Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
celestial bodies—not the sun, moon, and stars, which are first introduced in I Corinthians 15:41, but the bodies of angels, as distinguished from the bodies of earthly creatures.
the glory of the celestial— (Luke 9:26).
glory of . . . terrestrial— (Matthew 6:28-29; I Peter 1:24).
Illustrations of the suitability of bodies, however various, to their species: the flesh of the several species of animals; bodies celestial and terrestrial; the various kinds of light in the sun, moon, and stars, respectively.
flesh—animal organism [DE WETTE]. He implies by the word that our resurrection bodies shall be in some sense really flesh, not mere phantoms of air [ESTIUS]. So some of the oldest creeds expressed it, "I believe in the resurrection of the flesh." Compare as to Jesus' own resurrection body, Luke 24:39; John 20:27; to which ours shall be made like, and therefore shall be flesh, but not of animal organism (Philippians 3:21) and liable to corruption. But I Corinthians 15:50 below implies, it is not "flesh and blood" in the animal sense we now understand them; for these "shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
not the same—not flesh of the same nature and excellency. As the kinds of flesh, however widely differing from one another, do not cease to be flesh, so the kinds of bodies, however differing from one another, are still bodies. All this is to illustrate the difference of the new celestial body from its terrestrial seed, while retaining a substantial identity.
beasts—quadrupeds.
another of fishes . . . another of birds—Most of the oldest manuscripts read thus, "another FLESH of birds . . . another of fishes": the order of nature.
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing 1 Corinthians 15:40:
1 Corinthians 12:8-10
1 Corinthians 15:36
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