1 Corinthians 15:41

41 The sun has one kind of beauty, the moon another, the stars yet another; indeed, each star has its own individual kind of beauty.

1 Corinthians 15:41 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 15:41

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 ^F21, 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", (wtlem) (yplw) , "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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 Maimon. Iesode Hatorah, c. 3. sect. 11.

1 Corinthians 15:41 In-Context

39 Not all living matter is the same living matter; on the contrary, there is one kind for human beings, another kind of living matter for animals, another for birds and another for fish.

40 Further, there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the beauty of heavenly bodies is one thing, while the beauty of earthly bodies is something else.

41 The sun has one kind of beauty, the moon another, the stars yet another; indeed, each star has its own individual kind of beauty.

42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. When the body is "sown," it decays; when it is raised, it cannot decay.

43 When sown, it is without dignity; when raised, it will be beautiful. When sown, it is weak; when raised, it will be strong.