1 Corinthians 15:39
in 1 Corinthians 15Not all flesh is the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another, and fish another.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fishes.
KJV
All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
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This verse in 1 Corinthians 15
Commentary
14 notes on this verseIndeed, since he proposes as his examples "wheat grain, or some other grain, to which God giveth a body, such as it hath pleased Him; " since also he says, that "to every seed is its own body; " that, consequently, "there is one kind of flesh of men, whilst there is another of beasts, and (another) of birds; that there are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial; and that there is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars" -does he not therefore intimate that there is to be a resurrection of the flesh or body, which he illustrates by fleshly and corporeal samples?
This site's exposition
Not all flesh is the same
on 1 Corinthians 15:39-41
Men, animals, heavenly bodies and stars each have their own flesh or splendor, so a body need not resemble another to be real. The catalogue prepares for verse 44, where splendor measures the continuity between the natural body and the spiritual body.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
A commentator
Theodore of MopsuestiaPAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH · Written before 428.
proposed
In the resurrection a better body is constructed, one which is no longer flesh and blood as such but which is an immortal and indestructible living being.
Let the Sophists explain this if they can! All the philosophers of this world are unwilling to submit their minds to the law of God in order to believe in him. Instead they confound one another with diverse and mutually contradictory theories, none of which …
Whatever bodily or seminal causes may play a part in reproduction, by the intermingling of the two sexes, or in animals, or even by the influence of angels, and whatever longings or emotions of the mother may affect the features or the hue while the fetus is soft and pliable, nevertheless every nature as such, however affected by circumstances, is created wholly by the supreme God. It is the hidden and penetrating power of God's irresistible presence that gives being to every creature that can be said to be, whatever its genus and species may be. For without his creative act, a nature would not only not be in this or that genus. It simply could not have being at all.
With this view he adds, in a figurative sense, certain examples of animals and heavenly bodies: "There is one flesh of man" (that is, servants of God, but really human), "another flesh of beasts" (that is, the heathen, of whom the prophet actually says, "Man is like the senseless cattle" ), "another flesh of birds" (that is, the martyrs which essay to mount up to heaven), "another of fishes" (that is, those whom the water of baptism has submerged). In like manner does he take examples from the heavenly bodies: "There is one glory of the sun" (that is, of Christ), "and another glory of the moon" (that is, of the Church), "and another glory of the stars" (in other words, of the seed of Abraham).
A commentator
CyprianTreatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews · Written before 258.
proposed
That no one should be made sad by death; since in living is labour and peril, in dying peace and the certainty of resurrection. In Genesis: "Then said the Lord to Adam, Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of that tree of which alone I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat, cursed shall be the ground in all thy works; in sadness and groaning shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life: thorns and thistles shall it cast forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field in the sweat of thy brow. Thou shall eat thy bread until thou return unto the earth from which also thou wast taken; because earth thou art, and to earth thou shall go." Also in the same place: "And Enoch pleased God, and was not found afterwards: because God translated him." And in Isaiah: "All flesh is grass, and all the glory of it as the flower of grass. The grass withered, and the flower hath fallen away; but the word of the Lord abideth for ever." In Ezekiel: "They say, Our bones are become dry, our hope hath perished: we have expired. Therefore prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I open your monuments, and I will bring you forth from your monuments, and I will bring you into the land of Israel; and I will put my Spirit upon you, and ye shall live; and I will place you into your land: and ye shall know that I the Lord have spoken, and will do it, saith the Lord." Also in the Wisdom of Solomon: "He was taken away, lest wickedness should change his understanding; for his soul was pleasing to God." Also in the eighty-third Psalm: "How beloved are thy dwellings, Thou Lord of hosts? My soul desires and hastes to the courts of God." And in the Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians: "But we would not that you should be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who sleep, that ye sorrow not as others which have no hope. […]
7 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers1 voice
However, he is not content with this, but seeks another difference greater and more manifest. For that thou mayest not, when hearing, as I said, that all rise again, suppose that all enjoy the same reward; he laid before even in the preceding verses the seeds of this thought, saying, "But each in his own order." But he brings it out here also more clearly, saying, "All flesh is not the same flesh." For why speak I, saith he, in respect of seeds? In respect of bodies let us agitate this point, concerning which we are discoursing now. Wherefore also he addeth, and saith, "But there is one flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of birds, and another of fishes." "There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another." "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory." And what means he by these expressions? Wherefore from the resurrection of the body did he throw himself into the discourse of the stars and the sun? He did not throw himself out, neither did he break off from his purpose; far from it: but he still keeps to it. For whereas he had established the doctrine concerning the resurrection, he intimates in what follows that great will be then the difference of glory, though there be but one resurrection. And for the present he divides the whole into two: into "bodies celestial," and "bodies terrestrial." For as the disbelief of the resurrection makes men supine, so again it makes them indolent to think that all are vouchsafed the same reward. Wherefore he corrects both. And the one in the preceeding verses he had completed; but this he begins now. […]
The Medieval Church2 voices
975. – Here the Apostle presents an example of the diverse qualities of a rising body in diverse species. First, by comparing heavenly to earthly bodies; secondly, earthly to heavenly (v. 40b); thirdly, celestial bodies to each other (v. 41). 976. – Because someone could …
Lest you, having heard about wheat, should think that just as all its ears grow alike, so too in the resurrection all will be alike, he wishes to show that there will be a difference among the risen (which he also hinted at before with …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
All flesh is not the same flesh,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
All flesh is not the same flesh - This verse and the following are designed to answer the question 1Co 15:35, “with what bodies do they come?” And the argument here is, that there are many kinds of bodies; that all are not alike; that while they are bodies, yet they partake of different qualities, forms, and properties; and that, therefore, it is not absurd to suppose that God may transform the human body into a different form, and cause it to be raised up with somewhat different properties in the future world.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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, Lu 24:39;
All flesh is not the same flesh - Though the organization of all animals is, in its general principles, the same, yet there are no two different kinds of animals that have flesh of the same flavour, whether the animal be beast, fowl, or fish. And this is precisely the same with vegetables. In opposition to this general assertion of St. Paul, there are certain people who tell us that fish is not flesh; and while their religion prohibits, at one time of the year, the flesh of quadrupeds and fowls, it allows them to eat fish, fondly supposing that fish is not flesh: they might as well tell us that a lily is not a vegetable, because it is not a cabbage. There is a Jewish canon pronounced by Schoettgen which my readers may not be displeased to find inserted here: Nedarim, fol. 40: הנודר מן הבשר יהא אסור בבור רגים והגים He who is bound by a vow to abstain from flesh, is bound to abstain from the flesh of fish and of locusts. From this it appears that they acknowledged that there was one flesh of beasts and another of fishes, and that he was religiously bound to abstain from the one, who was bound to abstain from the other.
The words behind it
21 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Οὐ | ou | Not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| πᾶσα | pasa | all | G3956 → | 1235 times |
| σὰρξ | sarx | flesh [is] | G4561 → | 146 times |
| ἡ | he | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| αὐτὴ | aute | same | G846 → | 5565 times |
| σὰρξ | sarx | flesh | G4561 → | 146 times |
| ἀλλ᾽ | all᾽ | but | G235 → | 635 times |
| ἄλλη | alle | one | G243 → | 155 times |
| μὲν | men | indeed | G3303 → | 176 times |
| ἀνθρώπων, | anthropon | of men, | G444 → | 549 times |
| ἄλλη | alle | another | G243 → | 155 times |
| δὲ | de | however | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| σὰρξ | sarx | flesh | G4561 → | 146 times |
| κτηνῶν, | ktenon | of beasts, | G2934 → | |
| ἄλλη | alle | another | G243 → | 155 times |
| δὲ | de | however | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| σὰρξ | sarx | flesh | G4561 → | 146 times |
| πτηνῶν, | ptenon | of birds | G4421 → | |
| ἄλλη | alle | another | G243 → | 155 times |
| δὲ | de | however | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| ἰχθύων. | ichthuon | of fish. | G2486 → |
ΟὐNot
ouG3756 →1664 times
πᾶσαall
pasaG3956 →1235 times
σὰρξflesh [is]
sarxG4561 →146 times
ἡthe
heG3588 →19766 times
αὐτὴsame
auteG846 →5565 times
σὰρξflesh
sarxG4561 →146 times
ἀλλ᾽but
all᾽G235 →635 times
ἄλληone
alleG243 →155 times
μὲνindeed
menG3303 →176 times
ἀνθρώπων,of men,
anthroponG444 →549 times
ἄλληanother
alleG243 →155 times
δὲhowever
deG1161 →2765 times
σὰρξflesh
sarxG4561 →146 times
κτηνῶν,of beasts,
ktenonG2934 →
ἄλληanother
alleG243 →155 times
δὲhowever
deG1161 →2765 times
σὰρξflesh
sarxG4561 →146 times
πτηνῶν,of birds
ptenonG4421 →
ἄλληanother
alleG243 →155 times
δὲhowever
deG1161 →2765 times
ἰχθύων.of fish.
ichthuonG2486 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies34
On this chapter
- The Seven Brothers and Their Mother
- Adam
- Adam to Noah
- Afterlife Vocabulary
- The Numbers of Scripture
- The Edenic Covenant
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- Eve: The Mother of All Living
- The Hebrew Feasts
- Firstfruits
- The Great White Throne
- Hebel: the word the Berean text renders futility
- Hell and the Final State of the Lost
Show the next 6 titles
About 1 Corinthians

This page draws on 15 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Augustine of Hippo, City of God 12.26; Charles Hodge, An Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians; Cyprian, Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Corinthians 41; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Tertullian, Against Marcion Book V; Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh; Theodore of Mopsuestia, PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Corinthians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 1 Corinthians.
