The main theme of this entire chapter is the resurrection. So in this verse Paul is applying the text he has just used to this main theme.

This sentence is literally “Last enemy (that) is-destroyed, death.” “Paul uses the present tense (though the defeat of death lies in the future) because he looks at the process as a whole” (Barrett).

Destroyed here is a strong verb. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “annihilated,” that is, “made nonexistent.” The word means that all the power of death is to be removed. The word for destroyed is sometimes used in the New Testament in speaking about the destruction of Satan as the one who has power over death (Heb 2.14). Paul may be thinking of death itself as one of the “spiritual rulers, authorities, and powers” mentioned in verse 24. In the light of all this, Good News Bible‘s translation “defeated” seems a little weak; New Jerusalem Bible has “done away with,” and Revised English Bible “deposed.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .