1 Corinthians 15:32 BSB

1 Corinthians 15:32

If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

If after the manner of men I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what doth it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.

KJV

If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.

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Commentary

1 voice

Ambrose of Milan

LETTER 59 (397)

If all hope of the resurrection is lost, let us eat and drink and lose not the enjoyment of the things present, for we have none to come.… The Epicureans say they are followers of pleasure because death means nothing to them, because that which is dissolved has no feeling, and that which has no feeling means nothing to us. Thus they show that they are living only carnally, not spiritually. They do not discharge the duty of the soul but only of the flesh.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

If to speak after the manner of men - That is, to use a proverbial phrase, expressive of the most imminent danger I have fought with wild beasts at Ephesus - With the savage fury of a lawless multitude, Acts xix, 29, &c.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

If, after the manner of men, etc. - Much learned criticism has been employed on this verse, to ascertain whether it is to be understood literally or metaphorically. Does the apostle mean to say that he had literally fought with wild beasts at Ephesus? or, that he had met with brutish, savage men, from whom he was in danger of his life? That St. Paul did not fight with wild beasts at Ephesus, may be argued, 1. From his own silence on this subject, when enumerating his various sufferings, 2Co 11:23, etc.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

20 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
εἰ	ei	If	G1487 →
κατὰ	kata	according to	G2596 →
ἄνθρωπον	anthrōpon	man	G444 →
ἐθηριομάχησα	ethēriomachēsa	I fought wild beasts	G2341 →
ἐν	en	in	G1722 →
Ἐφέσῳ,	Ephesō	Ephesus,	G2181 →
τί	ti	what	G5101 →
μοι	moi	to me	G3165 →
τὸ	to	the	G3588 →
ὄφελος;	ophelos	profit?	G3786 →
εἰ	ei	If	G1487 →
νεκροὶ	nekroi	[the] dead	G3498 →
οὐκ	ouk	not	G3756 →
ἐγείρονται,	egeirontai	are raised,	G1453 →
φάγωμεν	phagōmen	Let us eat	G5315 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
πίωμεν,	piōmen	let us drink,	G4095 →
αὔριον	aurion	tomorrow	G839 →
γὰρ	gar	for	G1063 →
ἀποθνῄσκομεν.	apothnēskomen	we die.	G599 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Luke 12:19
Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
leads to
- Proverbs 27:1
  Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- James 4:13–15
  Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”
- Matthew 6:19–21
  Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.