If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
Punctuate - "If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me? If the dead rise not, let us eat," etc. If 'merely as a man' (with the mere human hope of the present life; not with the Christian's hope of the future resurrection: answering to "If the dead rise not," the parallel clause in the next sentence) I have fought with beastlike men-Demetrius and his craftsmen. Heraclitus, of Ephesus, had termed his countrymen 'wild beasts' 400 years before. So Epimenides called the Cretians (Titus 1:12). Paul's Roman citizenship exempted him from literal fighting with wild beasts in the arena. He was still at Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16:8), where his life was daily in danger (2 Corinthians 1:8). Though the tumult (Acts 19:29-30) had not yet taken place (for after it he set out immediately for Macedonia), this letter was written just before it, when the storm was gathering; "many adversaries" (1 Corinthians 16:9) were already menacing him (cf. Romans 16:4; Acts 18:18-19; Acts 18:26).
What advantageth it me? - seeing I have renounced all that, 'as a mere man,' might compensate me for such sufferings, gain, fame, etc.
Let us eat ... Quoted from Septuagint Isaiah 22:13 describes the reckless indulgence of the despisers of God's call to mourning-Let us enjoy the good things of life now, for it soon will end. Paul imitates the language of sceptics, to reprove both their theory and practice. "If men but persuade themselves that they should die like, the beasts, they soon will live like beasts too' (South).