Spirit Does NOT have Flesh and Bones!

“And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts come up in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that I am He. Touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see Me having.” Luke 24:38-39

Christ was raised in the same body He died in, bearing the mark of the nails and the mark of the spear that pierced His side. If He did not rise in the same body He died in, but took a form of a spirit how many would have had reason to say there is no resurrection of the dead. So the Lord took great effort to prove His resurrection, even to Thomas. It was incumbent on Him to show them He was He, complete with the wound marks. So He says to them touch Me and see, “for a spirit does not have flesh and bones.” By that He meant flesh and bone are attributes of the natural body not of the spiritual. Hebrews says, “The One making His angels winds [spirits], and His ministers a flame of fire.” Hebrews 1:7 That is heavenly beings are constructed of a material that is different to our own.  

And the Lord goes further to assure them and says, “Have you any food here?” and He made sure to eat in front of them to show that He is of flesh and bones. And when Peter first preached he quoted the Psalm of David, “For You will not abandon my soul into Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see decay.” Acts 2:27 Peter used this text as comparison with the tomb of David that stands there. The point being only the natural can see corruption for that purpose Christ’s natural body had to be raised, not changed but raised. To stand as proof the day is coming when all the dead will be raised. “For as indeed in Adam ALL die, so also in Christ ALL will be made alive.” 1 Corinthians 15:22 That is not only we who believe in Him but even those who do not. While believers get to resemble His heavenly body, those who do not will be raised in a natural body as Christ was. “Indeed rather you should fear the One being able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” Matthew 10:28 

And John who saw and touched Him said, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.” 1 John 3:2 Even though he had seen the Lord several times, yet he says, “what we will be has not yet been revealed.” John was looking forward with expectation of the glory of a spiritual body that will resemble the Lord’s. And if we are to resemble Him, then He has not yet revealed what that spiritual body is going to be like. 

Paul also when giving an explanation of the kind of body we will be raised in, he did not point at the Lord as He was revealed to the disciples but only that the natural must put on the spiritual. He explains there is a distinction between the two, “​​And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But truly the glory of the heavenly is one kind, and that of the earthly is another.” 1 Corinthians 15:40 The point is the heavenly body is of heavenly construct not of the earth. Then he points to the difference between the two types, of Adam and of Christ and says, “If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual. So also it has been written: “The first man Adam became into a living soul; the last Adam into a life-giving spirit.” 1 Corinthians 15:44-45

When the Lord was raised He said, “Spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see Me have.” But we know Christ became “a life-giving spirit.” Even though we have spiritualised the last statement, “spirit” but in the context Paul is using it here is in relation to physical bodies be it natural or spiritual. A spiritual being is spirit with a spiritual body. And he makes his point by, “​​As the one was made of dust, so also are those of the earth; and as is the heavenly one, so also are those of heaven. And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” 1 Corinthians 15:48-49 It is His heavenly image that was not yet revealed. 

What Paul is saying is what we have seen of Christ is according to the resurrection of the natural and not of His spiritual body. Christ went from earth in His natural body, but will come back from heaven as the heavenly Man. And when we see Him as the Heavenly Man we who are in our natural body will also be transformed to look like Him, heavenly. “We will all be changed— in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead [in Christ] will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 This transformation to the spiritual body happens in the moment of the rapture and is only applicable to believers. “​​But each in the own order: Christ the firstfruit, then those of Christ at His coming.” [vs. 23]  

The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we, the living remaining, will be caught away together with them in the clouds for the meeting of the Lord in the air; and so we will be always with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 


Leave a comment

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑