1 Corinthians 15:2

Tyndale New Testament

by which also ye are saved: I do you to wit after what maner I preached vnto you yf ye kepe it except ye have beleved in vayne.

Parallel Translations

Simplified Cowboy Version
This good news I gave you is the only way you'll be saved, but you can't go lettin' your cinch get loose. You've got to stay pulled down to the message or all of this has been in vain.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

Legacy Standard Bible
by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I proclaimed to you as good news, unless you believed for nothing.

Bible in Basic English
By which you have salvation; that is to say, the form in which it was given to you, if it is fixed in your minds, and if your faith in it is not without effect.

Darby Translation
by which also ye are saved, (if ye hold fast the word which I announced to you as the glad tidings,) unless indeed ye have believed in vain.

Christian Standard Bible®
You are also saved by it, if you hold to the message I proclaimed to you—unless you believed for no purpose.

World English Bible
by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you -- unless you believed in vain.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
By which also ye are saved, if ye retain what I preached to you, unless ye have believed in vain.

Weymouth's New Testament
through which also you are obtaining salvation, if you bear in mind the words in which I proclaimed it--unless indeed your faith has been unreal from the very first.

King James Version (1611)
By which also yee are saued, if yee keepe in memorie what I preached vnto you, vnlesse yee haue beleeued in vaine.

Literal Translation
by which you also are being kept safe, if you hold fast the Word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
by the which also ye are saued) after what maner I preached it vnto you, yf ye haue kepte it, excepte ye haue beleued in vayne.

Mace New Testament (1729)
by which also you will be saved, if you so retain it as I preached it to you, unless you have believed without sufficient grounds.

Amplified Bible
By this faith you are saved [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose], if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain [just superficially and without complete commitment].

American Standard Version
by which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except ye believed in vain.

Revised Standard Version
by which you are saved, if you hold it fast--unless you believed in vain.

Update Bible Version
by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, except you believed in vain.

Webster's Bible Translation
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached to you, unless ye have believed in vain.

Young's Literal Translation
through which also ye are being saved, in what words I proclaimed good news to you, if ye hold fast, except ye did believe in vain,

New Century Version
And you are being saved by it if you continue believing what I told you. If you do not, then you believed for nothing.

New English Translation
and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

Berean Standard Bible
By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

Contemporary English Version
You will be saved by this message, if you hold firmly to it. But if you don't, your faith was all for nothing.

Complete Jewish Bible
and by which you are being saved — provided you keep holding fast to the message I proclaimed to you. For if you don't, your trust will have been in vain.

English Standard Version
and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And whereby ye are saued, if ye keepe in memorie, after what maner I preached it vnto you, except ye haue beleeued in vaine.

George Lamsa Translation
By which also you are saved if you keep in remembrance that very word which I have preached to you, and if your conversion has not been in vain.

Hebrew Names Version
by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you -- unless you believed in vain.

International Standard Version
and by which you are also being saved if you hold firmly to the message I proclaimed to you - unless, of course, your faith was worthless.Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 1:21; Galatians 3:4;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
and by which you are saved; of which, the word I have preached to you, you are mindful, unless you have vainly believed.

Murdock Translation
and by which ye have life. In what terms I preached to you, ye remember; unless ye have believed in vain.

New King James Version
by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you--unless you believed in vain.

New Living Translation
It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.

New Life Bible
This is what I preached to you. You are saved from the punishment of sin by the Good News if you keep hold of it, unless your faith was worth nothing.

English Revised Version
by which also ye are saved; [I make known, I say], in what words I preached it unto you, if ye hold it fast, except ye believed in vain.

New Revised Standard
through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Through which also ye are being saved, - if ye hold fast, with what discourse, I announced the joyful message unto you; unless indeed, in vain, ye believed.

Douay-Rheims Bible
By which also you are saved, if you hold fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain.

King James Version
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

Lexham English Bible
by which you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the message I proclaimed to you, unless you believed to no purpose.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
By the which also ye are saued, yf ye kepe in memorie after what maner I preached vnto you, except ye haue beleued in vayne.

Easy-to-Read Version
That Good News, the message you heard from me, is God's way to save you. But you must continue believing it. If you don't, you believed for nothing.

New American Standard Bible
by which you also are saved, if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

Good News Translation
That is the gospel, the message that I preached to you. You are saved by the gospel if you hold firmly to it—unless it was for nothing that you believed.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
also bi which ye schulen be sauyd; `bi which resoun Y haue prechid to you, if ye holden, `if ye han not bileuyd ideli.

Contextual Overview

¹ Brethren as pertayninge to the gospell which I preached vnto you which ye have also accepted and in the which ye continue ² by which also ye are saved: I do you to wit after what maner I preached vnto you yf ye kepe it except ye have beleved in vayne. ³ For fyrst of all I delivered vnto you that which I receaved: how that Christ dyed for oure synnes agreinge to the scriptures: ⁴ and that he was buried and that he arose agayne the thyrd daye accordinge to the scriptures: ⁵ and that he he was sene of Cephas then of the twelve. ⁶ After that he was sene of moo the five hodred brethren at once: of which many remayne vnto this daye and many are fallen aslepe. ⁷ After that appered he to Iames then to all the Apostles. ⁸ And last of all he was sene of me as of one that was borne out of due tyme. ⁹ For I am the lest of all the Apostles which am not worthy to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the congregacion of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am that I am. And his grace which is in me was not in vayne: but I labored moare aboundauntly then they all not I but the grace of God which is with me.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

ye are: 1 Corinthians 1:18, 1 Corinthians 1:21, Acts 2:47,*Gr: Romans 1:16, 2 Corinthians 2:15, Ephesians 2:8, 2 Timothy 1:9

keep in memory: or, hold fast, 1 Corinthians 15:11, 1 Corinthians 15:12, Proverbs 3:1, Proverbs 4:13, Proverbs 6:20-23, Proverbs 23:23, Colossians 1:23, 2 Thessalonians 2:15, Hebrews 2:1, Hebrews 3:6, Hebrews 3:14, Hebrews 4:14, Hebrews 10:23

what I preached: Gr. by what speech I preached

unless: 1 Corinthians 15:14, Psalms 106:12, Psalms 106:13, Luke 8:13, John 8:31, John 8:32, Acts 8:13, 2 Corinthians 6:1, Galatians 3:4, James 2:14, James 2:17, James 2:26

Reciprocal: Matthew 15:9 - in Romans 11:22 - if thou 1 Corinthians 11:2 - that 1 Corinthians 15:10 - his grace 1 Corinthians 15:17 - your 1 Corinthians 16:13 - stand Galatians 2:21 - Christ 1 Thessalonians 2:1 - in vain James 1:21 - which James 1:26 - this

Cross-References

Acts 7:5
and he gave him none inheritaunce in it no not the bredeth of a fote: but promised yt he wolde geve it to him to possesse and to his seed after him when as yet he had no chylde.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

By which also ye are saved,.... It was the means of their salvation, and had been made the power of God unto salvation to them. Salvation is inseparably connected with true faith in Christ as a Saviour, and with a hearty belief of his resurrection from the dead, which is the earnest and pledge of the resurrection of the saints; and because of the certainty of it in the promise of God, through the obedience and death of Christ, and in the faith and hope of believers, which are sure and certain things, they are said to be saved already. To which the apostle puts in the following provisos and exceptions; the one is,

if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you; or rather, "if ye hold fast, or retain"; that is, by faith, the doctrine preached to you, and received by you, particularly the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead; for the salvation that is connected with it does not depend upon the strength of the memory, but upon the truth and steadfastness of faith: it is the man that perseveres in the faith and doctrine of Christ that shall be saved; and everyone that has truly believed in Christ, and cordially embraced his Gospel, shall hold on, and out to the end; though the faith of nominal believers may be overthrown by such men, as Hymenaeus and Philetus, who asserted, that the resurrection was past already; but so shall not the faith of real believers, because the foundation on which they are built stands sure, and the Lord has perfect knowledge of them, and will keep and save them. The other exception is,

unless ye have believed in vain: not that true faith can be in vain; for that is the faith of God's elect, the gift of his grace, the operation of his Spirit; Christ is the author and finisher of it, and will never suffer it to fail; it will certainly issue in everlasting salvation: but then as the word may be heard in vain, as it is by such who are compared to the wayside, and to the thorny and rocky ground; and as the Gospel of the grace of God may be received in vain; so a mere historical faith may be in vain; this a man may have, and not the grace of God, and so be nothing; with this he may believe for a while, and then drop it: and since each of these might possibly be the case of some in this church, the apostle puts in these exceptions, in order to awaken the attention of them all to this important doctrine he was reminding them of.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

By which also ye are saved - On which your salvation depends; the belief of which is indispensable to your salvation; see the note on Mark 16:16. The apostle thus shows the “importance” of the doctrine. In every respect it demanded their attention. It was that which was first preached among them; that which they had solemnly professed; that by which they had been built up; and that which was connected with their salvation. It does not mean simply that by this they were brought into a salvable state (Clarke, Macknight, Whitby, Bloomfield, etc.), but it means that their hopes of eternal life rested on this; and by this they were then “in fact” saved from the condemnation of sin, and were in the possession of the hope of eternal life.

If ye keep in memory - Margin, as in the Greek, “if ye hold fast.” The idea is, that they were saved by this, or would be, if they faithfully retained or held the doctrine as he delivered it; if they observed it, and still believed it, notwithstanding all the efforts of their enemies, and all the arts of false teaching to wrest it from them. There is a doubt delicately suggested here, whether they did in fact still adhere to his doctrine, or whether they had not abandoned it in part for the opposite.

Unless ye have believed in vain - You will be saved by it, if you adhere to it, unless it shall turn out that it was vain to believe, and that the doctrine was false. That it was “not” false, he proceeds to demonstrate. Unless all your trials, discouragements, and hopes were to no purpose, and all have been the result of imposture; and unless all your profession is false and hollow, you will be saved by this great doctrine which I first preached to you.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Corinthians 15:2. By which also ye are saved — That is, ye are now in a salvable state; and are saved from your Gentilism, and from your former sins.

If ye keep in memory — Your future salvation, or being brought finally to glory, will now depend on your faithfulness to the grace that ye have received.