Devine Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:15

What does 2 Corinthians 5:15 mean?

A plain-English look at 2 Corinthians 5:15 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What 2 Corinthians 5:15 means

Christ “died for all,” not as an abstract display, but so that those who now live through Him would stop living self-centered lives and live for Him who died and rose for them. Resurrection is included: the One who died also rose, proving His lordship and power to claim our lives. The verse defines Christian ethics as gratitude-shaped devotion to a risen Redeemer. Our time, gifts, and desires are reoriented from self to Christ. This is not mere duty; it is the fitting response of people whose old lives ended in His death and whose new lives flow from His resurrection life.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

and he died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

and he died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

And that he underwent death for all, so that the living might no longer be living to themselves, but to him who underwent death for them and came back from the dead.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

and for all he died, that those living, no more to themselves may live, but to him who died for them, and was raised again.

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

And Christ died for all: that they also who live may not now live to themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

and he died for all, that they who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who died for them and has been raised.

Context

Verse 15 follows the doctrinal claim of verse 14 (union with Christ in His death) with its ethical aim: living for Christ. This new orientation prepares the shift in perspective described in verse 16—no longer evaluating people, even Christ, merely by human standards—and the climactic declaration of verse 17 about new creation. The flow shows how Christ’s death and resurrection reshape motives, relationships, and identity, paving the way for Paul’s teaching on reconciliation in verses 18–21.

v.14For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died;

v.15This passage

v.16Wherefore we henceforth know no man after the flesh: even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Romans 12:1

    I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.

  • 2 Corinthians 3:6

    who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

  • 1 Peter 1:14

    as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance:

  • Romans 8:2

    For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.

  • Revelation 1:18

    and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

  • Galatians 2:19

    For I through the law died unto the law, that I might live unto God.

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