The Watchtower teaches that Jesus’ physical body was never raised from the dead.

So how does the Watchtower explain his post-resurrection appearances?

 It states: “Jesus evidently materialized bodies on these occasions, as angels had done in the past when appearing to humans.” (Reasoning From the Scriptures, p. 217)

But there’s a problem.

The Watchtower admits, “On one occasion, for the benefit of Thomas, Jesus appeared with the physical evidence of nail prints in his hands and a spear wound in his side.”

This is the passage it’s referring to:

John 20:24-29

But Thomas, one of the Twelve, who was called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were telling him: “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them: “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and stick my finger into the print of the nails and stick my hand into his side, I will never believe it.” Well, eight days later his disciples were again indoors, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and he stood in their midst and said: “May you have peace.” Next he said to Thomas: “Put your finger here, and see my hands, and take your hand and stick it into my side, and stop doubting but believe.” In answer Thomas said to him: “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him: “Because you have seen me, have you believed? Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

But it wasn’t only in response to Thomas’ insistence on feeling the wounds that Jesus presented physical evidence.

The week before, he had also appeared to the other disciples when Thomas wasn’t there and displayed his execution wounds for them.

While they were speaking of these things, he himself stood in their midst and said to them: “May you have peace.” But because they were terrified and frightened, they imagined that they were seeing a spirit. So he said to them: “Why are you troubled, and why have doubts come up in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones just as you see that I have.” And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. But while they were still not believing for sheer joy and amazement, he said to them: “Do you have something there to eat?” So they handed him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it before their eyes. (Luke 24:36-42)

 Here, Jesus:

  • Initiated a display of his wounds without being asked or challenged to do so
  • Said, “It is I myself…a spirit does not have flesh and bones just as you see that I have.”
  • Ate fish in front of them

How does the Watchtower explain this?

Humans cannot see spirits, so the disciples evidently  thought they were seeing an apparition or a vision. (Compare Mark 6:49, 50.) Jesus assured them that he was no apparition; they could see his body of flesh and could touch him, feeling the bones; he also ate in their presence. Similarly, in the past, angels had materialized in order to be seen by men; they had eaten, and some had even married and fathered children. (Reasoning From the Scriptures, pp. 334-335)

Christian author F. W. Thomas responds to the idea of Jesus materializing bodies as follows:

If Christ displayed to the disciples merely a materialized body, then He was inviting them to inspect a body that contained make believe wounds! From the JW point of view this can only mean that Christ is saying to the disciples, “Behold THE FAKE WOUNDS in my hands and my feet, that it is I myself…” Their denial of the Bodily Resurrection of Christ logically leads to the profane conclusion that Christ here is out to hoodwink the disciples. It becomes painfully clear that if Christ is showing his disciples a DIFFERENT BODY, other than the one crucified, then Christ would be guilty of producing false evidence to prove His resurrection. The very fact that Christ invites His disciples to examine His hands and feet is positive proof that He was showing them the actual body that bore the awful wounds of Calvary.” (italics and capitalization original) (Masters of Deception, p. 66)

So you could ask the Witnesses, “Does that sound like something Jesus would do? Would he materialize a body with wounds and tell the disciples that it was his body and his wounds, if it really wasn’t?”

Jesus had other options

Jehovah’s Witnesses often argue that Jesus had no choice but to materialize a body with wounds in it because Thomas had said that was the only resurrection evidence he would accept.

But was presenting false evidence really Jesus’ only option?

If the Witnesses make this argument, ask them “If the Watchtower view is correct, why didn’t Jesus just tell Thomas and the other disciples the same thing you are telling me? ‘I have been raised an invisible spirit creature but I am materializing in physical form like angels did in order to give you faith.’ He could have materialized in a number of different bodies right before their eyes in order to prove it to them.”

For that matter, why couldn’t he have simply spoken to them from a blinding light—as he later did with Saul of Tarsus?

He could have told them things only Jesus would know.

The events after the resurrection show that the resurrection was physical

Indeed, if the Watchtower is right, didn’t the interaction of Jesus with his disciples backfire by leading them to believe that his body had been raised?

If the apostles had gone about Jerusalem proclaiming a spirit resurrection only, why all the controversy about why the authorities couldn’t produce his body?

The presence or absence of his body at his tomb would have been irrelevant.

Have the Witnesses read aloud once again what Jesus said in verse 39: “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; feel me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones just as you see that I have.”

Add, “I believe what Jesus said, that it was really his own hands and feet they were touching. Isn’t that what Jesus both told them and demonstrated to them? What more could Jesus have said or done to prove that his body had been raised from the dead?”