The Watchtower teaches that Jesus’ body never rose from the dead. Rather, “at his resurrection from the dead, Jesus was brought forth with a spirit body.”[1]

In last week’s post, we asked, “What did Jesus say would be raised?”

We looked at his prophecy in John 2:19-21 that if his body would be destroyed, in three days he would raise it up.

This time let’s focus on something different.

Let’s look at what happened after the resurrection and see what Jesus had to say about his resurrected form.

Luke 24:36-39: “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.’” (Watchtower’s New World Translation)

Here is the Watchtower’s response:

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. (Gen. 6:4; 19:1-3) Following his resurrection, Jesus did not always appear in the same body of flesh (perhaps to reinforce in their minds the fact that he was then a spirit), and so he was not immediately recognized even by his close associates. (John 20:14, 15; 21:4-7) However, by his repeatedly appearing to them in materialized bodies and then saying and doing things that they would identify with the Jesus they knew, he strengthened their faith in the fact that he truly had been resurrected from the dead.[2]

Ask the Witnesses to explain this passage to you because you have some specific questions about what was happening.

  • What did the disciples mistakenly believe they were seeing?

Verse 37 says they mistakenly thought they were seeing a spirit, not that they were mistakenly thinking they were seeing a vision.

 What did Jesus say he was showing them?

Verse 39: “My hands and my feet.”

  • As he showed them his hands and feet, what did Jesus tell them they were seeing?

Verse 39: “I myself.” 

  • Why did Jesus show them his hands and feet in particular?

That’s where his execution wounds were, and Thomas had said (John 20:25) that he would never believe Jesus had been raised to life unless he put his fingers into Jesus’ execution wounds.

 In response you can ask three stone-in-the-shoe questions:

  • Was Jesus showing his disciples fake wounds on a manufactured body?
  • Why didn’t Jesus just tell the disciples “the truth” rather than a lie—that they were seeing a manufactured body in order to prove his resurrection? 
  • Wouldn’t it have been sinful for the Son of God to deceive his disciples with false evidence like this? 

Summary

Don’t be surprised if Jehovah’s Witnesses simply repeat their Watchtower talking points.

Pray that one or more of your soundbite questions will be stones in their shoes, troubling them long after your encounter is over.

 

[1] Reasoning From the Scriptures, p. 334

[2] Reasoning From the Scriptures, p. 334

 

 

 

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