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Meaning of Law as Power of Sin in 1 Corinthians 15

In 1 Corinthians 15:56, the Apostle Paul declares, "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law" (ASV) [2]. This statement appears within Paul's extensive discussion of the resurrection, where he celebrates Christ's victory over death. The verse explains how death, sin, and the law are interconnected, particularly in their ability to condemn humanity.

The "sting of death" is identified as sin [1, 7]. Death entered the world through sin, and sin provides death with its destructive force, affecting both body and soul [7, 9]. Sin is defined as any transgression or want of conformity to God's law [4]. It is described as rebellion against God and the fruit of lust [3, 12].

The "power of sin" is the law [1, 7]. The law, primarily referring to the Mosaic Law, expresses God's will and carries moral authority [6]. It forbids transgression and pronounces a sentence of temporal and eternal death upon those who commit it [7]. Without the law, sin would not be perceived or imputed [8]. The law clarifies God's will, thereby making sin more grievous when it is transgressed [8]. Augustine of Hippo noted that the law, while good, can paradoxically become the "strength of sin" for human weakness, especially when individuals attempt to fulfill it by their own strength [11, 13]. This is because prohibition can increase the desire for illicit action if love for righteousness is absent [13].

Therefore, the law's role is not to provide help but to condemn the transgressor, giving sin its binding power and leaving no provision for aid [7]. The law reveals sin and its consequences, leading to condemnation [5]. However, those who are "in Christ" are no longer "under the law" but "under grace," meaning they are freed from the law's claim to obedience and its curse for disobedience [8, 14]. Christ's death satisfies the justice of God, freeing believers from the penalty of the law and thus depriving sin of its power to subject them to God's wrath [10]. This redemption from the law is consequently a redemption from its curse and the power of sin [10].

Sources

  1. 1 Corinthians “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. -- 1 Corinthians 15:56”
  2. I Corinthians “I Corinthians 15:56 (ASV) — The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law:”
  3. Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Sin — Is the transgression of the law -- 1Jo 3:4. Is of the devil -- 1Jo 3:8; Joh 8:44. All unrighteousness is -- 1Jo 5:17. Omission of what we know to be good is -- Jas 4:17. Whatever is not of faith is -- Ro 14:23. The thought of foolishness is -- Pr 24:9. All the imaginations of the unrenewed heart are -- Ge 6:5; 8:21. Described as Coming from the heart. -- Mt 15:19. The fruit of lust. -- Jas 1:15. The sting of death. -- 1Co 15:56. Rebellion against God. -- De 9:7; Jos 1:18. Works of darkness. -- Eph 5:11. Dead works. -- Heb 6:1; 9:14. The abominable thing that Go”
  4. Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Sin — Is "any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God" (1 John 3:4; Rom. 4:15), in the inward state and habit of the soul, as well as in the outward conduct of the life, whether by omission or commission (Rom. 6:12-17; 7:5-24). It is "not a mere violation of the law of our constitution, nor of the system of things, but an offence against a personal lawgiver and moral governor who vindicates his law with penalties. The soul that sins is always conscious that his sin is (1) intrinsically vile and polluting, and (2) that it justly deserves punishment,”
  5. Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Condemnation — The sentence of God against sin -- Mt 25:41. Universal, caused by the offence of Adam -- Ro 5:12,16,18. Inseparable consequence of sin -- Pr 12:2; Ro 6:23. Increased by Impenitence. -- Mt 11:20-24. Unbelief. -- Joh 3:18,19. Pride. -- 1Ti 3:6. Oppression. -- Jas 5:1-5. Hypocrisy. -- Mt 23:14. Conscience testifies to the justice of -- Job 9:20; Ro 2:1; Tit 3:11. The law testifies to the justice of -- Ro 3:19. According to men's deserts -- Mt 12:37; 2Co 11:15. Saints are delivered from, by Christ -- Joh 3:18; 5:24; Ro 8:1,33,34. Of the wicked, an example ”
  6. Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Law — The word is properly used, in Scripture as elsewhere, to express a definite commandment laid down by any recognized authority; but when the word is used with the article, and without any words of limitation, it refers to the expressed will to God, and in nine cases out of ten to the Mosaic law, or to the Pentateuch of which it forms the chief portion. The Hebrew word torah (law) lays more stress on its moral authority, as teaching the truth and guiding in the right way; the Greek nomos (law), on its constraining power as imposed and enforced by a recognized auth”
  7. 1 Corinthians (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 15:56: The sting of death is sin - The apostle explains himself particularly here: death could not have entered into the world if sin had not entered first; it was sin that not only introduced death, but has armed him with all his destroying force; the goad or dagger of death is sin; by this both body and soul are slain. The strength of sin is the law - The law of God forbids all transgression, and sentences those who commit it to temporal and eternal death. Sin has its controlling and binding power from the law. The law curses the transgressor, and provides no hel”
  8. 1 Corinthians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 Corinthians 15:56: If there were no sin, there would be no death. Man's transgression of the law gives death its lawful power. strength of sin is the law--Without the law sin is not perceived or imputed (Rom 3:20; Rom 4:15; Rom 5:13). The law makes sin the more grievous by making God's will the clearer (Rom 7:8-10). Christ's people are no longer "under the law" (Rom 6:14).”
  9. 1 Corinthians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Corinthians 15:53: The sting of death is sin,.... Death has a sting, and which was originally in it, and that is sin; sin is the cause of death, it is what has given rise and being to it; it entered into the world by it, and is supported in its empire through it; it gives it its resistless power, which reaches to all sorts of persons, young and old, rich and poor, high and low, bond and free; it gives it all its bitterness, agonies, and miseries; and it is by that it does all the hurt and mischief it does; and it may fitly be compared to a sting, for its poisonous and venomous n”
  10. CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 103: the power of Satan, they are delivered by the death of Christ. His death, by satisfying the justice of God, frees them from the penalty of the law; and freedom from the curse of the law involves freedom from the power of Satan to inflict its penalty. “The strength of sin is the law.” ( 1 Cor. xv. 56 .) What satisfies the law deprives sin of the power to subject us to the wrath of God. And thus redemption from the law, is redemption from the curse, and consequently redemption from the power of Satan. This Scriptural representation took su”
  11. Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 3: Augustine — On the Holy Trinity — ON CONTINENCE. (part 7): not helping, forbidding sin, became over and above the strength of sin; whence the Apostle saith, "The Law is the strength of sin."(3) 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,(4) which He gives unto the weak, and wishing to establish his own, of which the weak is void, he was not made subject to the righteousness of God, reprobate and proud. But if the L”
  12. Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 5: Augustine — Anti-Pelagian — CHAP. 37 [XXIII.] --THE CORRUPTION OF NATURE IS BY SIN, ITS RENOVATION IS BY CHRIST.: From this law of sin is born the flesh of sin, which requires cleansing through the sacrament of Him who came in the likeness of sinful flesh, that the body of sin might be destroyed, which is also called "the body of this death," from which only God's grace delivers wretched man through Jesus Christ our Lord.[6] For this law, the origin of death, passed on from the first pair to their posterity, as is seen in the labour with which all men toil in the earth, and the tr”
  13. Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 5.--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.: 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) 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”
  14. Romans (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Romans 6:14: For Sin shall not have dominion over you--as the slaves of a tyrant lord. for ye are not under the law, but under grace--The force of this glorious assurance can only be felt by observing the grounds on which it rests. To be "under the law" is, first, to be under its claim to entire obedience; and so, next under its curse for the breach of these. And as all power to obey can reach the sinner only through Grace, of which the law knows nothing, it follows that to be "under the law" is, finally, to be shut up under an inability to keep it, and consequen”
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