A spirit appears ---> he has a body

Discussion about the New Testament, apocrypha, gnostics, church fathers, Christian origins, historical Jesus or otherwise, etc.
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Giuseppe
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A spirit appears ---> he has a body

Post by Giuseppe »

In the opinion of Paul, which is that of the ancients, a spirit can not appear unless it has a body. Because Jesus appeared to the men of faith worthy of the list, he had a spiritual body.
(from The Jesus Mystery, Paul-louis Couchoud, my bold)

What is the evidence of the implication in the title of the thread?
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
Giuseppe
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Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:37 am
Location: Italy

Re: A spirit appears ---> he has a body

Post by Giuseppe »

In the religious literature of the relevant time are there not many examples of gods taking on the guise of men to perform some task on earth?
For example, in the Odissey, the goddess Athena is masked as another person.

And even the Old Testament contains several episodes of angels appearing to men in human disguise. In Genesis angels disguised as men visit Abraham and Lot. And, closer to intertestamental times, the book of Tobit describes the archangel Raphael as disguising himself as a man (Azarias), not to live for some protracted time on earth, but for a limited specific task.
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
davidbrainerd
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Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:37 pm

Re: A spirit appears ---> he has a body

Post by davidbrainerd »

Wouldn't some text on metaphysics (Aristotle or Plato perhaps) that that visibility is a property of body?
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