A discussion between a Christian and a Gnostic below - sounds familiar :
Matt: Flesh and blood . . . true, an idiom for sinful flesh. However, after the resurrection, Jesus said he had flesh and bones (
Luke 24:39) He had risen from the dead in his physical body . . . He was god in flesh.
Gnostic: He walked through doors . . . his disciples couldn’t recognize him on the road to Emmaus . . . His post-resurrection body was different, it shifted forms, it was not like his pre-resurrection body . . . even according to the canonical gospels.
Matt: He did not walk through doors. He simply appeared in a room.
Gnostic: Can a physical body simply translocate itself?
Matt: Jesus said he would raise his body in
John 2:19-21 . . . he retained the scars after his resurrection. It was the same body.
1 Cor. 15:20-58 (
When converting the site to a CMS (Content Management System) format, I added “:20-58” to the scripture reference so that the scripture bot would pit it up and the reader would be able to see the text. Matt Slick 12/3/08.) speaks of a resurrected body. It is different, yet it is the same body–only resurrected.
Gnostic: It also speaks of two bodies, a spiritual body, and a physical body.
Matt: Yes . . . but take it with all of the Bible . . . they are the same thing . . . like a butterfly was once a caterpillar . . . they are the same life-only transformed.
Gnostic: Yes, I would agree with you absolutely that that is what Paul is ultimately teaching. I am just using his metaphor as a jumping-off point but I would go beyond it and say that they are two different things.
Matt: But to do that is an error. . . I mean, no offense. Jesus said he’d raise the same body he died in. He did.
Gnostic: And that resurrection can only take place when the spirit is free from the flesh, free from the pain and the pleasures of physical existence . . . and that separation of spirit from flesh at the crucifixion is how a Gnostic would describe Jesus’ resurrection.
Matt: He retained the scars . . . it was the same body . . . yet he was able to do ‘weird’ stuff.
Gnostic: Not a resurrection of a mass of flesh and sinful temptations, but a rising of the spirit up out of the physical nature.
Matt: That isn’t what Jesus said about his own body. Why would it be different for others? He is, after all, the first fruits of the resurrection.
Gnostic: Yes! and just as he shed physicality and arose as a “life-giving” spirit, so will we . . . he is the prototype of our “resurrection”, of our ascension past the flesh.
Matt: But he rose in the same physical body he died in.
John 2:19-21 prophesied that. Jesus said it.
Gnostic: No, but Gnostics never accepted most of the canonical scriptures as actually being the word of God.
Matt: Why not?
Gnostic: Well, that is a primary difference in our beliefs.
Matt: Canonicity is another subject.
Gnostic: The life that he gives us is the capacity to move beyond the temptations and pleasures and pain of mortal existence.
Matt: Wait for a second, please.
Gnostic: Sure.
Matt: How do you handle Jesus’ own words that he would raise His own body from the dead? He even told Thomas to stick his finger in His hands and into His side . . . He still had the wounds . . . It was his body—the same one.
Gnostic: I don’t believe Jesus uttered those words. I find the statement blasphemous, just as you would not believe that Jesus said some of the things written down in Gnostic gospels, I am sure.
Matt: It is in the Bible recorded by those who knew him. So, then, you’re accusing John the apostle of being a liar?
Gnostic: sorry I’m going to have to run. Take care, God bless.