Celestial

CELESTIAL se-les'-chal (epouranios, "above the sky," "heavenly"):

Peculiar to Paul's majestic argument on the resurrection: celestial verses terrestrial bodies (1 Corinthians 15:40) with reference possibly to sun and moon, etc., but more probably to the bodies of angels in distinction from those of beasts and mortal men (compare Christ's words, Matthew 22:30; Luke 20:36); including also doubtless in the apostle's thought the resurrection-body of Jesus and of the saints already taken-into glory. Light is thrown on its meaning by the rendering of the same Greek original as "heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:3,20; 2:6; 3:10); "heavenly" (1 Corinthians 15:48). Hence, "celestial" as used by Paul indicates the soul's continued life beyond the grave, the spiritual body of the redeemed in heaven, who, in Christ, have put on immortality.

Dwight M. Pratt

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Bibliography Information

Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'CELESTIAL'".  "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia".  1915.