Fathers

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What the Fathers say

1 Corinthians 15:39

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

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. …

Homily on 1 Corinthians 41 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

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 words: "each in his own order"), and he says that not all flesh is the same flesh, that is, not all will rise in one and the same dignity, but there will be a difference: first, between the righteous and sinners, as heavenly bodies differ from earthly ones; then there will be a great difference of …

Commentary on 1 Corinthians ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

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. …

City of God 12.26 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

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 say: how is it possible that the dead re-assume their body and flesh, if they are not to have possession of the same bodily qualities? …

Commentary on 1 Corinthians ↗