What Does 1 Corinthians 15:40 Mean?
There are bodies of the heavens, and bodies of the ground; but one is the weight of the heavens, and another the weight of the ground.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.THE KEY
Glory is not one universal appearance; it is the distinct weight each kind of body carries.
THE MEANING
The heavenly and earthly bodies each carry a distinct glory, a distinct weight. Your embodied life belongs to a world where difference is real and each kind has its own measure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that glory has only one visible form: heavenly and earthly bodies each have glory, though their glory differs.
THE ROOT
δόξα
dóxa
GROWS FROM
δοκ-/δοξ- (dok-/dox-)
What is thought, esteemed, or held in reputation; in the biblical pairing with Hebrew kavod, glory also carries the sense of weight.
The same word, doxa, names the glory of both kinds of body, while the verse says their weight differs. Glory is not a single display every body must match.
ALSO GROWS
dokeō: to seem or think
δοκέω
The root’s sense of what is thought or regarded links glory with what is recognized as weighty.
doxazō: to honor or glorify
δοξάζω
This branch shows glory as honor given or recognized, not one uniform appearance.
ἑτέρα
hetéra
GROWS FROM
ἑτερ-
heter-
Other or different; here, the distinction between kinds.
The verse uses “another” for the glory of each kind of body. The contrast is more than two displays of the same form: heavenly and earthly bodies differ, and each has its own glory.
ALSO GROWS
heteros: other or different
ἕτερος
This is the masculine form of the word translated “another”; it keeps the focus on real distinction.
heterotēs: difference or distinction
ἑτερότης
This related form makes explicit the difference the verse holds alongside their shared possession of glory.
THE PATTERN
Creation holds distinct bodies and spheres in distinct expressions rather than flattening them into one kind.
And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and he made the stars also.To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens recount the weight of God; and the expanse sets forth the work of his hands.There is one weight of the sun, another weight of the moon, and another weight of the stars; for one star is borne apart from another in weight.THE THREAD
There is one weight of the sun, another weight of the moon, and another weight of the stars; for one star is borne apart from another in weight.The same Greek word for glory, doxa (δόξα), continues into the next verse. Sun, moon, and stars make the distinction tangible: even among heavenly bodies, glory has different forms.
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