Luke 24:23

Were Jesus’ resurrection appearances physical or mere visions?

PROBLEM: Jesus spoke of His resurrection body having “flesh and bones” (Luke 24:39). He ate physical food (v. 42) and was touched by human hands (Matthew 28:9). But Luke calls it a “vision” in this passage, which implies that it was not a real physical appearance. In addition, some point to the fact that those who were with Paul during his Damascus road experience did not see Christ (see Acts 9:7).

SOLUTION: The Resurrection appearances were literal, physical appearances. This is evident for several reasons.

Second, the post-resurrection encounters with Christ are described by Paul as literal “appearances” (1 Corinthians 15:5-8), not as visions. The difference between a mere vision and a physical appearance is significant. Visions are of invisible, spiritual realities, such as God and angels. Appearances, on the other hand, are of physical objects that can be seen with the naked eye. Visions have no physical manifestations associated with them, but appearances do.

People sometimes “see” or “hear” things in their visions (Luke 1:11ff; Acts 10:9ff), but not with their naked physical senses. When someone saw angels with the naked eye, or had some physical contact with them (Genesis 18:8; Genesis 32:24; Daniel 8:18), it was not a vision but an actual appearance of an angel in the physical world. During these appearances the angels temporarily assumed a visible form after which they returned to their normal invisible state. However, the Resurrection appearances of Christ were experiences of seeing Christ with the naked eye in His continued visible, physical form. In any event, there is a significant difference between a mere vision and a physical appearance.

Daniel 2; 1 Corinthians 15; 1 Corinthians 15

2 Corinthians 12 Acts 9