1 Corinthians 15:39-44

39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.

40 There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

41 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.

43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.

44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

glory (v.40) = manifestation — the evidence of the nature of a thing and its degree of splendor

The point in all this is not that there will be differing degrees of glory in the bodies of the saints in the resurrection, but that God, who has arranged all things in nature in the differing degrees of glory, has power to bring about the state of glory to be manifested in the raised bodies of believers. Differences in degrees of glory in their glorified bodies is not in view. — Vine, page 113

dead (v.42) — (here) believers

corruption (v.42) — the result of the absence of life

sown/raised (4x in vs.42-44) — The body (itself) of the believer will be redeemed, but with an entirely new manifestation — Romans 8:23

natural (v.44) = belonging to the soul — soul-governed — man — sometimes translated “sensual”

spiritual (v.44) — all that is produced and maintained by the Spirit — It does not mean that we will be spirit only.

Our present body is called a “natural body.” This is another way of saying soulish body. It is a body suited to the expression of our souls, and the soul is the seat of all our natural instincts and desires. Some day this soulish body will be slipped off and discarded as an old garment and we shall inhabit a “spiritual body.” This spiritual body is exactly what the name indicates. It will be a body of the spirit. It will be suited to and fit for the spirit. — Lauin, page 294.

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