What Does 1 Corinthians 15:50 Mean?
But this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the governance of God; neither does decay inherit what does not decay.
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.
King James wording
King James Version
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.THE KEY
Decay is the barrier: the next verse says the corruptible itself is clothed in incorruption.
THE MEANING
What is mortal and subject to decay cannot inherit the governance of God in its present condition. The Greek word for “corruption” names decay, while “incorruption” names what is no longer subject to it. The next verse describes the change: the perishable puts on imperishability.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This overturns the belief that mortal existence can enter God’s kingdom unchanged.
THE ROOT
φθορά
phthora
GROWS FROM
φθείρω
phtheirō
To destroy, spoil, or bring to decay.
The verse sets φθορά, decay, beside ἀφθαρσία, imperishability, which is formed from the same word family with a negative prefix. Greek makes the contrast between decay and its absence explicit: the perishable condition cannot inherit God’s reign unchanged.
ALSO GROWS
phtheirō: To destroy, spoil, or cause to decay.
φθείρω
The verb exposes the active force behind corruption: what is subject to ruin cannot inherit unchanged.
phthartos: Perishable; subject to decay.
φθαρτός
This is the related word used in verse 53 for what must put on incorruption.
aphtharsia: Imperishability; freedom from decay.
ἀφθαρσία
The negative prefix turns the same decay family toward what is no longer subject to ruin.
κληρονομῆσαι
klēronomēsai
GROWS FROM
κληρονομ-
klēronom-
To receive as an heir, as an allotted share.
“inherit” in this verse is klēronomēsai. Inheritance is received as an heir’s portion, not manufactured by the heir. The verse asks whether a condition governed by decay can receive God’s reign as its inheritance.
ALSO GROWS
klēros: A lot, share, or allotted portion.
κλῆρος
This word-family element gives inheritance the sense of a portion received.
klēronomos: An heir; one who receives an inheritance.
κληρονόμος
The related noun makes clear that inheriting means receiving a share as an heir.
THE PATTERN
What is subject to decay is delivered from decay so it can enter into imperishable life.
He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe tears from all faces, and he will remove the taunt of his people from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.Because the creation itself will also be set free from the slavery of decay into the weighty freedom of the children of God.into an inheritance that cannot be ruined, and cannot be stained, and cannot wither, kept in the heavens for you,THE THREAD
For this decaying thing must put on what does not decay, and this dying thing must put on what does not die.The word family for decay returns in “corruptible,” paired with “incorruption,” its opposite. The next verse names the change as something put on: the mortal condition is transformed so it can inherit what does not decay.
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