1 Corinthians 15:26

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
last	ἔσχατος eschatos	G2078	farthest · adjective — nominative singular masculine
enemy	ἐχθρὸς echthros	G2190	hateful (passively · noun — nominative singular masculine
destroyed	καταργεῖται katargeitai	G2673	to be (render) entirely idle (useless) · verb — present passive indicative, 3rd person singular
death	θάνατος. thanatos	G2288	(properly · noun — nominative singular masculine

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

2 Timothy 1:10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to li…
1 Corinthians 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any…
Revelation 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take aw…
Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might…
Hosea 13:14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destru…
Luke 20:36 Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 15:20-34

In this passage the apostle establishes the truth of the resurrection of the dead, the holy dead, the dead in Christ, I. On the resurrection of Christ. 1. Because he is indeed the first-fruits of those that slept, Co1 15:20. He has truly risen himself, and he has risen in this very quality and character, as the first-fruits of those who sleep in him. As he has assuredly risen, so in his resurrection there is as much an earnest given that the dead in him shall rise as there was that the Jewish harvest in general should be accepted and blessed by the offering and acceptance of the first-fruits. The whole lump was made holy by the consecration of the first-fruits (Rom 11:16), and the whole body…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Corinthians 15:26

shall be--Greek, "is done away with" (Rev 20:14; compare Rev 1:18). It is to believers especially this applies (Co1 15:55-57); even in the case of unbelievers, death is done away with by the general resurrection. Satan brought in sin, and sin brought in death! So they shall be destroyed (rendered utterly powerless) in the same order (Co1 15:56; Heb 2:14; Rev 19:20; Rev 20:10, Rev 20:14).

Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 15:26

The last enemy - Death, shall be destroyed; καταργειται, shall be counter-worked, subverted, and finally overturned. But death cannot be destroyed by there being simply no farther death; death can only be destroyed and annihilated by a general resurrection; if there be no general resurrection, it is most evident that death will still retain his empire. Therefore, the fact that death shall be destroyed assures the fact that there shall be a general resurrection; and this is a proof, also, that after the resurrection there shall be no more death.

John Gill on 1 Corinthians 15:26

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Not eternal death; for though that is abolished by Christ with respect to his own people, who shall never be hurt by it, and over whom it shall have no power; yet the wicked will always be subject to it, and under the dominion of it: but a corporeal one is here meant; which is an enemy, the fruit, effect, and wages of sin; the penalty and curse of the law; is contrary to human nature, and destructive of the work of God's hands: it is, indeed, through the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ, become the friend of his people; it is disarmed of its sting, and ceases to be a penal evil; it is the saints' passage to glory, what frees them…

The Church Fathers

As the psalmist pleads that God be glorified in the borders of his enemies, so do we. When they have ceased to be enemies, then you, O Lord, will be exalted among them.
— Jerome, HOMILY 3 ON PSALM 7

It is one thing to fight well, which is the case now when the struggle of death is resisted. It is something else not to have an adversary, which will be the case when death "our last enemy" is destroyed.
— Augustine of Hippo, On Continence 3.6

Now he says in a previous passage (of our Epistle to the Corinthians), that "the last enemy to be destroyed is death." In this way, then, it is that corruption shall not inherit incorruption; in other words, death shall not continue.
— Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Adam — Red, a Babylonian word, the generic name for man, having the same meaning in the Hebrew and the Assyrian languages. It was the name given to the first man, whose creation, fall, and subsequent…
Immortality — Perpetuity of existence. The doctrine of immortality is taught in the Old Testament. It is plainly implied in the writings of Moses (Gen. 5:22, 24; 25:8; 37:35; 47:9; 49:29, comp. Heb. 11:13-16; Ex.…
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…
Body · Resurrection of — Resurrection of
Death, Natural · Shall finally be destroyed by Christ — Shall finally be destroyed by Christ
Immortality · 2:11; — 2:11;
Resurrection · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Second Coming Of Christ, The · The purposes of, are to: Destroy death — The purposes of, are to: Destroy death
Warfare Of Saints · Is against: Death — Is against: Death

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

1 Corinthians 15:26

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 15:20-34

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Corinthians 15:26

Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 15:26

John Gill on 1 Corinthians 15:26

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Corinthians 15:26

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 15:20-34

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Corinthians 15:26

Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 15:26

John Gill on 1 Corinthians 15:26

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on 1 Corinthians 15:20-28

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Corinthians 15:25