The Christian Belief of the Resurrected Glorified Body

This thread isn't proselytizing Christianity. That's not the intent. The intent is discussion on the Christian belief that after Christ died, He resurrected and had a glorified body. The Christian belief is that WE ALL will do the same in time; our souls will reunite with a resurrected and glorified human body and that's how we will spend eternity. That's the belief of most, but not all, Christians. Even though that's the official belief of most Christian denominations, I ANECDOTALLY think that if you ask individual people what they think will happen, many don't think they'll reunite with a resurrected human body but will spend eternity in spirit form. But anyways, this is about the official belief of the Christian denominations.

The belief is that we will all will have resurrected bodies ... some resurrected and glorified into Heaven, and some resurrected damned and into Hell.

"We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life. For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection. (Romans 6:4-5)

What happened to Christ in scripture - Christ suffered, was crucified, and died. He was buried in a rock tomb. On the third day He raised Himself from the dead, resurrected Himself body and soul.

John 2:19 - Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

John 10:18 - No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

His body still had the wounds of the crucifixion. He invited His apostle Thomas to put his hands in the holes in his hands and in the wound in His side to prove that it was Him. Ghosts/spirits don't have flesh and blood wounds that can be touched, but human bodies do. And His apostles took hold of His feet to worship Him. Ghosts/spirits don't have feet.

Luke 24:39 - Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

John 20:27 - Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Matthew 28:9 - Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him

Jesus could still eat if He wished. He didn't have to anymore, but He could. Ghosts/spirits don't eat but human bodies do.

Luke 24:30–32 And it came to pass, as He sat at meat with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and broke, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and He vanished out of their sight.

Luke 24:40-43 "When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, "Have you any food here?" So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence.

His body was changed though. It was resurrected and GLORIFIED. What are the aspects of a glorified body?

Based on scripture, it is believed that there are four characteristics of our glorified, resurrected bodies: their impassibility, their subtlety, their agility, and their clarity (see St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Supplement, 82-85). For the just, their glorified bodies will be incapable of dying, suffering, or sickness of any kind (impassibility). They will have a spiritualized body in the sense that their bodies will be both incorruptible and not bound by space, time, or the physical limitations that we now experience (subtlety). The glorified body will perfectly reflect and obey the spiritual soul (agility). We see these aspects in Christ appearing and disappearing, passing through locked doors, and so on. But perhaps the most glorious aspect of the resurrected body is its radiant beauty (clarity). The resurrected bodies of the saints will reflect the radiant light of Christ. Jesus taught this in Matthew 13:43 when he said, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Each and every saint is perfected in every way. Each and every saint will be perfectly beautiful. More here.. Scripture says the glorified body will be clothed in white garments (Revelation 3:4–5, 18), they will be pure and undefiled by sin. Our earthly bodies are “weak” in many ways. Not only are we subject to the natural laws of gravity and time/space, we are weakened by sin and its temptations. Our glorified bodies will be empowered by the Spirit that owns us, and weakness will be no more. More here.

So that is the belief of most Christians - death, then the body and soul reunite and there is resurrection, either glorified and heavenly or damned and to hell, with the body having new glorified abilities.

Also worth looking at 1 Corinthians ch15 vv47-50, which is on the same theme.

P.S. Or better still v37, where the point of the image is that the body of the plant is changed from the body of the seed, without losing continuity.

a reply to: FlyersFan

His body still had the wounds of the crucifixion. He invited His apostle Thomas to put his hands in the holes in his hands and in the wound in His side to prove that it was Him.

Glorified bodies don't heal? Inconvenient. Wouldn't want to die in a car crash then, would you?

For the just, their glorified bodies will be incapable of dying, suffering, or sickness of any kind (impassibility).

Seems to contradict the above. But are you sure that's what 'impassibility' means? I think it means solid, i.e. (as you say) not a ghost.

Please don't tell me Jesus opened wounds in His own Immaculate flesh to convince the Apostles they were in the Real Presence. That would be a bit gross, like a horror movie.

I don't want my old body. Not sure anyone does.

I believe that I will become something incorporeal. My spirit will leave my body and will never again rejoin with my original corrupt and now old and ugly body.

I believe in heaven with Christ, us mortal beings will have a spiritual body that can take the form of our original body, do what a perfectly healthy perfect body can do and look just like the human body. But it will be only our essence, our soul, our spirit that is truly original, the real us, the real me.

I have a friend, a very intelligent man, who with his brother witnessed his mother's soul leave her body. Her body was old, withered and useless. But he and his brother saw his mother depart from her body in a ray of light where there was no external source - from her body going upward. They both didn't speak of it until days later, when my friend finally asked his brother "did you see" and the brother said "yes, I thought I was crazy", he replied "so did I". This incorporeal soul had no shape only light and left the body never to return.

None of the scriptures clearly say that we will get our original human bodies back. Who would want them? A new body resembling the old, perhaps - but not the corrupt old body that for many is nothing but ashes or a skeleton, or a skeleton with blobs of flesh hanging off of it.

Christ was a different story, he is God. His body wasn't burned, his body still had all the flesh, his body had not irreparably decayed. We are not God. But his body also had the ability to appear and disappear at will, so he also has an incorporeal form.

originally posted by: The2Billies
I don't want my old body. Not sure anyone does.

Pretty sure no one wants the old body back the way it is.

I believe that I will become something incorporeal.

Most Christians believe that they become disembodied souls.

My spirit will leave my body and will never again rejoin with my original corrupt and now old and ugly body.

The Christian belief is that the body renews and becomes glorified. Never again to be corrupt and old and ugly.

None of the scriptures clearly say that we will get our original human bodies back.

The Christian concept of a resurrected glorified body comes from Christ rising from the dead with His body glorified. It is clearly His original body, it still had the marks of the crucifixion on it.

But his body also had the ability to appear and disappear at will, so he also has an incorporeal form.

The belief is that it is indeed flesh and bones, solid. That's from the scripture quotes I gave. It's not incorporeal but it has new abilities that, even though it is clearly solid flesh and bones, it can appear and disappear and walk through walls, travel great distance, etc.

I think my thoughts on this align with yours pretty much.

As I said in the opening post, even though this is the belief of the majority of Christian denominations, I think a lot of people are not buying into the 'resurrection of the body' part and instead are embracing the New Age 'disembodied soul in spirit form forever' thought. Anecdotally I hear that a lot.

His body still had the wounds of the crucifixion. He invited His apostle Thomas to put his hands in the holes in his hands and in the wound in His side to prove that it was Him. Ghosts/spirits don't have flesh and blood wounds that can be touched, but human bodies do. And His apostles took hold of His feet to worship Him. Ghosts/spirits don't have feet.

Luke 24:39 - Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

John 20:27 - Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Matthew 28:9 - Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him

Jesus could still eat if He wished. He didn't have to anymore, but He could. Ghosts/spirits don't eat but human bodies do.

Luke 24:30–32 And it came to pass, as He sat at meat with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and broke, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and He vanished out of their sight.

Luke 24:40-43 "When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, "Have you any food here?" So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence.

I've always found it curious that he came back in spirit and was unrecognizable by those closest to him. With some prompting, they were finally convinced it was Him.

His 'spirit body' showed the wounds leading to his death, but the fact that they had to be pointed out to be noticed has always been curious to me.

a reply to: FlyersFan

Here's what I believe...

We are given "spiritual bodies" as outlined here...

1 Corinthians 15:44, 49-50

44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Now, that's not to say that our spiritual bodies are not capable of manifesting into any physical state that it wants. We know that even though Jesus visited his disciples after his death and showed them the nail scars in his hands, He was also capable of appearing in their midst without opening the closed door...

John 20:19 - Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.


Just like God/Jesus was able to manifest into the physical, at will, and appear before Abraham in the Old Testament...

Genesis 18:1-4, 33

18 And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;

2 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,

3 And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:

4 Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:

33 And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.


So, ultimately, I believe that we will be in spiritual bodies that have the ability to manifest into the physical, at will, just like God/Jesus and the angels did throughout the Bible. If Jesus wants to present himself to his disciples as still having scars in His hands, He can. If He wants to appear to his disciples as a completely healed Messiah from all of his physical torture, He can. It's just a matter of what message He's trying to convey at the time. If He still wanted to appear to his followers as a cloud or a burning bush, He can do that too. There are no limits.