Was Jesus resurrected body just ‘spirit’”?  Our recent Bible class topic is a study of  the Holy Spirit—a mysterious subject for many of us.  Yes, we intellectually understand God is Spirit. But do we understand what that means? “And how does that bear on the resurrected body of Christ—and on our own resurrection?”

Growing up in the Restoration tradition, it was taught that the Spirit speaks to us through the scriptures only.  Not much was said about the “indwelling of the Holy Spirit” nor the “gifts of the Spirit.”  Neither was what we call the Trinity—God the Father, the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit.  Yet all of these concepts are discussed in scripture. From the beginning the single word  used for God in Genesis (Elohim) is plural, meaning more than two. The Spirit explicitly took part in the creation of man. We were created body, soul (mind), and spirit.  We were not created just material and spirit alone.

I suggest Platonic philosophy has deeply distorted our understanding of the resurrected body. Plato viewed the soul or spirit  as being trapped inside the material body. It longs to be free,.  Much  of the popular conception of the resurrected Christ is as some sort of “spirit” that comes back to life. That view reflects a Platonic understanding of man as consisting only of material and spirit.” Is this correct?  What, in fact, do we  really know about the resurrected body of Christ?

The clearest clues come not from abstract theory but from the resurrection scenes themselves. What can we deduce from the following  biblical events? We know Mary Magdalene saw Him but didn’t recognize him at first.  She did when He spoke her name.  She was told not to hold on to Him, for He had not yet ascended to the Father Later, when  the women were leaving the tomb, He appeared to them. They clasped His feet and worshiped Him.  

We also are told of two disciples traveling to Emmaus. They were discussing the events of Jesus’ death. Jesus joins them, but they are kept from recognizing him. He asks what they are discussing.  They explain their disappointment and confusion about  the crucifixion including the women’s report of the empty tomb. Jesus then explains from Moses and all the Prophets what was said concerning himself. When he sits with them and eats with them, their eyes are opened and they recognize him; then he disappears from their sight.  We also know that Jesus suddenly appears to his disciples despite locked doors. They are able to see and touch where the nails were in His hands the place of the spear in His side.  

There are many other descriptions of Jesus appearing, but from this sketch we can know: Jesus was not some ethereal ghostly spirit. He had physical form.  He could speak and be seen. His body was able to be touched. He could eat.  This was not an ordinary material body. He could appear suddenly in ways not bound by ordinary earthly limitations. He was not always immediately recognized. Thus, his appearance could seem to change. So normal physical laws of time, space, and matter did not apply to Him.

Christ’s resurrection body was both material and unworldly. We are told that we too will be raised with a new body like His. I suggest that our default Platonic understanding of the resurrected body is false. We will have a new kind of resurrected body—body, soul, and spirit. An important question remains: What does the bodily resurrection of Christ mean for us?