The Bible NETWork ~ Impacting the World for Christ one post at a time!

Yes & No. A physical body....yes. Somehow transformed and without blemish and essentially immortal. Flesh and Blood and yet without my "fleshly" limitatiions so-to-speak.

Not necessarily "fleshly" but indeed physical. He is, in my theology, physically with God the Father making intercession for those who are His.

When Christ returns (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) is the answer to your first question. The second is not explained in the Bible but it will be done by the power of God. IMHO how does not really matter.

The body is placed in the ground dead. Perishable because of the forensic effects of sin in this age. It will be physically raised imperishable by the power of God because of the sacrifice of Christ, who is God (Romans 9:5 & Colossians 1:15-22).

I think the comments made by Psychobob & PastorJohn are helpful.

Because of the direction the current discussion has led I reccomend we either leave the current thread open or start a new thred.

Blessings,
Randy

Since it is the body of Christ that we started with, let's look at that first.

When Jesus instituted the Last supper, he took a loaf, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying: “This means my body which is to be given in YOUR behalf. In John 6:51 he had already told them the bread I will give is my flesh.

That loaf symbolizes the human body that Jesus sacrificed. The act of eating that loaf in common participation is what indicates that all the eaters are “one body,” “Christ’s body.” By partaking of the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ they have all received justification from God or have been declared righteous. This justification of them in the flesh has not been an end in itself. That is, the matter did not stop there, but this justification or declaring them righteous was given them for a special purpose. What? To serve as a stepping-stone toward their being sacrificed with Christ and then being begotten by Jehovah God to become his spiritual children, a “holy nation, a people for special possession,” in a new covenant with him. (Rom. 5:1, 2, 9; 8:15-17; Jas. 1:18; 1 Peter 2:9) Then as his spiritual children with a hope of heavenly life Jehovah God anointed them with his spirit, to make them members of Christ’s body. By this he brought them into the covenant for the heavenly kingdom

Consider also the typical temple and the real Temple of God

The curtain that separated the Holy from the Most Holy pictured Jesus’ fleshly body. (Hebrews 10:19, 20) It was the barrier that kept Jesus from entering into his Father’s presence while he was a man on earth. (1 Cor 15:50) At the time of Jesus’ death, “the curtain of the sanctuary was rent in two, from top to bottom.” (Matthew 27:51) This dramatically indicated that the barrier preventing Jesus’ entry into heaven had now been removed. Three days later, Jehovah God performed an outstanding miracle. He raised Jesus from the dead, not as a mortal human of flesh and blood, but as a glorious spirit being “continuing alive forever.” (Hebrews 7:24) Forty days later, Jesus ascended to heaven and entered the real “Holy of Holies,” “to appear before the person of God for us.” Hebrews 9:24.

Mainly for these reasons I conclude that he had to have materialized a body for the disciples to see for his flesh, as a human, had been sacrificed, once for all time. Nothing he did between his resurrection and his ascension was different from what angels (also spirit beings) had done in the past. Many things he did were unlike a natural body, ie: appearing in locked room, vanishing, recognized then not recognized, etc.

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The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.

DB: It is. NWT

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The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.

Just because the translators use a different English word to translate it does not equal a paraphrase, does it? Which words disturb you in that quote?

Here it is in the Greek:

My translation:
"And He took bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to them saying to them, 'This is my body given for your sake; do this in remembrance of me.'"
There is no syntactical reason to translate "ἐστιν" as "means." There are numerous theological reasons people would like to translate it as "means" "represents" etc.


IMO, we are returned to the perfect state Adam and Eve enjoyed before the Fall. I believe this is the form of our bodies God intended us to live with in the eternal kingdom. Jesus' resurrection was the first glimpse of the perfected body we will receive at the resurrection. I have been reading Greek Orthodox theology, and their theology of theosis is very helpful understanding our final, perfected state, IMO.

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Στηθι εδραιος, ως ακμων τυπτομενος. - Ignatius |II Timothy 4:2| All Scripture is NKJV, unless a translation from the Greek text or otherwise noted.
M.A. Theological Studies (New Testament), Faith Seminary, Tacoma WA
Member, Evangelical Theological Society, North American Patristics Society.
Assistant Editor and contributing author of several published and forthcoming publications.

i have suspected this as well

I had the opportunity to stay with a Mormon couple some years back. They also believed in the Trinity but I differed when they claimed that Abba Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit...all had physical bodies.

God bless.

Yes, like Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormon's teach a heretical view of God, one that is opposed to what He has revealed about Himself in the Scriptures.

Regards.

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All Scripture quotations are New American Standard Bible, unless otherwise indicated.

JIMD We worship the same God Jesus did. Be careful with the name calling. It makes me wonder about your motives.

In the early NT a heretic was someone who intentionally causes division. Peter used heresy in reference to the destructive teaching false teachers bring with them. It is not name calling to say that both the Mormon view of God (either polytheism or henotheism) or Charles Russell's view of God (non-trinitarian monotheism) is heresy. They are both outside of orthodox Christian theology.

Now, I still want to know where Jesus' body went, and why the angels and Jesus lied to the disciples about having a physical body.

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Στηθι εδραιος, ως ακμων τυπτομενος. - Ignatius |II Timothy 4:2| All Scripture is NKJV, unless a translation from the Greek text or otherwise noted.
M.A. Theological Studies (New Testament), Faith Seminary, Tacoma WA
Member, Evangelical Theological Society, North American Patristics Society.
Assistant Editor and contributing author of several published and forthcoming publications.

lowjoy, I have no knowledge of you and my comments about JW and Mormonism are not directed toward you personally. I will acknowledge that individual Jehovah's Witnesses and individual Mormons may be true children of God but, if they are it is by "accident" (or more correctly by the sovereign calling of the Holy Spirit and His illumination of His truth through His Word in their lives), not by correctly following the teachings of either of those ecclesiastical organizations.

As to whether or not we worship the same God, I worship One God (one Being) who exists in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who have together existed from eternity. If you acknowledge that Triune God as your God, then we certainly do worship the same God. But if you worship a god who created another god, his son, who then created the world, then we indeed do not worship the same God. But, I would like to have you worship the true God. I would be glad to discuss the issue with you. I will be respectful in the discussion, but I will never admit that either the god of the JW's or the gods of Mormonism are the same god as the God I worship, the God revealed in Scripture, the God who said "I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other gods before Me."

Regards.

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All Scripture quotations are New American Standard Bible, unless otherwise indicated.

Sorry, lowjoy, I misread your post. You're not saying you worship the same God as I do, you are saying you worship the same God as Jesus. Well, then, if that were true, Jesus would have violated the first commandment, which prohibits the worship of any but the true God. Yet Jesus accepted worship:
So while Jesus worshipped His Father, He also accepted worship. So either there are two gods (leaving for a time the discussion of the divinity of the Holy Spirit), or as the Christian Church has declared definitively as its teaching there is one God existing eternally as three persons.

Regards.

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All Scripture quotations are New American Standard Bible, unless otherwise indicated.

JimD: As I said we worship the same God that Jesus did since as you yourself said "Jesus worshiped the Father". Anything past this will only end in debate and is not the subject of this thread. I do not wish to violate the rules of this forum as I appreciate the value of rules and structure and I am happy to abide by them.