1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. BELOVED. Sound doctrine kindles Christian love. Doubters of the resurrection have no motive to zeal in the Lord's work. STEADFAST - not turning aside from the faith of yourselves. UNMOVEABLE - not turned aside by others (; ). THE WORK OF THE LORD - the promotion of Christ's kingdom (). NOT IN VAIN - as deniers of the resurrection would make it (;...

58._Wherefore, my brethren _Having satisfied himself that he had sufficiently proved the doctrine of the resurrection, he now closes his discussion with an exhortation; and this has much more force, than if he had made use of a simple conclusion with an affirmation. _Since your labor, _says he, _is not in vain in the Lord, be steadfast, and abound in good works _Now he says that _their labor is not in vain, _for this reason, that there is a reward laid up for them with God. This is that exclusive hope which, in the first instance, encourages believers, and afterwards sustains them, so that they do not stop short in the race. Hence he exhorts them to remain _steadfast, _because they rest on a firm foundation, as they know that a better life is prepared for them in heaven. He adds — _abounding in the work of the Lord; _for the hope of a resurrection makes us not be _weary _in well doing, a...

51-58 All the saints should not die, but all would be changed. In the gospel, many truths, before hidden in mystery, are made known. Death never shall appear in the regions to which our Lord will bear his risen saints. Therefore let us seek the full assurance of faith and hope, that in the midst of pain, and in the prospect of death, we may think calmly on the horrors of the tomb; assured that our bodies will there sleep, and in the mean time our souls will be present with the Redeemer. Sin gives death all its hurtful power. The sting of death is sin; but Christ, by dying, has taken out this sting; he has made atonement for sin, he has obtained remission of it. The strength of sin is the law. None can answer its demands, endure its curse, or do away his own transgressions. Hence terror and anguish. And hence death is terrible to the unbelieving and the impenitent. Death may seize a beli...

Verse 1 Corinthians 15:58. _BE YE STEADFAST_] εδραιοι, from εδρα, a _seat_; be settled; confide in the truth of this doctrine of the resurrection, and every thing that pertains to it, as confidently as a man _sits_ down on a SEAT, which he knows to be solid, firm, and safe; and on which he has often _sat_.   _UNMOVABLE_] αμετακινητοι, from α, _negative_, and μετακινεω, _to move away_; let nothing _shake_ your faith; let nothing _move you_ _away_ from this hope of the Gospel which is given unto you. What I tell you I receive from God; your false teachers cannot say so: in a declaration of God you may unshakingly confide.

THEREFORE, MY BELOVED BRETHREN - In view of the great and glorious truths which have been revealed to us respecting the resurrection, Paul closes the whole of this important discussion with an exhortation to that firmness in the faith which ought to result from truths so glorious, and from hopes so elevated as these truths are suited to impart. The exhortation is so plain, that it needs little explanation; it so obviously follows from the argument which Paul had pursued, that there is little need to attempt to enforce it. BE YE STEADFAST - ἑδραῖοι hedraioi, from ἕδρα hedra. Seated, sedentary (Robinson); perhaps with an allusion to a statue (Bloomfield); or perhaps to wrestling, and to standing one’s ground (Wolf). Whatever may be the allusion, the sense is clear. Be firm, strong, confident i

EXPOSITION 1 CORINTHIANS 15:1 _The doctrine of the resurrection. _This chapter, and the thirteenth, on Christian love, stand out, even among the writings of St. Paul, as pre-eminently beautiful and important. No human words ever written have brought such comfort to millions of mourners as the words of this chapter, which form a part of the Burial Service of almost every Christian community. It is the more deeply imprinted on the memory of men because it comes to us in the most solemn hours of bereavement, when we have most need of a living faith. The chapter falls into six sections. 1. The evidence of Christ's resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1). 2. The resurrection of Christ is the foundati

THEREFORE MY BELOVED BRETHREN,.... This is the conclusion of the whole, and contains the use the apostle makes of the above doctrine, addressing the saints at Corinth in the most tender and affectionate manner; owning the spiritual relation they stood in to him, and expressing the great love he had for them, which filled him with a concern for them, that they might be both sound in principle, and right in practice, and continue so: BE YE STEADFAST, UNMOVEABLE; in all the doctrines of the Gospel, and particularly in this of the resurrection of the dead, which he had been labouring throughout the whole chapter: ALWAYS ABOUNDING IN THE WORK OF THE LORD; going on in it, being more and more in the practice of it; either in the work of the ministry, which some of them were in, to which the Lord had called them, and for which he had fitted and qualified them, and in which his glory was greatl...

1 Corinthians 15:1. _Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain._ What then was this gospel which Paul had preached, and which the Christians in Corinth had received, the gospel which Paul declared would save them if they truly believed it? Was it a gospel made up merely of doctrines? No; it was a gospel formed of facts. 1 Corinthians 15:3. _For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;_ That is the first fundamental fact in the gospel system. Blessed is the man who believ

III. RESURRECTION AND THE HOPE OF THE CHURCH AND CONCLUSION: Chapter S 15-16 1. Resurrection and the Hope of the Church. CHAPTER 15 _ 1. The Gospel and the Resurrection of Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:1 .)_ 2. If Christ were not raised--then what? (1 Corinthians 15:12 .) 3. Christ the Firstfruits and what follows. (1 Corinthians 15:20 .) 4. Further practical arguments about Resurrection. (1 Corinthians 15:29 .) 5. Concerning the Resurrection of the Body. ...

A new question is now introduced, What will happen to those who are alive when Christ returns? (_cf_. 1 Thessalonians 4:13). The principle that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God finds with them as with the dead its illustration. They will not all die, but all alike will be transformed instantaneously when the last trump (1 Thessalonians 4:16; Matthew 24:31; Revelation 11:15) sounds. The dead will be raised incorruptible, those still living (Paul thinks of himself and most of the readers as among the number) will be transformed. It lies in the very nature of things that the corruptib