---
title: 1 Corinthians 15:26
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-15-26/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-15-26.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 1 Corinthians 15:26
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 1 Corinthians 15:26

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

## JW Usage

JWs read 15:26 literally as the final destruction of death at the end of the millennium, after the post-millennial test. The verse lines up neatly with their millennium framework — death remains active as a constraint on resurrected humans during the thousand years of progressive perfection toward Adamic sinlessness, and is only finally abolished at the end of that process. The verse's Christological implications about the Son's authority are left largely unexplored.

## Protestant Usage

15:26 is the hinge of Paul's subjection argument: the Son reigns until every enemy — the last of which is death itself — is under his feet. At the door, the apologetic move is to notice what this requires about the Son's authority. Only divine authority can conquer death and hand a kingdom to God (v.24). If Jesus is only a creature, he is one of the creatures death rules over, not the one who finally destroys it. Pair with Revelation 1:18 — "I have the keys of death and of Hades." The power over death belongs to the one who defeated it bodily, not to a spirit-creature functioning as Jehovah's instrument.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Son Hands Over the Kingdom — 1 Corinthians 15:24-28](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/1corinthians15-subjection.md) — 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 / John 17:5 / Philippians 2:9-11 [Deity of Christ]
- [The Kingdom Was Already Here in Jesus's Ministry](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/kingdom-already-present.md) — Matthew 12:28 / Luke 17:21 — the King among us, the kingdom upon us [Eschatology]
- [The Last Enemy Is Death — and It's Last for a Reason](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/last-enemy-death-subjection-chain.md) — 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 / Revelation 20:7-15 — the chain Paul will not let break [Eschatology]