The Resurrection Of Jesus According To The Watchtower

Back From The Grave

In a list of harmful teachings by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the one I’m about to speak about is the most harmful one concerning the Christian faith. It’s about the resurrection of Jesus. As Paul declares, that if Jesus had not risen, then our faith is in vain (1 Cor. 15:14). Though the Watchtower say they teach that Jesus resurrected from the dead, but here’s what they actually believe:

(emphasis mine)

JESUS’ FLESHLY BODY DISSOLVED

What happened to the perfect fleshly body of Jesus after his death? Was it preserved so that in time men will look upon it in worship? or does Jesus still have this fleshly body in the heavens, “spiritualized” so that it can be seen and worshiped? Neither. The Scriptures answer: It was disposed of by Jehovah God, dissolved into its constituent elements or atoms. -1953 Watchtower September 1st. Pg. 518

With this, The Watchtower is teaching that Jesus resurrected in his spirit only and Jehovah gave him a temporary fleshly body while dematerializing the one that he was crucified in. This reasoning forces the reader to believe that Jesus had to trick Thomas (John 20) into believing it was really him (in spirit and body) even though it was a sort of “reincarnated” Jesus in a new body that was fashioned to look like the original; including the marks from the crucifixion. There are various scriptures that we can cite to show this to be false, but only two will be suffice. In John 2:19-21 [1] Jesus clearly proclaims that he will raise his physical body in three days. If that alone is not enough, the Greek language shall aid us. In Acts 2:31 [2] it speaks of the body of Christ not seeing corruption (Greek: diaphthora) meaning bodily decay, decomposition [3].  In closing, we can be confident that when Jesus said he’ll resurrect his body, he meant it literally, and the language confirms it.

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Endnotes

1. (King James Version) John 2:19-21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.

2. (King James Version) Act 2:31  He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption (diaphthora).

3. Thayer G1312 (on eSword)
διαφθορά
diaphthora
Thayer Definition:
1) corruption, destruction
2) in the NT that destruction which is effected by the decay of the body after death

(This article was originally posted at Razor Swift)