Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 15:18
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
18. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ ] See note on ch. 1Co 7:39. “The word does not apply to the soul, for that does not sleep (Luk 16:22-23; Luk 23:43), but it describes the state of the bodies of those who sleep in Jesus.” Wordsworth.
are perished ] “You are required to believe that those who died in the field of battle, bravely giving up their lives for others, died even as the false and coward dies. You are required to believe that when there arose a great cry at midnight, and the wreck went down, they who passed out of the world with the oath of blasphemy or the shriek of despair, shared the same fate with those who calmly resigned their departing spirits into their Father’s hand;” in short, “that those whose affections were so pure and good that they seemed to tell you of an eternity, perished as utterly as the selfish and impure. If from this you shrink as from a thing derogatory to God, then there remains but that conclusion to which St Paul conducts us, ‘Now is Christ risen from the dead.’ ” Robertson.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Then they also … – This verse contains a statement of another consequence which must follow from the denial of the resurrection – that all Christians who had died had failed of salvation, and were destroyed.
Which are fallen asleep in Christ – Which have died as Christians; 1Co 15:6 note; 1Th 4:15 note.
Are perished – Are destroyed; are not saved. They hoped to have been saved by the merits of the Lord Jesus; they trusted to a risen Saviour, and fixed all their hopes of heaven there; but if he did not rise, of course the whole system was delusion, and they have failed of heaven, and been destroyed. Their bodies lie in the grave, and return to their native dust without the prospect of a resurrection, and their souls are destroyed. The argument here is mainly an appeal to their feelings: Can you believe it possible that the good people who have believed in the Lord Jesus are destroyed? Can you believe that your best friends, your kindred, and your fellow Christians who have died, have gone down to perdition? Can you believe that they will sink to woe with the impenitent, and the polluted, and abandoned? If you cannot, then it must follow that they are saved. And then it will follow that you cannot embrace a doctrine which involves this consequence.
And this argument is a sound one still. There are multitudes who are made good men by the gospel. They are holy, humble, self-denying, and prayerful friends of God. They have become such by the belief of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Can it be believed that they will be destroyed? That they will perish with the profane, and licentious, and unprincipled? That they will go down to dwell with the polluted and the wicked? Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Gen 18:25. If it cannot be so believed, then they will be saved; and if saved it follows that the system is true which saves them, and, of course, that the Lord Jesus rose from the dead. We may remark here, that a denial of the truth of Christianity involves the belief that its friends will perish with others; that all their hopes are vain; and that their expectations are delusive. He, therefore, who becomes an infidel believes that his pious friends – his sainted father, his holy mother, his lovely Christian sister or child, is deluded and deceived; that they will sink down to the grave to rise no more; that their hopes of heaven will all vanish, and that they will be destroyed with the profane, the impure, and the sensual.
And if infidelity demands this faith of its votaries, it is a system which strikes at the very happiness of social life, and at all our convictions of what is true and right. It is a system that is withering and blighting to the best hopes of people. Can it be believed that God will destroy those who are living to his honor; who are pure in heart, and lovely in life, and who have been made such by the Christian religion? If it cannot, then every man knows that Christianity is not false, and that infidelity is not true.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. They also which are fallen asleep] All those who, either by martyrdom or natural death, have departed in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, are perished; their hope was without foundation, and their faith had not reason and truth for its object. Their bodies are dissolved in the earth, finally decomposed and destroyed, notwithstanding the promise of Christ to such, that he would raise them up at the last day. See Joh 5:25, Joh 5:28, Joh 5:29; Joh 11:25, Joh 11:26, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Some think that the term in Christ in this text, is of the same significancy with for the sake of Christ, which would restrain it to martyrs; but I know no reason for that, because what is said is true of all; for it is plain, from what was said before, that if Christ be not risen from the dead, all that die must die in their sins, there being no object for their faith to work or lay hold upon; the door of salvation remaineth as fast shut as ever, so as those whom they looked upon as being asleep in Christ, must necessarily perish, if Christ be not risen; there is no forerunner entered into the heavens for us.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. fallen asleep in Christincommunion with Christ as His members. “In Christ’s case the termused is death, to assure us of the reality of His suffering;in our case, sleep, to give us consolation: In His case, Hisresurrection having actually taken place, Paul shrinks not from theterm death; in ours, the resurrection being still only a matter ofhope, he uses the term falling asleep” [PHOTIUS,Qustiones Amphilochi, 197].
perishedTheir soulsare lost; they are in misery in the unseen world.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ,…. That is, who are dead, and have died in Christ: death is often represented by a sleep, and that more than once in this chapter; and doubtless with a view to the resurrection, which will be an awaking out of it, since it will not be perpetual: some understand this of such only who were fallen asleep, or died martyrs for the sake of Christ and his Gospel; as Stephen, James the brother of John, and others; but rather it designs all such as die in Christ, in union with him, whether in the lively exercise of faith, or not; of whom it must be said, if Christ is not risen, that they
are perished: soul and body; for if there is no reason to believe the resurrection of the dead, there is no reason to believe the immortality of the soul, or a future state, but rather that the soul perishes with the body, and that there is no existence after death: though should it be insisted on that the soul survives, and shall live without the body to all eternity, it must be in a state of misery, if Christ is not risen, because it must be in its sins; and neither sanctified nor justified, and consequently cannot be glorified, so that the whole may be said to be perished; the body perishes in the grave, the soul in hell; but God forbid that this should be said of those, who have either died for Christ, or in him: can it be that any that are in Christ, that are united to him, one body and spirit with him, should ever perish? or those that are asleep in him be lost? no, those that sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him at the last day, who shall be for ever with him, and for ever happy.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Then also ( ). Inevitable inference.
Have perished (). Did perish. Second aorist middle indicative of , to destroy, middle, to perish (delivered up to eternal misery). Cf. 8:11.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Then they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” (ara kai ho koimethentes en christos apolonto) “What is more, those having fallen asleep in Christ perished.” Such befalls those who die in their sins, Joh 8:21; Joh 8:24. For if He did not rise He could not justify or acquit men of sin’s charges before God, Rom 4:25; Act 13:37-39.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
18. Then they who are fallen asleep. Having it in view to prove, that if the resurrection of Christ is taken away, faith is useless, and Christianity (41) is a mere deception, he had said that the living remain in their sins; but as there is a clearer illustration of this matter to be seen in the dead, he adduces them as an example. “Of what advantage were it to the dead that they once were Christians? Hence our brethren who are now dead, did to no purpose live in the faith of Christ.” But if it is granted that the essence of the soul is immortal, this argument appears, at first sight, conclusive; for it will very readily be replied, that the dead have not perished, inasmuch as their souls live in a state of separation from their bodies. Hence some fanatics conclude that there is no life in the period intermediate between death and the resurrection; but this frenzy is easily refuted. (42) For although the souls of the dead are now living, and enjoy quiet repose, yet the whole of their felicity and consolation depends exclusively on the resurrection; because it is well with them on this account, and no other, that they wait for that day, on which they shall be called to the possession of the kingdom of God. Hence as to the hope of the dead, all is over, unless that day shall sooner or later arrive.
(41) “ La profession de Chrestiente;” — “The profession of Christianity.”
(42) It is mentioned by Beza in his life of Calvin, that before leaving France in 1534, he “published his admirable treatise, entitled Psychopannychia, against the error of those who, reviving a doctrine which had been held in the earliest ages, taught that the soul, when separated from the body, falls asleep.” — Calvin’s Tracts, volume 1 page 26. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
18. Fallen asleep Ruckert quotes an elegant sentence from Photius: “In regard to Christ, Paul uses the term death in order that his dying should be clearly affirmed; when he speaks of us, he uses the cheerful word sleep, that he may yield us consolation. When resurrection is the subject he frankly says death; but when he dwells upon our hopes he calls it sleep.”
Are perished Literally, They that fell asleep in Christ perished; that is, aoristically, they perished in the act of falling asleep. They fell asleep in Christ, according to the Christian and Pauline view; they perished upon the non-resurrection and non-Christian view. What, then, is the meaning of perished? And it seems not pertinent here to say, with Kling: “Perdition, according to Scripture, is not annihilation, but the state of damnation remaining in gehenna;” for Paul is writing for, and probably arguing with, those who ignore Gehenna, and even the future existence of the soul. Nor does it seem pertinent to say, with Alford, that perished means “passed into misery in hades.” Both these views Paul seems carefully to avoid expressing, and uses the generic term perished, which was in use among Gentiles on this very point, and which does not define the nature of the ruin. Besides, his statement that the falling asleep and the perishing is one and the same thing, forbids this applying the word perishing to an after state. Those with whom he argues confine the hope in Christ to this life, 1Co 15:19; and their view yields the Epicurean maxim of 1Co 15:32, both of which passages suggest that these heretics denied the future of the soul.
The philosophers who mocked Paul at Athens denied alike the resurrection, and the immortality of the soul. A short time before Christ, Cesar, in the Roman senate, argued against executing the followers of Cataline under the assumption, fully expressed, that death is the last of man; and of the entire senate not one dissented from that belief. This was the settled view of the civilized paganism of the age. Even the poets, who playfully prattled of manes, hades, and shadowy Plutonian domes, did, as prosaic thinkers, reject and laugh at such myths. And these Corinthian deniers of the resurrection clearly held the view that Christianity only presented a resurrection of the soul from sin, and was, therefore, a good thing for this life, but nothing for the life to come.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Then those also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.’
So the preceding suggestion that the dead do not rise, that Christ has not risen, and that they are thus yet in their sins, removes any hope for the future. They have died in sin and could only expect to perish. There can be no thought of them being in a state of ‘sleep’ awaiting the resurrection. Rather they are stone cold dead. They are not ‘with Christ’ (Php 1:23) in an intermediate state of bliss, their bodies sleeping in the grave. Rather they have perished.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Co 15:18. Fallen asleep in Christ. “All deceased Christians, not excepting the most excellent of them, who have died for their religion. They have lost their life and being together, on this supposition, in the cause of one, who, if still among the dead, must have been an impostor, and a false prophet.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
Ver. 18. Asleep in Christ ] The Germans call the churchyard God’s Acre, because the bodies are sowed therein, to be raised again. The Greeks call them , sleeping houses. The Hebrews call the grave Becbajim, the house of the living, Job calls it the congregation house of all living, Job 30:23 . As the apostle calls heaven the congregation house of the firstborn, Heb 12:23 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
18. ] then also.
.] those who fell asleep in Christ, perished (i.e. passed into misery in Hades). He uses the aorists, speaking of the act of death, not of the continuing state: the act of falling asleep in Christ was to them .
., in communion with, membership of Christ.
On Meyer quotes a beautiful sentence from Photius (Qust. Amphiloch. 168 (al. 187 or 197), vol. i. p. 861, Migne): , , . , . , .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
are fallen = fell.
are. Omit.
perished. Greek. apollumi. See 1Co 1:18.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
18. ] then also.
.] those who fell asleep in Christ, perished (i.e. passed into misery in Hades). He uses the aorists, speaking of the act of death, not of the continuing state: the act of falling asleep in Christ was to them .
., in communion with, membership of Christ.
On Meyer quotes a beautiful sentence from Photius (Qust. Amphiloch. 168 (al. 187 or 197), vol. i. p. 861, Migne): , , . , . , .
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 15:18. , perished) they were, they are not. Paul speaks conditionally: the heathen denying the resurrection might, if that supposition were true, regard the dead just the same as if they had never been. Nor was there here any necessity for Paul distinctly to express, what it is for a man to be in his sins.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 15:18
1Co 15:18
Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.-Many had suffered and died with a living faith in Christ. Many had yielded up their life in testimony of their faith in Christ Jesus. All these had perished, suffered, and died, and are without hope or reward in the world to come; indeed, there is no world to come if Christ be not raised. His resurrection is the guarantee and hope of the future life.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
fallen: 1Co 15:6, 1Th 4:13, 1Th 4:14, Rev 14:13
Reciprocal: Pro 25:22 – the Lord Joh 8:21 – and shall die Joh 11:11 – sleepeth Joh 11:25 – he that Act 7:60 – he fell Act 13:36 – fell 1Co 15:51 – We shall not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 15:18. The Corinthians had never been taught that eternal salvation was to be actually possessed before the end of the world. But if the dead were never to be raised, then their bodies would be destroyed along with that of the earth. That is why Paul says that those who had died in the Lord were perished, which means they had come to their end.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Vv. 18. There is a sharp contrast between the two terms. falling asleep in Christ and having perished. To close the eyes in the joy of salvation, to open them in the torments of perdition! The verb , perished, cannot designate annihilation, for it is explained by the preceding expression: to be yet in sins. It denotes a state of perdition in which the soul remains under the weight of Divine condemnation. Nor does the aorist allow us to explain this idea of perishing proleptically, as the sense of destroying or annihilating would require.
So much for the dead; and what follows for us who still live here below in the faith of that unrisen Christ? The apostle tells us in 1Co 15:19 :
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
18. Then truly those who have fallen asleep in Christ perished. In case that the Christhood fails, there is no conceivable alternative but for the scheme of redemption to eternally collapse and all departed souls relegated to Hell.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 18
In Christ; in spiritual union with him, trusting to his salvation.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
15:18 {8} Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
(8) Secondly, unless it is certain that Christ rose again, all those who died in Christ have perished. So then, what profit comes of faith?