1 Corinthians 15:54

The form of parallelism is continued. The word τότε, then, expresses the grandeur of the time. The participle: that which is written, is added to denote the certainty of fulfilment: Scripture cannot lie. The saying quoted is Isaiah 25:8, the meaning of which is that the theocracy once restored, its members, dead and living, shall be all raised up together to the sphere of immortality. “God,” says the prophet (if God be understood as the subject), “hath swallowed up death for ever.” The LXX., probably following another reading, have translated altogether differently: “Death hath swallowed up triumphantly” (perhaps in the sense of: “It formerly swallowed up...”). Paul follows our Hebrew text, only changing the active into the passive: “Death is swallowed up. ” The word which we translate victory, following Paul, is one of the most beautiful terms in the Hebrew language (nétsach). It denotes the state of perfect inward vigour which excludes all possibility of outward decay, and hence: eternal duration. The expression: in victory, seems to me to have the meaning: “Death is absorbed in imperishable life.” Such a life is victory gained for ever over death, its enemy. It is not the only time that the LXX. thus render the term lanétsach.

The feeling of gratitude and adoration here reaches its culminating point in the apostle's heart: