Verse 37. And supposed that they had seen a spirit.] But if there be no such thing as a disembodied spirit, would not our Lord have shown them their error? Instead of this, he confirms them in their opinion, by saying, A spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have, Lu 24:39; therefore he says, handle me and see me. They probably imagined that it was the soul only of our blessed Lord which they saw; but they were soon fully convinced of the identity of his person, and the reality of his resurrection; for,

1. They saw his body.

2. They heard him speak.

3. They handled him.

4. They saw him eat a piece of broiled fish and honeycomb, which they gave him.

In these things it was impossible for them to have been deceived.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Spirits sometimes (by Gods permission or direction) assumed human shapes. They seeing a human shape, and not able on the sudden to conceive how a human body should come into the midst among them, without any more noise or notice taken of it, were affrighted, as we usually are at the sight of apprehended apparitions. From hence we may conclude, that either the world, and the best men in it, have been in all ages deceived, and a few atheists have been wiser than them all, or there are such beings as spirits.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

37, 38. a spiritthe ghost oftheir dead Lord, but not Himself in the body (Act 12:15;Mat 14:26).

thoughtsrather,”reasonings”; that is, whether He were risen or no, andwhether this was His very self.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

But they were terrified and affrighted,…. At the sight of him, and at his sudden appearance among them, without being heard, or seen before, and the doors shut and bolted; they could not tell how to account for it, that it should be Jesus himself risen from the dead in his own body, though they had been just speaking of his resurrection, and had had a confirmation of it from the disciples that went to Emmaus:

and supposed that they had seen a spirit; that what they saw was a phantom, or apparition, or a spirit, that had assumed, and appeared in, the shape of Jesus, and was not he himself.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Terrified (). First aorist passive participle of , old verb and in the N.T. only here and Lu 21:9 which see.

Affrighted ( ). Late adjective from and (fear). Both these terms of fear are strong.

Supposed (). Imperfect active of , kept on thinking so.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

1) “But they were terrified and affrighted,” (ptothentes de kai emphobi genomenoi) “Then they became scared and terrified,” at His sudden appearance, for they knew Him to have been dead; They became afraid as they were when He came to them in the midst of a storm, walking upon the sea of Galilee, Mar 6:48-49; Joh 6:16-21.

2) “And supposed that they had seen a spirit.” (ekokoun pneuma theorein) “Thought that they had seen a spirit,” much as also described Mat 14:25-27. For they believed that He had died, and also in the existence of angels and spirits, as followers of the Lord, even as the Pharisees did, though the Sadducees did not, Act 23:6; Act 23:8.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

37. And they were terrified and affrighted. John does not mention this terror; but as he also says that Christ showed his hands and sides to the disciples, we may conjecture that some circumstance had been omitted by him. Nor is it at all unusual with the Evangelists, when they aim at brevity, to glance only at a part of the facts. From Luke, too, we learn that the terror excited in them by the strangeness of the spectacle was such, that they dare not trust their eyes. But a little ago, they had come to the conclusion that the Lord was risen, (verse 34,) and had spoken of it unhesitatingly as a matter fully ascertained; and now, when they behold him with their eyes, their senses are struck with astonishment, so that they think he is a spirit. Though this error, which arose from weakness, was not free from blame, still they did not so far forget themselves as to be afraid of enchantments. But though they did not think that they are imposed upon, still they are more inclined to believe that an image of the resurrection is exhibited to them in vision by the Spirit, than that Christ himself, who lately died on the cross, is alive and present. So then they did not suspect that this was a vision intended to deceive them, as if it had been an idle phantom, but, seized with fear, they thought only that there was exhibited to them in spirit what was actually placed before their eyes.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(37) Supposed that they had seen a spirit.More accurately, supposed that they were looking on . . . For the use of the word spirit in this sense, see Act. 23:8-9; Heb. 12:23.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

‘But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed that they saw a ghost.’

But Jesus’ sudden appearance among them unnerved them. The problem was that this was not an hallucination, it was real. Notice the multiplication of words, ‘they were terrified and frightened’, for they genuinely thought that Jesus was a ghost. How else could He have suddenly appeared among them like this? (They had necessarily previously had no experience of things like this, so their fears were understandable).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

Ver. 37. But they were terrified and affrighted ] Tam meticulosa est incredulitas. Ut etiam tutissima et maxime tranquilla timeat, saith Brentius here.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

37. ] On account of His sudden appearance, and the likeness to one whom they knew to have been dead.

is a ghost or spectre an appearance of the dead to the living; not exactly as , Mat 14:26 , which might have been any appearance of a supernatural kind.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Luk 24:37 . , a spirit, i.e. , a form recognisable as that of Jesus, but of Jesus not risen but come from the world of the dead disembodied or only with an apparent body; therefore they were terrified at the sight, notwithstanding what they had heard.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

seen. Greek. theoreo. App-133.

spirit. Greek. pneuma. App-101.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

37.] On account of His sudden appearance, and the likeness to one whom they knew to have been dead.

is a ghost or spectre-an appearance of the dead to the living; not exactly as , Mat 14:26, which might have been any appearance of a supernatural kind.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Luk 16:30, 1Sa 28:13, Job 4:14-16, Mat 14:26, Mat 14:27, Mar 6:49, Mar 6:50, Act 12:15

Reciprocal: Gen 45:3 – for they Gen 50:19 – fear not Job 4:15 – a spirit Mar 16:8 – for they trembled Rev 1:17 – Fear not

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

7

The human mind does some strange things. This group had just been rejoicing over the report that Jesus was alive and had been seen of a number of disciples. Now when He actually appeared in their midst they were frightened. In Joh 20:19 is this same event recorded, and it states the doors were closed for fear of the Jews. They evidently had the doors fastened for safety, hence when Jesus appeared in spite of the secured shutters, they considered it was a spirit that entered.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

[They supposed they had seen a spirit.] Whereas the Jews distinguished between angels and spirits and demons; spirits are defined by R. Hoshaniah to be “such to whom souls are created, but they have not a body made for those souls.” But it is a question, whether they included all spirits or souls under this notion, when it is more than probable that apparitions of ghosts, or deceased persons who once had a body, were reckoned by them under the same title. Nor do I apprehend the disciples had any other imagination at this time, than that this was not Christ indeed, in his own person, as newly raised from the dead; but a spectrum only in his shape, himself being still dead. And when the Pharisees speak concerning Paul, Act 23:9; “That if an angel or a spirit had spoken to him,” I would easily believe they might mean it of the apparition of some prophet, or some other departed just person, than of any soul that had never yet any body created to it. I the rather incline thus to think, because it is so evident, that it were needless to prove how deeply impressed that nation was with an opinion of the apparitions of departed ghosts.

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

Luk 24:37. Terrified and affrighted. Johns account also implies this. It was now, not hopelessness, but terror in fear of the sudden appearance, at night too. If we bear in mind the command to go into Galilee (Matthew, Mark), we shall conclude that it was utterly unexpected.

And supposed that they beheld a spirit. A ghost, a departed spirit, returned in the semblance of a body. This assumes, and our Lords words (Luk 24:39) teach, that there are disembodied spirits, Comp. Mat 14:26, where a more general term is used.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Jesus’ sudden and unexpected appearance terrified the disciples (cf. Luk 1:12). They apparently thought that Jesus was an apparition (Gr. pneuma, a person lacking corporeal existence), not an angel, since He appeared as He did (cf. Luk 24:39; Act 23:8-9). Jesus’ questions implied that they should have recognized that it was He. Since they had questions and doubted the reality of His presence it is unlikely that they projected their hope that He was alive and only imagined that He arose.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)