Yes, you are right, the resurrected will also have a material component, and the body, judging by the wounds on the Body of the Risen Christ, will be the very same. In this lies the radical difference between the Christian faith and spiritualism, which considers that after the death of the flesh only the soul will live, as well as the belief in the reincarnation of souls...
Yes, you are right, the resurrected will also have a material component, and the body, judging by the wounds on the Body of the Risen Christ, will be the very same. In this lies the radical difference between the Christian faith and spiritualism, which considers that after the death of the flesh only the soul will live, as well as the belief in the reincarnation of souls. The ancient Apostles' Creed states that we believe in "the resurrection of the body", and our current Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed states that we "look for the resurrection of the dead" also in the flesh. This is fundamentally important, because Christianity considers a human being to be a creature consisting of an immaterial soul and a material body. The flesh alone, just like the soul alone, is remarkable, but it is not a human being. God desires specifically human beings, and it is precisely them that He came to save.
At the same time, the flesh of the Risen Christ differed from our flesh; in particular, it was not subject to the laws of this world. The Apostle Paul, speaking of the end of the world, says: "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" ( 15:51-53). On this basis, Christians believe that in the resurrection of the dead our flesh will become as it was intended by God prior to the Fall, and they call it transfigured. This resurrection of us in our own, yet transfigured flesh, in its union with our own soul, accomplished by God, will become the beginning of the general transfiguration of creation.
The spiritual component, therefore, will not disappear either, and the resurrected person will be a human being, not a soul with little wings from ancient pagan myths. What will this spiritual component be? This will apparently be determined by our life here. If you were dead to sin and alive to God, and already here became a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, then your transfigured life has already begun here, and at the general resurrection it will unfold in all its fullness. But if you were dead to God and alive to sin…
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8:26 The way which is desert - There were two ways from Jerusalem to Gaza, one desert, the other through a more populous country.
8:27 An eunuch - Chief officers were anciently called eunuchs, though not always literally such; because such used to be chief ministers in the eastern courts. Candace, queen of the Ethiopians - So all the queens of Ethiopia were called.
8:28 Sitting in his chariot, he read the Prophet Isaiah - God meeteth those that remember him in his ways. It is good to read, hear, seek information even in a journey. Why should we not redeem all our time?
8:30 And Philip running to him, said, Understandest thou what thou readest? - He did not begin about the weather, news, or the like. In speaking for God, we may frequently come to the point at once, without circumlocution.
8:31 He desired Philip to come up and sit with him - Such was his modesty, and thirst after instruction.
8:32 The portion of Scripture - By reading that very chapter, the fifty - third of Isaiah, many Jews, yea, and atheists, have been converted. Some of them history records. God knoweth them all. Isa 53:7
8:33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away - That is, when he was a man, he had no justice shown him. To take away a person's judgment, is a proverbial phrase for oppressing him.And who shall declare, or count his generation - That is, who can number his seed, Isa 53:10; which he hath purchased by laying down his life?
8:36 And as they went on the way they came to a certain water - Thus, even the circumstances of the journey were under thedirection of God. The kingdom of God suits itself to external circumstances, without any violence, as air yields to all bodies, and yet pervades all. What hindereth me to be baptized? - Probably he had been circumcised: otherwise Cornelius would not have been the first fruits of the Gentiles.
8:38 And they both went down - Out of the chariot. It does not follow that he was baptized by immersion. The text neither affirms nor intimates any thing concerning it.
8:39 The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip - Carried him away with a miraculous swiftness, without any action or labour of his own. This had befallen several of the prophets.
8:40 But Philip was found at Azotus - Probably none saw him, from his leaving the eunuch, till he was there.