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

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.