What Is This 1 Cor 15:41, Glory?
Question: In 1 Cor 15:41 we see a glory, what is this glory?
Answer: Greetings to you in Jesus wonderful name!
Here is the passage of 1 Cor 15:41 - "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."
The context of the passage is about the future bodies of the believers in heaven. Some believers asked Paul the apostle and demanded an answer about what kind of body we will have in the life to come, in other words they asked him, will we have the same type of body we have now, or we will have different body from the existing body we have now on earth, especially the outward look of personal identification in the light of the look of the immateriality of the new glorious body will be the same as now or different?
In other words the believers precisely asked Paul, How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? I mean they were asking him whether we will be have a youthful image of themselves or middle age or old age in eternity?
They asked this question foolishly without having any idea about the glorious body that Jesus has planned to give us just like He himself rose in an eternal glorious body after he got resurrected from the dead, in fact Paul the apostle expected these believers to read the gospels and understand about the glorious body of Jesus and thus ours too (Luke 24:36-43; 1 John 3:2). Paul then compares our present body in this life to a seed and says further that what we sow is not made alive unless it dies, which means he says that the glorious body will not be seen by us until we die and are buried in the ground.
Paul the apostle further continues saying, when we sow a seed, we do not sow the plant that is going to come out of it, but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God in his genius plan and power releases from within all the new ingredients to give it a body as He pleases. And to each individual seed of grain we plant, God not only gives it a individual body, but also different structures according to the type of seed that has been planted.
Paul continues saying that all flesh that has been made by God for example on the different days of creation, which are flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds which are different from each other, how much more differently and individually God will design the glorious bodies of believers in a unique way when they are going to last for eternity ahead?
Further apostle Paul continues by saying that the glory of the heavenly bodies like sun, moon and stars that shines the light are in one level of glory, the earthly bodies which shines with reflective glory on earth is altogether at a lesser level in comparison, so too we as believers now on earth who hold the reflective glory of our Lord Jesus Christ are expressing the glory in a limited level in this earthen vessel of our body (2 Cor 4:7; Col 1:27), but once we die and go on to be with the Lord to again rise up in a new glorious body after our resurrection, then we will hold the glory of God permanently in our glorious new bodies in heaven which will have different capacities like the stars in heaven which differs from one another in glory and the sun which in itself is a star and so the Bible calls it morning star. Daniel in his book reveals that, "Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever [in their glorious new bodies in which God will raise them up again when they rise up from the dust of the earth]." (Dan 12:3). Jesus Himself said that, "Then [when? (i.e.) after the resurrection of] the righteous, they will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." (Matt 13:43).
Thus Paul the apostle concludes saying, in the resurrection of the dead, the body which has been sown on earth in to corruption because of sin, it will be raised up in a glorious incorruptible body because of the righteousness of Jesus and his power which will be given to it supernaturally at that time. When a believer dies they are sown in to the earth in dishonor, saying from dust they have come and dust they have returned (Eccl 3:20), but when Jesus raises up the believer he leaves nothing to stay corrupted but raises them up in the same glory in which He himself was raised by God the Father and the Spirit (Rom 8:11; Acts 2:24; 1 Cor 6:14). It is sowed in weakness of sin nature which lead us toward the humiliation of death and old age or even accident, because of which we could not only no longer live strong and healthy perpetually but also cease to exist on earth at God's appointed time because of death that we have to die. But when it is raised, it will be raised in the power over sin by Jesus because He will give the same eternal life we have within our spirit and soul now to the eternal body which previously has been sown as a natural body on earth, and that which became dust. The expression Paul uses here 1 Cor 15:43, 'humiliation or dishonor', and a similar one used in Phil 3:21, where Paul says our lowly body of humiliation will be transfigured into the body of Christ’s glory, by the power, which enables him to make all things subject to himself without the rebellion of sin operating in it unlike the previous earthly body. This clearly proves that the glorious body of every believer will be just like the body of Jesus but with differing glory and power in eternity according to each one's work done on earth for the Lord (Eph 6:7-8; Col 3:24).
Just like we have natural body on earth made of the dust of the earth to live with the dust suit on earth, when we are raised up again we will be raised up with a new heavenly spiritual material which will make it as a spiritual body for eternity ahead, and thus we will be able to go through the walls like Jesus and also have metaphysical nature that transcends the natural environment of earth to give us a ability to fly at the moment of a thought in our mind (John 20:26; Acts 1:9, 11). Praise the Lord!
Will the glorious body shine? Of course, that is why Paul, Jesus and Daniel compared the body of the resurrected believers to the sun and the stars. Will they eat in the glorious new body after resurrection? Of course we saw Jesus eat fish and honey after his resurrection, so too with the believers (Luke 24:42-43).
Then further we will be able to change even the appearance of our form in to another form according to the assignment that the Lord will give to serve Him on earth for a thousand years and then for eternity ahead in the new earth (Rev 19:8, 14; 20:6; 21:24, 25-26), to withdraw our original appearances to people and show ourselves in a way that will look different to others according to the required need in the participation of the mission in which the Lord will send us in assignment, which He even sometimes sends His angels with such mission now in the present time (Heb 1:14; 13:2), of whom we entertain thinking as some normal humans to show them mercy and kindness in order to reveal the Character of the Lord to the persons watching from heaven to prove our faith, when they are actually angels behind the scene in person (Mark 16:12; Acts 12:8-12). O what a privilege for the Church to serve the Lord for eternity!
Jesus died as having the body of an adult around 33-34 years which is the prime of life, and when He rose up, the disciples saw him as the same in the glorious body and identified Him. So we must all will likewise have the same look of a adult glorious body with us for eternity ahead. When someone had infirmities and deformation of their body on earth due to birth defect or unfortunate accident, those weaknesses will be removed from the glorious body and will be made to look like in the prime of their youthful days as if how they would have looked, if they never had such things of weaknesses in their body to experience in their earthly lives.
The meaning of the word glory is diverse, and can refer to literal brightness, splendour, or radiance, thus to the glorious body, the 'glory' on each one will be like a badge of honor for each higher level of splendor and brightness, as it becomes a tangible reward for eternity, and the identification to greater positions of rulership and authority in the Millennium rule of Jesus Christ in which the Church from the New Earth will rule the present earth (Rev 2:7, 10-11, 17, 26-29; 3:5-6, 12-13, 21-22; Isa 24:23; Isa 59:19-20; 60:3, 5; 66:12), and will continue to serve the Lord in the New Earth for eternity ahead after the demolition of the present earth and heavens by fire at the end of the Millennial rule (Rev 21:22-27; 2 Peter 3:8-9, 10-13; Isa 34:4; Heb 1:10-12). Paul does not here encourage the believers to sit back and do nothing when he uses the word 'steadfast, immovable' and 'awaiting the day' (Tit 2:13; Rom 8:19), but rather it actually means that they are told to actively work for the Lord in their earthly life overcoming the flesh, world and Satan for which they will receive the eternal blessings at the end of the age (1 Cor 15:58). Christians are exhorted by Paul to “put on the new self” (Eph 4:24), and to become more and more Christ-like and work for Him by letting Him work through them on earth (Php 2:13). Use your time wisely and live for Christ saints (Eph 5:15-18), because the glory of the reward from Christ to us for eternity in the glorious new body is awaiting to be rewarded to us, and those who are lethargic and take it lightly will miss it altogether to regret for it later like Esau (Rev 3:11; 21:4; Heb 12:16-17)! Praise the Lord!
Much Blessings....
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