Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

1 Corinthians 15:56

There are 15 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 584, footnote 12 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

On the Resurrection of the Flesh. (HTML)

The Session of Jesus in His Incarnate Nature at the Right Hand of God a Guarantee of the Resurrection of Our Flesh. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 7668 (In-Text, Margin)

... of God, with the view of stating this with accumulated stress, he deprived corruption itself—that is, death, which profits so largely by the works of the flesh and blood—from all inheritance of incorruption. For a little afterwards, he has described what is, as it were, the death of death itself: “Death,” says he, “is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin”—here is the corruption; “and the strength of sin is the law”[1 Corinthians 15:54-56] —that other law, no doubt, which he has described “in his members as warring against the law of his mind,” —meaning, of course, the actual power of sinning against his will. Now he says in a previous passage (of our Epistle to the Corinthians), that ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 271, footnote 1 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen De Principiis. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
On the Beginning of the World, and Its Causes. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2078 (In-Text, Margin)

... apostle in those passages, in which, discussing the resurrection of the dead, he says, “This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying which is written, Death is swallowed up in victory! Where, O death, is thy victory? O death, thy sting has been swallowed up: the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.”[1 Corinthians 15:53-56] Some such meaning, then, as this, seems to be suggested by the apostle. For can the expression which he employs, “this corruptible,” and “this mortal,” with the gesture, as it were, of one who touches or points out, apply to anything else than to ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 201, footnote 7 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Archelaus. (HTML)

The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes. (HTML)

Chapter XXVIII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1695 (In-Text, Margin)

... advent? For none of these either obtained any knowledge of the Paraclete, or received instruction in the doctrine of Jesus. But only this latest generation of men, which has run its course from Tiberius onward, as you make it out, is to be saved: for it is Christ Himself that “has re-deemed them from the curse of the law;” as Paul, too, has given these further testimonies, that “the letter killeth, and quickeneth no man,” and that “the law is the ministration of death,” and “the strength of sin.”[1 Corinthians 15:56] Archelaus said: You err, not knowing the Scriptures, neither the power of God. For many have also perished after the period of Christ’s advent on to this present period, and many are still perishing,—those, to wit, who have not chosen to ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 201, footnote 17 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Archelaus. (HTML)

The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes. (HTML)

Chapter XXVIII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1705 (In-Text, Margin)

... many. For if we reckon that man is justified without the works of the law, and if Abraham was counted righteous, how much more shall those obtain righteousness who have fulfilled the law which contains the things that are expedient for men? And seeing that you have made mention only of three several scriptures, in terms of which the apostle has declared that “the law is a ministration of death,” and that “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law,” and that “the law is the strength of sin,”[1 Corinthians 15:56] you may now advance others of like tenor, and bring forward any passages which may seem to you to be written against the law, to any extent you please.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 247, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

That death is penal, and had its origin in Adam’s sin. (HTML)

As the Wicked Make an Ill Use of the Law, Which is Good, So the Good Make a Good Use of Death, Which is an Ill. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 583 (In-Text, Margin)

The apostle, wishing to show how hurtful a thing sin is, when grace does not aid us, has not hesitated to say that the strength of sin is that very law by which sin is prohibited. “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.”[1 Corinthians 15:56] Most certainly true; for prohibition increases the desire of illicit action, if righteousness is not so loved that the desire of sin is conquered by that love. But unless divine grace aid us, we cannot love nor delight in true righteousness. But lest the law should be thought to be an evil, since it is called the strength of sin, the apostle, when treating a similar question ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 382, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On Continence. (HTML)

Section 7 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1827 (In-Text, Margin)

... through the Holy Spirit what is commanded through the Law: unto these the Law therefore entered, that in them the offense might abound. The prohibition in creased the lust, and made it unconquered: that there might be transgression also, which without the Law was not, although there was sin, “For where there is not Law, neither is there transgression.” Thus the Law, Grace not helping, forbidding sin, became over and above the strength of sin; whence the Apostle saith, “The Law is the strength of sin.”[1 Corinthians 15:56] Nor is it to be wondered at, that man’s weakness even from the good Law added strength to evil, whilst it trusts to fulfill the Law itself of its own strength. Forsooth being ignorant of the righteousness of God, which He gives unto the weak, and ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 500, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

Against Lying. (HTML)

Section 40 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2474 (In-Text, Margin)

... according to that grace will it so be, of which is said: “He that is born of God, sinneth not.” For were this nativity by itself alone in us, no man would sin: and when it shall be alone, no man will sin. But now, we as yet drag on that which we were born corruptible: although, according to that which we are new-born, if we walk aright, from day to day we are renewed inwardly. But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, life will swallow it up wholly, and not a sting of death will remain.[1 Corinthians 15:53-56] Now this sting of death is sin.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 59, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

On the Morals of the Catholic Church. (HTML)

The Church Apostrophised as Teacher of All Wisdom.  Doctrine of the Catholic Church. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 140 (In-Text, Margin)

... swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? Where, O death, is thy contest?" Could these heretics understand this one saying, no longer proud but quite reconciled, they would worship God nowhere but with thee and in thy bosom. In thee, as is fit, divine precepts are kept by widely-scattered multitudes. In thee, as is fit, it is well understood how much more heinous sin is when the law is known than when it is unknown. For "the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law,"[1 Corinthians 15:56] which adds to the force with which the consciousness of disregard of the precept strikes and slays. In thee it is seen, as is fit, how vain is effort under the law, when lust lays waste the mind, and is held in check by fear of punishment, instead ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 231, footnote 4 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)

Faustus willing to believe not only that the Jewish but that all Gentile prophets wrote of Christ, if it should be proved; but he would none the less insist upon rejecting their superstitions.  Augustin maintains that all Moses wrote is of Christ, and that his writings must be either accepted or rejected as a whole. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 621 (In-Text, Margin)

... changed in the resurrection, so as to be no longer corruptible and mortal. This is the apostle’s statement, and not a supposition of ours, as his next words prove. "Lo" he says, "I show you a mystery: we shall all rise again, but we shall not all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the last trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."[1 Corinthians 15:50-59] To put on immortality, the body puts off mortality. This is the mystery of circumcision, which by the law took place on the eighth day; and on the eighth day, the Lord’s day, the day after the Sabbath, was fulfilled in its true meaning by the Lord. ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 647, footnote 4 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

The Correction of the Donatists. (HTML)

Chapter 9 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2540 (In-Text, Margin)

... neither spot nor wrinkle, nor any such thing, —not knowing that this is only fulfilled in those individuals who depart out of this body immediately after baptism, or after the forgiveness of sins, for which we make petition in our prayers; but that for the Church, as a whole, the time will not come when it shall be altogether without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, till the day when we shall hear the words, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin."[1 Corinthians 15:55-56]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 76, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)

Book III (HTML)

The Sting of Death, What? (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 694 (In-Text, Margin)

... death of the body is the result of sin. For after he had said, “This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality: so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal immortality, then,” he added, “shall be brought to pass the saying which is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” and at last he subjoined these words: “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.”[1 Corinthians 15:53-56] Now, because (as the apostle’s words most plainly declare) death shall then be swallowed up in victory when this corruptible and mortal shall have put on incorruption and immortality,—that is, when “God shall quicken even our mortal bodies by His ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 108, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter. (HTML)

The Faith of Those Who are Under the Law Different from the Faith of Others. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1026 (In-Text, Margin)

... For even this have they received; for the Only-begotten “gave them power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name;” and He advised them to ask, to seek, and to knock, in order to receive, to find, and to have the gate opened to them, adding by way of rebuke, the words : “If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” When, therefore, that strength of sin, the law,[1 Corinthians 15:56] inflamed the sting of death, even sin, to take occasion and by the commandment work all manner of concupiscence in them, of whom were they to ask for the gift of continence but of Him who knows how to give good gifts to His children? Perhaps, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 403, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)

Book III. (HTML)

The Misrepresentation of the Pelagians Concerning the Use of the Old Law. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2682 (In-Text, Margin)

... the letter is not evil because it killeth; but it convicts the wicked of transgression. “For the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Was, then,” says he, “that which is good made death unto me? By no means; but sin, that it might appear sin, worked death in me by that which is good, that it might become above measure a sinner or a sin by the commandment.” This is what is the meaning of “the letter killeth.” “For the sting of death is sin, but the strength of sin is the law;”[1 Corinthians 15:56] because by the prohibition it increases the desires of sin, and thence slays a man unless grace by coming to his assistance makes him alive.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 447, footnote 10 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)

Abstract. (HTML)

Conjugal Chastity is Itself the Gift of God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3006 (In-Text, Margin)

... already said: “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” In order, however, that this victory may be gained, grace renders its help; and were not this help given, then the law would be nothing but the strength of sin. For concupiscence is increased and receives greater energies from the prohibition of the law, unless the spirit of grace helps. This explains the statement of the great Teacher of the Gentiles, when he says, “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.”[1 Corinthians 15:56] See, then, I pray you, whence originates this confession of weakness, when a man says, “I desire to keep what the law commands, but am overcome by the strength of my concupiscence.” And when his will is addressed, and it is said, “Be not overcome of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 17, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm VI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 181 (In-Text, Margin)

... more see any light of God, to whom they may confess aught? For as yet that rich man by raising his eyes, although a vast gulf lay between, could still see Lazarus established in rest: by comparing himself with whom, he was driven to a confession of his own deserts. It may be understood also, as if the Psalmist calls sin, that is committed in contempt of God’s law, death: so as that we should give the name of death to the sting of death, because it procures death. “For the sting of death is sin.”[1 Corinthians 15:56] In which death this is to be unmindful of God, to despise His law and commandments: so that by hell the Psalmist would mean that blindness of soul which overtakes and enwraps the sinner, that is, the dying. “As they did not think good,” the Apostle ...

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