What Does 1 Corinthians 15:10 Mean?

But by the favor of God I am what I am, and his favor toward me did not become empty; rather I toiled more abundantly than all of them, yet not I, but the favor of God that is with me.

1 Corinthians 15:10 · SDV

Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.

Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

THE KEY

The favor that makes you who you are is also the force at work in what you do.

THE MEANING

God’s favor is with you now as something active, not an empty gift. Your labor can be real and abundant without becoming the source of your being; what you do grows from what you receive. This verse holds effort and dependence together: you work, yet favor is at work with you.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that favor makes effort irrelevant, or that effort creates the self God favors.

THE ROOT

χάρις

charis

GROWS FROM

χαρ

char

The Greek word family of favor, giving freely, and joy.

English “grace” can sound like a gift that is simply received and left behind, but ⁨χάρις⁩ belongs to a word family that also includes joy and freely granting. Here favor remains “with” you and becomes active in your labor.

ALSO GROWS

charizomai: To grant freely, show favor, or forgive.

χαρίζομαι

This branch shows favor as an act of giving; in the verse, what is given is also present and at work.

chara: Joy.

χαρά

This related word makes visible the family’s connection between favor and joy, rather than reducing favor to a static benefit.

chairō: To rejoice or be glad.

χαίρω

This branch shares the same Greek word family, showing that favor is connected with a lived response, not only a bestowed status.

THE PATTERN

God-given capacity does not erase human work; it makes fruitful work possible.

And I have filled him with the breath of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of work.

Exodus 31:3 · SDVWisdom, understanding, and workmanship are pictured as filling the worker, so skillful labor is human and received.

And God is able to make all favor overflow toward you, so that you, always holding all you need in everything, may overflow into every good work.

2 Corinthians 9:8 · SDVFavor abounds toward you so that your capacity for good work can abound too.

For we are his making, created in the Anointed One, Jesus, for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that in them we might walk.

Ephesians 2:10 · SDVGood works are a path you walk in, while your being is already described as God’s workmanship.

THE THREAD

And God is able to make all favor overflow toward you, so that you, always holding all you need in everything, may overflow into every good work.

2 Corinthians 9:8 · SDV

The same Greek word ⁨χάρις⁩ (charis, favor) appears here, where it abounds toward you and leads to an abundance of good work. The connection shows labor as the fruit of favor, not its payment.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us