📖WEB · 1 Corinthians 15:58
What does 1 Corinthians 15:58 mean?
"Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
— 1 Corinthians 15:58 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
“Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Explanation
1 Corinthians 15:58 is Paul's closing exhortation to the Corinthian church after a long and detailed argument about the resurrection of the dead. In plain language, the verse tells believers to stand firm, not be shaken or moved from their faith, and to keep pouring themselves fully into serving the Lord—because their efforts are never pointless or wasted. It is a call to steady, energetic, hopeful living grounded in a settled conviction about what God has done and will do.
To understand this verse well, it helps to see where it falls in the letter. First Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul to the church in Corinth, a congregation he had founded but which was struggling with divisions, moral confusion, and doctrinal errors. Chapter 15 addresses a serious problem: some in Corinth were denying or doubting the bodily resurrection of the dead. Paul spends the chapter defending the reality of Christ's resurrection as historical fact, explaining its necessity for the Christian faith, and describing the future resurrection of believers, including the transformation of mortal bodies into imperishable ones. Verse 58 is the practical conclusion that flows directly out of this theological argument—it begins with "therefore," signaling that everything Paul has just said about the resurrection is meant to shape how his readers live right now.
Theologically, the verse rests on the truth Paul just spent an entire chapter proving: because Christ has been raised, and because believers will likewise be raised imperishable, their present labor for the Lord has permanent significance. Nothing done "in
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