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Selected Verse: 1 Corinthians 15:2 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
1Co 15:2 |
King James |
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
ye are saved--rather, "ye are being saved."
if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you--Able critics, BENGEL and others, prefer connecting the words thus, "I declare unto you the Gospel (Co1 15:1) in what words I preached it unto you." Paul reminds them, or rather makes known to them, as if anew, not only the fact of the Gospel, but also with what words, and by what arguments, he preached it to them. Translate in that case, "if ye hold it fast." I prefer arranging as English Version, "By which ye are saved, if ye hold fast (in memory and personal appropriation) with what speech I preached it unto you."
unless--which is impossible, your faith is vain, in resting on Christ's resurrection as an objective reality. |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
By which also ye are saved - On which your salvation depends; the belief of which is indispensable to your salvation; see the note on Mar 16:16. The apostle thus shows the "importance" of the doctrine. In every respect it demanded their attention. It was that which was first preached among them; that which they had solemnly professed; that by which they had been built up; and that which was connected with their salvation. It does not mean simply that by this they were brought into a salvable state (Clarke, Macknight, Whitby, Bloomfield, etc.), but it means that their hopes of eternal life rested on this; and by this they were then "in fact" saved from the condemnation of sin, and were in the possession of the hope of eternal life.
If ye keep in memory - Margin, as in the Greek, "if ye hold fast." The idea is, that they were saved by this, or would be, if they faithfully retained or held the doctrine as he delivered it; if they observed it, and still believed it, notwithstanding all the efforts of their enemies, and all the arts of false teaching to wrest it from them. There is a doubt delicately suggested here, whether they did in fact still adhere to his doctrine, or whether they had not abandoned it in part for the opposite.
Unless ye have believed in vain - You will be saved by it, if you adhere to it, unless it shall turn out that it was vain to believe, and that the doctrine was false. That it was "not" false, he proceeds to demonstrate. Unless all your trials, discouragements, and hopes were to no purpose, and all have been the result of imposture; and unless all your profession is false and hollow, you will be saved by this great doctrine which I first preached to you. |
The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917] |
saved
(See Scofield) - (Rom 1:16). |
Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
If ye keep in memory what, etc.
I see no good reason for departing from the arrangement of the A.V., which states that the salvation of the readers depends on their holding fast the word preached. Rev. reads: through which ye are saved; I make known, I say, in what words I preached it unto you, if ye hold it fast, etc. This is certainly very awkward, making Paul say that their holding it fast was the condition on which he preached it. American Rev. as A.V. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
Ye are saved, if ye hold fast - Your salvation is begun, and will be perfected, if ye continue in the faith. Unless ye have believed in vain - Unless indeed your faith was only a delusion. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
By which also ye are saved - That is, ye are now in a salvable state; and are saved from your Gentilism, and from your former sins.
If ye keep in memory - Your future salvation, or being brought finally to glory, will now depend on your faithfulness to the grace that ye have received. |
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.