In Beliefnet article from 2006 author By Alan F. Segal wrote:
Question: —When Jesus ascended into heaven, was it with His human body, and does He still have that body of flesh with its spear-thrust wound and nail-prints?
Answer.—There are mainly '2' views prevalent among Christians on this subject. And a third view that is held by liberals.
1. Jesus arose from the dead in the same human body that He had during His life upon earth, and that this body of flesh, with its eyes, ears, nose, tongue, hands, feet, etc., is still his body in the heavenly or spiritual realms in harmony with this view, it is supposed that the Church, when “changed” (1 Cor. 15: 51) in the resurrection, will nevertheless, in being made “like him” (1 John 3: 2), also have their bodies of flesh back again.
2. Jesus arose from the dead in a spirit body, which is not a fleshly body in any respect, that He was “put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit” (1 Pet. 3: 18—A.R.V.); that God and the other spirit beings, who are resplendent in glory, cannot be seen by man’s physical eyes without injury to them (John 4: 24; 1: 18; Acts 9: 3, 4, 8, 9; 22: 11; 1 Tim. 6: 16); that our risen Lord, being no longer a human being, but a glorious spirit being, appeared to His disciples, like angels had previously manifested themselves to other humans (see e.g., Gen. 16: 7-13; 18; 19: 1; Judges 6: 11-22; 13: 3-20), by hiding His spiritual glory, clothing Himself, as it were, with flesh and garments in order to be seen by their physical eyes; that He appeared to them, in various forms (Mark 16: 12), to demonstrate to them that He was no longer dead, but alive.
And finally there is those who deny Christ's literal resurrection altogether. They neither believe that Jesus rose from the dead bodily nor spiritually but that it is all a 'myth'.
3. Liberals who say Jesus did not literally raise from the dead but that this was merely a 'myth' or metaphore.
QUESTION: Is to say you believe Jesus was resurrected spiritually rather than physically to deny his resurrection?
First I feel it is very important not to confuse the second belief system with the third who do not even believe in Christ's resurrection at all in any actulal form.
I do not understand this reasoning. There are those who say that Jesus did not literally raise from the dead and that it was merely a 'myth'. However, this is NOT the same thing as those who say they believe Jesus rose from the dead 'spiritually'. Christians who say they believe Jesus was raised from the dead 'spiritually' are saying that they believe Jesus was raised from the dead up in spiritual body form rather than organic matter or physical matter and they base this reasoning from 1 Cor. 15: 51.
“Flesh and blood [human nature (comp. Matt. 16: 17; Gal. 1: 16; Heb. 2: 14), with its flesh, blood bones, etc., adapted to and essential for existence amid earthly conditions] cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption [the human body, consisting of corruptible substances, i.e., flesh, bones, etc.] inherit incorruption” (1 Cor. 15: 50). Thus when Jesus appeared to His disciples in the closed room, having materialized a body of flesh, and clothing for it (His former clothing had been taken by the soldiers at the time of His crucifixion—Matt. 27: 35), He told them plainly that “a spirit hath not flesh and bones”—corruptible substances (such as He had materialized in at that time)—which He had created for them to “handle” and “see” in order that they might be convinced that He was no longer dead, but alive (Luke 24: 39).
And to convince them of His ascension into heaven, He again materialized a body of flesh for the purpose and retained it until “he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight” (Acts 1: 9-11). He will not come again in like form (in a materialized body of flesh), though He comes again in like manner—quietly, secretly, so far as the world is concerned, and unknown except to His faithful followers— “Behold, I come as a thief” (Rev. 16: 15).
My Favorite Web sites
Angelfire Home Pages
Free Web Building Help
Angelfire HTML Library
htmlGEAR - free polls, guestbooks, and more!
