Paul now begins to develop the thought of the double nature of man before and after the resurrection. I tell you this, brethren (Good News Bible “What I mean”) introduces a teaching about the end of time (see also 7.29). Scholars disagree about the relationship between the two parts into which the rest of the verse is divided. Older commentators, and also Fee, generally believed that the two statements, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable, meant essentially the same. Some commentators, however, including Barrett, tend to believe that flesh and blood refers to the living, and the perishable refers to the dead, so that the two statements are not the same but complementary. Verses 51-52 certainly distinguish between those who will be alive at the time of judgment, and those who will have died. However, such a distinction is less clear in verse 53, where the language is similar to that of the present verse. It is difficult to be certain which commentators are right, since the only other places in Paul’s letters where flesh and blood is used are Gal 1.16, meaning “human beings,” and Eph 6.12, where it means human beings as contrasted with the supernatural powers of evil. Good News Bible‘s “and” before “what is mortal” suggests that the two statements are not equivalent.
Brethren refers to “fellow Christians.” In 1 Corinthians this word usually introduces a new paragraph or theme.
Inherit means “take possession of.”
Kingdom of God: see comments on 4.20.
Perishable: see comments on verse 42; Barrett has “corpses in decomposition,” following the second interpretation mentioned above.
The noun that is translated imperishable (Good News Bible “immortality”) is used in the New Testament only in this chapter and in 1 Tim 6.16. New Testament writers avoided the idea that human beings possessed eternal life in themselves, apart from God’s gift.
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .