1 Corinthians 15:18

Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ See note on ch. 1 Corinthians 7:39. "The word does not apply to the soul, for that does not sleep (Luke 16:22-23; Luke 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.