the soul, is a worse state than to be simply in the dark, or without the Divine knowledge. The apostle probably speaks of those who were once enlightened, had once good morals, but were corrupted by bad company. It was to their shame or reproach that they had left the good way, and were now posting down to the chambers of death.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Awake to righteousness, and sin not: sin is in Scripture compared to sleep, Rev 13:11; Eph 5:14, and that very properly; for as the natural senses are bound up in natural sleep, so the sinners spiritual senses are locked up, so that he doth not exercise them to discern between good and evil; and as he that is asleep is void of all care and fear, is secure, so the sinner is secure and void of fear. And repentance is set out under the notion of awaking; we are not only concerned to eschew evil, but to do good; not only to awake from sin, but to righteousness, that is, to a holy life and conversation, that is it which is here called righteousness, all spiritual rectitude being to be judged from the souls conformity to the Divine rule; hence sin is called a crooked way, because it will not agree with the rule of Gods word.
For some have not the knowledge of God; for some amongst you have not a due and saving knowledge of God, or a right apprehension of the things of God;
I speak this to your shame; though it be a shame for them that have it not, considering the light and means of knowledge which you have had by my ministry, and the ministry of others who have been amongst you.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
34. Awakeliterally, “outof the sleep” of carnal intoxication into which ye arethrown by the influence of these skeptics (1Co 15:32;Joe 1:5).
to righteousnessincontrast with “sin” in this verse, and corrupt manners(1Co 15:33).
sin notDo not giveyourselves up to sinful pleasures. The Greek expresses acontinued state of abstinence from sin. Thus, Paul implies that theywho live in sinful pleasures readily persuade themselves of what theywish, namely, that there is to be no resurrection.
somethe same as in 1Co15:12.
have not the knowledge ofGodand so know not His power in the resurrection (Mt22:29). Stronger than “are ignorant of God.” Anhabitual ignorance: wilful, in that they prefer to keep theirsins, rather than part with them, in order to know God(compare Joh 7:17; 1Pe 2:15).
to your shamethat youCorinthian Christians, who boast of your knowledge, shouldhave among you, and maintain intercourse with, those so practicallyignorant of God, as to deny the resurrection.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Awake to righteousness, and sin not,…. The apostle represents the Corinthians as inebriated with bad principles and notions, and as fallen asleep, and as greatly remiss, and declined in the exercise of grace and discharge of duty; and therefore calls upon them to awake out of sleep, to watch and be sober, and attend to “righteousness”; to the justice of God, which requires the resurrection of the dead, and makes it necessary that men may receive the things done in the body, whether good or evil; for as it is a righteous thing with God to render tribulation to them that sin against him, and trouble his people; so it is but just, that those bodies which Christ has purchased with his blood, who have served him, and suffered for his sake, should be raised again, that, together with their souls, they may enjoy the happiness provided for them; and to the righteousness of Christ, to look unto it, lay hold on it, exercise faith upon it, desiring to be found in it living and dying; and to works of righteousness, to a holy life and conversation, a living soberly, righteously and godly; and not spend their time, and give up themselves to vain speculations and notions; which were so far from being edifying, that they were very detrimental to themselves and others. The Vulgate Latin version reads, “awake, ye righteous”: for righteous persons, good men, the wise as well as foolish virgins, sometimes fall asleep, and need awaking out of it; which is done by one providence or another, or by the ministry of the word, and whenever to purpose, by the powerful and efficacious grace of God: the words may be rendered, “awake righteously”; or as the Syriac version reads, “awake your hearts righteously”; and as the Arabic, “with a due awaking”; that is, as it becomes you, and as it is just, right, and proper you should: “and sin not”; not that they could be, or that it could be thought they might be without sin in them, or without sin being done by them; but that they ought not to live a sinful course of life, which the denial of the resurrection led unto, or indulged in; or not sin by denying that doctrine, and giving themselves up to a vicious life in consequence of it:
for some have not the knowledge of God; are like the Gentiles that are without God, and know him not; they know not, or, at least, do not own the truth of God in his word, declaring and testifying the doctrine of the resurrection; they err in that point, not knowing the Scriptures, the sense of them, and this truth contained in them; nor the power or God in raising the dead, nor the justice of God, which makes it necessary that the dead should be raised:
I speak this to your shame; that there should be such ignorant persons in their community; that there were any of such bad principles as to deny the resurrection of the dead, and of such dissolute lives as to give up themselves to sensual lusts and pleasures: that such were continued in the church, kept company with, indulged and caressed; and that there was so great a corruption in doctrine, discipline, and conversation, among them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Awake up righteously ( ). Wake up as if from drunkenness. , only here in N.T. sin not ( ). Stop sinning.
No knowledge of God ( ). Old word for ignorance, in N.T. only here and 1Pe 2:15. Ignorance of God, agnosticism. Some today (agnostics) even take pride in it instead of shame (, turning in on oneself). See on 6:5 for .
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Awake [] . Only here in the New Testament. It means to awake from a drunken stupor. Compare Joe 1:5, Sept. The kindred verb ajnanhfw return to soberness (A. V. and Rev., recover), occurs at 2Ti 2:26.
Have not the knowledge (ajgnwsian ecousin). Lit., have an ignorance. Stronger than ajgnoein to be ignorant. They have and hold it. For the form of expression, see on have sorrow, Joh 16:29. The word for ignorance is found only here and 1Pe 2:15 (see note).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Awake to righteousness,” (eknepsate dikaios) “Become ye sober righteously.” Awake out of your drunken, moral stupor, to righteous conduct, a higher level of behavior, Rom 13:11-14.
2) “And sin not;” (kai me amostanete) “And do not sin . and miss ye not the mark of holy living.” Doubt of a future life breeds low morals or sanctions no morals. This concept sharpened by fumes of intellectual pride tended toward gross immorality.
3) “For some have not the knowledge of God: (agnosian gar theou tines echousin) “For some have ignorance of God.” Some maintained ignorance of God and His character, like heathens. They had not grown in Him as they should, 2Ti 2:15; 2Pe 3:18.
4) “I speak this to your shame.” (pros entropen humin lalo) “I speak to your shame.” That the Corinth brethren, among whom Paul lived for so long, and whom he taught, should be ignorant of the holy nature of God was humiliating to him and a shame to them. From this ignorance and shame Paul sought to arouse them to moral and ethical behavior and spiritual service to God, 1Co 3:1-3; Rom 13:11-14. Future hope calls for holy living, 1Jn 3:1-3.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
34. Awake righteously As he saw that the Corinthians were in a manner intoxicated, (97) through excessive carelessness, he arouses them from their torpor. By adding, however, the adverb righteously, he intimates in what way he would have them wake up For they were sufficiently attentive and clear-sighted as to their own affairs: nay more, there can be no doubt that they congratulated themselves on their acuteness; but in the mean time they were drowsy, where they ought most of all to have been on the watch. He says accordingly, awake righteously — that is, “Direct your mind and aim to things that are good and holy.”
He adds at the same time the reason, — For some, says he, among you are in ignorance of God This required to be stated: otherwise they might have thought that the admonition was unnecessary; for they looked upon themselves as marvellously wise. Now he convicts them of ignorance of God, that they may know that the main thing was wanting in them. A useful admonition to those who lay out all their agility in flying through the air, while in the mean time they do not see what is before their feet, and are stupid where they ought, most of all, to have been clear-sighted.
To your shame Just as fathers, when reproving their children for their faults, put them to shame, in order that they may by that shame cover their shame. When, however, he declared previously that he did not wish to shame them, (1Co 4:14,) his meaning was that he did not wish to hold them up to disgrace, by bringing forward their faults to public view in a spirit of enmity and hatred. (98) In the mean time, however, it was of advantage for them to be sharply reproved, as they were still indulging themselves in evils of such magnitude. Now Paul in reproaching them with ignorance of God, strips them entirely of all honor.
(97) The original word ἐκνήψατε, properly signifies to awake sober out of a drunken sleepage It is used in this sense in stone instances in the Septuagint. Thus in Joe 1:5, Εκνηψατε οἱ μεθυντες Awake, ye drunkards. See also Gen 9:24, and 1Sa 25:37. It is used in the same sense by classical writers. “‘ Awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame;’ that is, shake off the mental delusion and stupor in which the intoxication of error has involved you, that, with clear and exerted faculties, you may attend to the most important subject.” — Brown’s Expository Discourses on Peter, volume in. page 8. The expression ἐκνήψατε δικαίως , (awake righteously,) is rendered by Luther machet recht aui — “Wake right up.” It is, however, generally considered to be elliptical. Some supply ζησοτες — “Awake, that ye may live righteously. Others understand δικαίως, as equivalent to ὡς δικαίως δεῖ “as it is fit you should.” “Arrian and Menander,” says Parkhurst, “use δικαιως in this sense, as may be seen in Alberti on the text.” To the two authorities quoted by Alberti, Alexander in his Paraphrase on 1Co 15:0, adds one from Ocellus Lucanus — ̔Ο δε διαμαχομενος δικαιως, but the man who stands up for his own authority as he ought to do.” — Apud Gale, page 533, I. 20. Ed. 1688. — Ed.
(98) See Calvin on the Corinthians, vol. 1, p. 167.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(34) Awake to righteousness, and sin not.Literally, Awake to soberness in a righteous manner, With this earnest call to arouse from the sleep of indulgence and of death, the Apostle completes this section of the chapter, and the direct proofs of the doctrine of the resurrection. The exhortation is needed, for there are some who call themselves Christians and still have an ignorance regarding God. To their shame the Apostles speaks this, not only the last words, but the whole preceding argument. It was a shame that to Christians the Apostle should have to vindicate the very fundamental truth of the Faith.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
34. Awake, from the influence of these seductions to living righteously, and sin not; for some, whose doctrines I have indicated, though their names I will not utter, have not the knowledge of God; literally, have an ignorance of God. They are really holding fast a part of their old paganism the evil of matter and the impossibility of a renovation of man’s body. They “err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God” touching the resurrection. Mat 22:29-30.
Your shame That these semi-pagan errorists, denying the power of God for a resurrection, and demoralizing the Church, should be still influential among them.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Co 15:34. I speak this to your shame. May not this probably be said to make them ashamed of their leader, in whom they were so forward to glory? For it is not unlikely that their questioningand denying the resurrection came from their new Apostle, who raised such opposition against St. Paul. Instead of, Awake to righteousness, some read, Awake, as becomes righteous men.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1994
THE SHAMEFULNESS OF BEING IGNORANT OF GOD
1Co 15:34. Some hare not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
KNOWLEDGE is the foundation of all acceptable obedience. We must know whom we are to serve; and why we are to serve him; and what are the services that he requires at our hands. Hence the Scriptures represent us first as renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created us [Note: Col 3:10.]. On the other hand, ignorance is the root of all sin. It was to this, as its proper source, that our Saviour and his Apostles traced the wickedness of the Jews in crucifying the Lord of glory, and in persecuting his followers [Note: Joh 16:3. Act 3:17. 1Co 2:8.]. To this also St. Paul referred the conduct of those at Corinth who taught, that there was no resurrection of the dead. From their erroneous views of this fundamental doctrine, and the consequent sinfulness of their conduct, he was sure that they were ignorant of God himself; and therefore he declared it to their shame.
The same may be said in reference to ourselves, if we err in any other fundamental point of faith or practice. In order therefore to bring it home to ourselves, we shall shew,
I.
What is that knowledge of God, which, as Christians, we are supposed to possess
God has revealed himself to us in his blessed word; and we ought to know him,
1.
In his essential perfections
[These perfections he proclaimed by an audible voice to Moses, in answer to that prayer of his highly favoured servant, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory [Note: Exo 33:18.]. The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty [Note: Exo 34:6-7.]. Yet it is not merely a speculative knowledge of him that we ought to possess, but such a knowledge as produces suitable emotions in our minds. The devils could say to our Saviour, We know thee who thou art: and in like manner they are acquainted with all the perfections of Jehovah; but their knowledge is unattended with any sanctifying influence: they know God, but they cannot love him; they see his holiness, and hate it; his justice, and tremble at it; his power, and lament it; his mercy, and despair of it; his grace, and oppose it; his wisdom, and endeavour to counteract it. But this view of him must fill us with wonder, and love, and gratitude, and affiance ]
2.
As reconciled to us in the Son of his love
[This more particularly characterizes us as Christians, because in this view he is fully exhibited to us in the Gospel. It is our happy privilege not only to have the day-star from on high risen upon us, but to have God himself shining into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. In the cross of Christ we should see all the perfections of God united, and harmonizing, and glorified; or, as the Psalmist expresses it, we should see mercy and truth met together, and righteousness and peace kissing each other [Note: Psa 85:10.]. We should realize every perfection of the Deity in this view: we should see his wisdom as providing a plan for the redemption of a ruined world, and as opening a way for the exercise of mercy, without infringing upon the rights of justice, or holiness, or truth. We should see even justice itself become our friend, and beaming upon us with the same benignity as love or mercy, seeing that its utmost demands have been satisfied in the atonement of Christ, and all the glory of heaven has been purchased for us by his obedience unto death In a word, the language of David should be the language of our hearts: Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light [Note: Psa 36:5-9.].]
Such is the knowledge of God which every Christian ought to possess. I proceed to shew,
II.
Why it is a shame not to possess it
Of many things we may all be ignorant without any imputation on our character. But to be destitute of the knowledge of God is a shame to all, because it is,
1.
The most excellent of all knowledge
[The knowledge of philosophy is a very valuable acquisition: but it is not to be compared with the knowledge of God, since that infinitely surpasses every thing that can occupy the Human mind. How glorious is it for a worm of the earth to see the perfections of the invisible God! to behold them all shining forth in the face of Jesus Christ! and, above all, to see them all interested in his salvation! How glorious is it for a helpless sinner to know that he has omnipotence for his support, and unbounded mercy for his refuge! How glorious is it for such an unworthy creature to survey the justice and holiness, the power and wisdom, the love and mercy, the truth and faithfulness of God, and then to say, This God is my God for ever and ever [Note: Psa 48:14.]! Surely every thing else in comparison of this is lighter than vanity itself. And whoever seeks any other knowledge in preference to this, has reason to blush for his stupidity, and to be ashamed of his choice.]
2.
The most needful of all knowledge
[The knowledge of trade, and of politics, is necessary for the welfare of a state: but a statesman need not be conversant with the lowest branches of trade; nor need a tradesman know how to govern a state. But the knowledge of God is every mans business; it is that for which God has brought him into existence, and for which the ordinances of the Gospel are continued to him. Every man is more interested in this, than even in providing bread for his body: for he may have food supplied to him by the benevolence of others; but who can supply the lack of this knowledge, or what substitute can be found for it? Without that a man can have no happiness; because, till he has it, he is exposed to the wrath of Almighty God. Without that he can have no holiness; because holiness is the fruit that springs from it, and therefore cannot subsist without it. Without that he can have no salvation; for to know God and Christ is eternal life [Note: Joh 17:3.]; and when Christ shall come to judgment, it will be for the express purpose of taking vengeance on them that know not God [Note: 2Th 1:7-8.]. If then it be a shame to be destitute of all good, and to be a miserable outcast from heaven, it is a shame to be ignorant of God.]
3.
The most easy to be obtained of all knowledge
[There are many things which men have not a capacity to learn. But even the weakest of men may attain the knowledge of God, if they will seek it in Gods appointed way. Our Lord returns thanks to his heavenly Father on this very account, because the things which he has hid from the wise and prudent, are revealed unto babes [Note: Mat 11:25.]. Nor is this expression merely figurative; for Samuel, Josiah, Timothy, and John, are standing monuments to the Church, that God will ordain strength in the mouths of babes and sucklings [Note: Psa 8:2. with Mat 21:16.]. In reference to this knowledge then, no man has any excuse for his ignorance; no man can say, I am no scholar, and therefore have no reason to be ashamed; for all may know the Lord, if they will seek the enlightening influences of his Spirit, since God has pledged himself, that if any man lack wisdom, and ask it of him, he will give it liberally, and without upbraiding [Note: Jam 1:5.].]
Application
[Let those who know not God as reconciled to them in Christ Jesus, begin to seek that knowledge without delay. And let those who do know him, give God the glory: for though an ignorance of him is to our shame, the honour arising from this distinction, belongs to God alone; since it is he who has given us an understanding to know him [Note: 1Jn 5:20.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
Ver. 34. Awake to righteousness ] Go forth and shake yourselves (as Samson did) out of that dead lethargy whereinto sin hath cast you; your enemies are upon you, and you fast asleep the while.
I speak this to your shame ] Ignorance is a blushful sin. Are ye also ignorant? said Christ to his apostles; q.d. that is an arrant shame, indeed. The Scripture sets such below the ox and the ass.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
34. .] Awake out of (your moral) intoxication , already possessing you by the influence of these men.
] either, as is just, as you ought (Wahl, al.), or, in a proper manner (Olsh., al.), or, (Chrys. p. 382, al.), or so as to be [i.e. so as to recover your righteousness, which you are in danger of losing], as E. V., Awake to righteousness . The last meaning is well defended by Dr. Peile from Thuc. i. 21: , ‘so as to become incredible;’ and seems to be the best. The aor. imper. marks the quick momentary awaking; the pres. imper. , on the other hand, the enduring practice of abstinence from sin (Meyer). But that this must not always be rigidly pressed, see Khner, 445. 2. Anm. 1.
] The stress is on this word: for some (the of 1Co 15:12 , most probably, are hinted at, and the source of their error pointed out) have (are affected with) ignorance (an absence of all true knowledge) of God . See ref. to Wisd.
. . . shews that these were , not the heathen without: the existence of such in the Corinthian church was a disgrace to the whole.
] I am speaking ; not merely I say this ; it refers to the spirit of the whole passage.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Awake. Literally Return to sobriety (of mind). Greek. eknepho. Only here in N.T., but in Septuagint Gen 9:24. 1Sa 25:37; &c.
to righteousness = righteously, i.e. as is right. Greek. dikaios, adverb of dikaios. App-191.
sin. App-128.
have not, &c. Literally have ignorance. Greek. agnosia. Only here and 1Pe 2:15.
to your shame. See 1Co 6:5.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
34. .] Awake out of (your moral) intoxication, already possessing you by the influence of these men.
] either, as is just,-as you ought (Wahl, al.),-or, in a proper manner (Olsh., al.),-or, (Chrys. p. 382, al.), or so as to be [i.e. so as to recover your righteousness, which you are in danger of losing], as E. V., Awake to righteousness. The last meaning is well defended by Dr. Peile from Thuc. i. 21: ,-so as to become incredible;-and seems to be the best. The aor. imper. marks the quick momentary awaking; the pres. imper. , on the other hand, the enduring practice of abstinence from sin (Meyer). But that this must not always be rigidly pressed, see Khner, 445. 2. Anm. 1.
] The stress is on this word: for some (the of 1Co 15:12, most probably, are hinted at, and the source of their error pointed out) have (are affected with) ignorance (an absence of all true knowledge) of God. See ref. to Wisd.
. . . shews that these were ,-not the heathen without:-the existence of such in the Corinthian church was a disgrace to the whole.
] I am speaking; not merely I say this; it refers to the spirit of the whole passage.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 15:34. ) An exclamation full of apostolic majesty: shake off lethargy or surfeiting, 1Co 15:32, so the LXX., , Awake, ye drunkards, Joe 1:5. He uses milder language, watch ye, in the conclusion, 1Co 16:13.-, to righteousness) that righteousness, which is derived from the true knowledge of God. The antithesis is, sinning in this ver., and corrupt manners, 1Co 15:33.- ) The Imperative after an imperative has the force of a future (Joh 7:37, note) and ye shall not sin, either by an error of the understanding, or by evil communications [conversation] or by corrupt manners. Those, who place sin in the will alone, and not in the understanding, are in error, and therefore commit sin. Arguments calculated to rouse are added to those used as proofs, as Gal 4:12, note: for Scripture instructs the whole man.-, ignorance) is both ignorance, 1Pe 2:15, and forgetfulness, 3Ma 5:24 : . To have ignorance, [To labour under ignorance] is a more significant phrase than to be ignorant,[142] and includes in it the antithesis to knowledge, which in other respects was so agreeable to the Corinthians.-, of God) and therefore also of the power and works of God, Mat 22:29.-, some) This word softens the reproof.-, shame) The Corinthians claimed for themselves great knowledge. Ignorance and drowsiness are a disgrace, and from these they must awake.-, to you) who are either ignorant, or have among you those that are ignorant. It is however at the same time the dative of advantage.-, I speak) boldly. He speaks more severely than at the beginning, when treating of another subject, 1Co 4:14.
[142] The former implies an habitual state of ignorance under which they labour. To be ignorant, may be but temporary, and restricted to one point.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 15:34
1Co 15:34
Awake to soberness righteously,-These words imply that the denial of the resurrection was already producing immoral results; and the appeal is to arouse them, as from a state of drunkenness, to prompt action to shake off the delusion under which they were lying as to their security. [The denial of such a doctrine as the resurrection was in Christians not only a matter of opinion but of unrighteousness. Righteousness embraces not only our duty to men but to God; and since he has revealed to us certain unspeakably great benefits which he intends to confer upon us, it is our duty to meet his loving offers with grateful acknowledgment. If we do not we are ungrateful and unrighteous.]
and sin not;-[The awakening to righteousness must be followed up by a continuous effort to live a righteous life.]
for some have no knowledge of God: I speak this to move you to shame.-[Their culpable ignorance of Paul was at the root of their disbelief of the resurrection; and Paul assigns this as the strongest reason for awakening out of spiritual lethargy which led them to associate with those who denied that God would raise the dead. And the object of all that he was saying was to excite them to shame for having some in their fellowship who denied the resurrection.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
sin
Sin. (See Scofield “Rom 3:23”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Awake: Joe 1:5, Jon 1:6, Rom 13:11, Eph 5:14
sin not: Psa 4:4, Psa 119:11, Joh 5:14, Joh 8:11
some: 1Co 8:7, Rom 1:28, 1Th 4:5
I speak: 1Co 6:5, Heb 5:11, Heb 5:12
Reciprocal: Jdg 5:12 – Deborah 1Ch 28:9 – know thou Pro 13:20 – but Pro 20:13 – open Son 3:2 – will rise Isa 51:17 – awake Jer 9:6 – refuse Jer 10:25 – that know Hos 4:1 – nor knowledge Mar 8:21 – How Joh 8:19 – Ye neither Joh 11:11 – awake Joh 15:21 – because Joh 17:3 – this Joh 17:25 – the world 1Co 8:1 – touching Gal 4:9 – ye have 1Th 5:6 – let us not 1Th 5:7 – they that sleep 2Th 1:8 – that know 2Ti 2:26 – recover Tit 2:2 – sober 1Jo 2:1 – that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 15:34. This is a further warning against being led into the sin of these false teachers. Paul attributes their evil doctrine to ignorance of God, Just as Christ charged the Sadducees on the same subject, that of the resurrection (Mat 22:23-29). The apostle considers it a shame that some of the Corinthians were so ignorant of the wisdom and power of God.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 15:34. Awake to righteousness,[1] and sin notThese opinions spring not from honest conviction, but are bred of too intimate association with men of free thought and lax life, sucking you down into their corrupt atmosphere, and deadening your Christian instincts. Shake yourselves from this, and rouse up your Christian energies,for some have no knowledge of God: I speak this to move you to shame. Only gross ignorance of God can account for sentiments so shameful arising in a Christian community. But, loth to confound the good with the bad in this severe censure, the apostle delicately ascribes this gross ignorance of God only to some.
[1] The words in the original might seem to mean, Awake up righteously, or in a right frame. But as the compound verb () is used in the LXX. (1Sa 25:37; Joe 1:5) to express recovery from the effects of wine by sleeping it off, the rendering of our Authorised Version (after the Genevan Version) seems to give the true meaning, righteously, in this case, meaning so as to become righteous (a proleptic sense of the adjective or adverb not uncommon in classical Greek, and not unknown even in Latin: see Donaldsons Gr. Gramm.. 497, and Jelf, 439, 2.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Awake to soberness righteously, and sin not; for some have no knowledge of God: I speak this to move you to shame. [Do not be deceived by freethinkers and shun those who would corrupt the truth, for right doctrine and right practice stand or fall together. Shake off, therefore, this drunken fit, and keep from those sins in which it has tempted you to indulge. The sentence “Evil,” etc., is a quotation taken from the Greek poet Menander. To show the full enormity of the teaching of the rationalists, Paul declares that it is a shame to the Corinthians to have such Christless Christians in the church–men who have so little knowledge of even the power of God as to deny his ability to bring to pass so simple a matter as the resurrection. That God gives life is daily apparent; and to give it is infinitely more wonderful than to restore it.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
34. Awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame. Faith is the foundation of the gracious economy. While all real salvation is received by spiritual faith (Rom 10:10), yet the intellectual is the necessary antecedent of the spiritual. When the intellect does not apprehend and receive the great truth of the Bible, the spiritual superstructure is without foundation. He that believeth not shall be damned has a very extensive application. Here Paul certainly does recognize belief in the doctrine of corporeal resurrection. When we reject any cardinal truth revealed in the Bible we so grieve the Holy Spirit as to put ourselves beyond the pale of hope.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
The Corinthians needed to think correctly. Rather than living for the present, as their pagan neighbors were undoubtedly encouraging them to do, they needed to stop sinning and fulfill their present purpose, namely, propagating the gospel. It was a shame that they had neighbors who still had no knowledge of God since they had much knowledge of God (1Co 1:5; 1Co 8:1).
"Since salvation finally has to do with being known by and knowing God (1Co 13:12), what makes the Corinthians’ persisting in sin so culpable is that it keeps others from the knowledge of God (1Co 15:34). [Note: Fee, "Toward a . . .," p. 40.]
It may be that Paul was also using irony to refer to the "spiritual" viewpoint of the Corinthians. The appearance of "knowledge" here again raises that possibility since, as we have seen, "knowledge" fascinated the Corinthians. Paul had also spoken something to their "shame" earlier (cf. 1Co 6:5). If he meant to be ironic, the apostle was probably putting down those responsible for taking the church in the dangerous direction that it had gone. He would have meant that his readers should sober up and stop sinning because some of them did not have the truth, which was to their shame.
These ad hominem (experiential) arguments do not prove beyond doubt that God will raise the bodies of people from the dead, but they support Paul’s stronger historical (1Co 15:1-11), logical (1Co 15:12-19), and theological (1Co 15:20-28) arguments in the preceding sections. They show that Christians generally and the apostle in particular believed in the Resurrection deeply. It affected the way they lived, as it should. [Note: For an introduction to reincarnation, which denies resurrection, see H. Wayne House, "Resurrection, Reincarnation, and Humanness," Bibliotheca Sacra 148:590 (April-June 1991):131-50.]