Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 15:57
But thanks [be] to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
57. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ ] This sense of having transgressed that righteous law need disturb us no longer. Our shortcomings have been fully atoned for by the Life and Death of Jesus Christ. The mortal part of us must pay the penalty due to sin (Rom 6:23), but the spiritual part remains unsubdued, because it is united to Him Who has fulfilled the law, has taken our condemnation upon Himself, has acknowledged its justice on our behalf, and has enabled us through fellowship with Him to attain to the victory over evil which He Himself has attained.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But thanks be to God; – See the notes at Rom 7:25.
Which giveth us the victory – Us who are Christians; all Christians. The victory over sin, death, and the grave. God alone is the author of this victory. He formed the plan; he executed it in the gift of his Son; and he gives it to us personally when we come to die.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ – By his death, thus destroying the power of death; by his resurrection and triumph over the grave; and by his grace imparted to us to enable us to sustain the pains of death, and giving to us the hope of a glorious resurrection; compare the note at Rom 7:25; Rom 8:37.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 57. But thanks be to God] What the law could not do, because it is law, (and law cannot provide pardon,) is done by the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: he has died to slay death; he has risen again to bring mankind from under the empire of hades. All this he has done through his mere unmerited mercy; and eternal thanks are due to God for this unspeakable gift. He has given us the victory over sin, Satan, death, the grave, and hell.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The victory over sin and over death, we have both through the death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ; who by his death both delivered us from the guilt of sin, and also from the power of sin; and who through death destroyed him who had the power of death, even the devil.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
57. to GodThe victory was inno way due to ourselves (Ps 98:1).
givetha presentcertainty.
the victorywhich deathand Hades (“the grave”) had aimed at, but which,notwithstanding the opposition of them, as well as of the law andsin, we have gained. The repetition of the word (1Co 15:54;1Co 15:55) is appropriate to thetriumph gained.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory,…. Over sin the sting of death, over the law the strength of sin, and over death and the grave; and which will be the ground and foundation of the above triumphant song in the resurrection morn, as it is now at this present time of praise and thankfulness to God: and it is all
through our Lord Jesus; he has got the victory over sin; he has put it away by the sacrifice of himself; he has finished and made an end of it; for though it reigns over his people before conversion, and dwells in them after it, yet in consequence of his atonement for it, it loses its governing power through the Spirit and grace of God in regeneration, and entirely its damning power over them, and in the resurrection morn will not be so much as in being in them; the view of which now fills them with joy, thanksgiving, and triumph. Christ has obtained a victory over the law; he has stopped its mouth, and answered all its demands; he has been made under, and subject to it; he has obeyed its precepts, and bore its penalty, and has delivered his from the curse and condemnation of it, so that they have nothing to fear from it; it is dead to them, and they to that: he has also abolished death by dying and rising again, so as that it shall have no more dominion over him; and he has abolished it as a penal evil to his saints; and though they die, they shall not always remain under the power of death, they shall live again, and with him for ever: he has conquered the grave by rising out of it himself, and living for evermore, having the keys of the grave in his hands; and will at the last day oblige it to give up its dead, when his victory over this, with respect to his people, will be abundantly manifest: now this victory, in all its branches, is given by God to believers; they are made to share in all the victories of Christ their head, and are more than conquerors through him; but this is not by merit, but by gift, the gift of God the Father, who gives his Son, and all things with him that are his; and this gift is a distinguishing one; it is given to us, and not to others; and which therefore calls aloud for praise and thankfulness. The title of the “ninth” psalm may be rendered, “to the conqueror over death”, or “that is the author of victory over death, even to the Son, a psalm of David”, Ps 9:1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But thanks be to God ( ). Exultant triumph through Christ over sin and death as in Ro 7:25.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Giveth. The present participle marking the certainty of the future victory. 135 Contrast Sir Walter Raleigh’s words in concluding his “History of the World.” ” It is therefore Death alone that can make any man suddenly know himself. He tells the proud and insolent that they are but abjects, and humbles them at the instant; makes them cry, complain, and repent; yea, even to hate their forepassed happiness. He takes the account of the rich, and proves him a beggar – a naked beggar – which hath interest in nothing, but in the gravel that fills his mouth. He holds a glass before the eyes of the most beautiful, and makes them see therein their deformity and rottenness; and they acknowledge it.
“O eloquent, just and mighty Death ! whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded; what none hath dared, thou hast done; and whom all the world hath flattered, thou only hast cast out of the world and despised. Thou hast drawn together all the far – stretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of man; and covered it all over with these two narrow words : HIC JACET.”
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “But thanks be to God,” (to de theo charis) “But thanks to God, or let gratitude be to God,” as expressed also in Rom 7:25; Rom 8:1.
2) “Which giveth us the victory,” (to didonti hemin to nikos) “The one giving or delivering over to us the victory the victory over death, corruption, and the grave,” and Law, Sin, and Death — This one dissolves, strikes off the chains of handcuffs that bind men.
3) “Through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (dia tou kuriou hemon iesou christou) “Through the Lord (master) of us (our Master) Jesus Christ.” The word of the cross, God’s power to save and transform, is bodily perfected through faith in the resurrected and exalted Christ, Rom 1:16; Rom 1:18.
Jesus is our refuge from the power of death and the grave, as set forth in the grand old hymn:
“JESUS LOVER OF MY SOUL”
Wesley and Holbrook
Other refuge have I none; Hangs my helpless soul on Thee; Leave, 0 leave me not alone, Still support and comfort me: All my trust on Thee is stayed, All my help from Thee I bring; Cover my defenseless head With the shadow of Thy wing. Hide me, 0, my Savior hide, ‘Till the storm of life is past, Safe into the Haven guide, 0 Receive my Soul at last!
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
57. But thanks be to God From this it appears, why it it was that he made mention both of sin and of the law, when treating of death. Death has no sting with which to wound except sin, and the law imparts to this sting a deadly power. But Christ has conquered sin, and by conquering it has procured victory for us, and has redeemed us from the curse of the law. (Gal 3:13.) Hence it follows, that we are no longer lying under the power of death. Hence, although we have not as yet a full discovery of those benefits, yet we may already with confidence glory in them, because it is necessary that what has been accomplished in the Head should be accomplished, also, in the members. We may, therefore, triumph over death as subdued, because Christ’s victory is ours.
When, therefore, he says, that victory has been given to us, you are to understand by this in the first place, that it is inasmuch as Christ has in his own person abolished sin, has satisfied the law, has endured the curse, has appeased the anger of God, and has procured life; and farther, because he has already begun to make us partakers of all those benefits. For though we still carry about with us the remains of sin, it, nevertheless, does not reign in us: though it still stings us, it does not do so fatally, because its edge is blunted, so that it does not penetrate into the vitals of the soul. Though the law still threatens, yet there is presented to us on the other hand, the liberty that was procured for us by Christ, which is an antidote to its terrors. Though the remains of sin still dwell in us, yet the Spirit who raised up Christ from the dead is life, because of righteousness. (Rom 8:10.) Now follows the conclusion.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(57) But thanks be to God.The future is so certain that the Apostle speaks of it as a subject for present thanksgiving; the victory is one which God gives now through Jesus Christ. His resurrection is the pledge of our resurrection. His death is the power by which we are enabled to conquer that lower self, from whose crucifixion and death we shall rise to the higher incorruptible life of the resurrection day. With this earnest and enthusiastic expression of praise to God the argument concludes. Through arguments historical, moral, philosophical; through explanations from the analogy of Nature, and from the theology of Old and New Testament history, the Apostle has led his readers, vindicating the truth and illustrating the manner of the Resurrection of the Dead. He projects his mind into the future, and, standing in thought with ransomed and raised Humanity after death has been vanquished and the grave been spoiled, he joins in the shout of triumphant praise which shall then ascend to Christ and God.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
57. But There is one who has satisfied the law; has thence taken out the strength of sin; thence destroyed the sting of death; and so wrought the resurrection. This exposition shows that the reference to the law is logically in the straight line of Paul’s argument. It shows, we think, the infelicity of Stanley’s remark: “It seems as if he could not mention sin, without adding that the strength of sin is the law.” As if the apostle’s pen, like a garrulous man’s tongue, ran on its own account in the grooves of habit, loose from brain or thought. Yet it is a pertinent remark of Stanley’s, that this apparently “is the germ of what is afterwards fully developed in Rom 5:12-21; Rom 7:7-24.” And Rom 7:25 is an echo of this verse.
The victory That over hades, in 1Co 15:55, by the resurrection, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory continually (present tense) through our Lord Jesus Christ.’
But now all is changed. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, and His death and resurrection we are delivered. We are being given victory continually, victory over sin now, and finally the victory over death that Christ has accomplished. When the Law condemns us we point it to Jesus Christ. ‘You have sinned,’ thunders the Law. ‘Christ died for our sins,’ we reply, ‘and the sting of death has been sheathed in Him. And He has been raised from the dead. Thus do we know that His sacrifice of Himself was accepted.’ God has given Him, and is giving us, the victory, so that even as we die it is in hope of the resurrection.
And that victory will finally be fully established at the resurrection. Then death will be conquered. It will be no more. And it is all due to Him. It is through God, to Whom we give thanks, and through our Lord Jesus Christ, that we are given the victory, the final victory of everlasting life in all its glorious perfection.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ver. 57. But thanks be to God, &c. ] Here St Paul, Christ’s chief herald, proclaims his victory with a world of solemnity and triumph.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
57 .] For this blessed consummation of victory over death, he breaks out in thanks to God, who gives it to us ( present , as being certain) through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Name in full, as befits the solemnity and majesty of the thanksgiving).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
thanks. App-184.
Jesus Christ. App-98.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
57.] For this blessed consummation of victory over death, he breaks out in thanks to God, who gives it to us (present, as being certain) through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Name in full, as befits the solemnity and majesty of the thanksgiving).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 15:57. , but thanks be to God) It had not been of our accomplishment [in our power to effect].-, but) Although both the law and sin, and death and hell, opposed us, yet we have overcome. This is the sentiment; but the mode or , [expression of feeling] is added, thanks be to God.- ,[150] who gives) the present, to suit the state of believers.[151]- , the victory) a repetition, suitable to the triumph: death and hell had aimed at the victory.-, Christ) in the faith of whom, we [being dead], dying to the law, have obtained life, 1Co 15:3 and following verses.
[150] is read by ABCGg. But D () f Vulg. .-ED.
[151] Nevertheless both the margin of the 2d Ed. and the Germ. Ver., prefer the reading , and therefore the past tense.-E. B.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 15:57
1Co 15:57
but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.-For this blessed consummation of victory over sin and death, he breaks out into thanksgiving to God who has so wonderfully provided the great salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
thanks: Act 27:35, Rom 7:25, 2Co 1:11, 2Co 2:14, 2Co 9:15, Eph 5:20
giveth: 1Co 15:51, 2Ki 5:1, *marg. 1Ch 22:11, Psa 98:1, Pro 21:31, *marg. Joh 16:33, Rom 8:37, 1Jo 5:4, 1Jo 5:5, Rev 12:11, Rev 15:2, Rev 15:3
Reciprocal: Gen 22:17 – thy seed Deu 7:24 – there shall 2Ch 14:12 – General Psa 37:3 – Trust
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A SONG OF TRIUMPH
Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 15:57
It is in this high strain of triumph that the Apostle concludes his magnificent Hymn of the Resurrection. He had spoken of the Resurrection of Christ; first as a fact in history, and next as a moral and spiritual power; first, as a fact for which the evidence was clear, certain, abundant; next, as a power ruling mans life and giving him a victory over death, giving him a victory over his two greatest enemies, sin and death.
Let us glance for a moment at the victory which the Apostle says we have.
I. Victory over sin.Now is Christ risen from the dead; and in the power of this resurrection we have the victory over sin. God, in raising Him from the dead, has not only proclaimed to angels and men that He has accepted the propitiation wrought out on the Cross, but has exalted Him to be a Prince and a Saviour to give us all we need, to lift off from us the burden of guilt, and to pour into our diseased spirits the life of His Resurrection, the life of His Spirit, that we may gain the victory over sin.
II. God gives us, through Christs Resurrection, the victory over death.When the Apostle exclaimed, Thanks be to God Who giveth us the victory, it is this victory which he has chiefly before his eyes. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Death is a very real enemy. The fear of death; is not this the most terrible fear that assaults men, that gives its edge of bitterness to all our fears? What is the fear of sickness, of poverty, of sorrow, of old ageare not these natural infirmities?compared with the fear of death? It is an awful thing to die, above all if we do not know where we are going.
III. Are we partakers of this victory?We may repeat the Creed, I believe in the Resurrection of the body, and yet, alas! we may have no victory over death. How many baptized Christians have no doubt of another life, and yet live and die as if this world were all? Their eyes are pointed to the earth, and their hearts shrink and wither in the narrow cell in which they have locked themselves. They have won no victory over death. And yet there is such a victory. Christs risen life may be ours. It is by a close actual union with Christ that we share in His victory. Christ, the risen Lord, gives us, if we believe in Him and follow Him, the very life which in Him met and overthrew and abolished death. It is His life, and therefore we know that He has vanquished death, and therefore, for ourselves and those we love, we may rest assured that because He liveth we shall live also.
Bishop J. J. S. Perowne.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1Co 15:57. The victory does not mean only the rising from the dead, for all mankind will have that regardless of conduct. But Paul has been writing about the faithful in Christ only from verse 23. Hence this victory means that one over the eternal results of individual sin, which is to be accomplished by faithful service to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 15:57. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christwhose full name in this closing word the apostle expressively gives.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory– Over sin, death, and the law.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is, through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Observe here, 1. An enemy encountered, death: death armed by sin, and strengthened by the law. . This is often a surprising enemy, an amazing enemy, a spoiling and destroying enemy, an inevitable and unavoidable enemy.
Observe, 2. Victory over this enemy declared: the destruction of death, as to its terror and power. Death is overcome. But how? Non ut ne sit, but ut non obsit; not that it should not be, but that it should not hurt. Death has lost its sting, that it cannot annoy; it has lost its terror, that it cannot amaze; it has lost its power, that it cannot destroy.
Observe, 3. The victors or conquerors over this enemy–who are first Christ, and then all that are Christ’s, all that harvest of which Christ is the first-fruits.
Observe, 4. The triumph proclaimed, Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory.
From the whole learn, That all believers are victorious over death, through our Lord Jesus Christ. They may triumph over death through Christ, because he has disarmed it by his death and satisfaction, he has destroyed it by his resurrection; and Christ’s victories become the believer’s by participation and communion with him. As they communicate with him in the value of his satisfaction, so they communicate with him in the virtue of his resurrection.
Let us therefore triumph with the apostle, and say, Thanks be to God; with the prophet, Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust. Thus victory was won by Christ, it is won by us; it was dear to Christ: it is cheap to us: we overcome, but it is by the blood of the Lamb. Let us therefore, living and dying, say, Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 57. But thanks to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Christ’s victory over death has two aspects: the one relating to Himself; the other concerning men. He first of all conquered sin in relation to Himself by denying to it the right of existence in Him, condemning it to non-existence in His flesh, similar though it was to our sinful flesh (Rom 8:3); and thereby He disarmed the law so far as it concerned Himself. His life being the law in living realization, He had it for Him and not against Him. This twofold personal victory was the foundation of His own resurrection. Thereafter He continued to act that this victory might extend to us. And first He freed us from the burden of condemnation which the law laid on us, and whereby it was ever interposing between us and communion with God. He recognised in our name the right of God over the sinner, He consented to satisfy it to the utmost in His own person. Whoever appropriates this death as undergone in his room and stead and for himself, sees the door of reconciliation to God open before him, as if he had himself expiated all his sins. The separation established by the law no longer exists; the law is disarmed. By that very fact sin also is vanquished. Reconciled to God, the believer receives Christ’s Spirit, who works in him an absolute breach of will with sin and complete devotion to God. The yoke of sin is at an end; the dominion of God is restored in the heart. The two foundations of the reign of death are thus destroyed. Let Christ appear, and this reign will crumble in the dust for ever. Thus is fulfilled the saying of the apostle, 1Co 15:21 : By man came death; by man cometh the resurrection. Resurrection is a human work, no less than death itself. It should be remarked that the apostle does not say: gave, but: giveth us the victory. Here he is not thinking only of the objective victory which Christ gained once for all in His person, for Himself and us; but of that which He gains daily in believers for whose resurrection He paves the way by destroying the power of the law, which condemns, and that of sin, which leads astray.
It only remains for the apostle to draw from the solemn situation thus described a practical conclusion. This is what he does in few words in 1Co 15:58.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
but thanks be to God [Psa 98:1], who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. [Death is here spoken of under the figure of a serpent. Sin is the bite or sting with which he slays men, and the power or poisonous strength of sin is found in the curse which the law pronounces upon the sinner. By the triple power of law, sin and death, the glory of man was brought to nought; but thanks are due to God, who restored glory to man through Jesus Christ. Christ gave man the victory over the law, for he nailed it to his cross (Col 2:14); he gave him victory over sin, for he made atonement for sin (Heb 7:27); and he gave him victory over death by his resurrection, which is the earnest of the general resurrection. Wonderful threefold victory!]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
57. Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. This victory comes when we receive the glorious sanctifying power, which takes away the sin-principle, thus utterly and eternally disarming death of all his terrors.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
The victory over the condemnation of the law, sin, and death comes to us through Jesus Christ (cf. Rom 8:2). For this Paul was very grateful to God, as every believer should be (cf. Rom 7:25).