It is widely preached and believed that Jesus was resurrected with a physical body. It is even asserted that if one doesn’t believe Jesus was resurrected with a physical body, then that person denies that Jesus was resurrected.  According to the Bible, was Jesus resurrected as a spirit or with a fleshly body? Let’s examine the scriptures to find out.

1 Corinthians 15:20 – “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead.” (NIV)

Hebrews 10:10 – “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ.” (NIV) Jesus’ physical body was consumed by God as a whole burnt offering.

1 Corinthians 15:35 – “How are the dead raised? With what body will they come?” (NIV)

1 Corinthians  15:42-44 – “It is sown in a natural body, it is raised in a spiritual body.” (NIV) Jesus was resurrected with a spiritual body

1 Corinthians 15:50 – Fleshly bodies can’t go to heaven. Jesus went heaven. He could not have had a physical body since he went to heaven.

1 Peter 3:18 – “Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit” (NAB). “Put to death in the body but made alive in the spirit.” (NIV) Jesus was put to death in his fleshly body, but made alive, or resurrected, in a spiritual body.

Hebrews 1:3 – “The Son is the exact representation of his being.” (NIV) Jesus is a spirit, similar to the fact that his Father is a spirit.

John 1:18 – “No one has seen ever seen God” (NIV), because God is a spirit.

John 4:23-24 – “God is a spirit.” (GWT; KJV) So is Jesus. 

Hebrews 10:8-10 – Bodily sacrificed – whole burnt offering.

1 Corinthians 15:20 – Jesus resurrected.
1 Corinthians 15:35 – What kind of body?
1 Corinthians 15:42-44 – Sown in a physical body. (AAT; NIV) Resurrected in a spiritual body.
1 Corinthians 15:45 – Jesus became a spirit – “a life-giving spirit.”
1 Corinthians 15:50 – “Physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.” (NLT)

Hebrews 1:3 – “The exact representation of his being.” (NIV) “The exact expression of his nature.” (HCSB) “The exact representation of his nature.” (NASB)

What is God’s nature or being?
“God is a spirit.” (John 4:23-24 GWT; KJV)

John 1:18; 1 John 4:12  – “No one has ever seen God.” God can’t be seen. Neither can Christ, because they are both spirits.

Jesus was resurrected “in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18), as “a life-giving spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45). He now lives in heaven, and there are no “physical bodies” in heaven (1 Corinthians 15:50 NLT).

Acts 9:5-8; Acts 22:6-8; Acts 26:12-15 – Jesus was heard, not seen, when when Saul, who was later the apostle Paul, was blinded on the road to Damascus.

As we can see from the Bible, Jesus was resurrected with a spiritual body, or “made alive in the spirit.” (1 Peter 3:18) And to this day, he continues to live as a spirit. Though we “do not see him now” (1 Peter 1:8 NIV), since spirits are invisible to the human eye, the Bible tells us we will see him one day. How can this be? Because as the Bible says, the resurrected body is a spiritual body. All people who are resurrected to heaven, will see Jesus “as he really is” (1 John 3:2 NLT).