1 Corinthians 15:36 (ASV)

Passage

Thou foolish one, that which thou thyself sowest is not quickened except it die:

Nearby Context

1 Corinthians 15:34 Awake to soberness righteously, and sin not; for some have no knowledge of God: I speak [this] to move you to shame.

1 Corinthians 15:35 But some one will say, How are the dead raised? and with what manner of body do they come?

1 Corinthians 15:36 Thou foolish one, that which thou thyself sowest is not quickened except it die:

1 Corinthians 15:37 and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall be, but a bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other kind;

1 Corinthians 15:38 but God giveth it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thou", "foolish", "thyself", "sowest", "quickened", and "except". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thou" and "foolish", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 35's "But some one will say How are..." into verse 37's "and that which thou sowest thou sowest...", so "thou" and "foolish" belong inside that flow. In 1 Corinthians context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "thou" and "foolish" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.