The Bible says that "In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was made flesh."

The Bible also says that Jesus resurrected from the dead and then ascended into heaven. 

So, according to the Bible, the Son of God did not have a body until he was born as Jesus. And that Jesus, that Son of God ascended into heaven in a body where he exists eternally with the Father.

@sometimestheycomebackanyway@xanga - Your first two facts are pure Bible. And I would say the others are too - except for that very last part. I don't believe you can find a verse that would back tyour contention that Christ now has a physical body, that He has anything so essentially different than what He had pre-incarnation.

Something else to think about is the purpose for His Incarnation and His resurrection - and that of our resurrection. . These should also give us some answers - in line with Scripture - as to what type of body Christ has now.

Christ's Resurrection and our resurrection
They are actually two separate things, at least in several points. The  purpose for Christ's resurrection is several-fold: A demonstration of His acceptance with the Father, including an acceptance of His saving  mission on our behalf. Necessary to that mission would be His having  overcome as a Man all those enemies that had, up until then, doomed us. This is the reason both for His Incarnation and His physical resurrection.

The redeemed do not have the same necessities laid upon them that their Redeemer did. He had to "fulfill all righteousness", undoing the disastrous effects of Adam's fall.

But Christ has no necessity now in continuing on in the flesh, which is itself a limitation when compared to His perfect and eternal glory He had before the Incarnation.

Flesh - or physical existence, however you would term it - brings with it certain limitations that are contrary to what we know of God: Omnipresence being just one of them. For Christ to have aphysical body - think about it - would require Him to be certain places, but not other places.

God is One. I assume we all believe that God is still one. This, too, would be an eternal rift in the divine unity to have one being  physical/spiritual and the other Persons "merely" spiritual.

@sometimestheycomebackanyway@xanga - How right you are. These things are clearly beyond the reach of our reason. That is why we need to carefully hew to Scripture, even over other seemingly authoritative writings like the Apostles' (sic) Creed.

Your first statements are right out of the Bible, yes. There is nothing there that I am trying to "explain away". But your assumption (of Christ having this body that He didn't have before) goes beyond what Scripture states. You are doing the same thing you think I am doing, using reason to explain something away.

But we will leave it at that. You apparently believe in a Christ who is at this time physical (as well as spiritual). Just know that it is an article of faith born of post-Biblical Creeds, not the Bible itself.

@asterisktom@xanga - I don't understand how I can be assuming anything when the Bible is clear about Jesus ascending in his body. He was talking to his disciples. He wished them farewell, gave them encouragement and then he ascended. 

@Lovegrove@xanga - I catch your drift. I think I do. And if I am correct, then I disagree. But feel free to clarify.

@Lovegrove@xanga - OK. Thanks.

I disagree, of course.

BTW, who is your avatar guy? He looks like he came from a cigar box.

@Lovegrove@xanga -  Oh come on. Don't be prickly. Lighten up. The "of course" comes from just reading the article. Yes, I do have a higher view of inspiration.

@sometimestheycomebackanyway@xanga - The bible also says that you are to stone your children to death for disobeying you and that you should kill your neighbors if they believe in another religion. The bible also says that man and earth were created in 6 days and hell is at the center of the earth. The bible also says the entire world was flooded and Noah built a boat larger than the largest aircraft carrier we have in existence today and he built it by hand and out of wood. Then ALL of the animals from ALL over the world WALKED to this boat in pairs - and were saved - after it rained 40 days and nights - which is hardly enough to fill a farm pond.

@Captric@xanga - The Bible has its own meaning. That means if you want to know what the Bible means you have to consult an institution or scholar who has the authority to teach that meaning.

It is not for individuals to arbitrarily assign meaning to any written document because that meaning has already been assigned to it by its author or authors.

@Captric@xanga - What I said in my comment is a fact. If you don't accept facts then you don't have the capacity to be rational.

@Captric@xanga - All I have done where you are concerned is inform you that only the author of written material can assign meaning to his work.

Your original comment had to do with aspects of ancient Middle Eastern culture and the way you erroneously assigned your own meaning to them.

In your latest comment you make erroneous statements about articles of Christian faith.

In both cases you are erroneous because you don't get to assign meaning to verifiable facts nor do you get to assign your own meaning to a religious faith that already has its own meaning.

@Captric@xanga - It is a real fact that authors assign meaning to their own work. Concerning Judeo-Christianity, it is a tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation for over 3000 years.