The Glorified Body

The gospel descriptions of the resurrected Lord depict His humanity possessing marvelous powers: Christ appears and disappears as He wills (Lk 24.31); He passes through closed doors (Lk 24.36; Jn 20.19). Even before His resurrection, Jesus walks upon the waters (Jn 6.19), and appears to Peter, James and John as one transfigured in glory (Mt 17. 1-8).

Christ’s risen body is the model of what ours is to be, as Saint Paul attests: “If we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection” (Rom 6.5). “He will give a new form to this lowly body of ours and remake it according to the pattern of His glorified body, by His power to subject everything to Himself” (Phil 3.21).

Impassibility

The glorified body will be impassible, that is, it will not be subject to any bodily harm, suffering, fatigue, or death.

1Cor 15.42: “The body, in death, is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible…The dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Rev 21.4: “God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, crying or pain, for the former world has passed away.”

Subtility

The glorified body will not be impeded by matter, but will be able to pass through it, as we see the risen Lord could do when He emerged from the tomb, though it was still covered with a huge stone (Mt 28.2), and when He made Himself present in the upper room, even though the doors remained locked and barred (Jn 20.19, 26).

Agility

Because the glorified body will be totally subject to the spirit, it will be able to transport itself with the ease of thought to wherever it wishes to be, as we see the risen Lord could do when He suddenly appeared and disappeared as He willed.

Clarity

The glorified body will be radiant with beauty and glory. “What is sown is ignoble, what rises is glorious” (1Cor 15.43). This quality is represented in scripture as dazzling light. Jesus tells us that, “The just will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom” (Mt 13.43).

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching