Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 15:41
[There is] one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for [one] star differeth from [another] star in glory.
41. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon ] The argument is pushed a step farther. The celestial bodies are not all alike. They differ in beauty and excellency. And so to all eternity it shall be true of men raised and in possession of their heavenly bodies, that ‘one star differeth from another star in glory.’ So Chrysostom on 1Co 15:38. “Augustine elegantly says, ‘splendor dispar: clum commune.’ ” Wordsworth. An erroneous interpretation of St Mat 20:10 has led some to the conclusion that all rewards shall be exactly alike in the world to come. As the Apostle here shews, the analogy of nature makes against this in every way. And the passage just cited has reference not to the equality of rewards, but of the principle on which such rewards are given. The labourer is rewarded, not for length of service, but for the spirit in which that service has been rendered.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
There is one glory of the sun … – The sun has one degree of splendor, and the moon another, and so also the stars. They differ from each other in magnitude, in brightness, in beauty. The idea in this verse differs from that in the former. In that 1Co 15:40 Paul says, that there was a difference between the different classes of bodies; between those in heaven and those on earth. He here says, that in the former class, in the heavenly bodies themselves, there was a difference. They not only differed from those on earth, but they differed from each other. The sun was more splendid than the moon, and one star more beautiful than another. The idea here is, therefore, not only that the bodies of the saints in heaven shall differ from those on earth, but that they shall differ among themselves, in a sense somewhat like the difference of the splendor of the sun, the moon, and the different stars. Though all shall be unlike what they were on earth, and all shall be glorious, yet there may be a difference in that splendor and glory. The argument is, since we see so great differences in fact in the works of God, why should we doubt that he is able to make the human body different from what it is now, and to endow it with immortal and eternal perfection?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Co 15:41-42
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon.
Degress of glory in heaven
I. What this means. That as the Lord has displayed His mercy and His love to holiness, by rewarding a short and imperfect obedience by an eternal glory, so it is accordant with these perfections to confer higher degrees of this glory on those whose obedience has been more constant, and piety more ardent. While we maintain this–
1. We allow that all will nevertheless be perfectly happy, according to their faculties and power of enjoyment.
2. We also maintain that in many things their felicity will be common. It will be common in–
(1) Its object, the blessed God and adorable Redeemer.
(2) In its subject, all the powers of the glorified body and soul.
(3) In its duration, which will be eternal.
(4) In its security, since all the blest are sustained by the Divine promise and faithfulness.
(5) In the full satisfaction of soul which all will possess.
II. This is proved–
1. By Scripture.
(1) By all those passages which lay down, in general terms, the great role of Gods proceedings with the children of men (2Co 5:10; Rom 2:6; 2Co 9:6; Gal 6:7-9).
(2) From the account which Paul gives of the different rewards which will be given to the ministers of the gospel (1Co 3:12-15). In this representation there are persons who obtain salvation, and yet have not the recompense which the wiser administrators of the Word receive. And therefore we conclude that there will be the same difference between hearers, according to the manner they have profited.
(3) From Dan 12:3. As there is a difference between the general brilliancy of the firmament and the lustre of the stars, so there shall be a difference between those ordinary Christians who obtain felicity and those zealous persons who have been the instruments of the conversion of many sinners.
(4) From the parable of the pounds (Luk 19:1-48.).
(5) From those passages where we find the patriarchs, the prophets, and the apostles represented as occupying a more conspicuous situation in glory than ordinary believers (Mat 8:11; Mat 19:28; Luk 22:30).
2. From analogy. Look at–
(1) Nature. In what an infinite variety of methods do you see the Creator displaying His perfections!
(2) The operations of grace. There are diversities of gifts, though but one Spirit.
(3) Christians. How various their attainments, knowledge, holiness, and joy, though all beloved by God!
(4) The heavenly host. Though all holy and happy, there are archangels, and angels, thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers.
3. From the transactions of the judgment-day, and the nature of the future felicity (Mat 25:1-46.).
III. The objections that have been made against it.
1. Perhaps the most plausible has been drawn from the parable of the labourers in Mat 20:1-15. But how can the reward signify eternal life, since it is given to the murmurers and envious (verse 14). The design of the parable is to repress the pride of the Jews, and show the propriety of the vocation of the Gentiles. It has no reference whatever to future reward.
2. Are not all believers, through the merits of Christ, alike justified and adopted, and must they not therefore be alike glorified? But do the blessings of God spring less from grace because He has established a wise order in the distribution of them? There are different degrees of holiness and comfort enjoyed by Christians upon earth; then, there may be different degrees of glory in the world to come. The objection is precisely as strong against a difference in sanctification as against a difference in glorification.
3. As all the blessed are perfectly holy, they must all be perfectly and alike happy. The conclusion by no means follows. Are the angels alike elevated because they are all perfectly holy? We know that there are distinctions among them. If two diamonds are of the same water and perfection does it follow that there may not be a difference in their weight and value?
4. They all derive their felicity from the same source, the beatific vision of God, and therefore their felicity most be equal. But may we not view the same sun, and receive its rays differently? When vessels of capacity cast into the same ocean are filled by the same mass of waters, must the quantity they receive be alike?
5. The titles given to the redeemed are the same; they are all called kings, the sons of God, the spouse, the members of Christ. And are not these names given to believers on earth, and, notwithstanding, do we not see a great diversity among them? Are all kings equal in power? Have all sons the same inheritance? Have all members of the body equal honour? (H. Kollock, D.D.)
Diversity in the heavenly inhabitants
Such a variety is–
I. A fact well sustained.
1. By all analogy. No two objects are exactly alike. This variety reveals the illimitable inventiveness of the Divine mind, and gives to the universe its freshness and charm.
2. It meets the instinctive love for the new in human souls. All souls loathe monotony. A dead uniformity would crush out its life.
3. It agrees with the varieties found amongst men here. No two minds are alike. Is it conceivable that in the higher world all souls will run into a common mould?
4. It accords with the general teaching of the Scriptures. Paul speaks of the temple of the good as composed of gold, silver, and precious stones. Christ refers to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as sustaining the most honourable positions at the heavenly feast.
II. Essential to social blessedness. Suppose a society, all of whose members shall be exactly alike in temperament, experience, attainments, modes of thought, and forms of expression. Why, such a state of things would be incompatible, not only with social enjoyment, but with social life. The monotony would become intolerable. The utmost variety in speculative thought is compatible with unity of heart; and the larger variety in spiritual temperament and conception in any circle–where all hearts are one–the higher the social enjoyment. Most unwise, most impious have been the attempts to force on all men the same system of thought and form of worship.
III. Consistent with the highest unity. Whatever variety in the stars–
1. They have one centre. Some larger, some smaller, some dimmer, some brighter, some moving more quickly, and some more slowly, yet all move round the same central orb: so with sainted souls. Whatever their diversities, they revolve round one great centre–God.
2. They are controlled by one law. Attraction moves all, regulates all, keeps each in its place and speed. One law, the law of love, rules all sainted souls above, however illimitable their varieties,
3. They fulfil one mission. They all catch the light from the central orb, and flash their borrowed radiance abroad through all their spheres. So with souls above. They are all the recipients and reflectors of Divine light and love. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
Identity and variety
Note—
I. The idea of identity and variety ministering to each other.
1. St. Paul bases the argument for immortality upon the richness and splendour of this mortal life. Often have men made heaven a compensation for the woes of earth; St. Paul makes it not a compensation, but a development. How much nobler is this! For he who finds the manifold glories of this mortal life to be the symbols of immortality, will always be led to live this life as intensely and profoundly as he can, in order that the higher life may become real and attractive to him.
2. Identity and variety express the tone and feeling which life demands. Identity is sound, solid, and substantial; variety is vital, interesting, and novel. To quicken identity with variety, to steady variety with identity, is to make a man always keep himself and yet always feel the power of new conditions around him. Think of the best men you have known, and you will find in them these qualities in their highest union.
3. See how largely this union pervades the universe, and how, wherever it appears, it gives richness and depth.
(1) Take nature. Lark and lily, sunbeam and cloud, river and mountain, ocean and land; it takes but the most elementary knowledge to feel the oneness of them all; still all our senses are tingling with the tidings of their differences that they are always sending to us.
(2) Take the history of man. This cannot be rightly understood unless illumined by this double truth. Ages come and go, each stamped with its own character. There are ages of war and ages of peace, centuries of thought and centuries of action, etc., etc. Each has its own glory. In the eyes of the inhabitants of each it seems as if all other times were inglorious. We rejoice in the nineteenth century; but greater is the sum of all centuries, this ever changing life of man. The ages of the cloisters and castles, of dreams and of mysteries, are all needed; each of them, while it is different, may be proud of all the rest.
(3) So with nations. England, France, America–each is a living being with a character unlike all the others, and yet bearing a true identity with them because both it and they are made up of men, and have shaped all their ways and institutions out of the needs of the same old manhood, living on the same old earth. Nations, like children, match themselves with each other, and are as apt to envy or contemn others as they are great or small; but Palestine, Greece, Rome, America, or England, who can decide which is greater? There is one glory of the sun, etc.; and, altogether, they fill the radiant sky.
(4) Take the occupations of mankind. Three men are close together in the street; one of them makes shoes, another writes books, another is the mayor. It is foolish and false to say that there is no rank or precedence here. One of them demands higher powers and education than the others. It is perfectly right that the shoemaker, if he has power to rise, should leave his bench and write a book, or become mayor. But there are other truths besides this.
(a) That each of these arts has its own absolute standard, its own good or bad ways of doing its own work.
(b) That each art, so far as it lives up to its own standard, becomes a true utterance of the universal human nature, which gets its value from the fact that it is at once identical with and different from all other utterances. These truths make the richness and harmony of all active life.
(5) And so with men. We have the greatest varieties of man, the thoughtful or the active, the Conservative or the Radical, etc.; but below all men are men, and every man is man. If variety fails, mankind is a great dreary, undistinguishable monotony; if identity fails, mankind is a great tumult of confused and inharmonious particles. How unchristian either of these views is the Incarnation teaches. Christ is at once the inspiration of the individual and the assertion of the identity of man. He is the revealer of the Fatherhood of God, and thus builds mankind into a family where each is distinct and yet all are one.
II. Its consequences, and the sort of life and character it will make in him who entertains and accepts it.
1. It will produce self-respect. Here are you, seemingly insignificant, yet–
(1) You are a different creature from any that the world has ever seen.
(2) You are a branch of the tree of life from which sprang Isaiah and St. John. God forbid if you are really a sun and not a star, that any compulsion of your fellow-men should keep you in the stars place, and shut you out of the suns. But you do know yourself; you are a star, and not a sun; your place is subordinate, secondary. What then? If you do your work with perfect faithfulness, you are making just as genuine a contribution to the substance of the universal good as is the most brilliant worker. It is the fable of the mountain and the squirrel: If I cannot carry a forest on my back, neither can you crack a nut. There is one glory of the sun, etc.
2. Respect for others is bound up in such self-respect as this. The philanthropist, all eager to set right the world, is apt to become furious at the sight of the scholar; and the scholar, in his turn, is ready to despise the bustling restlessness of the man who is for ever organising committees, petitioning legislators, and screwing up the loosened machinery of charity. There is one glory of the sun, etc. Surely it must be possible for men to be devoted to their own work and yet thankful for the work which other men are doing, which they can neither do nor understand. All things are yours, and you are Christs, and Christ is Gods.
3. This truth may also apply to the different degrees and conditions in which our own lives are passing. You and I are this to-day; to-morrow or the next year we may be something quite different. To-day we may be insignificant, to-morrow or the next year we may be prominent, or vice versa. How shall we look upon this uncertainty of human life? Let us look upon each as a distinct thing, with its own values and meaning, and yet feel how our human life may still be the same, ever spreading itself out to larger things. This harmonises everything. Conclusion: To Paul this truth was a proof of immortality. He would have men live upon earth, yet conscious of their capacity for heaven. Is not that what we want–the life of earth now, the life of heaven by and by, each clear with its own glory, and our humanity capable of them both? We must not lose either of them in the other. We must not be so full of hope of the future that we cannot do our daily work here upon the road. We must not be so lost in dull work on the earth that we shall not be perpetually inspired by the hope of heaven. (Bp. Phillips Brooks.)
Death and the grave the physical preparation for the perfect humanity of the resurrection state
A dewdrop, so says the Oriental fable, hung on a rose leaf. It was a summer morning; and delighted with itself and the calm loveliness around, it could have hung there for ever. But, alas! it soon fell to the ground. What a change! Earth for the bright sky, and darkness for the ten thousand hues of natures loveliness! But through its dark prison-house in the earth it gradually passed till it reached a river, by which it was conveyed to the ocean; and there, deposited in one of its rocky cavities, it became a brilliant and costly gem. In due course the hand of man reached it; and from its long rest in isolation and darkness, it was taken, polished, and set in gold–finally terminating its career by occupying the place of honour in the very diadem of majesty itself! Such is the fable which illustrates the principle of development affirmed here. It doth not yet appear what we shall be, etc. Our connection with this world is very insecure, and in a moment that connection may be dissolved. We hang like the dew-drop on the odorous petals of the rose; and some of us, perchance, would be willing to hang there for ever. But a touch suffices to loosen the attachment, and downwards we are carried to the darkness of the earth. Are we then extinguished? Far from it; we have only passed from one domain of creative instrumentality to another. The river of God will bear us to the ocean at length. There our resting-place shall be provided; but from the secret recesses of the spirit-world we shall emerge again, like a gem of purest water and costliest price, to adorn the diadem of the King of kings. The apostle asserts that this principle of development universally prevails throughout nature, and that the glory of mundane arrangements is mainly dependent upon it. Childhood has its glory; so has youth; so has mature manhood; so even has old age; and when man reappears at the resurrection, it will be to supply another illustration. As sun, moon, and stars all differ from one another in glory, so will the risen and immortal man be distinguished from man fallen and immortal.
I. All the redeemed are on their journey towards mental and corporeal perfection; and all the phenomena of the present life have a bearing on that destiny. There are two preliminary stages of human existence–the first beginning at birth and ending at death, the second commencing with death and terminating at the resurrection. Everything in the universe proceeds by steps. The acorn does not bound in an instant to the dimensions of the full-grown oak. Why should not man, therefore, the most wonderful of all Gods works, be Divinely carried through many preliminaries? Before birth man passes through various stages of development, and could we but realise our arrival at physical perfection, and take, in connection with that, the certainty that every stage and event going before contributes towards it, we world be much more patient under trials. The afflictions of the present life, being temporary, will soon pass away; but the obedient submission to the will of God, the compassion for the afflicted, and the other virtues which they have fostered and brought to maturity, are permanent improvements in our character, and may be needed even in eternity. So in the intermediate state influences are at work upon both which bear with prodigious force on our final perfection. What we shall be in eternity is as much the result of causes operating there, as the full-grown man is the product of the causes which carry the infant from childhood to maturity. Such reflections ought to mitigate the fear of death, and comfort all mourning friends.
II. We may arrive at some explanation of the fact itself.
1. The Shorter Catechism, in answer to the question, What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death? says, The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection. The body, although left behind to decay, is not forgotten; it is still united to Christ. The living Christ in heaven regards it, even then, as part of His spiritual body not dead, but only sleeping, and by that repose preparing for the awakening of the resurrection day. And as, when children or other loved ones go to rest, care is taken to provide a place of security for them, and, if need be, a guard set; over their slumbers, so, we may be sure, there is a special superintendency of the dead, with a view to prepare for what is to come. The crooked may be made straight, the defective supplied, the hideous made beautiful. And who is to affirm that there may not be influences in nature quite competent to produce this result? The acorn has a wonderful power of extracting such substances from the earth as are fitted to constitute an oak; and so is it with every other seed. Nay, it is within the competency of science and skill greatly to modify and improve the various products of the vegetable creation. There are chemical affinities also whose operation can exhibit the most extraordinary changes. What is so cheap and worthless as a piece of charcoal; what so precious as a diamond?–and yet in constitution they are absolutely identical. The grave may thus become the alembic in which the clay of mans fallen humanity is transmuted into the gold of the kingdom of heaven.
2. Then again the believer is a temple of the Holy Ghost. The effect of this is to consecrate the body, or to make it holy. Why, then, should we imagine that the Holy Spirit should maintain His union with the soul, and abandon altogether the body? The separated spirit cannot but think much and often of its ancient and close companion, and God the Spirit cannot possibly be divorced from any member or fragment of that temple wherein He had a loved abode. (J. Cochrane, A.M.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 41. There is one glory of the sun] As if he had said: This may be illustrated by the present appearance of the celestial bodies which belong to our system. The sun has a greater degree of splendour than the moon; the moon than the planets; and the planets than the stars. And even in the fixed stars, one has a greater degree of splendour than another, which may proceed either from their different magnitudes, or from the comparative proximity of some of them to our earth; but from which of these causes, or from what other cause unknown, we cannot tell, as it is impossible to ascertain the distance of any of the fixed stars; even the nearest of them being too remote to afford any sensible parallax, without which their distances cannot be measured. See the concluding observations.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Amongst the celestial bodies there is a great deal of difference with respect to the qualities; one of them is in glory much differing from another, the glory of the moon is not like the glory of the sun, and the glory of a star is much beneath the glory both of the sun and of the moon; yea, one star is more glorious than another: yet they are all bodies, though of different species and qualities.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
41. one glory of . . . sun . . .another . . . of . . . moonThe analogy is not to provedifferent degrees of glory among the blessed (whether this may be, ornot, indirectly hinted at), but this: As the various fountainsof light, which is so similar in its aspect and properties,differ (the sun from the moon, and the moon from the stars; andeven one star from another star, though all seem so much alike);so there is nothing unreasonable in the doctrine that our presentbodies differ from our resurrection bodies, though stillcontinuing bodies. Compare the same simile, appropriateespecially in the clear Eastern skies (Dan 12:3;Mat 13:43). Also that of seedin the same parable (Mat 13:24;Gal 6:7; Gal 6:8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
There is one glory of the sun,…. Which is the greater light, the fountain of light, and whose glory exceeds that of the other heavenly bodies:
and another glory of the moon; which is the lesser light, and receives its light from the sun, and consequently its glory is inferior:
and another glory of the stars; which though very bright and sparkling, and are innumerable, have a lesser glory, at least to our appearance, than the sun and moon: the Jews have a notion u, that
“all the stars and the orbs are endued with a soul, and with knowledge, and understanding; and that they live, and stand, and know him that said, and the world was; and everyone of them, “according to his greatness”,
, “and according to his dignity”, praise and glorify their Creator, as the angels; and as they know God, so they know themselves, and the angels that are above them; for the knowledge of the stars and the orbs is lesser than the knowledge of angels, and greater than the knowledge of men:”
for one star differeth from another star in glory; all which is to be understood, not as if the glory of the sun meant the glory of Christ, the sun of righteousness, who excels in glory, even in his human nature; and the glory of the moon, the glory of the church, who receives her’s from Christ; and the glory of the stars; the glory of particular saints; and as if there will be, in the resurrection state, degrees of glory among them: for what peculiar glory can be thought to be upon the body of one, that is not upon another, when the righteous shall shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father? and admitting there was any truth in this, it is not the truth of this text; the only design of which, as the above, is to show, that as not only celestial and terrestrial bodies differ from each other, but even heavenly ones, so at the resurrection, the bodies of the saints then will differ in glory from their present ones; though these are now the members of Christ, are presented to God an holy sacrifice, and are washed with pure water.
u Maimon. Iesode Hatorah, c. 3. sect. 11.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
For one star differeth from another star in glory ( ). A beautiful illustration of Paul’s point. is the ablative case after (old verb , Latin differo, our differ, bear apart). On see Mt 2:7 and Lu 21:25. Stars differ in magnitude and brilliancy. The telescope has added more force to Paul’s argument.
In glory ( ). Old word from , to think, to seem. So opinion, estimate, then the shekinah glory of God in the LXX, glory in general. It is one of the great words of the N.T. Jesus is termed the glory in Jas 2:1.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Glory [] . Lustre; beauty of form and color.
“As heaven ‘s high twins, whereof in Tyrian blue The one revolveth, through his course immense Might love his fellow of the damask hue, For like and difference.” ” – the triple whirl Of blue and red and argent worlds that mount Or float across the tube that Herschel sways, Like pale – rose chaplets, or like sapp’hire mist, Or hang or droop along the heavenly ways, Like scarves of amethyst. “Jean Ingelow,” Honors. ”
Herodotus, describing the Median city of Agbatana, says that it is surrounded by seven walls rising in circles, one within the other, and having their battlements of different colors – white, black, scarlet, blue, orange, silver, and gold. These seven colors were those employed by the Orientals to denote the seven great heavenly bodies : Saturn black, Jupiter orange, Mars scarlet, the sun gold, Mercury blue, the Moon green or silver, and Venus white. The great temple of Nebuchadnezzar at Borsippa was built in seven platforms colored in a similar way. See the beautiful description of the Astrologer’s Chamber in Schiller’s “Wallenstein,” Part 1, Act 2. 4. There is no allusion to the different degrees of glory among the risen saints.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
This verse describes the heavenly bodies
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
41. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon Not only is there a difference between heavenly bodies and earthly, but even the heavenly bodies have not all the same glory; for the sun surpasses the moon, and the other stars differ from each other. This dissimilarity, accordingly, appears (103) in the resurrection of the dead. A mistake, however, is commonly fallen into in the application; (104) for it is supposed that Paul meant to say, that, after the resurrection, the saints will have different degrees of honor and glory. This, indeed, is perfectly true, and is proved by other declarations of Scripture; but it has nothing to do with Paul’s object. For he is not arguing as to what difference of condition there will be among the saints after the resurrection, but in what respect our bodies at present differ from those that we will one day receive. (105)
He removes, then, every idea of absurdity, by instituting this comparison: The substance of the sun and moon is the same, but there is a great difference between them in point of dignity and excellence. Is it to be wondered, then, if our body puts on a more excellent quality? (106) “I do not teach that anything will take place at the resurrection but what is already presented before the eyes of all.” That such is the meaning of the words is clear from the context. For whence and for what purpose would Paul make such a transition, were he now comparing them with one another in respect of the difference of their condition, while up to this point he has been comparing the present condition of all with their future condition, and immediately proceeds with that comparison?
(103) “ Ceste dinersite de qualite se monstre;” — “This difference of quality shows itself.”
(104) “ En l’application de ceste similitude;” — “In the application of this similitude.”
(105) “ Comment different nos corps que nons auons maintenant de ceux que nons aurons apres;” — “In what respect our bodies, which we have now, will differ from those that we shall have afterwards.”
(106) “ Qu’il n’ha maintenant;” — “Than it has now.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(41) For one star . . .Better, for star differeth from star in glory. It is not only that the heavenly bodies differ from earthly, but they differ from each othersun from moon, moon from stars. And there is a further variety stilleven amid the stars themselves there is variety. The word glory is naturally used as intimating the aspect in which the difference of the heavenly bodies strikes us, looking at them from earth. The God who is thus not limited to a monotonous form for the substance of which Physical Nature consists, need not be in any difficulty as to some other variety of form for Human Nature beyond that which we see it confined to during its earthly life.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
41. Glory Visible splendour. The splendours of the luminaries differ in intensity, magnitude, and colour. Against the doctrine of a resurrection it is argued that our bodies are now in a continual process of change; so that, even here, our very material sameness is not a literal, but a successional and historical one. Yet, we reply, this molecular succession is, in fact, now most carefully maintained unbroken; so that the historical continuity and sameness can be traced and sworn to. The murderer of twenty years ago, in spite of all organic changes, is hung to-day. This man at seventy is husband of the wife he married at twenty-five, and heir of the patrimony he inherited in infancy. But we never in life drop our whole body to-day, pass a bodiless period, and then take a whole new body. Nor then would the new body be the same as the old. In order to be the same body next year, the reconstructor must go back and take up the material of the old body into the new. And so in the resurrection, the reorganizer must go back and take up the body that died; otherwise, the successional historical identity which exists in our present life, and which is quoted as a precedent, is wholly abolished.
Dr. Poor theorizes that the “plastic principle” may, at the resurrection, “assimilate new materials of a wholly different kind” from those in our present bodies. What demand for such a supposition? For, 1. There is not known to science, or demanded by reason, any other “plastic principle” than an omnipresent divine power, working under forms of law and finite causations. As Paul says, God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, yet in accordance with the laws of resurrection. 2. When the undressed soul appears before God on the morning of the resurrection, it is by divine power that from somewhere in the wide universe, the particles should gather in accretion upon the soul, to form its body. Now why is it not quite as easy for divine power to order the coming of that set of particles which formed the old body as any other? What demand from science, reason, or Scripture for any new materials? Nay, that divine power may establish such affinity between the soul and the particles of the old organism that it may attract them to itself by a process as truly natural as that by which a magnet draws a mass of iron filings to itself.
Otherwise there is no resurrection, but a new creation and a substitution. The real debate is not between “two theories of the resurrection,” but between the resurrection and something else that is not a resurrection. An anastasis (resurrection) of the dead is an uprising of the body from its fallen position in death, and, normally, the grave. That is the very meaning of the word. And it is that which down-fell which must uprise, and not something else. Or, if it is called in the New Testament an egersis, it is an upraising. What is it that is upraised unless the previous body, the body that fell, and that now lies a prostrate corpse? There must be no legerdemain about it; no slipping in a supposititious body; no substitution; no new creation “out of new materials of a wholly different kind.” If either of those things takes place, it is no resurrection at all, and the doctrine of the resurrection is wholly denied.
This realistic identity is absolutely required by Scripture. Daniel tells us (Dan 12:2) that they “that sleep in the dust of the earth,” which can be no other than the buried corpses, “shall awake.” Our Lord, almost quoting Daniel’s words, says that it is “they that are in the graves,” which can again mean only the entombed corpses, that “shall come forth.” Joh 5:28-29. Wherever death is called a sleep it is the body (certainly not the soul) that is conceived to sleep, and the resurrection is the awakening of that same body. Our Lord’s resurrection the pattern and model for all was of his same body from the tomb. In his transfiguration, by which he was assimilated to the resurrection body of Moses and Elijah, that self-same body rose into the resurrection state, and then subsided into its ordinary conditions; unchanged in material throughout. In the change of 1Co 15:51-52 it is this same mortal body; and the change is simply its putting on immortality.
If by divine law there may be a fixed affinity between the soul and its last investiture, that law can secure that the same material shall never be organic in two bodies at death; just as a secret law secures the equality in number of the two sexes.
This modern unscriptural pseudo-resurrection is a Gnostical one. It has “an ignorance of God,” doubting his power to raise the same body. It has the Gnostic abhorrence of matter, demanding “new materials of a wholly different kind,” known as matter now. But it does not deny a future life, like the errorists whom Paul corrects; and so does not shake the foundations of Christianity.
Meyer quotes from Tertullian the following notes as a caution to over-brilliant commentators, 1Co 15:40: One flesh of men, that is, servants of God; another of beasts, that is, the heathen; another of birds, that is, the martyrs; another of fish, to whom belongs the water of baptism! Also, 1Co 15:41.
There is one glory of the sun Christ; of the moon The Church; of the stars The seed of Abraham.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Co 15:41-42. There is one glory of the sun, &c. Some would connect these two verses in the following manner: There is one glory of the sun, &c.For one star differeth from another star, 1Co 15:42. So also in glory is the resurrection of the dead. But the clause, So also is the resurrection of the dead, should rather conclude the 41st verse. As if the Apostle had said, “Another kind of glory shall appear than human nature has known in its purest state, in any beauty of form, or ornaments of dress. There shall, indeed, as I intimated but now, be differences in the degree of that glory, correspondent to the different excellencies in the characters of good men, on whom it is to pass: but all shall experience a most illustrious and happy change.” It should be observed, that the resurrection of the dead here spoken of, is not the resurrection of all mankind in common, but only the resurrection of the just. This will be evident to any one who observes that St. Paul having, 1Co 15:22 declared that all men shall be made alive again, tells the Corinthians, 1Co 15:23 that it shall not be all at once, but at several distances of time. First of all, Christ rose; afterwards next in order to him the just should all be raised, which resurrection of the just is that which he treats and gives an account of to the end of this discourse and chapter; and thus does not directly come to the resurrection of the wicked, which was to be the third and last in order: so that from the 23rd verse to the end of this chapter, all that he says of the resurrection, is a description only of the resurrection of the just, though he calls it here by the general name of the resurrection of the dead. That this is the case is so evident, that there is scarcely a verse from the 4lst to the end, which does not evince it. 1st, What in this resurrection is raised, St. Paul assures us, 1Co 15:43, is raised in glory, but the wicked are not raised in glory. 2nd, He says we (speaking in the name of all that shall be then raised) shall bear the image of the heavenly Adam, 1Co 15:49 which cannot belong to the wicked. We shall all be changed, that death may be swallowed up of victory, which God giveth us through our Lord Jesus Christ, 1Co 15:51-54; 1Co 15:57 which cannot likewise belong to the damned. And therefore we and us must be understood to be spoken in the name of the dead that will be Christ’s, who are to be raised apart by themselves, before the rest of mankind. 3rdly, He says, 1Co 15:52, that when the dead are raised, they who are alive shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye. Now that these dead are only the dead in Christ, who shall rise first, and shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, is plain from 1Th 4:16-17. 4thly, A farther proof whereof is, 1Co 15:56-57 in that their sins being taken away, the sting whereby death kills is taken away. And hence St. Paul says, God hath given us the victory, which is the same us or we who would bear the image of the heavenly Adam, 1Co 15:49, and the same we who should all be changed, 1Co 15:51-52. All which places can therefore belong to none but those who will be Christ’s, who shall be raised by themselves the second in order, before the rest of the dead. What St. Paul says in this 51st verse, is very remarkable, We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in the twinkling of an eye. The reason he gives for it, 1Co 15:53 is, becausethis corruptible thing must put on incorruption, and this mortal thing must put on immortality. How? Why by putting off flesh and blood, by an instantaneous change, because, as he tells us, 1Co 15:50, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; and therefore, to fit believers for that kingdom, those saints who are alive at Christ’s coming, shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and those thatare in their graves shall be changed likewise, and so all the whole collection of saints, all the faithful members of Christ’s body, shall be put into a state of incorruptibility, immortality, and glory, 1Co 15:52. Taking the resurrection here spoken of to be the resurrection of all the dead promiscuously, St. Paul’s reasoning in this place can hardly be understood. But upon a supposition that he here describes the resurrection of the just onlythat resurrection which he says, 1Co 15:23, is to be the next after Christ’s, and separate from the rest, nothing can be more plain, natural, and easy than St. Paul’s reasoning: and it stands thus; “Men alive are flesh and blood; the dead in the graves are but the remains of corrupted flesh and blood; but flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither can corruption inherit incorruption, that is to say, immortality: therefore, to make all those who will be Christ’s, capable to enterinto his eternal kingdom of lifeas well those of them who are then alive, as those of them who are raised from the dead, shall in the twinkling of an eye beall changed, and their corruptible shall put on incorruption, and their mortal shall put onimmortality: and thus God gives them the victory over death, through their Lord Jesus Christ.” This is, in short, St. Paul’s arguing here, and the account that he gives of the resurrection of the blessed. But how the wicked, who are afterwards to be restored to life, were to be raised, and what was to become of them, he here says nothing, as not being to his present purpose; which was to assure the Corinthians, by the resurrection of Christ, of a happy resurrection to all the faithful saints of God, and thereby to encourage them to continue steadfast in the faith which had such a reward. Nor is it in this place alone that St. Paul calls the resurrection of the just by the general name of the resurrection of the dead. He does the same, Php 3:11, where he speaks of his sufferings, and of his endeavours, if by any means he might attain unto the resurrection of the dead; wherebyhe cannot mean the resurrection of the dead in general; which, since he has declared in this very chapter, 1Co 15:22, that all men, both good and bad, shall as certainly partake of, as that they shall die, there needs no endeavours to attain to it. Our Saviour likewise speaks of the resurrection of the just in the same general terms of the resurrection, Mat 22:30. And the resurrection from the dead, Luk 20:34-36, by which is meant only the resurrection of the just.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
Ver. 41. One star differeth, &c. ] The morning star is said to cast a shadow with its shine. “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the seven stars?” Job 38:31 , whose work is to bring the spring, and which, like seven sisters or lovers (as the word signifies), are joined together in one fair constellation. Or “loose the bands of Orion?” the star that brings winter, and binds the earth with frost and cold. “Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth,” the southern constellations? “Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons,” that is, the northern stars, those storehouses of God’s good treasure, which he openeth to our profit? Deu 28:12 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
41 .] This third analogy is suggested perhaps by just before. There is no allusion whatever here (as some have imagined, even Chrys., cum., Theodoret, Calov., Estius, al.) to different degrees of glorification of the bodies of the blessed; the introduction of such an idea confuses the whole analogical reasoning: which is, that even various fountains of light , so similar in its aspect and properties, differ; the sun from the moon and the stars: the stars (and much more vividly would this be felt under the pure sky of the East than here) from one another: why not then a body here from a resurrection body , both bodies , but different?
1Co 15:41 . Even amongst the there are varieties, just as amongst the (1Co 15:39 ), such as are indicated by the diff [2518] of aspect in the visible celestial objects: “There is one glory of sun, and another glory of moon, and another glory of stars for star differs from star in glory”. While these luminous orbs are not to be identified with the “heavenly bodies” of 1Co 15:40 (see note), they serve to symbolise the diversity of glory amongst them; all are glorious, but in degrees. , as in 1Co 15:39 (contrast 1Co 15:40 ), indicates diff [2519] within the same order. The frequent symbolic association of sun and stars with God, the angels, the righteous , and with the glorified Jesus , may account for the asyndetic transition from 1Co 15:40 b (signifying persons ) to 1Co 15:41 . From the distinctions manifest amid the common glory of the visible heavens we may conjecture corresponding distinctions in the heavenly Intelligences and in the bodies appropriate to them.
[2518] difference, different, differently.
[2519] difference, different, differently.
1Co 15:42-49 . 55. THE FIRST ADAM AND THE LAST. The Ap. has now removed priori objections, and brought his theory of bodily resurrection within the lines of natural analogy and probability of reason. He has at the same time largely expounded it, intimating (1) that the present is , in some sense, the seed of the future body , and (2) that the two will differ as the heavenly must needs differ from the earthly . He goes on to show that this diff [2520] has its basis and pattern in the diff [2521] between the primitive Adam and the glorified Christ , who are contrasted in condition (1Co 15:42 b , 1Co 15:43 ), in nature (1Co 15:44 ff.), and in origin (1Co 15:47 ff.).
[2520] difference, different, differently.
[2521] difference, different, differently.
one, another, another. Greek. alios. App-124.
one, another. Omit.
41.] This third analogy is suggested perhaps by just before. There is no allusion whatever here (as some have imagined,-even Chrys., cum., Theodoret, Calov., Estius, al.) to different degrees of glorification of the bodies of the blessed; the introduction of such an idea confuses the whole analogical reasoning: which is, that even various fountains of light, so similar in its aspect and properties, differ; the sun from the moon and the stars: the stars (and much more vividly would this be felt under the pure sky of the East than here) from one another: why not then a body here from a resurrection body,-both bodies, but different?
1Co 15:41. , for one star) For intensive. Not only have the stars a glory differing from that of the sun and moon, but also, what is more to the point, one star often surpasses another star in brightness. There is no star, no glorious body that has not some decided point of difference from another.
1Co 15:41
1Co 15:41
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory.-There is no reference here to the different degrees of glory among the saints in heaven. It is the amazing variety observable in the heavens above us, suggesting the reasonableness of expecting that the resurrection body will differ greatly from the mortal body, consistent with essential identity.
Gen 1:14, Deu 4:19, Job 31:26, Psa 8:3, Psa 19:4-6, Psa 148:3-5, Isa 24:23
Reciprocal: Gen 1:16 – to rule 2Sa 23:19 – he attained 1Ch 11:21 – howbeit Mat 13:43 – shall Luk 19:19 – Be 2Co 3:9 – exceed
DEGREES OF CONDITION
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:41-42
We may not overlook the point insisted upon by the Apostlenamely, that there shall be diversities and degrees in the condition of the risen righteous; that, though every seed shall come up with an entirely new body, yet every human seed shall have its own: differing in capacity it may be, differing in happiness it may be, differing in celestial rank it may be, but certainly not all alike. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory (see Dan 12:3).
I. The saint of the lowest degree will be blessed according to the extent of his capacity, and therefore according to the extent of his desire. For capacity measures desire, whether in heaven or in earth. Every desire of the risen nature will be gratified; and though one vessel may be larger than another, yet no vessel can be more than full. No; there will be no room for envy in heaven. The deeds according to which God rewards us are the effects of His own grace; derive all their acceptableness from Christs mediation; are performed only in and through the assistance of the Holy and Eternal Spirit, Who, according as we neglect or improve the gift that is in us, raises us to this stature of saintliness or that, dividing to every man severally as He will.
II. Having therefore such promises, let us strive after high things.Let us not be content with a low spiritual ambition. Expectants of a mansion, let us try for the noblest. Heirs to a crown, let us aspire to the richest. Designated to a place in the upper firmament, let no lower glory content us than a place near to the Bright and Morning Star.
Prebendary D. Moore.
1Co 15:41. The sun and other bodies in the universe all have their own peculiar form and glory, showing that the Creator is not limited in the number and kinds of bodies that He may create.
1Co 15:41. There is one glory of the sun, etc. There is here no reference to the different degrees of glory among the saints in heaven (as some of the Greek fathers thought, and some moderns think). It is simply the amazing variety observable in the spangled vault above us, suggesting the reasonableness of expecting that the resurrection body will differ greatly from the mortal body, consistently with its essential identity. Accordingly, it is added.
Ver, 42. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown. Observe the word sown here, not buried, for the similitude of seed cast into the earth is purposely continued,in corruptiongoing quickly to decay,it is raised in incorruptionundecaying.
Vv. 41. The glory of the sun is one, and the glory of the moon another, and the glory of the stars another: for star differeth from star in glory.
Even in the case of beings having so great a resemblance in nature (substance and form), if we observe them with some care we discover differences between one and another which attest the infinite riches of God’s work and the illimitable range of His power. What a difference between the animating splendour of the sun on a fine day and the quiet moonlight; between the calm beauty of the latter and the penetrating and pure scintillations of the stars! There are differences too between the stars themselves. The brilliance of Venus does not resemble that of Mars, nor the latter that of Jupiter; and what a difference between the planets and the fixed stars! Open your eyes, then, the apostle means to say, and as you see so many different glories shining in the heavens, you will cease to ask, as if God’s power were limited: With what body shall they come? You will understand how infinite are the resources of Divine power!
It has often been thought, that by stopping to describe so particularly this wide diversity of splendour, the apostle meant to allude to the difference of glory which will exist among the risen, according to the different degrees of moral perfection to which they have attained. The Fathers especially dwelt fondly on this view; see Ambrose, Chrysostom, Tertullian. This last makes the future body of God’s servants correspond to the flesh of men; that of pagans, to the flesh of beasts; that of the martyrs, to the flesh of birds; that of the Christians who have had only baptism with water, to the flesh of fishes; then the glory of Christ corresponds to the brightness of the sun; that of the Church, to the brightness of the moon; that of the Jews, to the brightness of the stars (De Resurrectione, c. 52). All this is evidently only a play of imagination. The context requires no such application; for, as is proved by the sequel, Paul proposes, by bringing as it were before the very eye the infinite resources of Divine power, to show that God can hold in reserve for His elect a body absolutely different from their terrestrial body. But, while holding exegetically by this application, the only one justified by the context, we need not deny the possibility of a purely secondary allusion to the diversity which God may be pleased to make between the bodies of the risen. As Holsten well says: The way in which Paul emphasizes the diversity of the heavenly bodies implies the supposition of an analogous difference of glory between the risen.
The apostle now applies the facts which have just been cited to the question under discussion: 1Co 15:42-49. And that by expounding, first, the difference of nature between the present and the resurrection body.
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)