The Man Jesus
Critics of covenant eschatology[1] argue that Jesus must still have a physical body because he was called a “man” after his ascension[2]:
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:5-6).
Does this passage prove Jesus still has a physical body? I don’t think so.
First, the writer of Hebrews implied (thirty years after the ascension) that Jesus no longer had his fleshly body:
“In the days of his flesh, when he offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears…” (Heb. 5:7).
This passage is contrasting Jesus’ time to earth in his flesh…with post-ascension Jesus no longer in his flesh.
Second, after finishing the work God had sent him to earth to do, Jesus prayed that the Father would glorify him with the glory he had since the world began (John 17:4–5). Jesus was ready to return to the glory–or form–he had prior to his incarnation. But prior to the incarnation, Jesus did not have a physical body.
Third, after the ascension, Jesus’ apostles said they no longer knew what Jesus was like:
“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).
As this passage shows, Jesus’ apostles no longer knew what Jesus was like after the ascension. But they knew what he was like prior to the ascension. In fact, even after Jesus’ resurrection, the apostles touched him (Luke 20:27) and ate with him (21:12). Yet after the ascension, they no longer knew what he was like. Why not? Because Jesus had been transformed from his fleshly body into his glorified, non-fleshly body.
Forth, describing someone as a man does not mean he still has a physical body. When the medium of Endor “brought up Samuel from the dead,” she said to Saul:
“I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth…An old man [Samuel] wearing a robe is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle…Then Samuel said to Saul, ‘Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?’” (1 Sam. 28:13-15).
Samuel is described as a man, yet he clearly did not have a physical body anymore. In fact, he was called a spirit! Therefore, just because Jesus was called a man after his ascension does not mean he still has a physical body.
Fifth, Christians today are Jesus’ “flesh and bones” (Eph. 5:30)—which only makes sense if Jesus no longer has his own flesh and bone body.
Sixth, if one needs a physical body to be a man, then what was Jesus during the three days in between his death and resurrection? Jesus was separated from his body during this time…yet was he not a man still?
Seventh, God the Father is called a “man of war” (Ex. 15:3), yet God is Spirit and does not have a physical body (John 4:24). Therefore, if God the Father can be a man without a physical body, then so can Jesus.
Eighth, when talking with the Sadducees of his day, Jesus affirmed that Abraham, Isaac, and David were still alive (even though they had died physically long ago):
“Moses called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him” (Luke 20:37-38).
Jesus said Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were still alive, even without their physical bodies. Yet would anyone deny they were still men?
Ninth, Jesus said “whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:26), which not only shows Christians live on spiritually after physical death, but also implies Christians keep their identities—whether men or women—after they no longer have physical bodies. And if this is true for Christians in general, then it is also true for Jesus.
Conclusion: Just because Jesus was called a “man” after the ascension does not mean he still has a physical body.
For more Scriptural evidence showing that Jesus no longer has a physical body, see my article “In the Days of his Flesh.”
By Alex Polyak, director of The Bible Fulfilled, 2/27/26
[1] Covenant eschatology holds that Jesus’ physical body was transformed/glorified at the ascension, and he no longer has a physical/fleshly/mortal body.
[2] Note: I affirm Jesus was resurrected physically. However, Jesus’ body was not yet glorified at this time, which is why Jesus said to Mary, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father” (John 20:17). Then, at the ascension forty days later, Jesus’ physical body was transformed into his glorified body—which is not physical (see below).
