1 Corinthians 15:36

Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
fool	ἄφρων, aphrōn	G878	properly · adjective — vocative singular masculine
which	ὃ ho	G3739	the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun · relative pronoun — accusative singular neuter
thou	σὺ su	G4771	thou · personal pronoun — 2nd person nominative singular
sowest	σπείρεις, speireis	G4687	to scatter · verb — present active indicative, 2nd person singular
is	ζῳοποιεῖται zōopoieitai	G2227	to (re-)vitalize (literally or figuratively) · verb — present passive indicative, 3rd person singular
not	οὐ ou	G3756	the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverb · particle — negative
quickened	ζωοποιέω zōopoiéō	G2227	to (re-)vitalize (literally or figuratively)
except	ἐὰν ean	G1437	a conditional particle · conditional particle
die	ἀποθάνῃ· apothanē	G599	to die off (literally or figuratively) · verb — second aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular

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

John 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much…
Luke 11:40 Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?
Luke 12:20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
Luke 24:25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Ephesians 5:15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 15:35-50

The apostle comes now to answer a plausible and principal objection against the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, concerning which observe the proposal of the objection: Some man will say, How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? Co1 15:35. The objection is plainly two-fold. How are they raised up? that is, "By what means? How can they be raised? What power is equal to this effect?" It was an opinion that prevailed much among the heathens, and the Sadducees seem to have been in the same sentiment, that it was not within the compass of divine power, mortales aeternitate donare, aut revocare defunctos - to make mortal men immortal, or revive and restore the dead. Su…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Corinthians 15:36

fool--with all thy boasted philosophy (Psa 14:1). that which thou--"thou," emphatical: appeal to the objector's own experience: "The seed which thou thyself sowest." Paul, in this verse and in Co1 15:42, answers the question of Co1 15:35, "How?" and in Co1 15:37-41, Co1 15:43, the question, "With what kind of body?" He converts the very objection (the death of the natural body) into an argument. Death, so far from preventing quickening, is the necessary prelude and prognostication of it, just as the seed "is not quickened" into a new sprout with increased produce, "except it die" (except a dissolution of its previous organization takes place). Christ by His death for us has not given us a…

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Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 15:36

Thou fool - Αφρον. If this be addressed, as it probably is, to the false apostle, there is a peculiar propriety in it; as this man seems to have magnified his own wisdom, and set it up against both God and man; and none but a fool could act so. At the same time, it is folly in any to assert the impossibility of a thing because he cannot comprehend it. That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die - I have shown the propriety of this simile of the apostle in the note on Joh 12:24 (note), to which I must refer the reader. A grain of wheat, etc., is composed of the body or lobes, and the germ. The latter forms an inconsiderable part of the mass of the grain; the body, lobes, or farinac…

The Church Fathers

We must not doubt what is more in accord with nature than against it. For it is as natural that all things living should rise again as it is unnatural that they should perish.
— Ambrose of Milan, On the Death of Satyrus 2.57

And with a felicitous sally he proceeds at once to illustrate the point, as if an objector had plied him with some such question. "Thou fool," says he, "that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die." From this example of the seed it is then evident that no other flesh is quickened than that which shall have undergone death, and therefore all the rest of the question will become clear enough.
— Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh

See, therefore, how for our consolation all nature suggests a future resurrection. The sun sinks down and arises, the stars pass away and return, the flowers die and revive again, after their win-try decay the shrubs resume their leaves, seeds do not flourish again. unless they are rotted: thus the body in the sepulchre is like the trees which in winter hide their verdure with a deceptive dryness. Why are you in haste for it to revive and return, while the winter is still raw? We must wait also for the spring-time of the body.
— Marcus Minucius Felix, The Octavius of Minucius Felix

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
Botany · Laws of nature in the vegetable kingdom uniform in action — Laws of nature in the vegetable kingdom uniform in action
Immortality · 2:11; — 2:11;
Resurrection · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Resurrection, The · Is not contrary to reason — Is not contrary to reason
Seed · General references — General references

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 15:36

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 15:35-50

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Corinthians 15:36

Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 15:36

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Corinthians 15:36

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 15:35-50

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Corinthians 15:36

Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 15:36

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on 1 Corinthians 15:36

John Calvin on 1 Corinthians 15:35-50

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Corinthians 15:36