John 4:24. God is a Spirit. Since this is true, I'm inclined to think Jesus' reality is not his body, but spirit. The difference between God and Jesus is that God created Jesus, not the opposite.
Things bear like things as was established in James 3:12. The idea of both spirit and flesh being what/who I am,I must admit, is a bit confusing to me. If Spirit gives birth to spirit, and God who is a Spirit created me, am I not also spirit? Or if I truly am a body, is God a body? Is it possible He is both? If a fig tree bears only figs just as an olive tree bears only olives, and a grapevine bears only grapes, then logic tells me I am also spirit, if I'm created by God, Who is a Spirit. I could accept the possibility I'm both a body and a spirit, except being opposites, can they coexist? Again, it is a bit ambiguous to me. I could use some clarity.
Matthew 4:1, Mark 14:38, Luke 8:55, Luke 11:13, Luke 23:46, Luke 24:39, John 3:5,6, John 4:23,24, John 6:63, John 14:17, 1Corinthians 12:3, 1Corinthians 15:45, Galatians 5:16,17, Galatians 5:22-25, Galatians 6:8, Ephesians 1:17, 1Thessalonians 5:23, James 2:26,
Romans 8, Hebrews 4:12,
Warning, 1Timothy 4:1,
1John 4:1-11, 1John 4,
Hopefully these are helpful in your study of your spirit & flesh; (body)
for us to know about the mystery of the incarnation of the Son and of the Godhead as three Persons in one Being, as Jesus stated, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me, If you have seen me you have seen the Father." (as noted by Christ)
Jesus is forever glorified as He was before He was Incarnated in human flesh, but from the Incarnation on, He also has a glorified human body forever. So, now He possesses both the glory of the Godhead along with the glory of perfected humanity. He has a physical body, as He showed Thomas His wounds to touch. In the resurrection, our bodies will be glorified like Jesus' humanity. We will have a physical body that is glorified, having put off what is mortal and corrupted and acquiring a body that is immortal and without the effects of sin, since our sinful nature will be forever removed from us.
Some people think that we will be only spirits, but Jesus' words to Thomas say otherwise. He said that a spirit does not have flesh and bones like I have. Just as Jesus resurrected in the same human body that died on the cross, yet now glorified, so will we be resurrected in the same bodies that died, only glorified like the humanity and body of Jesus.
And lastly, we are an integrated being of body, soul, and spirit. These three make up who we truly are as a human person. If we are only a spirit in eternity, then we are not truly human anymore. So, I believe that when we are resurrected, we will be truly human as integrated body, soul, and spirit, only glorified, even more so than Adam was, as He was capable of sinning, but in eternity, we will no longer be able to sin.
for us to know about the mystery of the incarnation of the Son and of the Godhead as three Persons in one Being, as Jesus stated, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me, If you have seen me you have seen the Father." (as noted by Christ)
Jesus is forever glorified as He was before He was Incarnated in human flesh, but from the Incarnation on, He also has a glorified human body forever. So, now He possesses both the glory of the Godhead along with the glory of perfected humanity. He has a physical body, as He showed Thomas His wounds to touch. In the resurrection, our bodies will be glorified like Jesus' humanity. We will have a physical body that is glorified, having put off what is mortal and corrupted and acquiring a body that is immortal and without the effects of sin, since our sinful nature will be forever removed from us.
Some people think that we will be only spirits, but Jesus' words to Thomas say otherwise. He said that a spirit does not have flesh and bones like I have. Just as Jesus resurrected in the same human body that died on the cross, yet now glorified, so will we be resurrected in the same bodies that died, only glorified like the humanity and body of Jesus.
And lastly, we are an integrated being of body, soul, and spirit. These three make up who we truly are as a human person. If we are only a spirit in eternity, then we are not truly human anymore. So, I believe that when we are resurrected, we will be truly human as integrated body, soul, and spirit, only glorified, even more so than Adam was, as He was capable of sinning, but in eternity, we will no longer be able to sin.
You pose some interesting dilemmas in your post and you have been given some good replies by Richard and Chris.
My understanding of God is that He exists eternally as three persons in one Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Eternally prior to the incarnation of the Son, the Godhead existed as pure Spirit, without a physical body made up of DNA, molecules, and matter.
The angels also are spirits and do not have a physical body made up of matter. But this being said. We really do not know what spiritual bodies look like or are made of. The Scripture does not describe this aspect of the spiritual realm for us. We will just have to wait and see when we get to that realm after death and the resurrection of our bodies.
As Richard sad, there were many Christophanies in the O.T. where the Son of God appeared in the form of the Angel of the Lord. For example: to Adam in the Garden; to Noah; to Abraham (many times); to Jacob; to Moses in the burning bush; to the Israelites in the pillar of fire/cloud; to Ezekiel, Isaiah, Elijah, and other prophets; to Job in the storm; and upon the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. These Christophanies are of the Son without His human body since the physical body was not yet made for Him until He was conceived in Mary which involved fusing matter, (DNA, molecules) to form His body in the womb of Mary.
It seems that, although the Godhead prior to the incarnation was purely Spirit, He could take on an appearance of having a body when visiting men, like the angels did. When the Father made a fleshly body for the Son in Mary's womb, the Son, who was divine and equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit, added humanity to Himself so that from then on He was and always will be fully God and fully human in one Person. This is hard to understand, being a mystery, as Paul states. But we take it on faith that this is true. In this life we know in part, but in eternity we will know all that God determines is necessary....
God is Spirit, no beginning and no end, CANNOT be seen, touched, felt, etc.
The Father wanted to be KNOWN, seen, touched, etc., available to the senses.
The Father created a IMMORTAL BODY, and God (SPIRIT, LIFE) put HIMSELF in that Body, and he called that BODY the MAN JESUS CHRIST.
Christ the Boby of God, the Father, no beginning no end, the First and the Last.
Christ, THE BODY, can do nothing of itself, it's the FATHER in that BODY, that does everything.
And The Father sent Jesus Christ THE MAN to MULTIPLY HIMSELF. The FIRSTBORN among many brethren.
Bodies of men, THAT CAN DO NOTHING OF ITSELF, that exist, and does the work, of CHRIST, by that LIFE OF CHRIST. This was all made possible by the death of the flesh and blood body on the cross and the RESURRECTION of the flesh and bone (IMMORTAL) body of Christ.
This is what WE ARE: BODIES that exist, and do the WORKS OF CHRIST; by the LIFE OF CHRIST.
We were put in a body of flesh and bone; FIRST, so we could come to this KNOWLEDGE.
Ephesians 4:4 ONE BODY (man).....ONE SPIRIT (GOD)(LIFE) ...
Ephesians 4:6 ONE GOD .....FATHER OF ALL .....
Colossians 1:27 ....this mystery ...Christ in you (his body)
Philippians 2:13 For it is God (Christ in you) that WORKETH both TO WILL and TO DO his good pleasure.
First of all; God did not "create" Jesus. He is part of the eternal Godhead; as the Holy Spirit. (I have lost my search button for Google so you will have tro look up the verses: See John 1 and 1 John 1.) We need to also see what is referred to as the "Christophone" (not sure if that's spelled right). This translates to the "preincarnate" Christ; but surely He can appear in His full glory in a vision as He did with Paul ( Acts 9 I think); and with John in Revelation.
To add to the complexity; God Himself also is said to hear and see; and even have certain bodily parts ascribed to Him. It is said that no man has seen God (the Father) at any time; and that no one can see God and live. As to whether He can also have some sort of physical presence at least if not the same type of body seems likely; and scriptures seem to describe God the Father and Christ in different passages.
In any event; Christ after the Resurrection clearly was in a glorified state; but still bearing the scars of His crucifixion on His hands and feet (as well as His side as demonstrated with "doubting" Thomas). He also was able to eat. Man was created without sin; and designed to have a body as well as angels. Somehow; we shall be in a body after Resurrection; albeit as the angels of heaven (although again that also would stand to reason for the spirits of just men such as seen in Hebrews 11).
It is an important point that we believe Christ came in the FLESH to die as our substitute; not be a mystical cult that denies that fact. It is the nature of man; not his chemical makeup that determines his state spiritually. Nonetheless; we are asked to die to self putting to death the deeds of the flesh. We are in the world; but not of it. Our bodies; therefore are Temples of the Holy Spirit and are to be living sacrifices. Marriage is said to be an example of Christ with His church incorporating mind; body and soul and is in a mysterious manner like Christ and His church.
Yes, we are essentially spirits. But to live on this Earth that God has given us & to enjoy its blessings, God has given us a body (both for visibility & for being human). John 1:1-14 tells us that the Word was with God & was God - that Word was made flesh (human). John chapter 1 speaks of Jesus, God's Word made flesh, to fulfil the Purposes of God for fallen humanity. There was no other reason for such an 'incarnation', for the Word & the Spirit are eternally part of the Godhead & each member functioned as purposed by God.
God does not have a body. John 4:24, "God is Spirit". But God has manifested Himself in the flesh in Jesus, His Son incarnate. One disciple, Philip, asked Jesus, "shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us".
Jesus answered him, " Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake."
This does not mean that Jesus, in the flesh, looks the same as the Father, but Jesus' very works, His Life, & His Words, reveal the Person of God. So when we look at Jesus' Life, we are seeing the exact image of God, for how else can we describe the image of a spirit? Colossians 1:15: 'Jesus is the image of the invisible God'.
We are all spirits (our true essence), clothed with a body. Once our bodies perish, our spirits, which can never die, are released to live on into eternity. Therefore, Jesus had to come to give His Life for us, so that if we believe in Him, calling upon His Name, the Father seals us as His & receives us into His family. If we refuse Him, only punishment remains. How we respond to God's Love in Jesus determines where our spirits will finally spend eternity.
Things bear like things as was established in James 3:12. The idea of both spirit and flesh being what/who I am,I must admit, is a bit confusing to me. If Spirit gives birth to spirit, and God who is a Spirit created me, am I not also spirit? Or if I truly am a body, is God a body? Is it possible He is both? If a fig tree bears only figs just as an olive tree bears only olives, and a grapevine bears only grapes, then logic tells me I am also spirit, if I'm created by God, Who is a Spirit. I could accept the possibility I'm both a body and a spirit, except being opposites, can they coexist? Again, it is a bit ambiguous to me. I could use some clarity.
Romans 8, Hebrews 4:12,
Warning, 1Timothy 4:1,
1John 4:1-11, 1John 4,
Hopefully these are helpful in your study of your spirit & flesh; (body)
spirit we are given when born again I.E. holy spirit, body of course flesh and blood soul is breath life when we take our first
breath we become a living soul. Scripturally when we a believer falls asleep body dust of the ground Gen 3:19 the spirit goes back
to who gave it God and when you take your last breath that is the end of soul life.
for us to know about the mystery of the incarnation of the Son and of the Godhead as three Persons in one Being, as Jesus stated, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me, If you have seen me you have seen the Father." (as noted by Christ)
Jesus is forever glorified as He was before He was Incarnated in human flesh, but from the Incarnation on, He also has a glorified human body forever. So, now He possesses both the glory of the Godhead along with the glory of perfected humanity. He has a physical body, as He showed Thomas His wounds to touch. In the resurrection, our bodies will be glorified like Jesus' humanity. We will have a physical body that is glorified, having put off what is mortal and corrupted and acquiring a body that is immortal and without the effects of sin, since our sinful nature will be forever removed from us.
Some people think that we will be only spirits, but Jesus' words to Thomas say otherwise. He said that a spirit does not have flesh and bones like I have. Just as Jesus resurrected in the same human body that died on the cross, yet now glorified, so will we be resurrected in the same bodies that died, only glorified like the humanity and body of Jesus.
And lastly, we are an integrated being of body, soul, and spirit. These three make up who we truly are as a human person. If we are only a spirit in eternity, then we are not truly human anymore. So, I believe that when we are resurrected, we will be truly human as integrated body, soul, and spirit, only glorified, even more so than Adam was, as He was capable of sinning, but in eternity, we will no longer be able to sin.
for us to know about the mystery of the incarnation of the Son and of the Godhead as three Persons in one Being, as Jesus stated, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me, If you have seen me you have seen the Father." (as noted by Christ)
Jesus is forever glorified as He was before He was Incarnated in human flesh, but from the Incarnation on, He also has a glorified human body forever. So, now He possesses both the glory of the Godhead along with the glory of perfected humanity. He has a physical body, as He showed Thomas His wounds to touch. In the resurrection, our bodies will be glorified like Jesus' humanity. We will have a physical body that is glorified, having put off what is mortal and corrupted and acquiring a body that is immortal and without the effects of sin, since our sinful nature will be forever removed from us.
Some people think that we will be only spirits, but Jesus' words to Thomas say otherwise. He said that a spirit does not have flesh and bones like I have. Just as Jesus resurrected in the same human body that died on the cross, yet now glorified, so will we be resurrected in the same bodies that died, only glorified like the humanity and body of Jesus.
And lastly, we are an integrated being of body, soul, and spirit. These three make up who we truly are as a human person. If we are only a spirit in eternity, then we are not truly human anymore. So, I believe that when we are resurrected, we will be truly human as integrated body, soul, and spirit, only glorified, even more so than Adam was, as He was capable of sinning, but in eternity, we will no longer be able to sin.
You pose some interesting dilemmas in your post and you have been given some good replies by Richard and Chris.
My understanding of God is that He exists eternally as three persons in one Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Eternally prior to the incarnation of the Son, the Godhead existed as pure Spirit, without a physical body made up of DNA, molecules, and matter.
The angels also are spirits and do not have a physical body made up of matter. But this being said. We really do not know what spiritual bodies look like or are made of. The Scripture does not describe this aspect of the spiritual realm for us. We will just have to wait and see when we get to that realm after death and the resurrection of our bodies.
As Richard sad, there were many Christophanies in the O.T. where the Son of God appeared in the form of the Angel of the Lord. For example: to Adam in the Garden; to Noah; to Abraham (many times); to Jacob; to Moses in the burning bush; to the Israelites in the pillar of fire/cloud; to Ezekiel, Isaiah, Elijah, and other prophets; to Job in the storm; and upon the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. These Christophanies are of the Son without His human body since the physical body was not yet made for Him until He was conceived in Mary which involved fusing matter, (DNA, molecules) to form His body in the womb of Mary.
It seems that, although the Godhead prior to the incarnation was purely Spirit, He could take on an appearance of having a body when visiting men, like the angels did. When the Father made a fleshly body for the Son in Mary's womb, the Son, who was divine and equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit, added humanity to Himself so that from then on He was and always will be fully God and fully human in one Person. This is hard to understand, being a mystery, as Paul states. But we take it on faith that this is true. In this life we know in part, but in eternity we will know all that God determines is necessary....
God is Spirit, no beginning and no end, CANNOT be seen, touched, felt, etc.
The Father wanted to be KNOWN, seen, touched, etc., available to the senses.
The Father created a IMMORTAL BODY, and God (SPIRIT, LIFE) put HIMSELF in that Body, and he called that BODY the MAN JESUS CHRIST.
Christ the Boby of God, the Father, no beginning no end, the First and the Last.
Christ, THE BODY, can do nothing of itself, it's the FATHER in that BODY, that does everything.
And The Father sent Jesus Christ THE MAN to MULTIPLY HIMSELF. The FIRSTBORN among many brethren.
Bodies of men, THAT CAN DO NOTHING OF ITSELF, that exist, and does the work, of CHRIST, by that LIFE OF CHRIST. This was all made possible by the death of the flesh and blood body on the cross and the RESURRECTION of the flesh and bone (IMMORTAL) body of Christ.
This is what WE ARE: BODIES that exist, and do the WORKS OF CHRIST; by the LIFE OF CHRIST.
We were put in a body of flesh and bone; FIRST, so we could come to this KNOWLEDGE.
Ephesians 4:4 ONE BODY (man).....ONE SPIRIT (GOD)(LIFE) ...
Ephesians 4:6 ONE GOD .....FATHER OF ALL .....
Colossians 1:27 ....this mystery ...Christ in you (his body)
Philippians 2:13 For it is God (Christ in you) that WORKETH both TO WILL and TO DO his good pleasure.
THY WILL BE DONE
God Bless YOU.
To add to the complexity; God Himself also is said to hear and see; and even have certain bodily parts ascribed to Him. It is said that no man has seen God (the Father) at any time; and that no one can see God and live. As to whether He can also have some sort of physical presence at least if not the same type of body seems likely; and scriptures seem to describe God the Father and Christ in different passages.
In any event; Christ after the Resurrection clearly was in a glorified state; but still bearing the scars of His crucifixion on His hands and feet (as well as His side as demonstrated with "doubting" Thomas). He also was able to eat. Man was created without sin; and designed to have a body as well as angels. Somehow; we shall be in a body after Resurrection; albeit as the angels of heaven (although again that also would stand to reason for the spirits of just men such as seen in Hebrews 11).
It is an important point that we believe Christ came in the FLESH to die as our substitute; not be a mystical cult that denies that fact. It is the nature of man; not his chemical makeup that determines his state spiritually. Nonetheless; we are asked to die to self putting to death the deeds of the flesh. We are in the world; but not of it. Our bodies; therefore are Temples of the Holy Spirit and are to be living sacrifices. Marriage is said to be an example of Christ with His church incorporating mind; body and soul and is in a mysterious manner like Christ and His church.
God does not have a body. John 4:24, "God is Spirit". But God has manifested Himself in the flesh in Jesus, His Son incarnate. One disciple, Philip, asked Jesus, "shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us".
Jesus answered him, " Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake."
This does not mean that Jesus, in the flesh, looks the same as the Father, but Jesus' very works, His Life, & His Words, reveal the Person of God. So when we look at Jesus' Life, we are seeing the exact image of God, for how else can we describe the image of a spirit? Colossians 1:15: 'Jesus is the image of the invisible God'.
We are all spirits (our true essence), clothed with a body. Once our bodies perish, our spirits, which can never die, are released to live on into eternity. Therefore, Jesus had to come to give His Life for us, so that if we believe in Him, calling upon His Name, the Father seals us as His & receives us into His family. If we refuse Him, only punishment remains. How we respond to God's Love in Jesus determines where our spirits will finally spend eternity.
Hopefully this is helpful
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