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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"Now the sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law." Seest thou how the discourse is of the death of the body? therefore also of the resurrection of the body. For if these bodies do not rise again, how is death "swallowed up?" And not this only, but how is "the law the power of sin?" For that "sin" indeed is "the sting of death," and more bitter than it, and by it hath its power, is evident; but how is "the law also the power" thereof? …
Cyril of Jerusalem
Baptism destroys the sting of death. For you descend into the water laden with your sins. But the invocation of grace causes your soul to receive this seal, and after that it does not lead you to be swallowed up by the dread dragon. You go down "deadly indeed in sin," and you come up "alive unto righteousness."
Theophylact of Ohrid
For through sin, death received its power, using sin as a weapon of sorts and a sting. For just as the scorpion itself is a small creature, but has its power in its sting, so also death received its power through sin, and otherwise it would have been ineffective. This is evident also from the example of the Lord Himself, since death did not find sin in Him, it remained powerless over Him. Why? …
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
The prohibition increased the concupiscence. It rendered it unconquered. So transgression was added, which did not exist without the law, although there was sin.… It is not to be wondered at that human infirmity has added the strength even from a good law to evil, since in the fulfilling of that very law it trusted in its own strength.
Thomas Aquinas
1020. – What the sting is, he explains in what follows, saying, the sting of death is sin. Therefore, he sets forth two points: one by which he explains what he said; the other by which he excludes an objection (v. 56b). It should be understood that the sting of death can be described either as a goad to death, or that which death uses or makes. But the literal sense is "the sting of death," i.e., the goad to death, because man is propelled and cast down to death by sin: "For the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). …
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