1 Corinthians 15:36 (YLT)

Passage

unwise! thou--what thou dost sow is not quickened except it may die;

Nearby Context

1 Corinthians 15:34 awake up, as is right, and sin not; for certain have an ignorance of God; for shame to you I say <FI>it<Fi> .

1 Corinthians 15:35 But some one will say, `How do the dead rise?

1 Corinthians 15:36 unwise! thou--what thou dost sow is not quickened except it may die;

1 Corinthians 15:37 and that which thou dost sow, not the body that shall be dost thou sow, but bare grain, it may be of wheat, or of some one of the others,

1 Corinthians 15:38 and God doth give to it a body according as He willed, and to each of the seeds its proper body.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "unwise", "thou--what", "dost", "quickened", and "except". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "unwise" and "thou--what", 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 do..." into verse 37's "and that which thou dost sow not...", so "unwise" and "thou--what" 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 "unwise" and "thou--what" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.