Note 25 at 1Co 15:56: There are at least two ways that this phrase "the sting of death is sin" can be taken. First, it is through a sting that poison is injected. Death had no access unto us until sin entered the picture. Sin is how death was injected into our bodies (Ro 5:12).

Second, this could also be saying that the thing that makes death painful is sin. Just as a bee doesn't hurt unless it stings you, so death has lost its ability to hurt once sin and its punishment have been removed through Jesus. The thing that made death painful was sin. For the Christians who know their redemption from sin and its consequences, death is the entrance into the very presence of God (Php 1:21-23).

Note 26 at 1Co 15:56: This is a startling statement that, if given proper thought, would totally change the theology of most Christians. The Law strengthened sin, not people. The Law didn't give people any added power against sin. On the contrary, the Law strengthened the enemy, sin, in its battle against them. Most people thought God gave all the commandments so that they could overcome sin. Instead, God gave the commandments to help sin overcome them. How could this be?

The truth is that sin had already overcome mankind before the Law of God was given. The commission of even one slight sin hopelessly dooms people (Jas 2:10 with Ro 6:23). That's the way it is. God's holiness is so infinitely higher than any degree of holiness that they could ever produce that it's useless to try and earn God's favor, but people are very slow to learn that truth.

Most people feel they can achieve right standing with God through their good acts. This invariably leads to comparison with others who are less "holy" so that they can look good. However, God isn't going to grade people on a "curve" in relation to how others have done. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (i.e., Jesus - see note 5 at Ro 3:23). If people aren't as good as Jesus, then they have to put their total faith in Jesus and the righteousness that He produced for them (see note 8 at Ro 4:5).

How could God get people to see their hopeless situation and make them despair of self-righteousness? He gave the Law (see note 4 at Ro 3:19). The Law made sin come alive on the inside of people (Ro 7:9) and strengthened the enemy, sin (this verse). It is human nature (sinful human nature) to lust for the very things that they cannot have. So, when the Law said "Thou shalt not covet" (Ex 20:17), people wanted everything that they weren't supposed to have. This was intended to shock them out of the deception that they were all right, even though they knew they weren't perfect. The Law said, "You have to be perfect!"

Amazingly, through religion, Satan has subtly gotten people to embrace the Law, thinking that living by the Law will somehow help them to quit sinning. That's the opposite of what Paul was saying here. If you want people to live in adultery, start preaching "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Ex 20:14), and people who were not even tempted in that area before will immediately start lusting after others besides their own mates. That's what the Law was intended to do.

Paul said in Ro 6:14, "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." It's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance (Ro 2:4). The Law gave the knowledge of sin (Ro 3:20), but knowledge of sin won't save us. We need knowledge of a Savior who redeemed us from sin. That's the Gospel, and it is this Gospel that gives us power in our battle against sin (see note 1 at Ro 1:16).