What is the significance of Paul saying, "I die daily" (1 Corinthians 15:31)?

from the old testament

• Even the Old Testament saints understood that death was not final. For example, Daniel 12:2 speaks about the future resurrection: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Thus, those in the New Testament who were arguing against the resurrection were greatly mistaken and in serious theological error.
• It was because the Old Testament believers knew that God would hold them beyond this life that they clung to Him in times of trial (Psalm 23:4), even in the face of death (Daniel 3:16–18).

from the new testament

• First Corinthians 15:31 reads, “I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day!” His “protest” concerns the larger context of some in the Corinthian church who said there was no resurrection for the dead (1 Corinthians 15:12; the entire context is 2 Corinthians 15:12–49).
• He countered their argument, saying that “if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:13–14). The theological ramifications of the false belief undermined the entire Gospel. Paul added, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19). If there’s no resurrection, then Christians are wasting their time trying to follow and live like Christ.
• “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:20a). Therefore, “as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). Paul was saying that since Jesus is alive, then dead believers will also one day be resurrected as well. Therefore, Christians are not “most to be pitied” as they have a secure hope in the future.
• It was for that reason, the hope the gospel brought, that the Apostles were spreading the news. Paul asked, regarding their ministries, “Why are we in danger every hour?” (1 Corinthians 15:30). Through this rhetorical question, he’s basically asking, “Why do we bother?” The implied answer: “because the gospel is true since there is a resurrection from the dead.”
• It is here that Paul says, “I die daily.” He was referring to the very real threats on his life (cf. Acts 9:23) and hardships he’d already experienced (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:23–27) and saying that he willingly faced death every day in order to tell others about the salvation found in Jesus. People, particularly the Jews, hated Paul, and thus he was not being hyperbolic here. He truly faced death every day. For him, it was worth it because what mattered was life after death, not this life.
• Jesus once said, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18–19). Believers are not to be surprised that the world may hate them. Paul lived out this reality to the fullest. Though “I die daily” was literal for him, believers profit from following his example by picking up their crosses daily and following Jesus (Luke 9:23).

implications for today

In Philippians 3:4–6, Paul spoke about all the reasons he had to boast in his life. Before conversion, he was a well-situated man. While we can’t know for certain, given his prominence among the Jewish leaders, he was likely wealthy. Even if not, he was clearly considered a “Hebrew of Hebrews,” meaning the Jewish leaders formerly looked up to him as a model of Judaism.

But something changed. While traveling to persecute believers, Jesus stopped him, blinded him, and then saved him (Acts 9:1–19). Suddenly the “Hebrew of Hebrews” realized that the “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” far outstripped his previous glory, concluding that “for his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).

When Paul told the Corinthians that he died daily, he meant that he literally faced death every day. By giving up the respect of the Jewish leaders, he had brought on their hatred. They chased him (Acts 9:23–25), stoned him (Acts 14:19), and undermined his efforts (Acts 13:45). Yet Paul continued to persevere because, for him, Christ was worth it.

What about you, reader? Unless you live in a dangerous part of the world, chances are you have it far easier than Paul. But even still, are you dying daily for Christ, meaning are you putting Jesus and His gospel above the comforts that this world offers for those who conform to it? God may never place you at risk of dying, but He has called all of us to die to self (Luke 9:23) and to live our lives for Christ (Philippians 1:21). This life will fade, but a life spent for Christ is never wasted—it is a life that carries eternal significance.