Christ resurrection body article

Before we can reasonably discuss the amount of continuity our resurrection bodies have with Christ's, we need to know what kind of resurrection body He had with which we are supposed to be in conformity. Once we define the nature of His resurrection body, then we can discuss the degree of our continuity with it. This is where most studies of the resurrection falter. Too many assume that Jesus' resurrection body was nothing more than the same kind (or quality) of pure physical body that He had before the crucifixion. Is that a valid assumption? Is it possible that the nature of His resurrection body was different? Or, was it still nothing more than a mere physical body, just like the body with which Lazarus was raised? Jesus' post-resurrection appearances reveal that He had more than just a mere physical body. He was raised immortal. All the others who had been raised from physical death before Christ were raised mortal (still subject to death). Lazarus is a case in point. After being raised by Christ, he lived out the rest of his life and died again. He was raised with a pure physical body, nothing more. What we see here are two extremely different kinds of appearances: one purely physical, and the other a pure spirit. Jesus' resurrection body exhibited characteristics of both. His resurrection body was not just purely physical. Nor was it a pure spirit.. How can we say that Jesus is the "firstfruit" of the resurrection if He had the same kind of resurrection body as all the others before Him who had merely been raised physically? Jesus was the first one ever to be raised with that kind of body. He was the "firstfruits" (1 Cor. 15:20) of the resurrection harvest. He was raised with an immortal body. He was the same person, but in a different kind of body. He was raised bodily, but not with the same kind of body. Note how Paul not only clarifies the nature of the resurrection body in 1 Cor. 15, but also affirms the continuity and conformity of our bodies with Christ's resurrection body. We are supposed to get the same kind of body that Jesus had. Jesus' and our resurrection bodies are described by Paul in this text as being "spiritual," "glorious," "imperishable," "incorruptible," "immortal" and "heavenly." Jesus wasn't raised with a physical body first and then changed into a spiritual body. He wasn't raised mortal and then changed to immortal. He was "raised immortal" and "spiritual" already. As Peter said, "For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit..." (1 Pet. 3:18). Jesus was raised with a body that was suited to His life in the heavenly realm. The fact that He ascended into heaven with that same body suggests that it must have been much more than just a pure physical body. Scripture affirms numerous times that mere physical bodies cannot live in the spiritual realm. Christ was able to manifest Himself in a tangible/visible form on several occasions after His resurrection and before His ascension, but He was also able to disappear and remain in an intangible, immaterial form. This is something new. No one had ever been raised with that kind of body before. It was immortal (no longer subject to physical death). When Jesus appeared, He ate with them, but not because His new body needed food to stay alive. He did so for evidence purposes. It was to prove that He truly had been raised and was not just a disembodied spirit (like Samuel's appearance) awaiting the final resurrection like everyone else. His resurrection with an immortal body was proof that the long-awaited defeat of Death and reign of Life had begun. His appearances were signs that the eschaton had arrived and that the full and final destruction of Death and Hades was imminent. He disappeared again to prove that He was not just a mortal body like Lazarus' resuscitated physical body. He was raised immortal. The fact that He was able to exhibit both material and immaterial qualities in His resurrection appearances was proof that He had brought true life and immortality to light. He was the firstfruit of that kind of eternal, immortal life. The fact that Christ appeared in tangible/visible form does not prove that His resurrection body was merely a physical body, nor does it prove that He even had "a physical, tangible resurrection". When Jesus was resurrected, nobody recognized him, because his body was changed (Luke 24:15-31; 36-41, John 20:14-16; 21:4). In Luke 24:31, it says, "And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight." How could a Physical body vanish out of their site? John 20:19 says, "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." Notice the doors were shut! Physical bodies cannot walk through doors. The same event happened eight days later in verse 26. Scripture even says that Jesus changed the form of his body when he appeeared before others: "After that he appeared in another form unto two of them..." (Mark 16:12). And Apostle Paul says it is "sown a natural body, and raised a spiritual body" (1 Cor. 15:44). Notice he doesn't say it is sown a natural body, raised a natural body, and then later changed into a spiritual body. Preterists are not removing the physical body from the Bible's systematic theology regarding the resurrection. It was never the ultimate kind of resurrection body God had planned and revealed in Scripture in the first place. Our ultimate victory over "Death" was never intended to be the abolition of physical death. Those who say the "death" God threatened in the Garden was physical are making the serpent the truth-teller and God the liar. God said they would "die" the very day they ate. The serpent said they would not die. Who told the truth? If God was talking about physical death, then the serpent was correct and God did not deliver on His death threat. God would not be immutable after all. But man was separated from God's spiritual fellowship that very day. To be outside God's fellowship and presence is Death. The body without the spirit is dead (James 2:26). There was a worse kind of death than physical death from which mankind more desperately needed deliverance. There is a better kind of life and resurrection than physical resuscitation could ever give us. We were not destined to be raised with a mere physical and mortal body. There is something much better. We were destined to be raised immortal with a spiritual body like Christ's with which to live in God's presence forever with. All of us agree that we cannot live in God's presence eternally with a mere physical body. Even those who believe we are raised with a pure physical body still understand that we have to be changed into a spiritual, glorious, immortal body before entering God's presence.  .