Bodily Resurrection?

[jacobpressures]

I don't understand all the whooppla over the bodily resurrection of Christ. i've seen some make a big deal about whether Christ was ressurected as a spirit or in a bodily form.

To me, being resurrected bodily then how did he ascend into heaven where flesh and blood cannot enter?

Where does it state how he was resurrected? Why be so dogmatic?

Being resurrected in bodily form seems to be a problem for the ransom! He got his body back! Would that not nullify it?

Thanks!

 

[Stryder06]

For starters:
Luke 24:29 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.

 

[Mikecpking]

I don't understand all the whooppla over the bodily resurrection of Christ. i've seen some make a big deal about whether Christ was ressurected as a spirit or in a bodily form.

To me, being resurrected bodily then how did he ascend into heaven where flesh and blood cannot enter?

Where does it state how he was resurrected? Why be so dogmatic?

Being resurrected in bodily form seems to be a problem for the ransom! He got his body back! Would that not nullify it?

Thanks!

You can look into 1 Corinthians 15 to get a sense of what it is all about and why it is so important. You will have your answer there!

 

[Drew3110]

For starters:
Luke 24:29 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.

 

[jacobpressures]

I;ll take a look at 1 Co 15. I'm already familiar with the Scripture but I need to look at it from this vantage point. This is where christ hands over the kingdom to God and God becomes all in all.

Regarding Luke, i just figured he put on flesh like angels in times past.

This doesnt explain how he was able to ascend into heaven at Mat 28

 

[grasping the after wind]

I;ll take a look at 1 Co 15. I'm already familiar with the Scripture but I need to look at it from this vantage point. This is where christ hands over the kingdom to God and God becomes all in all.

Regarding Luke, i just figured he put on flesh like angels in times past.

This doesnt explain how he was able to ascend into heaven at Mat 28

With God all things are possible.

 

[ebia]

I don't understand all the whooppla over the bodily resurrection of Christ. i've seen some make a big deal about whether Christ was ressurected as a spirit or in a bodily form.

To me, being resurrected bodily then how did he ascend into heaven where flesh and blood cannot enter?

When Paul, say, talks about "flesh and blood" he doesn't mean our physicality but our corrupted nature.

Where does it state how he was resurrected? Why be so dogmatic?

As N.T. Wright has shown in increadible detail in Resurrection of the Son of God that is what the word meant in both the Jewish and greco/roman pagan worlds of the time. Both worlds had very good terms for describing visions and spiritual manifestations, and both worlds kept that word for physical, bodily, coming back from the dead. Additionally, a non-physical resurrection would not have produced the church or the New Testament becaue the theology both relied on is based on physical resurrection overturning all their preconceptions.

Additionally the gospel stories - especially John's - go out of their way to make it clear that this is physical, while at the same time making clear that is something substantially different about Jesus new physicality.

Being resurrected in bodily form seems to be a problem for the ransom! He got his body back! Would that not nullify it?

Thanks!

If you one gets obsessed with overdoing one metaphor for how Jesus crucifixion works to the exclusion of everything else that is going on, maybe.

The idea of non-physical resurrection would be oxymoronic in Paul's world - its an invention of 2nd century gnostics who want to keep the word but complete reverse its meaning to fit the rest of their theology.

 

[GratiaCorpusChristi]

I second ebia's recommendation of N.T. Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God, although if you aren't in for 600 pages of dense scholarly material (but who isn't?), I recommend starting with his simplified and condensed book Surprised by Hope.

 

[Melethiel]

I second ebia's recommendation of N.T. Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God, although if you aren't in for 600 pages of dense scholarly material (but who isn't?), I recommend starting with his simplified and condensed book Surprised by Hope.

What he said.

 

[Dorothea]

http://www.orthodox.net/questions/ascension_1.html


QUESTION 1. What significance does the event of the Ascension of Jesus Christ have for the Christian? We should understand why we celebrate any feast, and its inner meaning.

ANSWER

Christ ascended to Heaven as man and as God. Once he became a man, being at the same time, as always, perfect God, he never put off His manhood, but deified it, and made it and US capable of apprehending heavenly things.

The Ascension is a prophecy of things to come for those who love God and believe in Him in an Orthodox manner. Those who believe and live according to this belief will be in the heavens, in the flesh, with Him, just as He now abides in the Heavens in the flesh. Our flesh and souls will be saved, because Christ made human flesh capable of deification.

We also call to mind the promise of the Holy Spirit, since Christ mentions this promise He had made before to them, and its advent is tied to His ascension thusly:

"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. {8} And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: {9} Of sin, because they believe not on me; {10} Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; {11} Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." (John 16:7-11)

What Christ has done for human flesh and our souls is impossible to understand, but the church, with sweet melody, meditates with fervor and thanksgiving and precise theology in her services.

"O Christ, having taken upon thy shoulders our nature, which had gone astray, thou didst ascend and bring it unto God the Father" (Matins canon for the Ascension, Ode 7)

"Having raised our nature, which was deadened by sin, Thou didst bring it unto Thine own Father, O Savior" (ibid.)

"Unto Him Who by His descent destroyed the adversary, and Who by His ascent raised up man, give praise O ye priests, and supremely exalt Him, O ye people, unto all the ages." (Matins canon for the Ascension, Ode 8)

Since the disciples were "filled with great joy", we who are Orthodox in belief and way of life should naturally be this way also, and should hasten to the temple. There we can meditate upon the magnificent truths and promises in the ascension by listening carefully to the divinely inspired theology, sung in sweet melody. If we pray with care, and expectation, having valued divine worship above our worldly cares, surely God will enlighten us and noetically teach us the true meaning of Christ's Ascension.