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December 6, 2022 |
| Jesus' Resurrection Body | ||
There is a commonly held belief in the church that Jesus' was resurrected into the same kind of body that we will have when we are resurrected. In this study we'll see if that makes sense.
The symmetry argument says that whatever happened to Jesus at his resurrection will happen to use at our resurrection, and vice-versa. Therefore Jesus' was resurrected into the same kind of body that we will have when we are resurrected.
The flaw in this argument is that Jesus is not the same as us in being or mission. No one thinks that Christians should be walking on water because Jesus walked on water.
Jesus' mission was not finished when he was resurrected. There were things he had to do yet that required a human body. Some of them he completed in the 40 days following his resurrection. These are discussed in detail in the section "Why it Can't be His Eternal Body" below
In our resurrection, we will receive our new bodies and immediately ascend to be with him. We no longer have any need for a physical body.
Jesus is complete without a body, as the Word. He has no need of a body at all.
We need a body to have life.
This argument says that Jesus did miracles after his resurrection that he never did, and were not possible, before his crucifixion. The specific example used is that Jesus walked through walls afterward. This is thought to prove that he wasn't in a physical body.
There are a few problems with this idea. The Bible doesn't say that he walked through the wall. It doesn't say anything at all about how he got in the room.
But when it was evening of the first day of the week and the doors were barred where the disciples were staying, because of fear for the Judeans, Yeshua came and stood in their midst and he said to them, "Peace be with you." 20 He said this and he showed them his hands and his side and the disciples rejoiced because they saw Our Lord. (John 20:19-20)
This account is so lacking in detail that, if Jesus came and knocked on the door and they let him in, it would be consistent with the text. Fortunately the second account has a little more detail that hints at a miraculous event.
And after eight days, again the disciples were inside and Thoma was with them and Yeshua came when the doors were barred; he stood in the center and he said to them, "Peace be with you." 27 And he said to Thoma, "Put your finger here and behold my hands and put your hand and reach into my side and do not be an unbeliever, but a believer." (John 20:26-27)
This account makes it somewhat clear that the door was barred but that did not stop him from entering. It still does not support the idea that he walked through the wall or the door. Other possibilities exist. He could have created a hole in the door or wall and stepped through it. He could have, for lack of a better word, teleported into the room. The text simply doesn't have the detail.
Teleportation actually makes more sense because Jesus had done that before this event and will do so again after.
And they wanted to receive him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at that land to which they were going. (John 6:21)
Most people don't recognize what happened here. They were in the middle of the Sea of Galilee and wanting to bring Jesus into the boat. Then suddenly they were at the shore, the boat with passengers and Jesus. The best word for this is teleportation.
And when they had come up from the water, the Spirit of the lord Yahweh took Philippus up and the Eunuch did not see him, but he went on the road rejoicing. 40 But Philippus was found in Azotus and from there he was traveling and preaching in all the cities until he came to Qesarea. (Acts 8:39-40)
Again here we see that Philip was at one place at one moment and then at a different place. The word translated here as "took up" actually means "seized" or "snatched" and is only used this one time in the New Testament. The idea that Philip was carried there through the air is not supported. That leaves us with teleportation.
Summarizing this we can say that there is no evidence Jesus walked through a door or wall and therefore there is no evidence that this was only possible because he was in his eternal (spiritual) body. We can say that teleportation is more likely to be the method that Jesus entered the room, which does not require Jesus to be a spirit. Jesus disciples and Philip also teleported and there is no suspicion that they were spirits.
Also, if Jesus was able to teleport himself and others before the crucifixion, why would anyone think that he couldn't have also walked through a wall. What he could do was not limited by his body but by his power and authority, which seems to be unbounded. So the initial premise, that he was only able to walk through a wall because he was a spirit, is unfounded.
There are a few reasons why Jesus must have been resurrected back into his physical body.
Psalm 16:10 speaks of Jesus' resurrection and his body while he was dead. Paul quotes this verse in Acts and explains the importance of it.
And so God raised him from among the dead that he will not return again to see destruction, as it says: "I shall give you the favor of faithful David." 35 Again, it says in another place: "You have not given your pure one to see corruption." 36 For David served the will of God in his generation and he fell asleep and was added to his fathers and he saw corruption. 37 But this one whom God raised did not see corruption. (Acts 13:34-37)
Paul makes it clear that David was speaking about the bodily corruption that normally occurs after death as the body decays. David's body underwent this corruption, says Paul, but Jesus' body did not. Paul ties this lack of corruption to the resurrection of Jesus. Paul doesn't say directly that Jesus' body didn't decay so that he could return to it and it wouldn't be all funky and nasty, but there is no other reason to give for mentioning the lack of corruption.
Therefore, the resurrection returned Jesus to his own, physical body and not to an eternal, spiritual body.
Along the same idea as above, is the prophecy that Jesus' bones would not be broken and the fulfillment of that. This prophecy is first spoken in words by David.
He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. (Psalm 34:20)
Centuries before that the idea is expressed as a prophetic element of the Passover Feast.
It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it. (Exodus 12:46)
They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break a bone of it; according to all the statute of the Passover they shall observe it. (Numbers 9:12)
When they came to Yeshua, they saw that he had died already and they did not break his legs. (John 19:33)
For these things happened that the scripture should be fulfilled that says, "Not a bone of him will be broken" (John 19:36)
Was this just a prophecy for the sake of its fulfillment showing the power of God? I doubt that very much. It seems purposeful. If Jesus legs had been broken, he would not have been able to walk after the resurrection.
Think of it this way; nothing that happened to Jesus on the cross was a fatal or disabling injury. He died of exposure / exhaustion. The body can heal the nail, thorn and spear wounds. He just needs to be brought back to life.
It seems, then, that his early death, which avoided his legs being broken, was necessary so he could return to a functional body and not require additional healing.
Jesus raised people from the dead. Elijah and Elisha did the same thing in the Old Testament. In all these cases there is no indication that the resurrected have become spiritual beings. Because of this, there is no reason to make a rule that all resurrected people are resurrected into spiritual bodies. Therefore there is no reason to believe that was the case with Jesus.
This may seem to contradict the point above, but it does not. The resurrection at the Second Coming is a special event in many ways.
Even if this end-times resurrection doesn't apply to Jesus' resurrection, it's still important to understand what Paul says about this resurrection and the bodies that result from it.
Thus also is the life for those who die. It is sown with corruption; it rises without corruption. 43 It is sown with disgrace; it rises with glory. It is sown in weakness; it rises in power. 44 It is sown an animal body; a spiritual body rises, for there is an animal body, and there is a spiritual body. (1 Corinthians 15:42-44)
There are good reasons why the body Jesus' has after the resurrection can't be a spiritual, eternal body.
Jesus still needed to have his physical body.
Even now Jesus still needs that physical body. Prophecy says that he will once again show the damage to his body.
I see this as the greatest problem for the idea that Jesus was resurrected into a spiritual, eternal body. If that is his eternal body and not his physical body then:
The last point above presents a large problem for Christians who died with various kinds of injuries and disabilities. If we accept that our resurrection parallels Jesus' resurrection, the expectation would have to be that they will retain these flaws in their eternal bodies. Eternal life doesn't seem like much if you are looking at spending it bed-ridden. This becomes an especially acute problem when we consider those who died from decapitation or were atomized in explosions.
If we accept that it is his physical body he is wearing after the resurrection, then it is nothing to say that he would throw that body off at our resurrection, just as we do.
With a spiritual, eternal body, we are forced to ask the question, when does the damage go away? The Bible is completely mute about this so eisegesis must be employed.
Some have done this by claiming that Jesus' wounds were moved to his spiritual body in a special case so he could show them later and therefore that wouldn't happen to other people. We already discussed the fraud involved there. But this also destroys the symmetry argument we discussed at the beginning which is the basis for the idea that Jesus was resurrected into a spiritual body.
The idea that Jesus was resurrected into a spiritual, eternal body has been shown to have a lot of unresolved problems and a couple direct conflicts with the Bible and with God's plan revealed through the Bible.
Trying to hold onto this idea while reading the Bible results in twisted understandings of what is read. These twists appear as ideas like "we all are resurrected into spiritual bodies that are copies of our physical bodies" or "into physico-spiritual bodies that are both at the same time." These ideas directly conflict with the Bible.
Another common twist that comes from the fact that Jesus' own disciples did not always recognize him after the resurrection. This is thought to prove that Jesus was not in his physical body. A more careful reading of these verses shows that Jesus was, at times, intentionally keeping them from recognizing him. He did this with purpose, not for sport.
Jesus was resurrected back into his own body, just as the people he resurrected did and as the people resurrected by Elijah and Elisha did. He showed his wounds after the resurrection and ate food to show that he was in a physical body. Right before the end of time, he will again show his wounds. Then at the end of time, when we receive new or renewed spiritual bodies, he will also receive (or return to) his eternal body.