Is CHRIST’S BODY After Resurrection PHYSICAL or SPIRITUAL (or Both)?

Jehovah’s (false) Witnesses make the claim that Christ’s body after his resurrection is spiritual in nature, not physical. In other words, they argue that the risen Lord is a spirit creature only, which they base on a myopic reading of 1 Peter 3:18 and Paul’s statement “I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:50).

While they admit that the resurrected Christ has the ability to manifest in the physical realm — for instance, he was touched by the disciples and ate food after his resurrection (Luke 24:36-43) — they insist that his new body cannot be described as physical in nature. They thus deny the physical resurrection of the Lord. Keep in mind that the resurrection of Christ is a vital doctrine in light of Paul’s statement: “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith” (1 Corinthians 15:14). While it’s true that Paul does not specify in this verse whether Jesus’ resurrection was physical or spiritual (or both), it certainly reveals the importance of this doctrine.

The problem with the argumentation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) on this issue, amongst others, is that it’s a case of taking a couple verses and drawing dubious conclusions while dismissing other pertinent passages that offer vital details which, needless to say, is essential to properly understanding the topic. While this approach might grant a partial understanding of a subject, it fails to provide the whole picture and therefore leads to an erroneous conclusion or, at least, a partially erroneous conclusion.

The wise learner of Christ, by contrast, will be balanced in their studies by looking at all the relevant verses on a topic in order to “rightly divide” the Holy Scriptures (2 Timothy 2:15).

It’s also important to resist sectarianism as much as possible because it is always biased. The problem with rigid sectarianism, as is the case with the JWs, is that sectarians tend to ‘write off’ relevant passages on a subject if they conflict with the official doctrines of their sect. Wise students of the Scriptures are not like this. We must allow the Scriptures to properly form our understanding of a doctrine with the clearer and more detailed passages taking prominence over the more ambiguous, sketchy ones. This is common sense exegesis — which means drawing from the Scriptures — as opposed to eisegesis — which is reading into the Scriptures.

With this understanding, the most fitting place to start this somewhat complex subject is with…

What the Lord Himself Said Regarding His Resurrection Body

See for yourself:

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

²⁰ They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” ²¹ But the temple he had spoken of was his body.

John 2:19-21

This is actually a prophecy from Jesus Christ, The Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15 & 18:18), and it speaks for itself: The LORD would raise up his body after three days and it would be the same body — the same molecules regathered — yet wondrously changed or glorified so that it would no longer be subject to age, disease or even injury, not to mention death. Furthermore, Christ was able to walk through solid objects (John 20:19,26) and instantly appear out of nowhere and disappear (Luke 24:31,36-37), which suggests some form of teleportation, perhaps entering the spiritual realm which then provides access to anywhere in the natural realm.

Even more, Christ in his glorified form looked different enough compared to his former aging body that the disciples failed to immediately recognize him on a few occasions (Luke 24:30-31, 24:35, John 20:14-16 & 21:4-7).  At the appropriate moment the Lord apparently enabled the disciples to see that it was, in fact, him, just in a glorified form.

Why couldn’t they recognize him? Simple: The resurrection body that Christ received was/is Jesus in perfect natural form because his glorified body was no longer subject to aging, stress, injury and death. Consider the favorite photo or video of yourself when you were at a certain age. You never looked better. If you’re past 50, some people can barely recognize it’s you in that photo or video. For instance, I went to a high school reunion in 2017 and the daughter of a friend saw my senior photo and frankly said that she couldn’t tell I was the same person. (Kids say the darnedest things, don’t they?) The same principle applies here with Christ in his resurrection body.

This reminds me of a Christian woman my wife & I know who said she had a dream or vision wherein she saw this stunningly beautiful woman. She asked the Lord, “Who is this woman?” and he answered, “It’s you in your glorified body.” If this woman couldn’t even recognize herself in her future glorified body, how much more so the disciples recognizing the Messiah?

Now someone might point out that Christ’s resurrection body obviously wasn’t “perfect” because it still had holes in the hands & side from huge nails and a spear jab on his day of crucifixion (John 20:24-29). Obviously the Lord allowed these imperfections as an eternal reminder to his people — his “bride” — of what he did to obtain our redemption from the wages of sin, which is death (John 3:16 & Romans 6:23).

Now let’s look at something else the Lord Himself said about his resurrection body:

“See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

Luke 24:39 (ESV)

This reveals beyond any shadow of doubt that Christ in his resurrection body is more than just a spirit creature. He had flesh & bones and stressed that “a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have,” which means he was a physical person, the difference being that he was now glorified and therefore imperishable and un-aging. The passage goes on to say that he desired and ate food, which also bespeaks of a physical body (Luke 24:39-43). Jehovah’s Witnesses hate this passage — and John 2:19-21 — because the Lord Himself utterly refutes their doctrine that he is solely a spiritual creature in his resurrected body and not a physical person.

Was Jesus lying here? Was he deceiving his disciples about the nature of his new body? Since Christ was without sin, obviously not (2 Corinthians 5:21 & Hebrews 4:15).

The Lord stressed to his disciples that his body was physical, albeit in glorified form, and then they saw him ascend to Heaven in this awesome physical body. Two angels commented that he’d return the same way they saw him leave (Luke 24:50-51 & Acts 1:9-11).

Further support that the resurrected Christ has a physical body can be observed in this verse:

For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus

1 Timothy 2:5

Please notice that it does not say “the spirit creature Christ Jesus.” Rather Christ is said to be a man — and this is in the present tense, not past tense. Obviously Christ wouldn’t be described as a “man” if He was not raised with a physical body.

Believers Will Receive the SAME KIND OF RESURRECTION BODY Christ Did

This is one of the many reasons the gospel of Christ is such good news! Since spiritually-regenerated believers are “co-heirs in Christ” (Romans 8:17) — that is, joint participants — we are going to receive this same kind of resurrection body he did. This is why John said, “we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2). And Paul stressed that our current lowly bodies will be transformed “so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21).

With this understanding, how exactly does the Bible describe this resurrection body? See for yourself:

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; ⁴³ it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴ it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44

As you can see, the resurrection body that Christ currently has and believers will have for eternity is described as imperishable, glorified, powerful and spiritual in nature. Let’s briefly consider what each of these mean:

• Imperishable indicates that our resurrection bodies will not be able to perish. In short, we’ll be immortal, which is one of the benefits of the message of Christ (2 Timothy 1:10). You can read more here.
• Glorified: The Greek word for “glory” here is doxa, which means “honor, renown; glory, an especially divine quality, the unspoken manifestation of God, splendor.” In short, there will be nothing dishonorable about our resurrection bodies; they will reflect God’s splendor in every way. After all, are we not children of God, born of God’s seed? (John 1:12-13 & 1 John 3:9).
• Powerful: This word in the Greek is dunamis (DOO-nah-miss), which is where we get the English dynamite. It means power, might, strength, force, energy. With our new resurrected bodies we can say goodbye to the maladies that commonly mar our current bodies, like fatigue, disease and injury. We’ll be invulnerable like Superman.
• Spiritual: This word in the Greek is pneumatikos (nyoo-mat-ik-OSS), which comes from the term for spirit, wind, breath (pneuma). This indicates that our resurrection bodies will not have a sinful nature and thus the proclivity to sin will be absent. You see, the flesh — that is, the sinful nature — cannot inhabit the redeemed universe-to-come (2 Peter 3:13) and so it must be purged from the resurrection body of the redeemed.

Also, we’ll be able to “fly” by floating in the air or ‘riding the wind.’ Christ was able to walk on water by faith while in his mortal body (Matthew 14:22-33), how much more will we be able to do such things with glorified bodies?

Lastly, as noted earlier, the resurrected Messiah was able to appear seemingly from nowhere and disappear just as easily (Luke 24:31,36-37). How was he able to do this? Since his glorified body had a spiritual component, he likely entered into the spiritual dimension, which then gave him access to anywhere in the physical realm.

Speaking of which, although we cannot fully grasp now how wondrous life will be in these new resurrection bodies in the eternal age-to-come, we can get an idea simply by observing what the Bible says about Christ after his resurrection since we’re going to receive the same type of glorified body he did. In light of this, we’ll be able to walk through solid objects (John 20:26), instantly appear out of nowhere and disappear (Luke 24:31,36-37); in short, we’ll be able to teleport at will. With this understanding, we’ll no doubt be able to take “quantum leaps” to anywhere on the New Earth, Moon, Mars or Universe — distances and space will no longer limit us. For details on the nature of eternal life see this article.

The Physical Nature of the New Heavens and New Earth Require a Physical Body for Its Inhabitants

Additional proof that the resurrection bodies which believers will receive are physical in nature (as well as spiritual, as detailed above) is that our eternal home is physical in nature. See for yourself:

¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

¹¹Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹²as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. ¹³But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

2 Peter 3:10-13

The passage points out how our current Earth and Universe will be destroyed —the physical universe — but concludes by promising a New Heavens and New Earth where righteousness will dwell for eternity. The devil will no longer be the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) in this new universe and everything will be made right. What’s my point? The New Heavens and New Earth is the eternal state for the redeemed, which John elaborated on in his vision of Revelation:

¹Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ²I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Revelation 21:1-4

The heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, will come down out of Heaven — that is, out of the spiritual realm — to rest on the New Earth in the physical realm (this is repeated verbatim in verse 10). In other words, the New Heavens and New Earth refer to a physical reality and therefore the inhabitants — the redeemed in Christ — must have physical bodies in order to dwell there eternally. The “Lamb” is the husband of his “wife,” i.e. redeemed people, and He is there too in his glorified body (verse 9 & verses 22-23). Neither the Lord Christ nor the redeemed are merely spirit creatures; they have physical glorified bodies.

Another thing to think about: If Christ is the figurative “husband” and the redeemed are the figurative “wife,” we’ll both have to have the same kinds of bodies to enjoy our “marriage” in eternity. Hence, both Christ and the redeemed have physical glorified bodies, which also have a spiritual component, as already noted.

Yet another thing to consider is that neither 1 Peter 3:13 nor Revelation 21:1-4 say anything about the New Heavens and New Earth being spiritual in nature. For instance, there’s no statement that says something like: “Now the new heaven and new earth are not a physical realm, but rather spiritual, and therefore its inhabitants are solely spirit creatures.” Why doesn’t the Bible say anything like this anywhere? Because it’s a false doctrine.

With everything we now know from the plain Scriptures on this topic, let’s look at the few verses JW’s cite as proof texts for their belief that the resurrected Christ is solely a spirit creature:

1 Peter 3:18

This verse is a reference to Christ’s resurrection from the dead (Sheol), as observed by reading it along with the next couple of verses, which is the context (and “Context is King” in hermeneutics):

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit. ¹⁹ After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits — ²⁰ to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,”

1 Peter 3:18-20 (NIV)

Was the Messiah “made alive by the Spirit,” as the original NIV and some other English translations put it — including the KJV and NKJV — or was he “made alive in the spirit” as several other translations render it? You can compare myriad English versions of the text here. Either way, it’s clear that the phrase refers to Christ being “made alive” — that is, resurrected — as shown above; and we know for a fact from key verses already covered, like John 2:19-21 and Luke 24:39, that Yeshua’s resurrection body is physical in nature and therefore he’s not solely a “spirit creature.”

1 Corinthians 15:50

This is the other verse JWs like to quote to support their doctrine that the resurrected Christ is merely a spirit being wherein Paul says: “I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” As with the previous text, let’s read the surrounding verses to accurately understand what the apostle meant in context:

³⁵But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” ³⁶How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. ³⁷When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. ³⁸But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. ³⁹Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. ⁴⁰There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. ⁴¹The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

⁴²So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; ⁴³it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. ⁴⁷The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. ⁴⁸As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

⁵⁰I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — ⁵²in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 

1 Corinthians 15:35-54

This is the longest, most detailed passage on the bodily resurrection with other clear passages offering us framework to correctly interpret it (“Scripture interprets Scripture” is a hermeneutical rule for a reason). For instance, we know from Christ’s own descriptions of his glorified body that it is physical in nature and therefore he cannot be described in terms of only being a “spirit creature” (Luke 24:39 & John 2:19-21), although the resurrection body is described in terms of being “spiritual,” as detailed in verse 44. So our resurrections bodies will indeed by physical, but with spiritual qualities, as covered earlier.

Paul starts with the questions: “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” “The dead” people he’s talking about were fellow believers and thus physical people. So when he addresses the question of what kind of body will they be raised in, it’s understood to be physical. He responds: “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.” Moved by the Spirit, he relates the death of our mortal bodies to the planting of a natural seed, like wheat. What ultimately springs from that seed is not the same as the seed that was planted. For instance, an apple seed will produce an apple tree. And so it is with the resurrection bodies that will spring forth from the “seed” of our “planted” mortal bodies. This shows beyond any doubt that the resurrection body Christ received — and the new bodies believers will receive at the bodily resurrection — are not the same old aging, weak bodies that we currently have.

This is when Paul goes on to describe our resurrection bodies as imperishable, glorified, powerful and spiritual, as chronicled above (verses 42-44).

This great change between the “seed” that is planted — the “seed” that dies — and the new body that is birthed from that “seed” is the foundation for Paul’s statement that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” The “flesh and blood” that cannot inherit the eternal kingdom of God — aka the New Heavens and New Earth — is contextually the perishable flesh and blood of our current mortal bodies! He goes on to stress that, at the bodily resurrection, the perishable will be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. Thus redeemed humanity finally triumphs thru Christ over the universal disease of aging, pain and death… forever. Praise God!

1 Corinthians 15:45

This verse is the third supposed proof text that JWs like to cite to support their doctrine that the resurrected Christ is a spirit creature and does not have a physical body. While it appears in the long scripture quoted above, let’s read it again:

So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

1 Corinthians 15:45

This verse compares the first Adam with the second “Adam.” Paul quotes Genesis 2:7 in reference to the first Adam and contrasts him with the second “Adam,” who is Jesus Christ. Adam brought death to the human race whereas Christ brought life. See for yourself:

¹⁵But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! ¹⁶Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. ¹⁷For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

¹⁸Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. ¹⁹For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Romans 5:15-19

The passage repeatedly compares “the one man,” Adam, with “the one man, Jesus Christ.” The first brought death, condemnation and sinfulness whereas the second brought grace, justification, life and righteousness. They’re like night and day. Yet notice that both are described as “one man” and this epistle was written 24 years after the resurrection of Christ. It’s the same Greek word used for “man” in 1 Timothy 2:5. This discounts the idea that Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 15:45 means that Christ is only a spirit creature. Speaking of that verse, let’s reread it along with the following three verses, which offer important exposition:

⁴⁵So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. ⁴⁷The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. ⁴⁸As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.

1 Corinthians 15:45-48

While God breathed the breath of life into Adam, he was born of the dust of the Earth whereas Christ is the Son of God, who has always existed and came from Heaven (John 1:1-5). Yet notice how verse 47 refers to the incarnated Christ, who came from Heaven, as “the second man.”

Verse 48 then contrasts those born of the seed of the “earthly man,” the first Adam, with those born of the seed of the “heavenly man,” the second Adam. This is what the message of Christ is all about and why it’s such Good News — sinful, mortal people born of Adam having the opportunity to be born of the imperishable seed of Christ via spiritual regeneration (1 Peter 1:23 & Titus 3:5).

This leaves us with…

The Final Argument by JWs That the Resurrected Christ Is Only a Spirit Creature

Consider these two passages:

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

John 6:51

“just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:28

JWs cite these verses to stress that Christ gave his flesh on behalf of “the life of the world” as a ransom for humankind. Their reasoning is that if the Lord had taken back his flesh when he was resurrected, he would have canceled that ransom sacrifice. This could not have happened, they argue, for the Bible says that Jesus sacrificed his flesh and blood “once for all time,” as noted here:

¹¹ But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. ¹² He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.

Hebrews 9:11-12

This is frankly weak argumentation. The first passage above, John 6:51, points out that Christ would give his flesh for the life of the world while the second passage, Matthew 20:28, more specifically acknowledges that he gave his life as a ransom for the world, which corresponds to the basic truth of the most popular verse of the Bible, John 3:16 — “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This bespeaks of substitutionary death, the fact that Christ “suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9). It is through the sinless Christ’s death in our place that we can escape the wages of sin, eternal death (Romans 6:23), reconcile to our Creator and obtain eternal life!

Yet it’s not just through Christ’s death that we are justified, but his resurrection as well (Romans 10:9 & 1 Corinthians 15:1-3). Notice what the Lord Himself said about his resurrection:

“The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. ¹⁸No 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.”

John 10:17-18

Was Christ’s resurrection merely a spiritual resurrection, as JWs insist, or was it a physical resurrection as well? We know from clear passages already covered that the Lord’s resurrection consisted of a physical resurrection in a glorious imperishable body (John 2:19-21, Luke 24:39 & 1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus Himself made this clear.

The JW’s emphasis on the fact that Christ gave up his body & his blood (aka his life) “once for all time” as a ransom sacrifice followed by their questionable conclusion that he could not take back his flesh & blood when he was resurrected because it would cancel his ransom sacrifice is a very curious belief since Jesus plainly said he would be resurrected in physical form, albeit in a glorified, immortal body!

Furthermore, how exactly does the statement that Christ offered his blood “once for all time” negate his being miraculously resurrected in a physical glorified body? It doesn’t, they just wrongly think it does because it contradicts their sect’s official doctrines.

Now let’s consider something that complicates the issue, but is easily explained by rightly dividing the Scriptures…

Differentiating Christ & Believers in Their Resurrection Bodies From Angels Who Can Manifest in the Physical Realm

JWs will argue that angels are spirit creatures who have the ability to manifest in the physical realm, so what is the difference between them and the resurrected Christ & believers in glorified bodies?

It is true that angels are able to manifest in the physical world and appear like people on occasion to perform their God-ordained services (Hebrews 13:2). This can be observed in Genesis 18:1-19:29, which pertains to the divine judgment of Sodom & Gomorrah, wherein one of the three “men” turns out to be the LORD, as observed in verses 3, 10, 13, 17, 20, 22, etc. The other two were chief angels assisting in the situation.

The LORD in this case is not Father God because the Bible plainly says that no one has ever seen — nor can see — Father God (John 1:18 & 1 Timothy 6:16). Rather, this is an example of the pre-incarnate Christ — the Son of God — revealing the Father in the guise of a man with the assistance of two mighty angels.

No one has ever seen God, the Father, but the Son — who also is God — has made God known in both the Old and New Testaments:

1. Christ made the Father known through His incarnation, which is confirmed by Jesus’ statements: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9), “whoever sees me sees him who sent me” (John 12:45 ESV) and “If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (John 8:19).
2. Christ also made the Father known in Old Testament times before his incarnation, as illustrated when Hagar saw God via The Angel of the LORD (Genesis 16:7-13).

There are several other appearances of the pre-incarnate Christ — aka “the Angel of the LORD” — in the Old Testament, which you can read about here.

All of this makes sense when you grasp that God is triune in nature, consisting of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which you can find clear biblical support for here. (For the record, human beings are triune as well — spirit, mind & body).

Getting back to Genesis 18:1-19:29 where the LORD & two angels appeared to Abraham as three men, the passage shows that they were not merely spirits who could be seen by Abraham, but rather they manifested in physical form because they were plainly able to eat food (Genesis 18:7-8 & 19:3).

How is this any different from Christ in his resurrection body being able to eat with the disciples, as observed in Luke 24:39-43? Simple, the LORD & the two angels from Genesis 18:1-19:29 didn’t have permanent glorified bodies, but they were able to manifest physically. Angels are able to manifest physically for periods of time in God’s service, as observed in Hebrews 13:2, but they don’t have glorified physical bodies, like the resurrected Christ or like believers will have in eternity.

Fallen angels, by contrast, are not permitted by the Sovereign LORD to manifest as human beings, which explains why they desire to possess people or animals, since it’s the only way they can concretely manifest in the natural world. In Genesis 6:1-4 some fallen angels “abandoned their proper dwelling” — meaning they became physical — and appeared as men to have sex with women for diabolical purposes. These evil spirits were incarcerated in tartaroo by God (Jude 1:6 & 2 Peter 2:4) and thus other demons haven’t done this since. You can read more on this fascinating topic here:

Keep in mind that angels and humans are two separate creations of God, but there are interesting parallels to consider, which you can read about in this article.

For important details on angelic spirits in general (including fallen ones), see this article.

Related Topics:

REDEMPTION — God’s Plan of Liberation for Humanity & Creation