Christ fulfilled the demands of the law in our place, and then died the death that our sins deserved. In this way he set us free from all guilt and condemnation. Freed from the guilt of our sin and from the deadly power of the law, we no longer have to fear death.
Paul ends his discourse on the resurrection in a fitting way, by giving thanks to God. God gives us the victory
over death. The present tense of the verb suggests that God continues to give us victory every day. Even now, while we live in this world of death and decay, death has no sting and no victory over us.
The word victory
is clearly one that Paul wishes to emphasise (see also 1 Corinthians 15:54–55). If, as his opponents argue, there is no resurrection of the body, then death has the final victory. On the other hand, to be certain of the resurrection is to be certain that God gives us the victory
over death. The resurrection of our bodies will be the final expression of that victory.
Our victory over death is not something that we ourselves earn or achieve. It is given to us through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The title Lord
is a reminder that we belong to Christ and that we are his servants, a truth that will be reiterated in the next verse.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.