Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 1 Corinthians · About this commentary
At the Last Trumpet
1 Corinthians 15:50-57
50 Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can’t inherit God’s Kingdom; neither does the perishable inherit imperishable. · WEB
The living and the dead are changed at one moment, and the chapter ends by taunting death with the prophets' own words.
Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can't inherit God's Kingdom; neither does the perishable inherit imperishable 1 Corinthians 15:50.
The conclusion of the argument about the body. Whatever else is true, the present mortal frame cannot simply be carried into the kingdom — which is why a change is necessary for the living as well as a resurrection for the dead.
Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed 1 Corinthians 15:51.
A mystery in this letter is something disclosed rather than something withheld 1 Corinthians 2:7. And the disclosure has two halves: not everyone will die, and everyone will be transformed. Sleep is the letter's word for a believer's death throughout this chapter 1 Corinthians 15:6 1 Corinthians 15:18 1 Corinthians 15:20; the generation alive at the coming will skip it, and will still require the change of verse 50.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed 1 Corinthians 15:52.
The timing is fixed twice over — instantaneous, and at the last trumpet. Two groups are dealt with in the same instant: the dead raised, the living changed. This is the sequence the letters to Thessalonica set out at greater length, where the dead in Christ rise first and the living follow, all at a trumpet and a shout 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17.
The date matters for what the chapter has been arguing. If the dead were already glorified, there would be nothing for the trumpet to accomplish; the whole passage assumes they are waiting, and that the waiting ends at a public, datable event rather than at each funeral.
For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality 1 Corinthians 15:53.
Immortality is something put on, received at that moment — not a property the human being already possesses. Scripture reserves it to God as his own and describes it as sought and given 1 Timothy 6:16 Romans 2:7 2 Timothy 1:10.
Then what is written will happen: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?" 1 Corinthians 15:54–55.
The prophets are called as witnesses — Isaiah's promise that death would be swallowed up and every tear wiped away Isaiah 25:8, and Hosea's challenge to the grave Hosea 13:14. The last enemy 1 Corinthians 15:26 is addressed directly and mocked, which is only possible from the far side of the trumpet.
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law 1 Corinthians 15:56.
A compressed diagnosis. Death's power to wound lies in sin, and the law gives sin its force by defining and condemning it Romans 7:8–11 Romans 4:15. Remove the guilt and death keeps its event and loses its sting.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Corinthians 15:57.
The chapter's argument ends in thanksgiving, and the victory is given — the letter's habitual verb 1 Corinthians 4:7. Nobody in this account defeats death; they are handed the result of somebody else's triumph.
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