1 Corinthians 15:32Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"If, according to man, I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what profit is it to me?" As much as is possible for men, he says, I fought with beasts. But what follows from the fact that God snatched me from danger?

What profit is it to me, if there is no resurrection? By fighting with beasts he means the struggle with the Jews and with Demetrius the silversmith (Acts 19:23-24 and following). For how did they differ from beasts?

"If the dead do not rise? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!" If the dead do not rise, and there will be no blessedness there, then let us at least enjoy the good things in this life. Let us eat and drink.

For this alone is gain. He cited these words from the prophet Isaiah (Is 22:13) in mockery of the senselessness of those who do not acknowledge the resurrection.

Moreover, in Ephesus I was even thrown to the beasts. What profit would there have been for me to become food for beasts, if I were not to receive the resurrection, as you claim? In that case, let us eat and drink while we live, if there is no promised life after corruption.

The Epicureans declare that they follow pleasure because death means nothing to them. What ceases, they say, loses sensation, and what is without sensation means nothing to us. By this they show that they live only a fleshly life, not a spiritual one. They take no account of the duties of the soul, limiting themselves to the body alone. They think that when the soul is separated from the body, the task of life is exhausted.

"For if, according to man, I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me if the dead are not raised?" According to human reasoning, says the Apostle, I became food for beasts, yet I was wondrously saved. What fruit is there for me from this danger if there is no resurrection of the dead? "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." These are prophetic words (Is 22:13). The Apostle cited them fittingly, as though saying: fasting is unnecessary, abstinence is unnecessary; let us enjoy the pleasures of the present life, because no reward has been prepared for lovers of virtue. Then, putting the Corinthians to shame, he says: "Do not be deceived: evil company corrupts good morals."

No, such people will not die tomorrow; they are already dead to God.

"If, according to man, I fought with beasts at Ephesus," kata anthropon, that is, speaking humanly, should I have fought with beasts at Ephesus?

The book of Acts does not speak of this fight with beasts or of deliverance from this danger (chapter 19). The Apostle himself, when listing all the dangers and troubles he endured (2 Cor 11:23-27), does not mention this danger.

Therefore many interpreters take this expression in a figurative sense, meaning a struggle with people who, like beasts, were ready to tear the Apostle Paul apart. This happened in Ephesus at the hands of Demetrius the silversmith (Acts 19:23-40).

"Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." The Apostle carries to the extreme the conclusion from the unbelief of those who deny the resurrection.

Materialism, which explains everything that exists from matter, supposedly endowed with power for its own being, is also one of the terrible forms of unbelief.

By excluding the existence of anything spiritual in the world, and calling everything matter, materialism also rejects everything holy. It reduces man to the condition of a merely animal life.

"Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." This is what people with such a conviction think within themselves.

This means making man equal to cattle that are slaughtered (Ps 48:13). And does it not also mean renouncing sound reason?

Finally, if the truth of the resurrection of the dead is denied, the whole moral order of human life would be overthrown. 1 Cor 15:32: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." The Apostle deliberately sets this senseless resolution before them, fully confident that the conscience of every self-respecting person will rise up against it.

The thought of baptism with faith in the glorious future life closely touches the thought of Christ's suffering life on earth. Therefore the Apostle now turns to it as to a new argument for the necessity of faith in the universal resurrection.

The Apostle speaks of his own labors and sufferings, since they were especially great. He especially should have avoided them if he were not striving for the heavenly crown.

Yet everything he says about himself clearly applies to all Christians, as is evident from what was said earlier, in verse 19 and then in verse 30.

To prove the complete untenability and absurdity of the false teaching of those who deny the future resurrection of the dead, the holy Apostle points to the destructive abyss to which this false teaching would lead.

According to the flow of the discourse, one expects that here the Apostle mentions something greater than what he had already indicated by the words, "we are in danger every hour," and, "I die every day." Therefore the words, "I fought with beasts in Ephesus," must be understood in the direct sense, not figuratively.

Saint Chrysostom says, "The Apostle shows by what kinds of death he was dying. 'I fought,' he says, 'with beasts.' God delivered me from the dangers. But what follows from this?" Blessed Theodoret says the same: "I became food for beasts, but was wondrously saved. What fruit is there for me from this danger, if there is no resurrection of the dead?"