Living Witnesses at the Second Coming and Paul’s Mystery

Matthew 16:28 and 1 Corinthians 15:51 do address related subject matter, namely people still alive when the Son of Man comes in His kingdom and the transformation of believers who "shall not all sleep.’’ They are not identical teachings, but they are connected at the level of eschatological expectation and the future coming of Christ.

The texts are:

"Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." (Matthew 16:28)

and

"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed..." (1 Corinthians 15:51)

Matthew 16:28: Some Not Tasting Death

In Matthew 16:28 Jesus addresses people physically standing before Him and says that some of them will still be alive when they "see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.’’ The most straightforward reading is that He is referring to His second coming in kingdom glory, not merely to something like the transfiguration scene that follows in chapter 17.

The difficulty, of course, is that those individuals did die, and the second coming in kingdom power has not yet occurred. The most coherent explanation is that this promise was bound up with the then-present offer of the kingdom to Israel. Had the nation received its Messiah and His kingdom message, the time line could have unfolded so that some present would indeed have lived to see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. The later rejection of the kingdom offer and the postponement of the kingdom program explains why the anticipated timing did not materialize in their lifetime.

1 Corinthians 15:51: Not All Sleeping, All Changed

In 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 Paul writes:

"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump..."

Here Paul reveals a "mystery’’—something not previously made known—that at the climactic coming of Christ, believers who are alive will not experience death (sleep), but will be instantaneously transformed. Paul is, in this context, speaking about the resurrection and transformation associated with the great eschatological event often identified as the second coming.

Some take this passage to describe the rapture. Others, noting the explicit reference to "the last trump’’ and the broader context of resurrection victory, understand Paul to be speaking of the second coming proper. On that reading, his "we shall not all sleep’’ is very close conceptually to Jesus’ "some... shall not taste of death.’’

The Nature of Their Relationship

The conceptual overlap is clear:

• Jesus: some people present will live until the Son of Man comes in His kingdom.
• Paul: some believers ("we’’) will be alive at the climactic coming and will be changed without dying.

Thus they are talking about the same general reality: the existence of a living cohort of believers at the time of Christ’s kingdom-coming, who will experience transformation rather than death.

However, there are important distinctions:

• Matthew 16:28 is spoken within Israel’s kingdom context, before the revelation of the Pauline mystery. It anticipates the immediate continuation of the prophetic kingdom program.
• 1 Corinthians 15:51 is spoken after the revelation of the mystery program. Paul now knows of the dispensation of grace and of the mystery nature of the church, and he frames the promise in those terms, calling it a "mystery.’’

If Paul means by "we shall not all sleep’’ that some in his own generation would live to see that final event, then, as with Matthew 16:28, the historical outcome (they all died) must be accounted for by the postponement of the prophetic culmination due to Israel’s persistent unbelief and the insertion of the mystery age.

On that view, the statements are related both theologically and historically: both reflect an expectation of near fulfillment that was rendered inoperative, not because God erred, but because the prophetic timetable was interrupted in order to introduce the mystery dispensation later fully unfolded in Paul’s writings.

So, Are They Related?

In strict terms, Matthew 16:28 and 1 Corinthians 15:51 are not direct quotations of one another and do not function identically in their respective contexts. But they do, "somehow,’’ belong together:

• Both attest that some believers will be alive at the time of Christ’s kingdom coming.
• Both are bound up with expectations of the timing of that coming relative to the first-century audience.
• Both must be interpreted in light of the distinction between Israel’s prophetic kingdom program and the later revealed mystery program for the body of Christ.

It is therefore fair to say they are thematically and eschatologically related, even though Paul is not simply repeating Jesus’ words. Paul is disclosing, as a mystery, that same general reality of living believers transformed at the great coming of Christ, now seen from within the framework of the body of Christ and the dispensation of grace.

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