1 Corinthians 15:54–57 (ESV) — 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
What if I told you that the Bible speaks of two Adams? Adam, with Eve in the Garden of Eden, then a replacement, a second Adam. Did you know that the Bible speaks of a second Adam who replaces the first? We’re going to read about him.
Look again at 1 Corinthians 15:4. It says, “then shall come to pass the saying that is written,” or “Then shall be brought to pass”. “Then” is the word I am pointing out. The word “then” indicates that an event is about to happen. We are going to learn when “then” is, and what that event is that happens at the “then.” Whatever it is that happens, it leads the Apostle Paul to taunt death and the grave. Paul is also urging saints to do the same.
'Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?”
This is taunting death and the grave in the face. Did Paul know something we don’t know? Isn’t he afraid of death? No, he is not. We should be taunting death and the grave also. To understand what Paul knew, we need to use the Old Testament to get us up to speed. We will cover some biblical ground to get us up to speed, then slow down when we return to 1 Corinthians 15. Then we will smell the flowers in the Garden of Eden from the text in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 15.
Our journey begins in Genesis 2:7. The Apostle references this verse in 1 Corinthians 15, so it is a good place to start.
“then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
Here we see the creation of man. Notice the composition of man. Dust from the ground to create the body, and the Spirit of God breathed life into the body, making Adam a living creature. Two parts. A physical body; an intangible spirit. Often, the Bible refers to the human spirit as the soul or heart. They are interchangeable terms most of the time. I will be using spirit and soul interchangeably today.
Recognizing this composition of man is important. Man is not a spirit with a coat over it, called a physical body. Man is a being with two equal parts that make up the complete person. Man is body and spirit/soul. One without the other means that man is not whole or complete.
Humor me with a simple illustration to communicate a truth. An Oreo cookie has an outer chocolate cracker and an inner filling. If you take off the crackers and throw them away, is it an Oreo cookie? No, all you have is a white blob. If you scraped the filling off the inside of the crackers and threw it away, do you have an Oreo cookie? No, all you have are two crackers. It takes both parts, put together, to make the cookie and make it whole.
As humans, we have two parts making us whole or complete. We are whole and complete when both parts are together. We are not whole or complete, as created by God, when one part is broken or if our spirit is separated from our body.
Some Christians teach that man is a triune being, like God. This is called the tripartite view. It holds that humans are composed of a spirit, a soul, and a body. This teaching is based primarily on a blessing and prayer from the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:23.
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Is Paul talking about the composition of man? In context, he wants every aspect of us to live a sanctified life, and that you continue to grow in sanctification until Christ’s return. It is a prayer and an exhortation to the Church. Paul’s intent is not to teach anthropology.
Jesus said that we are to “love the Lord God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” Jesus isn’t saying that humans are a four-part being. He was saying, “Love God with everything you are and everything you have within you. Jesus was not teaching anthropology, but how you are to love God.
To understand what man is—what you are, you have to go back to Genesis when God made the first man. Genesis 2:7 is clear. Man is composed of a physical body and an intangible living spirit/soul. Some Christians do not find this interesting or necessary to their faith. Yet, isn’t it important to know and understand the redemption and salvation that Jesus Christ obtained for you? Did Jesus redeem only the soul or the whole person? We will see this as we move along. Another question to ask, knowing that man is body and spirit, is, what did sin affect in man? Did sin touch one part or the whole? This subject affects how we think of death, of heaven, of the resurrection of the saints, and the saints living in the new heaven and new earth.
Next, look at Genesis 2:17.
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
The words, “you shall surely die,” refer to the consequence of disobedience to God. The word “die” is a verb in the Hebrew language of Genesis. What does that imply? Two things pertaining to our Road Trip. One, there were actions / consequences from Adam’s sin (the first Adam). Second, there were two consequences to the person of man.
There are two deaths that occurred when Adam sinned. In fact, a loose translation of these words could be, “for in the day that you eat of it, you will die, and in your dying you will die.” The consequence of sin touched man, the whole man. The word “die” is singular, not because one part of man died, but because the whole of man died. Death entered man, and death stung the whole man.
When Adam sinned, his whole being, soul and body, died. One died instantly, the other began dying. Sin, like a scorpion, stung Adam, and he spiritually died. Spiritual death is being separated from God. Adam and Eve would no longer have that personal, intimate relationship and fellowship with God. They were kicked out of the Garden of Eden, that intimate relationship with God. Man was now alienated from God. Sin had stung the spirit of man and poisoned him. He is now a sinner, alienated from his holy creator.
But sin had stung the whole man, the spirit and the body. Before Adam and Eve sinned, man did not know death. Man did not know sickness, pain, or weakness in the soul or body. But now the body had been stung with death. Sin had brought death to the whole person.
This first sin, and its effects, that affects all of mankind is called “Original Sin.” All of mankind “inherited Adam’s sin and guilt.” It does not matter how many sins a person commits; he/she is a sinner by nature, by inheritance from Adam.
I don’t want anyone thinking I am making this up. This is from the Bible. Look at Romans, Chapter five. By the way this is always in 1 Corinthians 15.
Romans 5:12 — Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
Romans 5:17 — “… because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, …”
Romans 5:18 — “… one trespass led to condemnation for all men …”
Romans 5:19 says, “For as by the one man’s disobedience/sin the many were made (past tense) sinners.”
As you can see in the scriptures, when Adam sinned, sin entered human nature, much like a poison. Every person born from the seed of Adam would have this poison—sin nature. Every person is born a sinner. We are born spiritually alienated from God. As sin poisoned the whole being of Adam and Eve, so the poison spread down to all of Adam’s seed.
This changes how we look at ourselves and the human race. We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners, by nature. Humans lie, covet, make idols, etc., not because of our culture, but because we are by nature sinners. (Eph. 2:3 –“by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”)
This is an “inherent sin.” You inherited this condemnation from Adam. You inherited death to the whole being from Adam. We were made sinners. The Scripture does not say we became sinners, but we were “made sinners” by Adam. Romans 5:19. Before any person commits a single sin, he/she is already a sinner, under judgment of hell. Guilty. And our bodies are in death mode, dying.
Then there is the other part of condemnation that we bring on ourselves. When you and I are born, we commit sins. These are personal sins against God’s holiness. Doing and saying, and thinking what we should not do, and not doing what we should do. We are now guilty on two separate levels: inherited sin, from Adam, passed down to us, and personal sins we commit. This is why we are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners.”
These personal sins heap up more judgment on us. Romans 2:5 says, “But because of your hard and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” Hello, mankind, we need a Savior! We need a Savior of our whole being. A thorough Savior, a Complete Savior, an Effectual Savior!
Let’s take a breath and review what we’ve covered. Man is composed of both a physical body and an intangible soul. Together, the man is whole and complete. When Adam sinned, death struck the whole man. Adam passed this death down to all who were born from him—from his seed.
The whole of man’s being was stung by sin. Each person born into this world inherits the condition of Adam, which is being born spiritually dead, and physical death is inevitable. Our bodies carry the poison from the sting of sin. Our bodies will suffer, groan, be deformed and defective, be susceptible to sicknesses, diseases, breaking down, and all kinds of brokenness. All because of the sting of sin that brought death. That is the bad news.
Remember, there is only one man who was born without man’s seed. Jesus was conceived not with a man’s seed, that would have passed the sin nature to Jesus, but by the Holy Spirit. Mary was a virgin, with a child conceived by the Spirit of God. He did not inherit sin from Adam. He did not have a sin nature. He was not born a sinner, nor did he sin. That is why the Bible says that Jesus was without sin.
The good news is, Jesus Christ came to redeem us. On the cross, he rescued us. Not just part of us, leaving us half dead, but a full redemption. He came to save us completely and entirely, the whole man. HALLELUJAH! That makes sense, since we have two parts of us that need redemption—the soul and the body. It makes sense, since he came to redeem us. We who put our faith in Christ Jesus as Savior belong to God once again. Spiritually, sin is not held against us anymore. The sin that separated us from God has been removed. Jesus paid the debt for our inherited sin and our individual sins. Amen.
This is where Jesus is considered the second Adam. 1 Corinthians 15:45, 47 calls Jesus the Second Adam, the last Adam. “The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.” Where the first Adam failed, Jesus stood in and became our new head, our new Adam. We have a new nature that is no longer poisoned by sin. Our new head is Christ, who is without sin.
By faith we can enter into the salvation and be reconciled, made right with our God and creator again. We are made righteous by Christ’s obedience to the cross and being our substitute. He took the sinner’s penalty for being a sinner.
Romans 5:19 (ESV) — 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
The same relationship and fellowship that Adam and Eve had with God before they sinned. We who belong to Jesus Christ have that now. The spirit is renewed now, but that is not all of us; we have a body stung by sin. It suffers and has death in it. Jesus paid the ransom price for the whole person. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have been wholly redeemed. The spiritual death has been defeated, and the body will be changed, made new? That is to come. The body’s redemption will be finalized when the “then” happens. That is what the Resurrection of Jesus Christ secured. On the cross, he reconciled our relationship with God. When he resurrected bodily from the grave, he secured our bodily resurrection from death. It is coming. The bodies of all believers will be transformed to wholeness, just as our relationship was transformed by His sacrificial death. It is coming. The event will bring about the manifestation of our full redemption. The Bible calls this moment the “day of redemption.”
Rom. 8:23 says, “we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for … the redemption of our bodies.”
Eph. 4:30 says, “we were sealed by the H.S. for the day of redemption.”
This means that, though our redemption has been paid for by Jesus on the cross, completeness is yet to come. The Day of Redemption is coming. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of it. We have been redeemed, the whole person—soul and body, but this physical body still has the sting of death in it. Yet, there is a day coming when we will be given a new body, a spiritual body. This earthly body that is poisoned by sin will be replaced with a heavenly body. This is the theme of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15.
It is time to circle back to that chapter. We are now in the last stretch of seeing what event happens at “then shall come to pass ...” He knows our bodies will not always be under the sting of death. This is why the Apostle Paul begins taunting death and the grave in the face.
1 Corinthians 15:54–55 (ESV) — When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Turn to 1 Corinthians 15:20-27. We are going to slow down our pace and walk through Paul's teaching.
Verse 20, “But in fact Christ as been raised from the dead.” This is a fact. He calls Christ Jesus the “firstfruits.” What does Paul mean by “Christ is the firstfruits?” Christ Jesus is the forerunner. He resurrected first to immortality. Jesus rose from the dead, never to die again. This divine bodily resurrection that changed from mortality to immortality is the first. This body will never die again. Also, the firstfruits are also the best of the harvest. Jesus is the best. As the first, more will follow.
Verse 23 clarifies that Jesus Christ is the firstfruits of those who belong to Him. If you don’t belong to Christ, then you are excluded from this. If you do belong to Christ, then you are the fruits that follow.
This is why we live in “the already but not yet.” We are already completely redeemed. Jesus paid the full price for our full redemption—it already happened. YET, the redemption is not fully manifested, but it will. It is guaranteed by the Holy Spirit, our seal.
Verses 21-22 tell us that there will be a resurrection of our bodies. New bodies, heavenly bodies, spiritual bodies. Look at verse 49, which says that our bodies will be like Jesus’ spiritual body. The Apostle John says that when Jesus appears, referring to His Second Coming and the day of redemption, we shall be like Him. Our bodies will be transformed into immortal and incorruptible bodies.
Verse 23 gives us the chronological order of the event. Christ resurrected bodily first—about 2,000 years ago, then when He returns in His glory, those who belong to Him will be resurrected as He was. Then comes the end. The end is when Christ delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule, every authority, and every power. After Christ has cast all evil, including the devil, into the eternal abyss, the Lake of Fire.
Verse 26 says the last enemy (power) to be destroyed is death. He will destroy death. He will abolish it; do away with it. When this happens, there will be no more death on earth. None. This is more than not dying anymore. This includes the sting of death that brings sickness, pain, deformity, suffering of the body and mind. It is all gone, forever.
Revelation 20:14 “Then death and hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.”
Jump down to 1 Cor. 15:42-44. This is the Change! This is how death will no longer have a hold on us. Our bodies will be raised imperishable, in glory, out of weakness and dishonor, and raised in power. From a natural body to a spiritual body. Our natural bodies of dirt will be changed to spiritual bodies. If a believer who suffers physical, mental, or other problems or defects will be gone forever. All internal defects and external defects are gone. New immortal bodies, spiritual bodies just as the one Jesus has now.
No wonder the Apostle Paul gets excited. His body, which has been stoned, beaten, starved, and even left for dead, will be gone.
Look down now to 1 Cor. 15:50-54. It says, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” This refers to our mortal bodies. These mortal bodies, death-stung bodies, cannot live in the new earth. Therefore, we are given spiritual bodies.
Verses 51 are more details of when the “then” of our bodies are finally redeemed. It is at the last trumpet of God. This ties into our reading in Revelation. This is when Jesus Christ returns to slay his enemies and bring deliverance to His saints. Also, at this time, our bodies will change in an instant from a mortal body to a spiritual body. We also have Paul telling the church in Rome this promise.
Romans 8:11 (ESV) — If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
How about more detail? Turn to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 (ESV) — 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Do you see the connection? This is Paul explaining the bodily resurrection of the saints to the Church in Thessalonica. When the Lord descends from heaven to conquer, all the saints will be finally made whole. Whether the saint who had died before this event, or the saint who is still alive when He returns. Our souls will be made perfect (see Hebrews 12:23) and be united/joined with their new bodies. Once again, we will be whole and complete as man was originally created to be. Untouched by sin and death.
Now we get to our initial text. The “Taunting of Death and the Grace.” In 1 Corinthians 15:54-55, Paul quotes the prophets, Isaiah and Hosea. I have added my translation in parentheses to help you see why these Old Testament prophetic verses speak of the day of redemption.
Isaiah 25:8 — He (The Savior) will swallow up (devour to destroy) death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach (mocking / persecution) of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.
This is a direct prophecy of the Lord Jesus coming to avenge His Church.
Hosea 13:14 — I (The Savior) shall ransom (liberate) them (His saints) from the power of Sheol (underworld-the grave); I shall redeem (deliver) them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues (sting/thorn)? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
The last sentence, “Compassion is hidden from my eyes” means God will have no mercy when He destroys death. No mercy on the powers of death.
Now look at 1 Corinthians 15:56. The stinger has been removed. Death has been destroyed. It is the last enemy of God to be destroyed. When the last enemy is destroyed, there are no more against Him. There are no others against the saints, the Church.
Verse 15:57 is Paul’s Climactic Praise. Paul has preached himself to highest joy.
1 Corinthians 15:57 (ESV) — 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice that God has given us, those who belong to Jesus, His victory over death. Jesus already had the victory. When the “then” happens, we will also have the victory over death! We have the victory over death and the grave because Jesus rose from the Dead. The “firstfruits”—Jesus, then us, who is the rest of the harvest of God.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus will be made whole again. Whole, complete, and without sin and its sting of death! Free! Incorruptible bodies and minds! No struggles with sin, temptations, enticements, or stumbling into sin by foolishness.
Is there relevance to the church while we wait for the completion of our redemption?
As Christians, we should know what Jesus redeemed us from and redeemed us to. How can you live free if you don’t know what you are free from? How can you look forward to something you do not know Jesus has prepared for you? As Christians, we should not fear death. Death may seem dark, but it takes into the presence of God. Remember Romans 8:18?
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Did you get that? The glory of Christ revealed to us and then the glory of our new bodies? Glory, glory, glory!
Verse 58 is Paul’s encouragement to the Christians based on what he has taught them. This is our encouragement to do and to be.
1 Corinthians 15:58 — Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Prayer:
“God of all creation, God of Redemption, God of Resurrection, praise be—all praise be, to Thee!
Christ, God the Son, one day, in a split moment, you will take victory away from death and the grave. You will give us the victory. Our redemption will be me made complete and whole. Hallelujah to the Lord of All! Our redemption is already but not yet fully manifested. But we have this hope in us now. We see this promise with the eye of faith!
Grant us, your saints, this revelation. Grant us faith to face death without fear and anxiety, but with a joyous hope. Grant us to see beyond the grave to when Christ destroys death, and You give us the victory over it. May we be flooded with peace and joy. Our victory is coming. Our victory is nigh.
Thanks be to Jesus Christ, the Victor! Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!
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