Christ Was Possessed of a Body After His Resurrection
The sermon emphasizes the reality of Christ's physical body after His resurrection and its significance for believers' faith and hope in His return.
Ignatius of Antioch emphasizes the physicality of Jesus, both during His earthly life and after His resurrection, highlighting the importance of His bodily presence as a proof of His identity as the Christ. He points out how Jesus invited His disciples to touch Him and see that He was not just a spirit, but had flesh and bones. Ignatius underscores the significance of Jesus eating and drinking with His disciples after His resurrection for forty days, proving His bodily resurrection and His future return in glory and power.
Text
And I know that He was possessed of a body not only in His being born and crucified, but I also know that He was so after His resurrection, and believe that He is so now. When, for instance, He came to those who were with Peter, He said to them, "Lay hold, handle Me, and see that I am not an incorporeal spirit." "For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have." And He says to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger into the print of the nails, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; " and immediately they believed that He was Christ.
Wherefore Thomas also says to Him, "My Lord, and my God." And on this account also did they despise death, for it were too little to say, indignities and stripes.
Nor was this all; but also after He had shown Himself to them, that He had risen indeed, and not in appearance only, He both ate and drank with them during forty entire days. And thus was He, with the flesh, received up in their sight unto Him that sent Him, being with that same flesh to come again, accompanied by glory and power. For, say the [holy] oracles, "This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen Him go unto heaven." But if they say that He will come at the end of the world without a body, how shall those "see Him that pierced Him," and when they recognise Him, "mourn for themselves? " For incorporeal beings have neither form nor figure, nor the aspect of an animal possessed of shape, because their nature is in itself simple.
Sermon Outline
- I points: - Introduction to the resurrection of Christ - The significance of Christ's physical body - Scriptural evidence of His corporeal existence
- II points: - The interaction with the disciples - Thomas's declaration of faith - The implications of recognizing Christ's body
- III points: - Christ's post-resurrection appearances - Eating and drinking with the disciples - The promise of His return in the same body
- IV points: - Addressing misconceptions about Christ's nature - The importance of recognizing His physical form - The future hope of seeing Him as He is
Key Quotes
“For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have.” — Ignatius of Antioch
“This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen Him go unto heaven.” — Ignatius of Antioch
“Incorporal beings have neither form nor figure, nor the aspect of an animal possessed of shape.” — Ignatius of Antioch
Application Points
- Recognize the importance of Christ's physical resurrection in affirming our faith.
- Engage with the reality of Christ's presence in our lives today.
- Prepare for His return by understanding the nature of His resurrection body.