1Corinthians 15:30-34 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
‘I die daily’ – this refers to the outward man perishing day by day, as in 2Corinthians 4:16, not to die to sin daily. That he did not teach. He argued that we should become dead to sin once and then stay dead to sin always (Rom. 6:6-11; Gal. 2:20). It could also refer to Paul’s being in constant danger of death daily for the gospel – even every hour (15:30, 32). At least it refers to the body, for the whole chapter is on the death and resurrection of the body.
‘Fought with beasts at Ephesus’ – Perhaps referring to his fight with the beastly men at Ephesus (Acts 19:28-31). Such men are called beasts (Tit. 1:12; 2Pet. 2:12; Jude 1:10). In his list of sufferings in 2Corinthians 11:23-28, Paul does not refer to having been in combat with wild beasts in an arena, when naming all his hardships.
‘Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die’ quoted from Isaiah 22:13 – this is the attitude of the ungodly who have no hope of a life to come, for the idea of a short life only made men want to live in sinful pleasure as long as possible (Isa. 22:12-14).
‘Communications’ [Greek: homilia] associations. Evil ones will corrupt good morals. A quotation from the Thais of Menander, an Athenian poet. Good is always influenced, corrupted, and spoiled by bad because faith comes through hearing (Rom. 10:17) and by hearing comes faith. No one is immune against this form of corruption, so for a Christian that thinks he/she will not be defiled by bad conversation or company, a rude awakening will follow when Scripture slowly but surely becomes uninteresting, hard to understand and our standards drop to worldly ones (1Jn. 2:15-17); hence so-called Christians today walk and talk like all others and never follow in the example set for born-again Christians as stated in 1Peter 2:21-23 and 1John 3. ‘Awake to righteousness, and sin not’ – return to sobriety and righteousness and quit sin in view of the resurrection.
Living the Word 