The Bodily Resurrection of Christ

THE PUBLISHED CHAPTER

The resurrection of Christ was not the survival of an idea.

It was not the continuation of His influence after death. It was not the courage of His disciples rising from despair. It was not a spiritual metaphor for renewal. It was not the church�s way of saying that the cause of Jesus lived on. Scripture speaks with a concrete force that cannot be reduced to sentiment. The Christ who died was buried. The Christ who was buried rose again. The body that was laid in the tomb was no longer there.

The resurrection of Christ was bodily.

This must be said plainly because the Bible says it plainly. The hope of the gospel does not rest upon a disembodied Christ. It does not rest upon a merely spiritual presence while His body remained under death. It does not rest upon religious memory. It rests upon the risen Lord, who showed His hands and His feet, invited His disciples to handle Him, ate before them, spoke with them, commissioned them, and ascended into heaven as the same Jesus who had been crucified.

Luke records the risen Christ saying, �Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have� (Luke 24:39). Those words leave no room for a resurrection that is only spiritual in the sense of being bodiless. Jesus Himself guards the doctrine. He does not rebuke His disciples merely for sorrow, but for fear and unbelief when they supposed they had seen a spirit. He answers their fear by presenting His body.

His hands.

His feet.

His flesh and bones.

The resurrection did not undo the incarnation. It did not release the Son from true humanity as though the body had been a temporary garment to be discarded after suffering. The eternal Son took true human nature. He lived in a true body. He suffered in a true body. He died in a true body. He was buried in a true body. He rose in a true body. The risen Christ remains truly man, though now glorified, immortal, and beyond the power of death.

The bodily resurrection begins with the body that was crucified.

The Gospels do not speak of Christ�s death in vague terms. They speak of His body. He was scourged. He was crowned with thorns. His hands and feet were pierced. He was nailed to the cross. He thirsted. He cried. He bowed His head. He gave up the ghost. Afterward, His side was pierced. His body was taken down. His body was wrapped in linen. His body was laid in a sepulchre.

This matters because resurrection is not merely life after death. It is the raising of the dead. The body that died is the body raised. If the body is removed from the doctrine, resurrection is no longer resurrection in the biblical sense. It becomes survival. It becomes immortality of the soul. It becomes spiritual continuation. Scripture teaches more.

The apostolic gospel includes the body of Christ because the death of Christ includes the body of Christ. Peter writes that Christ �his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree� (1 Peter 2:24). Paul writes that believers are reconciled �in the body of his flesh through death� (Colossians 1:22). Hebrews says, �we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all� (Hebrews 10:10).

The body of Christ is not incidental to redemption. His body was given. His body was offered. His body bore the wounds of crucifixion. Therefore His bodily resurrection is not a secondary matter. The body that was offered to God and laid in death was raised by God in victory.

This also protects the reality of His suffering. If Christ�s body was not truly His, then His suffering was not truly human. If His death was only appearance, then His resurrection becomes only appearance. Scripture allows neither. The Word was made flesh. The flesh of Christ was not sinful flesh in the sense of corruption, but it was true human flesh. He came �in the likeness of sinful flesh� (Romans 8:3), without sin, yet truly among those He came to redeem.

The One who rose is the One who was crucified.

The empty tomb bears witness to bodily resurrection.

If Christ rose only in spirit while His body remained in the grave, the tomb would not need to be empty. But Scripture repeatedly announces that the place where His body had lain was vacant. The angel said, �He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay� (Matthew 28:6). Mark records, �Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him� (Mark 16:6). Luke writes, �He is not here, but is risen� (Luke 24:6).

The announcement is tied to the place. Come, see the place. Behold the place. He is not here.

The body that had been laid there was gone because Christ had risen. The empty tomb does not explain the resurrection by itself, but it agrees with the resurrection and bears witness to it. The witnesses did not merely receive an inward impression that Jesus was alive. They found the tomb empty, heard the angelic testimony, and later saw the risen Lord Himself.

John gives careful detail. Mary Magdalene came to the sepulchre and saw the stone taken away. Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb. John records that the linen clothes were lying there, and the napkin that had been about His head was not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then he writes, �Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed� (John 20:8).

The graveclothes matter. The body was not merely stolen in confusion. The scene bears the order of divine victory, not the haste of theft. The body that had been wrapped was no longer bound. The Lord had risen.

The empty tomb must not be separated from the appearances of Christ. An empty tomb without the risen Christ appearing could be misunderstood. Appearances without an empty tomb could be spiritualized. Scripture gives both. The tomb was empty, and Jesus appeared. The body was gone from the place of death, and the living Lord stood among His disciples.

When the risen Christ appeared to His disciples, they were terrified. Luke writes that they �supposed that they had seen a spirit� (Luke 24:37). Their first response was not easy belief. They were troubled. They were afraid. They did not immediately impose resurrection upon the event. Jesus had to correct them.

His answer is direct: �Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?� (Luke 24:38). Then He says, �Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself� (Luke 24:39).

That phrase must be heard carefully.

It is I myself.

The resurrection does not create another Jesus. It does not transform Him into a different person. It does not sever the risen Lord from the crucified Lord. The One standing before them is the same Jesus they had known, followed, heard, and seen crucified. His identity continues through death and resurrection. The resurrection is not the replacement of Jesus, but the raising of Jesus.

He shows them His hands and His feet. The wounds identify Him. The marks of crucifixion remain as testimony that the risen Lord is the crucified Lord. His glory does not erase His suffering as though the cross were an embarrassment to be forgotten. Heaven itself will behold Him as the Lamb that was slain. The risen Christ carries the identity of the crucified Christ forever.

Then He says, �handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have� (Luke 24:39). The Lord does not allow them to interpret His appearance as a ghostly visitation. He invites touch. He appeals to flesh and bones. He distinguishes Himself from a spirit in precisely the sense His disciples feared.

The bodily resurrection is therefore not a later theological inference imposed upon the text. It is Christ�s own explanation of His resurrection appearance.

He is not a spirit only.

He has flesh and bones.

He is Himself.

Luke continues with another physical testimony. After showing His hands and feet, Jesus asked, �Have ye here any meat?� (Luke 24:41). They gave Him a piece of broiled fish and of an honeycomb. Then Luke writes, �And he took it, and did eat before them� (Luke 24:43).

The risen Christ ate before His disciples.

This does not mean His glorified body depended upon food in the same way mortal bodies do. The point of the passage is not to define every property of resurrection existence. The point is to demonstrate that He was not a bodiless spirit. He ate before them. He showed that the risen life is embodied life.

Acts preserves the same witness. Peter says that God showed Christ openly after the resurrection, �not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead� (Acts 10:41). The apostles were not witnesses of an abstraction. They ate and drank with Him after He rose.

This witness also guards the goodness of the body. Volume 3 established the goodness of creation, and Volume 4 considered man as an embodied creature made by God. The resurrection of Christ confirms that biblical hope is not the abandonment of embodied life. Sin brought death to the body. Christ�s resurrection declares victory over death in the body.

False spirituality often despises the body. Some imagine salvation as escape from physical existence. Others treat the material as inferior to the spiritual, as though God�s final purpose were to free His people from embodiment altogether. Scripture does not speak that way. The Son took a body. The Son gave His body. The Son rose bodily. The final hope of believers is not to remain unclothed, but to be raised.

Paul writes, �For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ� (Philippians 3:20). Then he adds that Christ �shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body� (Philippians 3:21). The believer�s hope is patterned after His body. Christ has a glorious body. The saints shall be changed.

John gives another important witness through Thomas. Thomas had not been with the disciples when Jesus first appeared. When they told him, �We have seen the Lord,� he answered, �Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe� (John 20:25).

Thomas wanted bodily evidence. He wanted to see the nail prints. He wanted to touch the wound in His side. His demand was not commendable faith, but it shows the kind of resurrection claim being made. The disciples were not telling him that Christ lived in their hearts. They were saying they had seen the Lord who had been crucified.

Eight days later, Jesus came and stood in the midst. He said, �Peace be unto you� (John 20:26). Then He turned to Thomas: �Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing� (John 20:27).

The risen Christ did not refuse the bodily test. He offered His wounds. He called Thomas from unbelief to belief by showing that the crucified body was risen. Thomas answered, �My Lord and my God� (John 20:28).

That confession is not merely a reaction to a miracle. It is worshipful recognition. The One standing before Thomas is the crucified and risen Jesus. He is Lord. He is God. The wounds do not lessen His divine glory. They reveal the identity of the risen Christ as the One who died and now lives.

The wounds of Christ also keep resurrection doctrine from becoming detached from atonement. The risen Lord is not a Christ beyond the cross in the sense that the cross is left behind as something irrelevant. He is beyond death, but not beyond the identity of the slain Lamb. He lives as the One who died. He reigns as the One who was crucified. He intercedes as the One whose blood has been shed. The body is risen, but the wounds still speak.

The bodily resurrection of Christ must not be confused with a mere return to mortal life.

Others in Scripture were raised from the dead before Christ�s resurrection. The son of the widow of Zarephath was raised. The Shunammite�s son was raised. A man revived when his body touched the bones of Elisha. Jairus� daughter was raised. The widow of Nain�s son was raised. Lazarus was raised. Yet those resurrections were not the same as Christ�s resurrection in glory. They returned to mortal life and later died.

Christ rose never to die again.

Paul says, �Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him� (Romans 6:9). That sentence marks the difference. Christ did not merely come back from death for a season. He rose beyond death�s dominion. His resurrection body is bodily and real, yet glorified and immortal.

This guards against another error. To say Christ rose bodily does not mean His risen body was still subject to weakness, corruption, mortality, and death. It was the same body truly raised, but raised in glory. The wounds identified Him, but death no longer had dominion. He could be seen, touched, and heard. He could eat before His disciples. Yet He also appeared among them when the doors were shut. He belonged no longer to the old order of mortal life.

The resurrection body is therefore continuous and transformed. It is continuous because the body that died was raised. It is transformed because it is raised beyond corruption and death. This pattern will matter later when this volume considers Christ the firstfruits and resurrection life. It will also matter for Volume 21, where the resurrection of believers will be treated more fully. Here the focus is Christ Himself. He is bodily risen, and His body is glorious.

Paul�s language in 1 Corinthians 15 helps guard the doctrine. He says concerning the resurrection body, �It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption� (1 Corinthians 15:42). He continues, �It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power� (1 Corinthians 15:43). The resurrection does not mean the body is discarded. It means the body is raised incorruptible, glorious, and powerful.

Christ is the firstfruits of that resurrection order.

The bodily resurrection also guards the doctrine of the incarnation.

If the Son took humanity only temporarily, then His resurrection would not matter in the way Scripture presents it. But the Word made flesh did not take humanity as a passing disguise. He became man. He remains man. The risen and exalted Christ is still the incarnate Son. His humanity is not swallowed up by His deity, abandoned after the cross, or dissolved into heavenly spirit.

Paul writes, �For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus� (1 Timothy 2:5). The Mediator is the man Christ Jesus. Paul wrote that after the resurrection and ascension. The risen Christ remains truly human. He is not less divine because He remains man, and He is not less human because He is glorified.

This is necessary for His continuing ministry. The Great High Priest in heaven is not a bodiless idea. He is the Son of God who took humanity, suffered, died, rose, ascended, and entered the heavens. Hebrews says, �Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God� (Hebrews 4:14). The One who passed into the heavens is Jesus the Son of God. He is the same Christ who was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. His heavenly ministry rests upon the reality of His incarnate person and finished work.

The bodily resurrection therefore binds together Christology, atonement, priesthood, intercession, and hope. The Son became man. As man He obeyed. As man He died. As man He rose. As man He ascended. As man He sits at the right hand of God. As man He will return. Yet He is not mere man. He is the eternal Son, true God and true man, one person forever.

This should produce worship, not speculation. The mystery is not given for curiosity, but for faith. The risen Christ is not less than the incarnate Christ. He is the incarnate Christ glorified.

Scripture also describes Christ as �the firstborn from the dead� (Colossians 1:18). This title does not mean He was the first person ever brought back from death in any sense. It speaks of His supremacy, priority, and representative place in resurrection. He is the beginning of the resurrection order that belongs to new creation glory.

Revelation calls Him �the first begotten of the dead� (Revelation 1:5). That title appears in the opening description of Jesus Christ, who is also �the faithful witness� and �the prince of the kings of the earth� (Revelation 1:5). His resurrection is not merely personal deliverance. It is royal, covenantal, and cosmic in consequence. The risen Christ is the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

This again requires bodily resurrection. A spiritualized resurrection cannot carry the weight of this title. Christ is firstborn from the dead because He has passed through death bodily into indestructible life. His resurrection is the beginning of the resurrection harvest. He is not merely alive after death. He is alive as the One who has conquered death and brought resurrection life into history.

Paul�s language in Acts 13 is helpful. He declares that God raised Jesus and then says, �And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption� (Acts 13:34). No more to return to corruption. Christ�s body did not see corruption, and He will never return to death. His resurrection is final.

The risen body of Christ stands as the pledge that God�s purpose is not defeated by the grave.

The bodily resurrection of Christ matters for the truth of the gospel.

If Christ�s body remained in the tomb, then the apostles preached falsely. If His resurrection was only spiritual, then the tomb did not have to be empty, the wounds did not need to be shown, and the disciples� handling of Him loses its meaning. But Scripture presents a risen Christ who is seen, heard, touched, and known.

It matters for the doctrine of salvation. Paul says Christ �was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification� (Romans 4:25). If the resurrection is reduced to symbol, the assurance attached to it is weakened. The bodily resurrection is God�s declaration that the crucified Christ lives, that the sacrifice has been accepted, and that righteousness stands in the risen Lord.

It matters for the defeat of death. Death is not defeated by ignoring the body. Death claims the body. The grave receives the body. Corruption touches the body. Resurrection answers death where death has laid its claim. Christ rose bodily, and therefore death has been broken in the realm where it appeared to triumph.

It matters for the Christian hope. The believer does not merely hope to survive death as a spirit. The believer hopes for resurrection. The same chapter that declares Christ risen as firstfruits also speaks of those who are Christ�s at His coming. The resurrection of Christ is the foundation of the resurrection of His people.

It matters for creation. God does not save by abandoning His works. The body belongs to creation. Sin has brought corruption and death, but God�s answer is not to discard the body as worthless. His answer begins with the bodily resurrection of Christ and will extend to the resurrection of His people and the restoration of all things under the risen Lord.

It matters for worship. The Christ worshiped by the church is not a memory, not a principle, not a spiritual force, and not a disembodied redeemer. He is the living Lord. He was dead, and He is alive for evermore. He has the keys of hell and of death. His body is glorified. His wounds identify Him. His throne is real. His return will be real.

When John saw the glorified Christ in Revelation, he fell at His feet as dead. The Lord laid His right hand upon him and said, �Fear not; I am the first and the last� (Revelation 1:17). Then He declared, �I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore� (Revelation 1:18).

That is the testimony of the risen Christ concerning Himself.

He lives.

He was dead.

He is alive for evermore.

The order matters. He does not deny death. He passed through it. He does not merely return to His former earthly life. He lives forevermore. Death is behind Him, never again to have dominion. The Christ who speaks in Revelation is the same Christ who died and rose, now glorified, reigning, and holding authority over death itself.

The doctrine of bodily resurrection is therefore not a narrow defense of one detail. It stands beneath the whole doctrine of the risen and exalted Christ. If the resurrection is not bodily, the empty tomb loses its meaning, the appearances become uncertain, the wounds become unnecessary, the incarnation is weakened, the believer�s resurrection hope is endangered, and the gospel itself is distorted.

But Scripture is clear.

The tomb was empty.

The hands and feet were shown.

The disciples handled Him.

He ate before them.

Thomas saw the wounds.

The apostles ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.

The body that was crucified was raised.

Christ is not dead. Christ is not bodiless. Christ is not merely remembered. Christ is risen in glory, alive forevermore, and His bodily resurrection is the beginning of the triumph that will end with death destroyed and all things made subject beneath His feet.

The church must confess what Scripture declares.

The crucified Christ rose bodily from the dead.