Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
What does 1 Corinthians 15:33 mean?
All that are by faith united to Christ, are by his resurrection assured of their own.
Key themes
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Keep this verse inside 1 Corinthians 15:33-34 and alongside a few nearby related passages.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:33
This is an exhortation. He had thus far been engaged in an argument on the subject. He now entreats them to beware lest they be deceived - a danger to which they were very liable from their circumstances. There was, doubtless, much that was plausible in the objections to the doctrine of the resurrection; there was much subtilty and art in their teachers, who denied this doctrine; perhaps, there was something in the character of their own minds, accustomed to subtle and abstruse inquiry rather than to an examination of simple facts, that exposed them to this danger. Evil communications - The word rendered "communications" means, properly, a being together; companionship; close contact; converse.
Key words
- communications
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communications. It refers not to discourse only, but to contact, or companionship.
- deceived
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He now entreats them to beware lest they be deceived - a danger to which they were very liable from their circumstances.
- communications
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By such as deny the doctrine of the resurrection, and by their reasonings about it; or by such libertines who go into the denial of it, and argue from thence in favour of their licentious course of life: evil communications corrupt good manners.
Context in 1 Corinthians 15
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1 Corinthians 15 belongs to the late movement of the book, especially the section often described as the resurrection chapter and closing. First Corinthians is a pastoral and doctrinal letter correcting divisions while teaching about holiness, worship, gifts, and resurrection. Read this chapter with the wider themes of the cross, church order, and holiness in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.
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