All,

Jehovah's Witnesses claim that Jesus appeared to his disciples in a
physical body to convince them he wasn't a demon, since demons
couldn't appear in physical bodies. If that was the point, then why
appear in a body that had marks apparently produced by Jesus'
execution ordeal?

Indeed, this wasn't just apparent: the marks *were* produced by
Jesus' crucifixion. In John, Thomas said he wanted to "see in his
hands the imprints of the nails and put my fingers into the place of
the nails" (John 20:25). This was after Jesus had appeared to the
disciples in Luke 24:36-43 and convinced them, according to Jehovah's
Witnesses, that he had been resurrected as an angelic spirit. Why
would Thomas have expected to see "the imprints of the nails" in the
hands of an angelic spirit?

The word TUPOS refers to "the mark of a stroke or a blow" (Thayer).
Friberg explains that the word's etymology was "blow" and that "by
metonymy" it referred to "the impression made by the blow," a "mark"
or "trace." Louw and Nida state that it refers to a "visible
impression or trace made as the result of a blow or pressure - 'scar,
wound.'" "Though both stigma (8.55) and tupos may mean scars, there
are significant differences in meaning. Stigma bears the connotation
of brand or mark of ownership, while tupos indicates a wound or scar
resulting from the shape and form of some object, for example, nails
in the case of Jn 20.25." All of these lexical references agree that
TUPOS in John 20:25 refers to the mark, wound, or scar resulting from
the blow to Jesus' hand by the nail. The genitive "of the nails" is
an example of the genitive of production (Wallace, _Greek Grammar
beyond the Basics_, 104-7); that is, the nails produced the marks.

In short, Thomas's statement presupposes that what he would see and
touch would be actual marks left behind from the actual nails used to
penetrate Jesus' actual hands. There would have been no reason for
Thomas to have had any such expectation if his fellow disciples had
told him that Jesus had been resurrected as a spirit or angel.
Furthermore, Jesus gave Thomas just what he had requested: showing
him his hands and side and inviting Thomas to see and touch them
(John 20:27).

That's good enough for me.

In Christ's service,
Robert M. Bowman, Jr.
Manager, Apologetics & Interfaith Evangelism
North American Mission Board

Visit us online at http://www.4truth.net